Modified:
29 Dec 2009
by Admin
Vote totals:
Yes:
44%
No:
44%
Neutral:
11%
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DEBATE: THERE SHOULD BE POPULATION CONTROL FOR THIS ISLAND NATION
Posted by: Deepdee
Karma:
13
We're a small island with lots of people - and more coming all the time. We should start limiting the population of the UK.
Executive Summary
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All the Yes points
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THERE SHOULD BE POPULATION CONTROL FOR THIS ISLAND NATION
The UK cannot sustain present rates of population growth
Eco-systems in the UK are breaking down beyond the ability to maintain healthy populations of different species or habitats due largely to human pressures. Thousands of children suffer due to inadequate take up of fostering and adoption. There are many unnecessary restrictions on who can adopt( A very strict officious, long and tedious process which people wouldn't want to get into, people rather steal/buy babies than goto an adoption agency.) whereas there are no restrictions on people having babies(you can be jobless uneducated and/or a criminal but still qualify). Even if someone wanted to adopt, if they're fertile they'd have their own kids because of the annoying process.
Health care favours in-vitro fertilisation over more pressing health concerns exacerbating population pressures. Women are constantly told that fertility and babies are what they really want. It is feminine to aw and ooh at the sight of a child or teddy bear. On top of that, babies naturally exude oxytocin which makes them oh so lovable.
Parents are not necessarily equipped to deal with the realities of having children and are ignorant of the environmental impacts of having children. Western babies consume ten times the resources of children born in the developing world.
Immigration pressures may contribute to the afore-mentioned problems. Social welfare concerns are inadequately resourced due to unbalanced economics directly attributable to population pressures. All of these circumstances are not sustainable long term. Other forms of emotional and psychological fulfilment need to be actively encouraged as a matter of urgency.
To none of these problems is population control the most effective or even the most relevant solution.
Eco-systems: these are in continuous flux – to suggest that they are ‘breaking down’ is to somehow judge one position as better than another – it’s not that simple. More importantly, ‘human pressures’ are the result of human actions rather than population: the most effective response would be to strengthen the mandate of organisations such as DEFRA rather than control population growth without addressing actions.
Adoption: surely this point indicates a need to improve the social services provided rather than control population to improve the uptake of adoption? Nor can I see how arbitrary population control is any real solution.
‘Ignorance’: Again, population control not relevant (education, perhaps?)
Consumption: Suggests we consider lifestyle choices rather than population controls
Immigration: Another matter entirely.
Social welfare concerns: This is a crass generalisation, inadequate resources is as much as systemic problem as it is due to population pressures (nor can you be that general about what ‘population pressures’ are)
‘Other forms of emotional and psychological fulfilment’: That sounds like something straight out of 1984. I’m slightly concerned…The BRITS will live underground or on the moon, if need be!
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
THERE SHOULD BE POPULATION CONTROL FOR THIS ISLAND NATION
Stop Paying People to Breed
As a trade unionist and lifetime supporter of women's rights, I am heartily sickened by women who take several months off work just to have a ****** baby. Employers don't like them, either, but cannot do anything thanks to our stupid laws. As a results all women suffer discrimination at work because employers cannot distinguish between those who are serious about their careers and those who are nothing but brood mares.It's about time we stopped paying people to breed. We have enough people on these islands already. We don't actually need any more at the moment. It would do us no harm whatsoever not to have any more children born for the next 20 years provided we put a stop to the majority of immigration as well. The NHS struggles enough as it is without its hospitals being run as glorified stud farms. I am therefore suggesting the following:
1. Remove all obstetric services from the NHS. Offer all young people free sterilisation and all girls a Mirena coil (which has a lower failure rate than tubal ligation). The money saved could be spent on hiring more nurses and providing a better standard of care for people with genuine illnesses;
2. Phase out all social security payments and tax relief for children by not paying anything for children born 38 weeks after the point of changing the policy (i.e. the length of the average pregnancy);
3. Abolish all paid maternity leave. If a woman is too sick to work, let her send in a sick note from her (private) obstetrician;
4. Allow all employers to get female job applicants to sign an agreement not to get pregnant in their employ. Those that do get pregnant could then be sued for breach of contract;
5. Stop the media glorifying pregnancy, especially amongst young women. Women die in childbirth and girls should grow up knowing the statistics for death and permanent disability resulting from pregnancy;
6. Only allow migrant workers into the UK if they are sterilised and agree to go home when their job ends or upon reaching retirement age.
THERE SHOULD BE POPULATION CONTROL FOR THIS ISLAND NATION
overcrowding depresses our quality of life
Overcrowding increases the incidence and severity of many unpleasant experiences such as congestion, frustration and anger; too many people increase noise, pollution and habitat destruction which detract from our quality of life.
THERE SHOULD BE POPULATION CONTROL FOR THIS ISLAND NATION
A fuss about nothing
We are clearly not making 'a fuss about nothing'; the social problems of Britain are visible all around us and our government lacks the resources to provide proper solutions to the enlarged population. Emigration may have been a problem 100 years ago, but I can't see the current immigration trend reversing; most other places are either already overpopulated, inhospitable or already have tighter immigration regulations than Britain. It is worth sacrificing a little bit of our freedom in order to prevent a population crisis.
