You'll probably find that Tesco is just the tip of the iceberg.
Who do you think pumps out thousands of those oh so pretty replica football shirts for around £40 each when they cost around a fiver to produce?
They certainly don't have 'Made in Britain' on them, but then again, what does?

I do agree with you BW. But it is the same arguement as when people tell me to shop in farmers markets and local shops. Within a 20 mile radius there are two farmers markets a month and I go to both of them. There are no local shops apart from Tescos ones. There are three, yes three major Tescos in a five mile radius. I have virtually no choice. I try to drive to Waitrose but suspect they are, in reality, little better than Tescos. Help???

krip - exactly... and 'made in Britain' is no assurance that things are either - regulations are such that simple repackaging or secondary assembling can allow for that misleading term to be used.

ew - same position with Tesco round here... sadly it's gone so far now and for some reason (that I can fathom but apparently the planning authorites can't) it seems unstoppable. Round here the corner shops are even reselling Tesco milk because they can go to Tesco, buy it, and resell it (even taking into account their transport costs) more cheaply than they can buy milk from dairies.

So where do you suggest we shop?

I have no transport - partly because running a car would be financially difficult for us, and partly because I do not wish to add to either the traffic or pollution problems to which we are subject - so have to shop within walking distance from home (heh, and you try carrying home 24 tins of catfood in a rucksack on your back every couple of weeks!) I use my local butcher for our meat shopping, but the nearest place other than Tesco or Sainsbury's that I can buy organic foodstuffs and environmentally friendly goods (Ecover washing products, Natracare personal products etc) is two return busrides away through a dodgy part of town. As it is I usually buy the non-Tesco brands of organic food at Tesco in any case. And when it comes to clothes, with rare exceptions (shoes and underwear, mainly) only Kai gets bought new clothing: Ken and I buy second-hand and always have done.

You can probably understand, therefore, why I find it offensive to have it suggested that I'm a hypocrite for shopping at Tesco while having a MPH banner on my blog. Much as I would love to have the time and luxury to grow my own food/use alternatives to supermarkets, I don't - I have to do the best I can under my personal circumstances.

Absolutely agreed, but that is not to denigrate the Make Poverty History campaign. They would be the first to tell you the same thing. They have never claimed to be the solution, merely a part of it.

The problem is that in theory pure capitalism should work, but pure capitalism, like pure communism, is unworkable because it doesn't take into account greed and selfishness which are part of human nature.

Joules - as Alan implies, it is all about awarerness raising.

I honestly think that many people have absolutely no idea about the sourcing, marketing and exploitation that are behind many products on sale.

If, as a result of this piece, I make just one person think differently about where they buy and what they buy, then I'll have done a good job.

You, I'm sure, are already very well aware of the issues, and I know from your blog that you believe in local shopping, where possible.

What concerns me most is that very soon there will be no choice left. Tesco's, in particular, have ways round the wishes of local communities and planning laws. The more this issue is aired, the more people will be aware, and the more people will start to question when a covert monopoly is an overt monopoly and needs stopping.

Hear hear BW I've been saying the same thing and trying very hard to talk with my wallet whilst erdoing my home. It is NOT easy to find things not made in the Far East. Costco, Wal*Fart and accordingly S@m's club are all just buying freighter loads of it and shipping it here. It's a matter of do what you can and buy local where you can and vocalizing to local shops that you would be happy to pay a bit more for things that come from your own country.

I work for a large multinational who preech they have a green policy, and yet they close hundreds of local offices and make workers travel unecessarily long distances simply to cut their overheads and boost their profits at the expense of the workers.
They have now laid off as many workers as they can, and they are now taking on low paid workers in Bangalor and Puna.
This is happening everywhere in the UK.
Workers are systematically exploited and used and pressured more and more in the name of increased profit. The most frustrating thing is the bare faced lies these actions are wrapped up in. They use fancy names like 'outsourcing','downsizing'and 'restructuring'.
Capitalism approaching full flow !!
Get ready to duck.

