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BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Factual: Politics

Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad.

Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad, presented by distinguished writers, journalists and academics.

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Analysis: Baby Boom or Bust

Baby Boom or Bust

BBC Radio 4 - Analysis, Baby Boom or Bust

Birth rates in many countries are getting lower. Should we worry about this or welcome it?

Birth rates in many countries are getting lower and societies are aging. Clare McNeil asks if we should worry about this or welcome it to mitigate climate change

Birth rates in many countries, including China, Japan, Italy and the UK have dropped below replacement level.  Clare McNeil asks if we should be concerned about this, and the burden it will place on taxpayers and the young, or welcome it as a good thing for climate change, where some think that the fewer consumers and CO2 emitters the better.  But with fertility rates of 1.58 in England and Wales, and only 1.29 in Scotland, society is aging, with the higher healthcare and pension costs to be borne by the taxpayers of working age. What role could or should the government play in increasing the birthrate? 

Presenter: Clare McNeil
Producer: Arlene Gregorius
Editor: Jasper Corbett 

Speakers: 
Angie Hobbs, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy, the University of Sheffield 
Lord David Willetts, President of the Resolution Foundation 
George Monbiot, environmental campaigner and author 
Felix Pinkert, Assistant professor of Philosophy and Economics, University of Vienna 
Jacob Hacker,  Professor of Political Science, Yale University
Jade Sasser, Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of California, Riverside 
Ronald Lee, emeritus professor of Demography and Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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