Category Archives: Ethical Living

Posts exploring ethical lifestyles, correspondance with supermarkets about their ethics and fairtrade

10/31/09

Veggie Week 1

So I’m here at the end of week 1 of my veggiexperiment and so far (other than accidentially sticking a small piece of cold chicken in my mouth before thinking ‘hang on’ and spitting it out promptly) I’ve succeeded. I haven’t actually missed any meaty stuff other than the smell of the forbidden fish and chip shop yesterday.

I have however learnt a few things on my journey so far…

ASDA’s veggie mince tastes like poo…. Morrissons is nice

Quorn Chicken-style pieces aren’t too bad either,

Shops are awful at labelling things as veggie… it took me ages to find some fresh pasta this morning that actually had a veggie logo… I guess some cheeses can’t be vegetarian.

As far as feeling goes I’m not really feeling any different, they say meat stays in your system for 7 days so I’m not meat-free however I’m not sure that the lack of meat has made me feel different on a dietry side of things.

I am however, already feeling like I shall end up eating less meat after this experiment, there are some pretty good, tasty alternatives outthere!

More updates soon!

10/24/09

Veggiexperiment

A while ago Goywonder whose blog I read set himself 2 targets, firstly to give up alcohol for 6 months and secondly to blog everyday, those targets/experiments have since finished however they got me thinking.

Alongside this thinking of blogs with challenges I seem to know more and more people who are vegetarians and I’m usually flippantly remarking to ‘just give them a carrot’ when it comes to feeding.

Finally the residential I was on a couple of weeks back fed us 3 meat-filled hot meals a day (although one day I did have 1 veggie meal!) and so the thought of meat has been on my mind.

In light of these thoughts and a little bit of curiosity I have decided to set myself a target: to give up meat for 30 days.

That’s right, until the 23rd November I shall not be eating meat, I shall be laying my carnivorous side to rest and seeing how easy it is to be a vegetarian, I’m not doing this for animal welfare or any of those ‘but it’s too cute to eat’ reasons but I’d like it to achieve a few things for me.

Firstly I hope that my experiment will make me more aware of what I eat and more aware of the choices we have when it comes to eating. I hope the experiment will encourage me to experiment more in the kitchen.

Secondly I expect this experiment to open my eyes to the challenges a vegetarian faces, how easy or hard it is to avoid meat in products…this means that the jelly will be staying on my top shelf for a few weeks!

Finally I wonder if I’ll find myself missing meat or not noticing, I wonder if this experiment will change my diet…we shall see!

As I start…

As I start today the target seems daunting, I don’t really know exactly what I’m going to be eating or how I’ll be approaching a sandwich without a dead animal between the slices of bread but we shall see (I’m being hardcore and giving up fish too!).

I’m confident that I can manage it but I think it’s going to be a challenge…tonight I shall be cooking vegetarian moussaka with the help of my Delia book and I’m thinking stuffed peppers sometime this week but other than that my mind is blank!

I shall keep blogging updates to let you know how I’m getting on and what I’m learning!

I seem to have a load of other things to blog at the moment so in the next few days expect blogs on:

- The BNP leader Nick Griffin on Questiontime

- Bowling for Soup, MC Lars, Zebrahead and the Leftovers: My gig experience

09/15/09

Carrier Bags

I don’t go shopping that often (by this I mean a shopping centre style shopping) but I do know that when you wander around towns where people are partaking in the act of consumerism they are usually clinging onto a handful of plastic bags with a variety of brands and logos showing the world exactly where this particular consumer has been shopping.

It’s the same with supermarkets, you reach the checkout with a trolly of food (in my case 80% impulse buys and 20% what I actually need) and the (friendly?) cashier asks you if you could like some carrier bags.

I am well aware that I’m not describing an unusual scenario yet despite taking lots of bags (and then re-using a few times or just throwing away) we forget the environmental impact of them.

Jo has worked on a checkout this summer and the typical response of people being offered bags is ‘yes’ or ‘yes, I’ve left mine in the car/at home/ in my pocket but I cannot be bothered to move my wallet to get them out!’ and I’m as guilty as the next person. 9 times out of 10 when I go shopping and forget to grab the bags for life from my kitchen… I even think about adding some to my car but keep forgetting to help the bags make the transition from my kitchen to the car.

