JTaylor

Spare a thought for these poor souls:

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddes...as-decorations

Still, could be worse, they could be making iPhones.

dpb

Yes makes you realise what a fragile thread we cling to in this life

Well most of us.


I haven't indulged in any fresh tat at all this year I'm afraid

JTaylor

Being incredibly righteous and with us having gargantuan social consciences, the missus and I get all of our decs' from craft fairs. Alas, they don't sell iPhones at craft fairs.

Turbohot

I don't blame you. I don't quite understand why people have to buy new decs every year. Even when I've had cats that make a right mess of my Christmas stuff, I've only bought Christmas decs about 3 or 4 times since 1991. I never changed the whole lot, it's just that I bought some pretty ones e.g. some funky window trees, straw-made bell decoration, reindeer etc to add to what I already had remaining. The best looking ones have been the fairly traded decs from Oxfam and a few delicate glass ones from a local craft fair. I made a few stained glass angels myself as well as painted a few on other textures. I like to be surrounded by the angels; at least around this time of the year.

I started to buy a real Christmas tree a few years ago. One day, the piney smell of it made my breathing so uneasy that I had to chuck it out. By then, all days of Christmas were officially over, so no regrets, they only hurt. I now have a large plasticated Christmas tree. It always broke my heart to make my real Christmas tree homeless after selfishly 'using' it for the season anyway. Unfortunately my garden area didn't not allow me to plant each and everyone of them.

In summary, I keep using my Christmas decs over and over every year. I find it a complete waste of money to buy the decs every year when you only use them for a month at the max per annum.

I also see that those tinsels are going less and less bushy as the years pass. The 15-20 year old tinsels I have are superb quality and they're as thick as the elephant's trunk. The ones I see these days in shops are pathetically thin and tacky looking rat tails.

Re. the core topic, good article by the Guardian. Good timing.

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

Maybe slave labour to the guardian readers but in china it's actually creating jobs and a living wage which the reporter doesn't Mention
We have a place in Cebu phillipnes and we paid £3 a day for a builder and £2 for labourers
Living wage is £15-£20 a week amd people still survive
Although rents in rough /most parts of the cities are £20 a month sometimes you have 4/5 wage earners in the same house hold which share the costs of food so they all survive on a daily basis and continue having children

If there was no low paid work in Asia. And other third world countries people would die of hunger
Workers are not hard to get and people are lucky to get jobs even though they are long hours and hard work
h+S isn't a priority over there amd unions are unheard of

The reason of mass cheap production over there is the European countries want xmas decorations under a quid
Fairtrade is a great policy for giving food producers an extra small percentage to reinvest but it will never spread to non food items ans there is too many factories in Asia chasing the product buyers from overseas who want the best price to satisfy the European market and greed of the shoppers

warrenm2

Don't let facts get in the way! Its capitalist exploitation of the poor if you don't mind!

JTaylor

It is capitalist exploitation of the poor and I feel for them. Lordharding says their plight is necessary, and yes it is if one can't see an alternative to gross consumerism. Lordharding implies that if they didn't work these jobs they'd die, well one could make the same point about slavery. I certainly don't have all of the answers on this, but what I do know is that globalisation has big winners and big losers; the former get to buy their cheap tat without it making a dent in their accounts whilst the latter put in twelve hour shifts in atrocious conditions just so they can survive. I just think it's worth sparing a thought for them next time we're stuffing our trolleys full of junk before doing the same to our bellies and our minds. There but for the grace of God go I.

Turbohot

Certainly, yet a thought provoking article by the Guardian. Slave labour does exist and working conditions can be appalling. Living wage is ok, but more humanity to offer better working conditions wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Yes, Fairtrade is a great policy, and its application on non-food items has proven to be difficult. But the efforts go on, and the hope lives on.