Can a family survive for a year buying only British-made goods? That's the challenge the Bradshaws from Kent have given themselves for 2013.
Angry at the failure of big corporations like Amazon and Starbucks to pay full rates of corporation tax James, Emily and their two-year-old son Lucan have decided to support British-owned firms and workers in troubled economic times.
"As soon as I heard about Amazon I decided I wasn't going to buy my Christmas presents from them," says Emily.
"It all snowballed from there. The rules are actually fairly simple," she says, "it has to be a British company and the items must be manufactured in Britain and that's pretty much it."
A trip to the local high street in Westerham shows just how tricky their year could be.
Most of the items in a household goods shop are made in China. The labelling in a clothes shop is unclear.
Much of the fruit in the supermarket is imported from overseas. But the Bradshaws remain undaunted.
"For the first time I can remember it's OK to be proud to be British," says James.
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If the Bradshaws cannot find something they are looking for they will either go without or find an alternative.
They have tried nasturtium seeds as an alternative to black pepper corns - although James says it tastes like "old man's trousers."
Deciding exactly how British a company is or not is not easy.
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Mobile phones are worrying James. He cannot find a British maker and will need a new one this year.
But he has already made his own valve radio and is convinced there will be enough British-made component parts for him to make his own mobile phone.
"If it's possible to source the raw ingredients for a mobile phone - and I am not talking anything to rival Apple - I'll certainly have a good bash," he says.
just think, if we all hunker down and buy local global capitalism won't stand a chance next to the equally dreadful autarkic kind. hopefully they'll stick at it and end up living in a pigskin tent on acorns and herrings
Ironicwarcriminal posted:what counts as "goods", like any commodities? if so i assume they won't be drinking any tea
Like every thing British it will be semi apathetic arrogant nonsense and its sincerity won't extend past a broken picture of the past and a fantasy national cliche.
The worst bit its that this will really speak to some people who associate supporting the local petit bourgeois the forefront of not only radical politics but also the essential step in becoming a truly next post capitalism human ready for a green planet.
At the seaside the weather is dark and grey but she finds it ‘bracing’ and it invigorates her, renews her. She sits down on a bench that is broken but still usable, and she stares out at the sea for hours, the wind lashing in her face and sharp nettles of rain pricking her brittle skin. She could not be happier as she grows sodden, thinking of that trip to Calais with Harold when the channel grew so rough they thought they would die, she was so young. The light starts to fade and the promenade lights up with neon as the air grows thick with the sounds of David Guetta. Out of place, out of time, but she feels no anger, or sadness as she rises from the bench unsteadily, her joints having begun a process of atrophication during her stay there. Stumbling unsteadily down the cracked and moss-strewn concrete stairs, she crosses the pebbles and rocks of the beach and grows happier with every passing step, Thunder booms from the impenetrable air above her head and the rain grows heavier and thicker. By the time she reaches the waterline she is in a state of elation and as she pushes on further and sinks beneath the cold waves of the North Atlantic she is a state of rapturous ecstasy.
The sun shines and the grass grows, flowers bloom and birds sing
In Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers, horse meat accounted for approximately 29 per cent of the meat. The supermarket announced last night that it was removing all fresh and frozen burgers from sale immediately regardless if they had been found to contain horse meat.
Tim Smith, the group technical director of Tesco, said: “The presence of illegal meat in our products is extremely serious. Our customers have the right to expect that food they buy is produced to the highest standards.”
An investigation was carried out by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. The Food Standards Agency, working with the Irish authorities, established that mainland Britain was part of the area affected.
More than a third (37 per cent) of the products tested in Ireland contained horse DNA, while the vast majority (85 per cent) also contained pig DNA.
swampman posted:it is: terrible for you. a waste of your money. bad for planet. bad for big animals. bad for workers, the classic Fast food nation book, you all know it, its main focus remember, is on working conditions in slaughterhouses and meat packeries and butcherariums and so forth. bad for your complexion. Bad for doggies who choke on meat bits or have to digest a wax paper with pork slime. Its even bad as a menu item because it makes people overreliant on savory flavor, so they are unable to find non-meat dishes very appetizing. Thanks for reading my post, and liking it.
meat owns
DildoMalone posted:meat owns
So deos sex... but not if you have to rape ppl to get it!
drwhat posted:it's terrible for you? steroids and horror aside, i mean. it's terrible for you even if it's organic grain fed happy free range cow from your own yard or whatever?
you don't absorb steroids or other hormones from eating meat lol
meat isn't bad for you, fish is extremely healthy. the health concerns are toxins and bacteria that can end up in any meat product due to poor processing or mishandling of the meat. buying decent cuts of meat and cooking it will remedy the majority of health concerns.
AmericanNazbro posted:meat isn't bad for you, fish is extremely healthy. the health concerns are toxins and bacteria that can end up in any meat product due to poor processing or mishandling of the meat. buying decent cuts of meat and cooking it will remedy the majority of health concerns.
Red meat specifically is bad for you is what i meant. And here the other thing, the majority of ways people eat the meat, hmm, UNhealthy!! FRYING!! BUTTER AND SALT!! PORTION TO BIG!!!! WAKE UP USA!!!!!!!!!
swampman posted:like anything, when eaten in moderation it's probably fine. but for red meat that means maybe one serving a week. even so there is always a nutritionally better choice
there is nothing intrinsically unhealthy about red meat except high saturated fat content which is specific to certain types of red meats.
the entirety of modern western diet is unhealthy so it's really a moot point. a can of pringles, or a coke is more unhealthy than a serving of meat.
AmericanNazbro posted:you have more empathy for livestock than women goatstein
livestock suffer more than women
Goethestein posted:meat is murder
that fact, and also, this song
Edited by ilmdge ()
getfiscal posted:actually beef tastes good and you should eat things that taste good and make you happy because only eating optimal inputs beep boop is silly.
it has nothing to do with optimal inputs you spud. its about behaving ethically.
tpaine posted:yeah, ethically according to your retarded faggot code of ethics maybe.
jesus christ was retarded too yknow
