Worst excuse evah

Even the BBC didn't stoop so low as to include it in this report, but Keith Vaz (that most trusted and saintly member of our much respected political class) was interviewed by the BBC about the government's latest attempt to grab cheap votes, and his interview was broadcast every 30 minutes on Radio Bloke (Five). I cannot remember the verbatim quote, but it went something like this:

How are the Government going to keep the population below 70m? Are they going to apply chastity belts to everyone?

Well Keith, you win Disingenuous Rat of the Week, a new, regular part of the show. Who knows, given the government's increasingly disturbing (and insane) efforts on smoking, eating, drinking and, er, lots of other things, perhaps there is indeed a working party beavering away on this?

Perhaps not. No, the disingenuous bit is because Keith, like everyone else with their eyes open and an IQ over 90, knows that a high birth rate isn't the cause of Britain's unsustainable population growth. In fact, our birth rate, while above that of the death-spiral countries like Russia or Italy, isn't high enough to even replace the number of people who, for various unfortunate reasons, shuffle off to a better place (and we won't even go into our abortion rate).

Unless something remarkable happens over the next decade (e.g. free Barry White albums given to the Middle Classes), the birth rate isn't going to affect the UK's population. Our absurd property prices and tax rates ensure that those who should be breeding cannot. No Keith - you, I and the cocker spaniel next door know that the only factor affecting population growth in the UK is immigration. So, why does the BBC not challenge him, and why does it repeat his lies all evening till it gets to the point when I am yelling at my car radio?