Mere Literary Festival

On Thursday at the Mere Literary Festival (https://mereliteraryfestival.com) I attended a lucid and engaging talk by Dr Paul Morland of Birkbeck, University of London. While one does not have to agree with his thesis – even he acknowledges that his natalist views may align him with the extreme left and right, whether Ceausescu, Orban, Stalin, or Mussolini – it is good to be challenged in such a smoothly articulate way. Others would argue that, supported by increasingly sophisticated technology, human numbers will drop before plateauing at a lower level, thus helping to conserve the earth’s resources, while economic thinking can change from its current mid twentieth century basis to accommodate this transition. The talk was followed by some sharp questions from an attentive audience.