They are already working with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and have an ethical policy on their website.  My letter aims to encourage them in the efforts they are already making to safeguard their workers' rights, however I have asked them some questions as well:

In which countries are clothes produced for Boden?
Generally speaking, what percentage of the retail price of a garment goes to the worker who made it?
How do you determine how much to pay workers?
Do your workers have a contract with you and know that they can rely on a steady level of income?
Do you pay your workers in cash or through a bank; do they have the opportunity to save money in a bank account that earns interest?
About cotton: Are you able to determine the conditions and pay that workers in the cotton factories are given? How about the cotton pickers?
Does Boden have its own factories and how often does it visit them and that of its sub-contractors?

Once I receive a reply it will appear on this webpage under 'Responses'. 

I am still waiting for replies from Asda/George and Adams - it has been almost three weeks now!  Next have sent me a fantastic reply that was very detailed, you can find it on the 'Next' page under 'Responses'.

SportCity Living and Asda have both given me a lot of information to work with and I thank them for their co operation.

It is just testament to the type of people they are that they even took time to not only reply to my email but provide a series of attachments.

I must now decipher the relevant parts of the information and see which of the best ones can fit into the article.

After that I will begin collecting some more personal articles from local members of the community, but anyone who has a view on whether the credit crunch will cripple the prosperity of the present and future generations; or has seen the effects of it should email me with what they have to say at: samsondada@gmail.com

It is no surprise then that last week, discount stores Aldi and Lidl announced substantial growth in like for like sales. The weekend saw a "price war" between Tesco and Asda as they tried to lend a helping hand and attract consumers already struggling with rising fuel prices and energy bills by slashing prices of everyday items by as much as 50 percent in some cases. Consumers are increasingly beginning to shop around with some using price comparison sites like mySupermarket.co.uk looking for better deals rather than just relying on one retailer. Other retailers like Sainsbury and Morrisons are also reducing prices and might also be forced to join the war by reducing prices in order to retain their customers.

A mother who wanted to give a birthday cake to her son featuring a photo of him as a baby was forced to have it censored because it showed his bottom.

I want to stress that he's 21, yet the staff at the Asda where she tried to get the cake made said it would be 'pornographic'. Excuse me? Has the world actually shifted on its axis? That makes no sense whatsoever, but it's hardly an isolated incident and it illustrates sociologist Frank Furedi's new report 'Licensed to Hug''s claim that British society no longer trusts adults to interact with children.

Dominic Lawson suggests that this mentality went out of control after the 2002 Soham murders, but it was prevalent long before. Remember newsreader Julia Somerville getting arrested for getting photos developed of her daughter having a bath? Complete madness on the face of it, but Alan Levy, QC said at the time:

"This tests the law as to what we consider indecent. What it must really rely on is common sense. If you are taking naked pictures of a seven-year-old, which seems older than usual, you are playing with fire - not because you are necessarily doing anything indecent, but because it might be construed that way."

Does this then presume that there needs to be common sense on both sides of this question? Lawson is quite right in implying that the main danger of going down the path of having to security check literally everyone who might have unsupervised contact with a child, is that we deny our own judgment, our own responsibility for risk assessing who is a danger and who isn't. And Tim Gill points out:

I think people want communities where, by and large, trust is assumed – where children naturally have everyday encounters with a diverse group of adults, and where they in turn grow up feeling confident and capable, and that they have a place in the wider world. So we should be very wary indeed of systems that foster mistrust, anxiety and fear and that over-regulate interactions between children and adults.

And his implicit other point is equally valid - that we aren't teaching children and young people to risk assess with any amount of skill themselves. However, a CRB check on Ian Huntley would have stopped him getting the job which gained him the trust of the two girls he murdered. But most children are most in danger from people they already know - chiefly family members - normally far removed from the Criminal Records Bureau. Lawson adds:

They (CRB checks) have increasingly become a sort of badge of reliability and even respectability, taking over from the normal human processes of judgement, intuition and common sense.

Indeed. And they of course won't pick up anyone who might already have been guilty of abuse, yet not convicted of it, and Frank Furedi reminds us that:

The alleged protective effects of a system of vetting are largely illusory. Aside from the fallibility of record-keeping and technical systems, vetting takes into account only what somebody has done in the past. The most sophisticated system in the world cannot anticipate how individuals with a clean record might behave. Thus, the CRB provides little guidance about people's behaviour in the future.

He goes on to say:

The most regrettable outcome of the new child protection policies associated with vetting is the distancing of intergenerational relationships. They foster a climate where adults feel uneasy about acting on their healthy intuition and feel forced to weigh up whether, and how, to interact with a child. Such calculated behaviour alters the quality of that interaction. It no longer represents an act founded on doing what a mentor feels is right - it is an act influenced by calculations about how it will be interpreted by others, and by anxieties that it should not be misinterpreted.

