ABSTRACT
Woody Allen once observed that he did not like the idea of getting old until he thought of the alternative. According to the best available data, life expectancy in the UK is increasing at the rate of about 2.5 years for each decade that passes; or, each day a person live will have used only 18 hours of life expectancy. These cheerful statistics have been greeted by some with cries of woe. They translate 'the ageing population' into more people living restricted and miserable lives owing to chronic and disabling diseases. George Bernard Shaw, have pointed out, people might live better if they were sure that they were going to live longer. The contribution of extending the lives of those who are currently alive to fouling the planet will be minute compared with that of rising per capita consumption and the rising number of caputs that are doing the consuming.
