A vitally important 3 part series @benwray1989.bsky.social confronts issues that rarely see the light of day in political/policy debate. What is Scotland's future if too few young are able to become parents? How does society pay for an increasingly old population? Where is quality of life?
Final part of series on Scotland's demographic crunch looks at how to close 'the fertility gap': the difference between how many children that women have and how many they want to have.
"What is required is a coherent project to make life easier"
sceptical.scot/2026/06/demo...
What are the costs and challenges of providing for an ageing population?
@benwray1989.bsky.social offers answers in Part2 #ScotlandsDemographicCrunch An essential read for all politicians, policy makers – and grandparents.
Cabinet sec health & care is now @angelaconstance.bsky.social
How about an honest discussion? If elderly social care is to meet increasing needs Scotland (and rUK) need to talk about migration, plus policy on pay and housing for care workers. Read @benwray1989.bsky.social in Part2 of Scotland's Demographic Crunch (PS I chose the pic because I'm a granny too)
It's insanely hot in the Basque Country. 41 degrees for the next 3 days. Y'day was 39. No one's ever seen weather like this in June (hottest month should be August).
Trying to do normal things - going to work, getting the bus, going to the shop - becomes torturous...
Starmer was a vessel for destroying the left in Labour. Him and those around him had barely any interest in how to tackle Britain's post-2008 economic stagnation. So he was always going to fail, sooner or later. The question is, does Burnham have any more substance than Starmer?
The US either reins in Israel, or the deal with Iran falls apart, the Strait of Hormuz stays shut and a global energy meltdown looms. Other option for Trump is to tell Israel it will no longer protect it from Iranian military attacks. Either way, the status quo can't hold.
Yanis makes a great argument here against increasing defence spending in Europe, focusing on the UK. Not only will hiking defence spending come at the cost of public services we need, it won't make us any safer. Sad that this is such a marginal view.
bsky.app/profile/yani...
Part 2 on Scotland's demographic crunch (link below) looks at the impact of an ageing population, focusing on elderly care.
- 69% of care homes have staff vacancies
- The current old-age dependency ratio is 3.3:1, rising to 2.85:1 by 2049.
- There will be an additional 250,000 pensioners by 2049
Suffice to say, austerity and privatisation makes the challenge of meeting Scotland's growing elderly care needs much much more difficult.
sceptical.scot/2026/06/demo...
How to meet the cost of an ageing population? Government already spends significantly more on pensioners than they pay in taxes, and Scotland is getting older…
Final part of series on Scotland's demographic crunch looks at how to close 'the fertility gap': the difference between how many children that women have and how many they want to have.
"What is required is a coherent project to make life easier"
sceptical.scot/2026/06/demo...
