Immigration is not Britains long term problem - falling birth rate is ....

There's a lot of panic about Immigration about. When I raised this with a civil servant once at a party - he said that immigration was necessary due to the falling birth rate. He seemed shocked when I suggested that the falling birth rate might be the problem.

The BBC has an article today on British attitudes to having children ( credit to the Guardian  which commissioned the original survey - always closely read by members of the BBC ! ).

In short Hedonism wins over the desire to have children. ( Rather old fashioned ideas on it being the responsibility of couples to have children have been given short shrift by popular culture. )

My guess is that the falling birth rate is worse in middle class couples ( does anyone know if this is true ? ). Now assuming genetics have no impact on the type of children these couples would have had then there is nothing to worry about for the whole nation - is there ?

If we English are truly a nation who has this attitude then our nation will end with us, and we will be replaced with those who love their families. I personally don't think we will deserve anything else.

PS My wife and I have 2 small children. They have meant completely reorganising our lives, but have also given them much more meaning and hope. My wife works in a hospital with a large IVF clinic and sees the cost of leaving it too late every day.