Falling birth rates

[Blaze]

Does that matter?
Is heritage something to be proud of and to be preserved?

I wonder how the ethnicity of Germans was tested - and with mass migrations of germanic tribes in the past, just how accurate is it ?

I often wonder about the ethnicity of the French population. Many of their surnames seem to come from eastern Europe. I've now come across 2 French people who were found to be over 60% English in a DNA test (DNA testing is not 100% conclusive) and neither knows of any English relative, past or present. Wars, where families travelled with the armies, will have moved people around, soldier brought back girlfriends, wives etc ... then way back there was the 100 years war and 30 years war ....

In short, movement of populations has always happened so I can't imagine it"'s easy to find a "pure race" or ethnicity.

[Bayleaf]

Is heritage something to be proud of and to be preserved?

Not to me, but I imagine to certain people it is very important. I love that fact that the more people who get DNA tests, it shows up what a mixed bag we all are.

We all came from the same gene "pool", but some like to think their pool is more special....

[Quiksilver]

I'm sure that the concern on the part of the Government is purely economic. We have an ex-banker as head of State, why would it be anything else?
Macron's proposing a gynae check up for all 20 year old women (not sure if it will be compulsory). If news like that came from China or Russia, we'd all be encouraged to throw our hands in the air and despair over totalitarian states He also wants many more specialised storage facilities for ova so Frenchwomen can delay their breeding until convenient. Brave New World, anyone?

[Wilbro]

@DominicBest
Your American friend should also maybe consider that when the first European settlers arrived, not that long ago, their languages were well in the minority.

[exile]

Does that matter?
Is heritage something to be proud of and to be preserved?

I wonder how the ethnicity of Germans was tested - and with mass migrations of germanic tribes in the past, just how accurate is it ?

I often wonder about the ethnicity of the French population. Many of their surnames seem to come from eastern Europe. I've now come across 2 French people who were found to be over 60% English in a DNA test (DNA testing is not 100% conclusive) and neither knows of any English relative, past or present. Wars, where families travelled with the armies, will have moved people around, soldier brought back girlfriends, wives etc ... then way back there was the 100 years war and 30 years war ....

In short, movement of populations has always happened so I can't imagine it"'s easy to find a "pure race" or ethnicity.

I fully take the point you are making - as does @Bayleaf. We are indeed all mongrels.

However until just a few years before the concern about German heritage was raised it was rather easy - up to a point. To claim German nationality you had to prove that at least one grandparent had German or Austrian nationality - not dissimilar to claiming Irish nationality today. I take it that these were the ethnic Germans although I don't know how far back those rules for nationality went.

It was only when the state was having to deal with the third generation of original Gastarbeiter that the rules were relaxed. Some I think were in danger of becoming stateless.

As for Eastern European sounding surnames in France, yes, from around 1850 onwards* France and Paris in particular was an attractive destination for those from Eastern Europe and Russia as individuals escaped from war, persecution and discrimination.

* possibly earlier since in a sense, Napoleon opened the door even slightly to French culture fifty odd years earlier.


It is perhaps surprising that borders were much more open then than now. Researching a very different project, I was surprised to find that those entering the UK were only formally recorded following the 1905 immigration act and that passports did not arrive for all travellers to/from the UK until 1915.

[tagh]

Well, we could start cleaning up the population problem by insisting that Civil Servants work until the full State pension retirement age and that their over-generous pensions are taxed more heavily than the average private sector ones.

(retires to bunker🫵)

[Doug]

Well, we could start cleaning up the population problem by insisting that Civil Servants work until the full State pension retirement age and that their over-generous pensions are taxed more heavily than the average private sector ones.

(retires to bunker🫵)

+1
If the bunker holds 2.

[DominicBest]

Well, we could start cleaning up the population problem by insisting that Civil Servants work until the full State pension retirement age and that their over-generous pensions are taxed more heavily than the average private sector ones.

(retires to bunker🫵)

No Civil Servant can claim their state pension until they reach their state pension age so what is your problem? Surely their CS pensions are based on the contributions that they have made over their time at work so why should they be taxed any differently to you and I?

[DominicBest]

@DominicBest
Your American friend should also maybe consider that when the first European settlers arrived, not that long ago, their languages were well in the minority.

I am sure that you are trying to make a point but I haven’t got a clue what it is.

[exile]

Well, we could start cleaning up the population problem by insisting that Civil Servants work until the full State pension retirement age and that their over-generous pensions are taxed more heavily than the average private sector ones.

(retires to bunker🫵)

I have some sympathy with the suggestion that early retirement and over generous pensions are an issue that should be addressed but I am unsure how that equates to over population - unless you are suggesting that such workers enjoy the 1700-1900hr period until they start to fire blanks on which point they are retired from service*.
* in perhaps both meanings of the word.

However I was able to take early retirement - or would have been had I not taken redundancy 12 months earlier. In some cases such benefits are ( or at least historically were) linked to significant constraints during your working life. These can include such things as being sent where the organisation wants, rather than applying to go (or stay) where you want. I doubt however that many Parisian civil servants fear that there is even half a possibility of being sent to the armpit of the world on assignment. That however is not true of teachers and I know of one whose placement was moved to give her a 2 hour drive to and from work. She could of course move - at her expense - with no guarantee that in 12 months she might not be moved to the other end of the departement.

Perhaps what is needed is regular and thorough review of benefits attached to work and working conditions.