And that's how we get to the stage of tourists getting threatened by police for taking photographs involving children in public, where a mother of a 21 year old gets told her photograph of him as a baby is 'pornographic', and where we now have the Independent Safeguarding Authority on top of the Criminal Records Bureau. From next October

Instead of just having their records checked, all teachers, nursery staff and youth workers will be required to register with a new agency, the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) at the cost of £64.

Ministers have also decided that thousands of other adults should pay for the ISA ‘seal of approval’ including, most recently, parents who have overseas students to stay under school exchange programmes.

In total, 11.3 million adults will have to be vetted, according to the latest estimate from the Department for Children, Schools and Families and contained in the new report.

This is just ridiculous - it's a moral panic freed up to the point of paranoia. I agree with Furedi that this is borderline insanity. The benefits of keeping what few Ian Huntleys there may be remaining, who pose a significant and measurable threat to children and young people, are surely outweighed by the yet deeper institutionalisation of this alienation between generations. Even Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, the Executive Director of volunteering charity CSV says:

“CRB checks are already reducing people's willingness to volunteer through their intrusion and delays. Checks of any kind are only part of the process, moreover, most child abusers have no criminal record. Eternal vigilance is needed to protect vulnerable people.”

The days of common sense, teaching kids to risk-assess and indeed relying on 'eternal vigilance are out of the window with New Labour, whose solutions here are yet again authoritarian. Furedi says:

"While you do not yet need a licence to parent your own children, you certainly need a licence to interact with anybody else’s. Before they can be counted on to lay a positive role in children’s lives, adults today have to be in possession of a piece of paper showing they are not likely to be a malign and dangerous influence. Implicitly, the licensing of adulthood undermines its authority. Adulthood no longer possesses authority over children -- it requires the legitimation of a security check.”

I wish his analysis were wrong.

graffiti art photographed in Leake Street tunnel, Waterloo last Saturday

Read more at:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article4208031.ece

To celebrate Sue's birthday, we went to the Fernleaf Cantonese restaurant not far from where we live. I like it in there. The staff are very friendly and warm. The food is lovely. We had Peking Duck for starters. The duck was gorgeous and it was fun making up the pancake rolls. The main course was equally lovely. Sue, Baz and I shared four dishes. We had Cantonese style pork. I really liked that; it was probably my favourite. The flavour was lovely but it's the texture that really appealled. It's chewy. I like chewy. We also had seafood combination chow mein. With squid. I like squid. But I get nervous eating it. In case I choke. I didn't choke. I was pleased. We also had a beef dish which is my usual choice and always good. And house special fried rice. With allsorts in it.

Emma had omelette of the chicken variety. She enjoyed it a lot. She says she would definately order it again. It did look nice.

The food was good. The company was good. The conversation was good. We chatted about all sorts of things.

We went back to our house and ate cake I made earlier in the day. Sue blew out the candle while we sang happy birthday. I presume she made a wish although I couldn't be sure. Then Baz blew out the candle. We didn't sing happy birthday though. Then it was my turn. Nobody sang and I didn't make a wish. Jeanette, who just happened to appear briefly at the right moment, took her turn. And finally Emma, who informs me that she didn't make a wish either. We ate the chocolate bunny rabbit cake. I liked it. I do like Asda's 74p chocolate muffin mix. And the extra chocolate, the chocolate spread and finally the chocolate frosting merely adds to the appeal. The sunshine was safely boxed up to take home along with these. And the pink bunny couldn't handle all the excitement and had a little cigarette to calm down.

All in all, I think we all had a lovely evening. I know I did. I hope Sue did. HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR TOMORROW SUE xxxxx

"Mmmm yum" not exactly what springs to mind!

The definition of 'Yummy' could be described as extremely pleasing to the sense of taste... so therefore I think its fair to say, Fosters = 'Yum'. All Joking aside, why do this to yourself? My house mate Dan used to live off the Asda's own brand 8p noodles and used to pride himself in informing me how much time and money he was saving to pursue greater activities, I can assure you that these activities involved no books, not surprisingly really, not exactly the best kind of brain food. It was confirmed to me that Dan (bless him) needed to change his diet on a Christmas dinner shopping trip to the Supermarket, when he asked me if we needed any "Mag-ne-tout" referring to mangetout.

So i know all students are on a budget and can't often justify spending large amounts of already limited dinero, but i ensure you, that this doesn't have to be the case...I implore you to kick the habit of pot noodles and other such nastys! "But Porkchop" i hear you cry, "I simply don't have the time" to that i reply - Bullshit,get in that kitchen!

(The Ulster American Folk Park basically shows the migration of the Northern Irish to America in the 1700s and 1800s because of the Great Famine, etc etc. A Wikipedia entry may provide a more useful summary.)

We couldn't resist.