This forgetfulness usually results in me buying more bags for life.

The problem is that somehow we need to stop using so many carrier bags.

Both Sainsbury’s and ASDA have done promotions offering bags for life to customers for free and encouraging them to re-use them next time (although most forget!), when I was younger Sainsbury’s used to give you 1p back per carrier bag you re-used (before the days of the Nectar Card and Bags for Life) and this encouragement continues in the form of loyalty points for re-using bags in both Tesco (eugh!) and Sainsbury’s but not in ASDA who don’t have a loyalty scheme just cheaper products.

When Aldi first opened in Bexhill where I grew up I remember us taking our own carrier bags because they charged for them so the few times we visited Aldi we took our own or just put the shopping in the boot loose because ‘we weren’t going to pay 2p a carrier bag’.

Years on from that Marks and Spencer’s charge for carrier bags and a WHSmiths in Sheffield station do the same (I don’t think this is all WHSmiths) but this trend hasn’t caught on.

I think it’s time that we started charging people for carrier bags in order to encourage people to reuse their bags….hitting people in the pocket may make them think about reusing, it would certainly make me remember to put the bags in my car!

I am challenging myself to actually remember to reuse my bags from now on and will make the occasional reference to my success of this on my blog (although I appreciate that how I use my bags doesn’t make interesting reading!)

On a completely contradictory tangent bags for life are actually worse for the environment because they take longer to biodegrade….cotton bags are better and probably last longer!

09/12/09

Tesco – Continued Fun!

Regular readers will know of my dislike of Tesco (see these posts) and once again they continue to annoy me a little.

tesco1A couple of weeks back whilst in Sheffield the Tesco van decided to block the road and make a delivery to the store…so I waited for 10 minutes (see left picture).

If it was anyone other than Tesco I probably wouldn’t be that bothered but I grasped the opportunity to moan about Tesco to someone, took some photos and sent them by e-mail to Sheffield City Council last week.

On Thursday I received a reply from their highways and transport division and although it is advised that I pop in and let the local police know (which I may not get an opportunity to do so) it seems to reveal Tesco breaking the terms of their planning permission by using a larger lorry they are legally allowed… I’m hoping Sheffield Council will let me know what happens but we’ll see.

Anyway here is the e-mail

Dear Mark
The lorry you documented loading to the Tesco Express is clearly committing an obstruction. Unfortunately this matter can only be dealt with by the police. It may pay you to drop into the station at the end of Scotland Street and report this. With luck, they will send an officer round to explain the error of their ways.

From the Council point of view, this behaviour is not acceptable. There is clearly is a loading bay that would have been conditioned as part of the planning permission. It appears to me that either the delivery vehicle did not make a reasonable attempt to properly use the bay, or there was a car parked in the bay when it arrived or they are using a vehicle larger than anticipated.

If the vehicle was poorly parked because of laziness or because it makes it easier to off load from the tail to the service door then it is the police to deal with.

If there was a car there as it arrived then this is difficult to deal with. The service vehicle could wait and block the road until the vehicle moves or it could “go round the block”. I would suggest that with schedules to keep, they would be tempted to try and off load as fast as possible. One of the City Council’s Civil Enforcement Officers (traffic warden) may be able to enforce the loading bay and I will ask that this receives attention. The problem is that this behaviour is intermittent and officers cannot wait all day for an offence to occur.

On most planning applications of this type, the size of service vehicle is specified. Generally, the vehicle is limited to an “urban artic”. This is smaller than the vehicle on your photos. I will pass your email onto the Highways Development Control Planning Officer who dealt with the application. It may that the store is in contravention of its planning permission, in which case, enforcement action can be taken.

I hope that one or all of the actions above will help prevent the road from being blocked on a regular basis. However, I am happy for you to send me an details of dates and times that problems occur, this will help us to deal with this matter.

05/29/09

The War On Tesco Continues…

In Sheffield under Jo’s flats is a Tesco Metro who have decided they would like to open earlier…Jo has submitted the following to Tesco partly so she doesn’t lose sleep because of their extended hours and partly because of my dislike for Tesco’s.

