Tues 20 June - IVF and the birthrate

"It has been announced that the government is being requested to lift the embargo on state assisted IVF treatment so that thousands of potential parents can access treatment through the NHS, as the state urgently needs a massive increase in the birth rates to offset the decline that has taken place over the last few decades.

"It is said that there are many thousands of potential parents out there, putting off seeking IVF due to the cost, in many cases amounting to something like ten thousand pounds per course of treatement.

"The tax burden that at present hits on the under retirement age sector of the population will be unsustainable within a very few years, due to the retired sector being increased in size, and that it is imperative that new waves of children be born to substantiate the numbers of those, who it seems, will be the loadbearers of the tax burden, in years to come.

"On the other hand we have the Tories trying to gain the moral heights by declaring that they will do something to ease the taxation problems of people, by moving the rules and regulations to benefit parents.

"Oh yes? Who was it who removed the tax relief on couples with children not so long ago? Who was it that shifted the goal posts with regards the whole tax regime in reference to tax relief for marriage allowances and mortgage tax relief etc?

"So now they want to try to put a cover on the mess they created. It may well gloss it over but it will hardly do anything to mask the stink of hypocrisy emanating from that mess.

"Then there is the fact that some many millions of the aged, will be removed from the scene by natural attrition, which will probably leave a gaping hole in that most delicate of matters, the housing market.

"Where will the finance come from to do all the repairs and maintenance of all this property, for certain a very substantial number of occupants will not be able to fund such a programme of maintenance. The state will likewise be unable to help in the majority of cases, so what are we heading for?

"As said elsewhere, it will have to be accepted that, even if IVF is offered free at the point of treatment, there will still be a gap in the numbers required, so I am of the opinion that unwed motherhood, will have to be taken on board to such a degree by the government that the state will be left with no choice but to encourage an increase in births by any and all means possible.

"If that means providing funds to mothers of any age to have children in or out of wedlock, civil partnerships or just on their own, so be it, and all the tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth by the moralists and religiously inclined will do little more than provide a slight kink in the ongoing march to achieve the numbers of newborns required to sustain the status, I would have added Quo, but that is actually not the case, as the status quo is exactly what we do not need to sustain at this period in our history so it would seem."

Note - Morgan's views are not necessarily shared by the BBC