In this preparation seminar for the Debating Matters national finals, Spiked Online’s Brendan O’Neill goes head-to-head with Adrian Stott from the Optimum Population Trust. While Adrian advocates cutting back on humanity to save the environment, paying women not to have babies and tells us African men effectively commit mass rape, Brendan argues that such views are profoundly anti-human, authoritarian and a case of Malthusians finding the latest justification for pure prejudice. Brendan reminds us that the growth in our numbers is the outcome of better health and longer life expectancy and people are not just some biological entity or ‘another mouth to feed’ but creative beings that make great things happen.
