Police: please don’t sell milkshakes to anti-fascists

[Riedquat]

Personally I'm against immigration into the UK because I very strongly believe that it would be a nice place to live in if it had far fewer people in it (it's one of the most densely populated countries in the world - yes, most of it's still green but there's very little in it where you're not more than a few miles from a large town and busy road). Can't think of any ethical way of reducing the population but there's no good reason to add to it via immigration.

Well one "good" reason (ie one with premises most people agree on) to add to it is if you have a shrinking population you have more and more pensioners being supported by fewer and fewer working age people. So either old people have to keep working into their golden years (with high productivity etc.) or you need to import people to do the work.

That applies if you've got a rapidly shrinking population - falls are good but too fast cause problems. However that's not the case in the UK. Pensions are used as an excuse but if you've got a growing population anyway that's something you need to deal with regardless of. Adding more people to the other end who eventually become old themselves is a pyramid scheme approach.

If by good reasons we mean reasons that everyone can agree to, I am not clear that unease with being too close to a big city or busy road is one that everyone agrees with (as opposed to noise or traffic or high house prices, but that would be true in the cities of far less densely populated countries etc.). There are probably people who say they could never live in the UK because you are never more than a few miles (45) from a tidal waterway or never more than 70 miles from the coast etc. It is not exactly wrong but it is not a reason most people share.

Sure, not everyone will agree but the question is what is most likely to give the most people in a country what they like best? I'm damned sure I'd be happier if it wasn't so heavily populated and increasing, and I'm not alone. And those not bothered by it, well, they wouldn't lose out anyway if it were lower. As it is I find just looking at maps from a century ago pretty depressing. Oh what a wonderful place it would be if we'd got rid of the downsides from then without piling all the later crap in at the same time! I've spent quite a bit of time in France, roughly the same population and twice the land area, and the difference is very noticable.

Anyway the UK is like in the top 20-25% in terms of population density (49 out of 230 or so countries), not sure that really qualifies as one of the most densely populated countries on Earth, depends what you mean. Now a lot of the most densely populated countries are city state like affairs such as Hong Kong and Singapore, still several of the more densely populate countries are I think comparable like South Korea, the Netherlands and so on. ( source )

Yes, some others are comparable, even if you filter out the city states. So "one of the most" fits pretty well. And the UK figure includes Scotland, which isn't very densely populated at all outside the central belt and is a significant part of the overall area. England alone - it's above the Netherlands. Seeing what it's becoming, and looks like carrying on becoming (not just because of the increasing development, but it's certainly a part of it) is a good chunk of why I've been depressed for years. It's heartbreaking.