Here’s the planning link and here are the comments

I would like to object to the planning permission applied for by Tesco, I apologise for the lateness of this however the planning notice outside the store contains no date.

As a resident of the flats above I know myself and others in the building already suffer from the presence of Tescos. Currently most mornings their deliveries arrive at 7am often noisily. This is particularly an issue for myself as a student on exam days and also for many other residents who have been out the night before, disturbing much needed sleep and making the possibility of having a window open over night completely inpractacle.

An extension of opening hours, especially to 6am would cause this noise of deliveries to be earlier adding to the disruption in our area. These extra hours would also continue to cause parking problems in what is already a problematic area of the city to park in.

I hope you will take my comments and concerns into consideration when you make a decission on the application by Tesco.

Thank You

If you live in Edward Street Sheffield then please object to these plans, even if you don’t you can still voice concern whether you live in Sheffield or not…to do so hit the comments on the planning link (here)

01/16/09

Correspondance with Tesco: 2nd Response

The Tesco saga continues, a couple of days ago I received a response to my second letter to Tesco. If you don’t have a clue what my Tesco battle is all about I suggest you read the book Tescopoly and read the posts in my ‘Ethical Living’ category.

So here is my second letter from Tesco (click to enlarge)

tesco21
It’s nice that he acknowledged that the first letter was badly presented, however all he has really commented on within this letter is what he had effectively stated on the first letter. The comments he shared about suppliers and Tesco were very vague and the webpage he directed me too is fairly bog standard company jargon and as numerous recent reports on the ethics of Primark show it doesn’t matter what a company states on their website or what Ethical schemes they’ve signed up to because ultimately they can do whatever they like.

I don’t think I’m surprised there was no comment on the way they bully local councils because if I’m honest I don’t think there’s much they can say to justify their underhand techniques used to gain planning permission.

Since I wrote to them the second time they have applied to double the size of the Stallham store in Norfolk, the store has almost practically gutted the town centre and made it a ghost town, doubling the size of the store (which will ultimately happen as they bully the council) will finish off the town completely.

I do not intend on replying to Tesco, I don’t think they will share anything more than is publically available on their website and I very much doubt that John Leiper really knows what the company gets up to, I suspect he is just another customer services employee, there to quieten dissatisfied customers.

However this doesn’t mean that my writings to Tesco have been a waste of time, letting companies know your annoyance with them is always worth doing and you almost certainly get a reply because the appearance of good customer service is important to them although in practice companies like Tesco’s can afford to lose customers.

I am quite happily boycotting Tesco at the moment and intend on continuing to do so and I hope that more people will take this incentive with time.

01/4/09

Correspondance with Tesco: My Second Letter

Readers of this blog will know of my on going issues with Tesco which started by reading a book all about their practices and looking into some of their interesting tactics, this then led on to ‘Correspondance with Tesco Part 1‘ in which I wrote to them informing them that I would no longer be shopping at their stores.

Shortly after they responded with a reply to my original letter which I post under the title ‘Correspondance with Tesco: Response’. Finally I have replied to their letter with the following reply, attempting to challenge their silence on the issues with their practices I highlighted in my original letter.

Dear John,

Firstly I would like to thank you for your reply to my original letter dated 17th November. I was glad to read that I have now been taken out of your Tesco.com and Tesco Clubcard schemes.

However in response to your letter dated the 7th December (ref: 8878436) I would firstly like to comment that the concern and disappointment you expressed in your letter would have seemed more genuine had you took the time to proof read the letter, in particular the opening paragraph which informed me that you were disappointed to find that I would be taking my ‘customer’ elsewhere.

I felt that this obvious lack of time over a reply made my comments nothing more than a result of a customer complaint procedure rushed through in the hope of quietening a disappointed customer.

Secondly in my first letter I made reference to your practices including the methods used by yourselves to obtain planning permission and the treatment of your suppliers both in the UK and oversees, I was disappointed that you had merely brushed over these comments and not made any effort to explain your policies and reasons for the exploitation of local councils, suppliers and farmers. I would very much like to hear your side of things on this matter.

I shall look forward to reading your reply and hearing what you have to say on these matters and I hope you can take on board the importance of proof reading.

