Optimism alone won’t raise Britain’s birth rate

Few things could make Nigel Farage squirm, but a question from Jordan Peterson at this week’s Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference seems to have done the trick. During a fireside talk, the Canadian psychologist asked the Reform leader whether long-term, monogamous, heterosexual, child-centred marriages were the foundation stone of a civilised society.

After conceding that, having been divorced twice, he might not be the best advocate for stable unions, Farage, a father of four, responded that ‘we need higher birth rates’ and emphasised the importance of our ‘Judeo-Christian’ culture. ‘Of course we need higher birth rates,’ Farage said. ‘But we’re not going to get higher birth rates in this country until we can get some sense of optimism.’

Young people in the UK today might well disagree, however, given they appear to have a dispiritingly low opinion of our culture and values.