God! This all sounds so familiar. Our biggest threat to locals in austin and the surrounding areas is "big box" retail (i.e; Wal-Mart ) they get tax breaks and incentives to come here and provide jobs...jobs with minimal pay and a loophole to get out of providing benefits (if you work 36 hours a week you qualify for benefits...so...you work 34...bastards!)
Just like Canned Heat used to sing...it's the same all over.
meh.

Every little helps.
Tesco are only unstopable as long as they give people what they want.
I blame Barbara Windsor.

Corollary, DrD: Tesco's are unstoppable as long as people keep believing that what they want what Tesco provides.

Tesco provides a very large choice at low prices, all packaged in a relatively convenient format. It is a big decision involving a lot of extra cash from the budget of people who are probably already spending most of their income on housing.

I suspect that Tesco and their ilk are part of a much larger spending profile, and similarly in other parts of the world where housing represents a very significant part of household income.

My personal beef is not how people choose to spend their spare money on sustenance, although you raise a very good point, but that it now takes virtually a whole person's salary to service the mortgage on a shoebox.

Please insert "Moving away from that" at the start of "it is a big decision". It makes more sense like that.

Yep, mainly I agree.

As dr.D says, every little helps but ultimately, as the "Make Poverty History" campaign acknowledges aid and debt relief are not enough to solve the ultimate problem. It can save lives in the short term but will not solve the underlying problem.
They also cite Trade as an important... sadly this was the element which was almost totally dismissed at the G8 yet it is almost certainly the most important. Until the Third World are able to trade fairly with the first world the problem will remain. And although those eight men could have done a lot to alleviate this trade imbalance, as you suggest, ultimately if we continue to buy the cheap stuff that Tescos are their ilk offer us then we are perpetuating the unfair trade.

Fair Trade shouldn't end with Fair Trade Coffee and Green & Blacks Chocolate (mmm, chocolate) it needs to be in everything we buy. Which will mean paying more. Which is why it's so hard to sell as an idea, particularly to those who don't have much in the first place.

I don't shop at Tescos for many reasons, not least of which is that any capitalist organisation that gets too much market share will abuse that position (see comments above about pure capitalism - if pure capitalism worked, then there would be no need for competition laws preventing monopolies).

The trouble with all of this is that it is virtually impossible to know who is 'doing the right thing'. Unless there is a list somewhere, how do I know where retailers are sourcing their goods? Hoestly, is there a list? I hope there is.

I think a lot of it depends on what you consider to be "doing the right thing", Katherine. Personally I think the Fair Trade Organisation is a step in the right direction.... according to their website, you can even find their badged stuff in Tescos (never go there myself so I wouldn't know) though I think there's probably a wider range in Waitrose or the Co-Op.

Indeed, therein lies the problem. I know about the Fair Trade labelled stuff, but that only seems to cover (n most retailers anyway) coffee, tea and chocolate.

What about clothes? If I buy some clothes from, say, Mango, is there any way I can find out whether that was made by a worker in a sweatshop or not? The only time you ever seem to hear about these things are in highly publicised campaigns (a la Nike).

If there is ever a chance of 'fair trade' rather than 'free trade' becoming widespread, then someone (who?) has to decide what fair trade is and also tell us punters who is doing it. Otherwise we have to buy (a) nothing or (b) anything and not worry about it since there's nothing to be done. And most people choose (b).

I've obviously been wrapped up in my own little world, as I thought things like sweatshops were mainly a thing of the past, especially for big retailers.

I think that there should be, as you say Katherine, a list somewhere with the details of such things.

Are there people in the UK who already have this knowledge squirreled away but have no way of sharing it with people other than via word of mouth?

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk list a small selection of products, but would it not be better to list places you *shouldn't* shop too?

Who knows if my NameBrand T-Shirt from Retailer-X is made in decent conditions with decent pay or in a sweatshop?

I've had a look on Google and I can't really find anything other than listings of local shops who sell fair trade goods.

I would be happy to host a site where people could list chain retailers they know are not playing fair and also praise retailers who *are*. Would there be any demand for such a thing?