Yours Sincerely

Mark Tiddy

12/20/08

Correspondance with Tesco: Response

On the 20th November I wrote a letter to Tescos, a week later I posted it online under the title ‘Correspondance with Tesco’ informing the giant that I would be boycotting their shop. This post & comments made by blog readers led to my ‘Easy Ethical Shopping‘ post and last week I received a reply from Tesco!

However because the reply was in Hemsby and I was in Peterborough I only read the letter last night, so here it is! (click to enlarge)

Letter from Tesco

So there we have the response of Tesco, who are apparantly sad that I am taking my ‘customer’ else where…perhaps the letter would come across as more sincere had they bothered to proof read it.

There is no mention of my reasons for leaving them, no comment on my opinions of their practices or even denial.

However I am surprised to find they agreed to removing me from their system and it must have worked because I’ve received no e-mails from them in the last couple of weeks which is unusual.

I don’t think I’ve won against Tesco but nor did I expect to, a corporate giant like that cannot be beaten, however I still believe it’s important for every customer to have their opinion presented to companies, after all technially the customers needs should come first!

12/4/08

Easy Ethical Shopping?

Having spent some time reading all about Tesco the last month or so their bad practices have become something of a conversation point within my youth work. One young person asked ‘Mark, how am I meant to not shop at Tesco, there’s no-where else for miles!’ (I should add that I hadn’t told them all to boycott Tesco, was merely talking about them).

This young person raises an interesting point, in his neighbourhood there is a massive Tesco Extra and also a One-Stop (also owned by Tesco) so he has no choice of where to go on the way to school without taking a massive detour into the city centre and back…which would be ridiculous!

Laura also raises an interesting point on the comments to my ‘Correspondance with Tesco’ post. Laura mentions that for her and her husband shopping at Tesco is the best option, it’s closer, cheaper and the own brand ranges are of better quality than Asda. The issue of time when shopping around at numerous local retailers and transport was also mentioned in her comments.

These points both from the young person and Laura raise an interesting dilema. How is it possible for us to shop ethically in todays society? With all the current financial issues no-one wants to spend more than they have to and at the same time value for money is wanted.

Time is another big factor in ethical shopping particually for hard working couples or those with young families, the last thing they want to do is drag a stroppy toddler (or husband) around 6 different individual stores.

I’m not aiming with this blog to offer a solution but to offer some suggestions and thoughts on the subject.

Feeling

The average person will spend 6 months of their lives in supermarkets…now I don’t know how you feel but with the odd exception of Morrisons who’s fun ‘almost like a market place’ look amuses me supermarkets make me want to leave them almost as soon as I enter. The co-op foodstore is a little more bareable but still doesn’t keep my happiness for long…however my experience of Sheffield’s Indoor Market was positive…I casually wandered around the numerous stalls at my leisure and I wonder how much we take into account our enjoyment of shopping. So perhaps shopping where you’re happy is a big part of shopping!

Cost

The biggest factor for anyone when shopping is cost, you don’t want to pay more than you have to and it is commonly thought that out of the big 4 Tesco and Asda are the cheapest…to an extent this is true.

However statistically Asda is by far the cheapest supermarket, in the latest price matching exercise on mysupermarket the difference in prices between Tesco and Sainsbury only made Tesco cheaptest by about 15 products.

Another thing I noticed from Sheffield’s Indoor Market was price…you’d expect local retailers to be more expensive but you’d be wrong…often local butchers and fruit/veg stalls can be a lot cheaper than the supermarkets, for example a pack of 3 chicken breasts which would set me back £4 at Tesco even from their value range would set me back £2 at the Sheffield Market (although for Laura living in Norwich the travel to Sheffield to buy her chicken would cancel this out…and the rest!).

Quality

Linking in with cost the quality of products is also massive. Laura suggested that Asdas range of products were of poorer quality than Tesco…a lot of this is down to opinion but I think any supermarket’s value range manages to produce ‘polystyrene’ style breakfast cereal!

Time

The final factor is time…no matter how enjoyable it is wandering around a market the fact of life is that ‘you haven’t got all day’. Shopping often needs to be done quickly, often by a quick ‘pop’ into whichever supermarket you pass on the way home.