Official National Statistics show that per head figures of annual growth for 2006 were lower than 1911 (and lower still as a percentage of population). Expressed metaphorically (e.g. using Cardiff as a representation of population growth) an extra 385,000 may seem a problem, yet there are no solid predictions of either economic collapse or social destruction anywhere in the near future. Economic recession (as we may be about to enter) has far more intricate complexities than simple population size, and one of the biggest limitations on social services is that people just don’t like to be taxed that much (in the 2001 general election, the differences in taxation offered by the two major parties fell within the margin of error that is given within each chancellor’s annual budget). Immigration is at a high right now, but 100 years ago it was emigration that was the concern: how can we legitimately claim that there’s a crisis coming sometime in 2200?
Any restriction on population growth instantly increases the government’s hold over ethics, morality, and may translate into factors such as age, class and culture. Cutting child benefits is a suggested method of controlling population growth – but one which the wealthy can bypass. Unless one advocates tearing extra children from their families, or some form of extermination, the sanctions for exceeding a child-bearing quota are likely to be economic, so this is a relevant concern.
Fantasising about population control is needless and pointless – best stick to defending the pound sterling and the imperial measuring system…
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
THERE SHOULD BE POPULATION CONTROL FOR THIS ISLAND NATION
Personal freedom should always be the priority.
The government puts laws and restrictions in place for the benefit of the greater public interest. If restrictions are required in order to preserve the wellbeing, in all aspects of life; socially, economically; then they must take priority.
If you ask a serial killing about his killing spree most of the time it was a very important and personal thing for him to do. Would you be more frightened if the government decided not intervene on anyone's choice and let all of mankind to follow their ideas/desires/needs?
The suggestion that any governing body should have the right to impose itself on so personal an idea/desire/need of the individual is frightening. The key to population control is not prohibition but education and quality of life. Encouraging ambition in the young through quality education supplemented with awareness of a population crisis (if there is one at all, which as yet I cannot see) should be the aim of any government attempting to tackle such a problem. The emergence of ‘career women’ in modern times and the resulting decrease in the amount of women marrying/giving birth young is evidence of this. Steps must also be taken, perhaps most significantly, to combat teen pregnancy and promote safe sex.
Prohibiting people from breeding is both sinister and doomed to failure. It does not succeed in China and it will not succeed here. There it is enforced through bribery, coercion, forced sterilization, forced abortion, and possibly infanticide particularly in rural areas where the population have no voice. Children are discarded, or killed. Certain segments of the population are discriminated against. Imbalances have occurred as the next generation of only one child takes on the responsibility of providing for both its parents and grandparents. It is quite simply an affront to the most basic of human rights.
It is impossible to enforce without resorting to the aforementioned tactics or some equally detestable derivative. It is an impractical law and is something that can only be achieved by societal progress and improvement, not by command.
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
THERE SHOULD BE POPULATION CONTROL FOR THIS ISLAND NATION
Many regions of the UK need immigartion to sustain the population
Scotland's population has been declining for the past 10 years, and combined with the aging of the population, this has meant fewer tax-paying citizens. Encouraging the migration of young workers from abroad would give a much needed boost to local economies in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.I can't see the point in encouraging young people from overseas to move their. Why not encourage those from overcrowded areas of England instead?
THERE SHOULD BE POPULATION CONTROL FOR THIS ISLAND NATION
Unnecessary
Even if the concern for individual freedom didn't override all else anyway, its not needed. If we sort out the problems elsewhere which drive people here, and if we smash the taboos surrounding population growth-limiting factors such as contraception and homosexuality, population growth will level off anyway.
THERE SHOULD BE POPULATION CONTROL FOR THIS ISLAND NATION
A restriction on population growth will only damage the economy
[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Population_control#Population_control_and_economics]]
The relation between Population growth and the economy is debatable. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_
control#Contemporary_research]] Research points to how uneducated impoverished people who cannot fend for nor feed themselves are more likely to procreate.
Jobs are created by people for people , if you get rid of people or shut them out(immigration controls) or restrict their birth. Then there will be fewer people
creating and/or working at jobs.the same link[1] points to the fact that this is only because population control programs/projects are geared towards educated or literate people who are and can be informed of methods of contraception and so on. Therefore, these programs only encourage the births of the less privileged/poor/uneducated and discourage the potential births of babies with bright futures.Thus defeating their purpose, entirely.
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
THERE SHOULD BE POPULATION CONTROL FOR THIS ISLAND NATION
Population grows because the social welfare system encourages that
There is no need to limit population growth when all one needs to do is stop encouraging it. People want their children to be well fed and groomed, and at some point, after the first or second child, they start to feel the financial pressure. If the financial burden is relieved by the government, they don't feel the pressure and make more children. Take for example Israel: children pensions were cut heavily in 2003 as a response to a budget crisis; this resulted in a drop in birth rates, almost entirely attributed to poor families with lots of children.So instead of trying to solve an alleged problem that the government created, we say that if there is a problem, the reasonable solution is to stop causing it.
Vote on the overall debate: There should be Population Control for this Island Nation
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dhc
|18:23, 25 March 08
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