Another take on Britain's ageing population

Hello all, just thought I'd share with you a thrilling article concerning ageing populations I came across the other day. It's by Esther Boserup Rantzen concerning the retirement age for women, particularly in the television presenting sector. She expresses that she is tired of the elderly being seen as a burden on young people and the NHS, and goes on to argue that in fact elderly people do contribute to the economy and general well-being of the country, pointing out that it is in fact old people who allow many of their sons and daughters to work by looking after their grandchildren; which if was left solely to the parents, they wouldn't be able to have such demanding but rewarding careers and would instead have to stay at home looking after the kids. It is also retired volunteers who keep charitable organisations running, and she even uses the example that the "ablest monarch in the world" is our majesty the queen, currently at 84 years of age and still going strong.

Whilst not all the article is necessarily relevant to our ageing population (despite being one of the top results on google news), I urge you to take some time to read the rest of it, as it really is a very interesting and insightful read, which we have come to expect from papers such as the Daily Mail, the respectable publication that it is. :')

Esther's Daily Mail Article on ageing population

Bill Gates: cutting deaths, cutting births.

Bill Gates is known to be a big contributor to aid in less economically developed countries, and uses his wealth to help poor children live better lives. In a recent publicity statement, he has been promoting the amazing effects of child vaccination against deadly diseases from which thousands die unnecessarily from each year, but more relevantly the affect this has on population growth, and consequentially the country's economic development as a whole. Demographers argue that decreasing the amount of child deaths, instead of increasing population growth, actually slows it down. Because more children will survive, it puts less pressure on couples to have large families to ensure that enough of them survive to look after them in the future, and therefore allows them to have fewer children. It also means the family has more money to spend on those children, which increases their chances of being educated and getting a decent job when they grow up. So Mr Gates is absolutely right to try to improve the health care of children in developing countries, not just because of the obvious saving lives, but also because the knock-on effect on the country's population as a whole is a huge step forward in advancing through the demographic stages and become more developed.