Alex Massie Alex Massie

Britain is not full

The census figures are out and you know what this means! Yes, the newspapers will be stuffed with articles complaining that this other Eden is now too teeming with foreigners for its survival to be considered a sure thing. The census reports that some 56.1 million souls are living in England and Wales. Add five million Scots plus some Ulstermen and the United Kingdom’s population is at a record high.

The population increase since 2001 is counted at 3.6 million people and some 55 per cent of that increase is attributed to net migration. The rest of it, roughly 1.6m people, is put down to an increase in the birth rate. All this will please — that is to say, it will appall — the Malthusians among us for whom population increase and thus the rapid approach of the the end times approach is a matter of delicious horror.

We are assured,

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