So Orange sent me a text this morning stating that: Hi, from Orange. We’re increasing the price of your monthly plan by 4.34% from 8 January 2012. For more information please visit orange.co.uk/planupdate Other than the rather cheery greeting to pass on some bad news the text didn’t tell me why and so naturally annoyed   Read More …

Today the Fairtrade foundation and Mars chocolates have made the exciting announcement that next year Maltesers will go Fairtrade. This is especially exciting as the last thing I’d heard (over a year ago) was that Mars were signing up to Rainforest Alliance and certified Cocoa and not Fairtrade but the press release today suggests this   Read More …

So it was the turn of Morrissons to receive an e-mail from me. Much like Sainsburys the response came quickly (unlike McDonalds who I e-mailed a month ago asking why they have Fairtrade coffee in Switzerland but not the UK and have had no reply) Here’s what I e-mailed: Hello, When shopping in your store   Read More …

Recently we’ve tried shopping at Sainsburys*. If you didn’t know Sainsburys are the biggest stockest of Fairtrade (and also the most ethical of the big 4) in the UK and really simple things like basics (33p a box) tea bags are Fairtrade plus their own brand chocolate and alongside this there’s all sorts of other   Read More …

Every year Fairtrade run a campaign called ‘Fairtrade Fortnight’…in previous years it’s seen exciting announcements such as Sainsbury’s changing all their bananas to Fairtrade and the arrival of a Fairtrade Dairy Milk and whilst this year there are no huge announcements (yet) there are more and more Fairtrade products available than ever and at even more   Read More …

Last night Channel 4 aired the programme ‘Dispatches: Fasion’s Dirty Secret’ (which you can watch here). During the programme a couple of undercover reporters investigated how fashion in this country is being made in sweatshops. One reporter took a job at a manufacturer in Leicester where he was paid £2.5o an hour, made to work   Read More …

During our short stay in Great Yarmouth last week I had the opportunity to catch up with Steve over lunch. Both me and Steve share an interest for what companies are up to and ethical issues and so naturally this was part of our discussion over lunch. Since then and along with some conversations with   Read More …

To a certain extent companies have always relied on word of mouth to promote their business….especially with new brands it seems that what the general public have to say can be the making or breaking of a product or store however as long as your majority were happy you could probably afford to upset a   Read More …

This morning I was up bright and early for a 8pm youth worker’s meet-up at Costa…so as I sleepily arrived and ordered a Fairtrade Americano I was disappointed to be told that ‘Costa no longer do Fairtrade’….although cheerily informed that it was all Rainforest Alliance’ This bugs me because whilst Nero refuse to do anything   Read More …

I’ve just eaten what is a rather late lunch and as I was doing so I picked some mold off the bread and made it into a sandwich… Yes…I did just say that…I picked the mold off my bread. Not that my bread was completely green and fuzzy…there was no sandpaper involved in locating the   Read More …

Next Friday Jo and myself (plus a various others we know) head to Cheltenham Racecourse for Greenbelt. For those who’ve haven’t heard of Greenbelt it’s probably the most unique Christian festival that happens in the UK. I’ve heard it described by some as ‘fantastic’ and others as ‘liberal’ so it should be an interesting experience.   Read More …

As I drove past Morrisons yesterday on my way home from my gym I realised that it had almost been 6 weeks since I stepped foot inside my little local supermarket and I realised that come Sunday I could break my fast of supermarkets…the thing is the majority of me doesn’t want to! When I   Read More …