Jeremy Vine & The British Birth Rate

The British birth rate is falling - it currently stands at 1.41 - the lowest since records began about 90 years ago.

This was one of the topics on Jeremy Vine's show recently - both why this was happening and how it could be rectified.

The first suggestion was that those of us that didn't have children didn't have as much to offer and suggested that it was our national duty to keep the nation running. Big respect to the caller who calmly stated that his girlfriend's brain had far more to offer than her uterus - if anybody has any suggestions about what I could add to my postgraduate education, volunteer work, valuable profession and charity fundraising to provide adequate value to our nation, please do let me know! 😉 

The second conversation was about how the state pension age could be lowered by 2 years for every child you had; let's not even get started on this one - what about people who couldn't have children (which to be fair, the show did acknowledge), those who were biologically able to have children but chose not to for fear of passing on genetic conditions, or whether men and women would be subject to the same restrictions and privileges here?!

I write this partly in jest, but also to highlight the constant pushback that those that choose to step away from society's expectations face on a regular basis.

Let this be a reminder that your life is your life, and you can live it however you choose. Life's too short to be swept up in what other expect of you if it makes you unhappy.