One thing I think that you cannot argue against is Laura’s point that shopping at individual stores does take a lot more time and so to make the committment to abandon your supermarket and go local is one that only a true hippy could manage.

So taking into account these factors I offer some ideas for ethical shopping!

Do At Least Something Local!

Perhaps you’re not quite hippy enough to abandon your supermarket however the main point of shopping in smaller retailers is about supporting your local economy…supermarkets bring very little into local economy often wiping out more jobs than they create…and any profit goes into the big shareholders pockets and not back into your neighbourhood

So if you’re lucky enough to have a local butcher perhaps start buying you’re meat there instead of one of the big 4, you’ll find that after a while you know the butcher, he’ll know what your usual is, he’ll remember that you don’t like the fatty bits on your bacon but you like your beef to drip blood like a sponge and importantly you’ll find it more enjoyable than your weekly grown down the aisles of Tesco before arriving at a checkout to find that a melon with no bar-code causes an extra 10 minute wait whilst you try and make idle conversation with the checkout assistant who has just hit puberty and can only just work out how to operate the convey-a-belt and till at once!

Ethical Shopping In Your Supermarket

No matter what websites say all supermarkets aim to put money into their shareholders which benefits rich businessment (other than Waitrose and The Co-op who are owned by their customers and staff) but there’s ways to shop ethically within your supermarket.

Buying Fairtrade bananas, coffee and tea is just as cheap at the regular so they’re a good place to start, if you have extra cash look out for other fairtrade products, avoid Nestle renound for their baby-harming practices and Maxwell House (owners of a tobacco company) and try and look out for local produce which hasn’t travelled for miles damaging the environment.

Time Saving…mail order!

My final suggestion will save you time in the aisles…many companies offer local, organic produce delivered to your door…the disadvantage is that often these are drastically overpriced (particually meat)…however look out for local farm shops and use them, often their produce is cheap and fresh!

Closing the post…

I guess this post has proven that there is elements of truth in Laura’s comments, that actually to shop ethically you need to have a little bit of extra time, although perhaps not extra cash! Abandoning the supermarkets for good is perhaps impossible but filling in forms requesting more local produce and more fairtrade items is something you can be doing.

Perhaps you can improve your weekly shop by looking out for the same check-out assistant…one of the biggest things we’ve lost by the increase of supermarkets and decrease of local shops is the ability to ‘get to know your butcher, baker, candlestick maker etc.’ so perhaps looking out for familar faces is a way to gain part of that lost community spirit back.

Most importantly though being aware of companies practices is worth doing, it’s worth thinking about the long term consequences and allows those with tight budgets to perhaps one day be able to shop more ethically.

Sorry for the ridiculously long post but hope it was worth the read!

11/27/08

Correspondence With Tesco Part 1

Readers of this blog will have noticed a link to a website called ‘Tescopoly’ in the links section for sometime now. The website aims to unite those against Tesco and the numerous appalling practices which they implement.

In the last month I’ve been reading Andrew Simms book ‘Tescopoly’ which looks in depth into the practices of Tescos and the problem with the store on many levels. Having read this book I’ve been shocked at the way which Tescos treat everyone from suppliers (who they dictate prices too) and people who work for them (who they allow to worship themselves like a god) right up to local councils who are practically bullied into granting planning permission for Tescos because of the threat of an expensive, legal planning permission process if they turn down Tesco.

As a result of this I have made the decision to boycott Tesco stores…the only other company who I avoid are Nestle (although readers could argue I also avoid SSG Shops however I feel that they don’t really have stores to avoid!). I have just finished packing my clubcard and keyfob into an envelope alongside a letter informing Tesco of my decision and asking to be removed from their systems.

I am writing to Tesco not because I feel I can change them alone but because if they have enough customers who don’t go for their appalling antics then maybe they’ll be forced to change in the long run…if nothing else I am curious at their response to my letter (which I may publish on the blog)… Will they try and persuade me to shop with them? Will they actually remove my data (or state that they have)? Will they even reply?

I don’t know but the bottom line for anyone who is dissatisfied with a shop is that unless you let them know then nothing will ever change…how many people avoid companies without telling them? If a company know you are avoiding them then surely that makes far more sense!

