A listener has suggested that when I post these previews—which I am now doing on time at last—I include in them the point in the sound file at which each segment starts. Then a listener who feels so inclined can go directly to a segment that interests him. (Xim, xyr, whatever.)
Seems like a good idea. I’ll give it a try—see the list of segments below. Allow time for buffering, and a second or two of error till I get this right.
Most of this week’s podcast is given over to the immigration crisis in Europe. At one point I ponder the factors driving it.
Demography, for example. Regular listeners know that at this point I reach for my grandfather’s 1922 atlas, which includes population numbers.The full Radio Derb playbill:Back then the British Isles had a population of 47.31 million. British West Africa, for contrast, had a population of 22.48 million. So the British Isles had over twice the population of British West Africa 93 years ago.
Forward to today. The British Isles are still here, now the U.K plus Ireland: total population 68.97 million. British West Africa is nowadays the independent nations of Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Gambia: total population 215.74 million. That’s over three times Britain’s number.
Once again: 1922, British Isles had over twice the population of British West Africa. 2015, British West Africa has over three times the population of the British Isles.
Birthrate differentials will do that. They’ve been doing it for decades, though. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone. The science of demography does not have many surprises. If you know how many 15-year-olds you have today, you have a pretty good idea how many 25-year-olds you’ll have ten years from now, barring civilizational-scale catastrophes.
