Birth Rates and Coffee Mornings

The news this morning was filled with pessimism about falling birth rates. It seems to be a world-wide trend, though disguised in England by increased immigration. Hitherto, the great complaint has been that over-population is destroying the planet. The analogy is a change from a historical pyramid to an icecream cone, where the aged are the blob of icecream on the top.

'Normal' birth rate pyramid
and Inverted pyramid

The sequitur surely must be that the population of the world should be reduced, and if not by the four horsemen, then by what better means than a natural decline in fertility? Governments rail against this. They are concerned by the loss of young people to sustain the pensions and lifestyles of the old. They worry about the economic consequences of falling consumer numbers, with its effect on tax receipts and economic growth, or that less workers means higher wages and inflation. Many military countries worry about the number of fit people in the population to fight wars, or defend themselves from hostile invaders. This is all piffle.

The young should not be supporting the old. The young should be working for their own futures. We have worked all our lives, and should be looking after ourselves, not relying on ever fewer young folk to keep alive increasing numbers of the living dead. As we grow older, we should be encouraged to keep fitter, and work longer. Why should retirement be a right? We should work until we hit the immovable wall of infirmity.

If there is a falling population, the infrastructure will not need to be expanded; we will need fewer new motorways, fewer trains, and fewer planes. Falling tax receipts should be balanced by reduced expenditure. HS-2 must certainly be scrapped, right now, and perhaps overcrowding on commuter services will improve. In the cause of nuclear disarmament and promoting the NNPT, Trident should be pulled. Stagnant economic growth from less consumption will be balanced against the smaller work force, naturally curtailing inflation.

Military spending and numbers have been falling for years anyway. Although we elderly could not complete hard route marches and would be of little use in hand-to-hand combat, we could certainly work with the forces in a service capacity: monitoring, supplying, driving, and a myriad of office/desk jobs. Much fighting is now done remotely, through drones, missiles, or remote artillery, and training and experience will do these things as well as youth. In desperate times, conscription would be reintroduced. Of course, another way to decrease the burden of we oldies is to increase the death rate. Perhaps we should be sent to fight on the front line after all.

Invitation

So many times
I've been invited
to take coffee, lunch or tea,
but nothing usually comes of it,
although today it happened to me.

 If I relied on friends to feed me
I would be skinny as a rake,
but today I was invited for coffee
with a huge, big slice of cake!

by Annie Elliott

My appointment for the radiotherapy clinic at Addenbrookes has come through, to be scanned and tattooed ready for the great burn, and this morning we went to friends for coffee!
Over the years, we have had many people round for coffee or an evening, and so many of them have said, "You must come round for dinner," or "we'll get together over a coffee," followed by silence. None of these friends followed through with an invite. We used to keep a book, but gave it up as the list grew longer. So this outing to Rae and Malcolm was exceptionally valuable and  noteworthy as a first. They even offered to help with driving me for the many hospital visits to come. Suddenly old friends are coming through for us!

Benefits of Being Trolled

In contrast to many of my generation, through both wisdom and experience I have swung from right to left in outlook. In youth, I joined the Young Conservatives and derided the CND brigade for wanting to dismantle our most powerful defenses. Now I have rejoined Labour, and would fight for nuclear disarmament, were the youth of today marching for such issues.

Hiroshima Flag at Half Mast

In my youth I entered foolish arguments about Greenham Common women asking men to "make the sandwiches", not seeing then the wider issues of the rights of women or minorities, or even the importance of nuclear disarmament. Only now that I've visited Hiroshima, and walked in the silent contemplative Memorial Peace Garden, have I been given this Damascene vision: that whole continents such as Africa, South America and Australia/New Zealand can unite to reduce the threat of nuclear destruction. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT) has 189 States declaring. It would be a wonderful step if France and Britain joined too, to make Europe a non-proliferation zone.  Perhaps it is too late for me to act. Death bed repentance is never very admirable, and I can't claim any virtuous result from my enlightenment.

Only through directly witnessing the distress of discriminated groups have I accepted that there is a problem, and that direct action must be taken. We hear of trolls and online abuse, of vituperate comments posted about seemingly innocent remarks, defaming the person rather than disputing the idea, and threatening violent ends to prove their arguments. But the cruelest cut of all is to be ignored. Cut off from social contact or exchange, even at the level of vile criticism, is to be as though one does not exist. In my youth, I posted as "ΔWise", signing anonymously my excruciating comments, and writing poor sketches that were pulled apart. My controversial ideas were attacked in many ways, and I delighted in the battles. Now, I can only look back at the reams of poems, the books, the plays I have written, and sigh. I would have enjoyed returning the stones of the critics and fighting more battles, but it never happened. Probably they achieved what they merited. They received no criticism, no abuse, no rebuttal. They were simply ignored, as this plea for Britain and France to join the NNPT will be ignored.  For people suffering the attention of trolls for their beliefs, their faith or their sexuality, remember: you are winning attention to your cause. To be ignored is the cruelest cut of all.

If you have visited the Hiroshima Peace Gardens, please add your thoughts...