We live in a world where it’s difficult to shop anywhere but a supermarket, I was in Sheffield a couple of weeks back and loved wandering around the indoor market browsing the numerous butchers and fruit stalls, seeing a massive variety of produce compared to Tesco…a few days later I spent ten minutes in a Tescos and felt stressed and fed-up. Consumers (like yourselves) have a choice, we always have a choice, if we didn’t use Tesco they wouldn’t exist, if we don’t campaign against new stores in our areas then they will ultimately take away our choice, taking away every independent shop from our local towns and villages. So think carefully about your shopping habits…think about whether you want a world of Tescos because that’s what we’ll get…if they wipe out all competition then does price matter? They can charge whatever they like…and already do in their ‘Metro’ stores where prices increase when there aren’t other shops in the locality!

Anyway here is my letter to Tesco

Dear Sir/Madam,
In recent months I have been looking into several aspects of your company including the data kept from the use of Tesco Clubcards, the methods which yourselves use to obtain planning permission for stores, the treatment of those involved in your supply line both in this country and oversees and the customer service experience I have personally come across in your stores. To be perfectly honest after this research I am appalled by the practices of your business and treatment of customers, employees, local councils and suppliers.


As a result of my findings I am writing to you to inform you that I will no longer be using your stores either for personal or work use (I should explain that as a youth worker I regularly run residentials for young people which require large shops to cater for), I am also including in this letter my Tesco Clubcard and Key Fob and request that I am removed from your Clubcard scheme, that my online account linked to my clubcard (under the e-mail e-mail address removed) is also removed and that I no longer receive any form of mailing from yourselves.


I appreciate that with the number of your stores in existence avoiding your stores may be difficult but it is something I am prepared to go out of my way to do.


Alongside the information I have been reading on your stores (including Andrew Simms book ‘Tescopoly’) my recent experience of customer services in your stores has been less than helpful. In my most recent (and what shall remain my most recent visit) I aimed to purchase some Fireworks and some shopping but was informed by one of your employees that I was unable to pay for both at once. When I explained that by purchasing these items together I would be applicable for a 5p off fuel voucher under your current promotion I was told that I couldn’t pay for both fireworks and shopping at once and would therefore not be able to benefit from your promotion (as a result I purchased Fireworks from an alternative vendor).


It is on that rather poor experience of customer services that I shall close my letter. I will look forward to hearing from you, if nothing else confirming that my Clubcard membership has been cancelled. I sincerely hope that in the future your company will begin to think about the best for your suppliers, employees and customers rather than your own profits.

09/25/08

Faith & Ethical Banking

The credit crunch, breakdown of banks and merging of Halifax and Lloyds TSB seems to have dominated our news the last few weeks…alongside this it seems to be becoming more and more ‘fashionable’ to recycle plastic bags…buy cotton bags instead of using plastic bags and living life in a more ethical manner.

Last year I transferred my bank accounts over to Smile (The Co-op Bank) from Natwest (crapwest) for two main reasons…firstly Natwest were annoying me and secondly the Co-op has a very clear ethical policy which includes making sure that they do not invest in the arms trade, businesses involved in animal testing or goverments/businesses do not support human rights.

Amongst this they also do not invest in companies which have a bad impact on the environment or business which are involved in genetic modifications.

Since this move I have been pondering the implications of ethical banking as a Christian, should there be a link between the bank/building society we use and our faith?

The answer I’ve concluded is yes…let me explain.

If we accept that as Christians the impact of Christ is meant to effect every aspect of our lives then part of our lives is our money and investments. If a Christian operates a business you’d expect them to treat their customers and staff in a way which would reflect the way Christ treated everyone.

The same way (in my opinion) if as Christians we can make sure that we can reflect these views and morals Jesus set out within our banking and investment principals then we should. If we decide that as a Christian war is wrong then is it right to be investing in the arms trade through our banking?

I know that it’s impossible to know what the big high-street banks like Lloyds, Halifax, HSBC, Barclays and Natwest do with our money but it is possible to know what certain banks such as The Co-operative bank, Smile and Triodos don’t do with our money.

So I put it to you that as Christians Christ should be the centre of every aspect of our lives right from the way we treat people up to the way in which we shop and bank.

Remember banking is important to Jesus…’Jesus saves!’