We are in front of the US map, and we're showing the far-reaching distances between California and Pennsylvania ... more than two arms length away! (which is seriously about the size of puny Northern Ireland ... just kidding - it's a little more than that). Also, note the shirt that I'm wearing (I love it, I have to mention this) - it is my Brooke Waggoner shirt, and you all have to check her out because she is one of the most amazing musicians ever (she also happens to be a good friend's sister, but that's besides the point...)! Seriously, give her a listen, and you will fall in love with her! (I'm just sharing the love). And her EP is free for download on her website!

Oh Ashleigh Craig, why do you look so worried (with gum in your mouth)?

Photographs of Photographs

Sisters in front of our humble abode.

And this one is our vacation home (and goodness, whose stroller is that? Who is leaving their kids all in our front yard?).

And this is our spinner, named Dora (I made that one up - doesn't she look like a Dora?). But yes, basically, in all of these houses, they have real people (yes real, not fake) who are supposed to play the part of the 18th century woman and make the folk park all interactive and stuff ...

Piles and piles of yarn. Of very soft quality.

We watched her spin until we became dizzy.

We entered a church and sat in the pews. This picture was taken by this Spanish dude, whom I spoke to in Spanish. Yes! After a year of not using Spanish, it finally came in handy in Northern Ireland, of all places.

There were also random livestock / creatures roaming around, like this rooster (with very pretty colors). The colors remind me of the sweater I wore on Day 6.

I can never tell the difference between duck and geese. Here for example. I think are ducks.

Seriously one of my favorite pictures of this batch. Two white elliptical lumps, soft and furry with a single eye glaring out into nothing. How can you not love that?

Quite a merry bunch, I have to say.

Good views.

Ashleigh and her future house (her fiance's name is Nathan Campbell, if that slipped by any of you). What a dainty place to live.

Always have to get the blurry bug shot.

I laugh every time I see this picture. The bonnet is ridiculous, though I'm sure it was very stylish and a-la-mode back in the 1700s...

The Ulster American Folk Park actually constructs whole streets and town-like settings to reconstruct history - very interesting.

Printing press.

White on dirty white.

My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty..

Our... outhouse.

The overly anachronistic nature of this photograph scares me a little. I officially name her Willa. This is a real person by the way, not a wax statue, though that is what this may look like.

What is that pig doing? Little peeping tom, that pig is. (Really stunk over here)

Miss Piggle Wiggle (or Mister), you are such a bully.

After spending quite a few hours at that park, we finally made our way to Enniskillen and found Dave's house! (4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, dining room, and kitchen for a grand total of... 1 person!) It's a really nice, homey, and cozy place - love the whole retro, 50s thing that's going on with the decor inside.

Had to go to ASDA (some offspring of Walmart, but a lot better, in my opinion) to pick up our dinners and whatnot (I bought Jaffa Cakes, which actually got destroyed on my flight back ... pathetic).

And we cooked our supper. Pasta. Very basic.

See those amazing placemats? 1 pound a piece, according to Davey Watt.

La ensalada con tomates. No me gustan los tomates (except salsa!).

Amanda had a pasta sandwich. Ha. Very clever.

We break our bread and make merry.

Totally bumming it.

Representing the California-ness of Northern Ireland ... I don't know Dave, I'm not really feeling it.

Dave took us over to Alan's house, which is in between Enniskillen and Fivemiletown. Seeing his car, with this distinctive license plate (love it) totally triggered a whole storm of memories from last summer. Of all things, a license plate ...

Funny thing is that his other car's license plate RHYMES. How perfect.

He served us lots of tea and biscuits. Yum.

This is where me and Amanda crashed. In Dave's soon-to-be "music room." We had his little inflatable mattress; kind of bum life, but very comfortable.

I am struck by a curious line in their ethical policy "So how can we bring you such great value? Well there's one big difference between us and the rest of the high street, many of whom share the same factories as us - we are not greedy when it comes to profit margins." (www.george.com/pdf/ethical_code.pdf)

In my letter I have suggested that perhaps they should be a little more greedy so that they can contribute more to the communities their workers come from.  Asda are renowned for their cheap school uniforms, perhaps if they charged a little more on each item they could build a school for their workers' children in India for instance.  Would be great PR for them too!

 Alright, so we all go shopping and almost everyone uses a broken assed hop along trolley. I'm sure that we all know how to use them but who can actually drive one? I don't mean who can push one of these around a packed Tesco or Morrisons and knock stuff off the shelves while smashing fuck outta my ankles. That doesn't constitute driving. Fuck, I can tell people I can sing but I'm sure as shit that no one wants to hear it.

 So my idea, after I over throw the government, make bacon cheaper and get rid of that gay ass semi-skimmed milk, I'm gonna introduce the Highway code to ALL retail establishments. How you all like that shit?

 The rules would be pretty much similar to the highway code but re-worded as thus:

DO NOT stop or park

• near the fucking entrance, blocking the door 
• anywhere you would prevent access for basket carriers 
• at or near a chilled stock trolley
• on the approach to a special offer/reduced goods 
• opposite or within 10 metres (32 feet) of a junction, except in an authorised descision making zone 
• near the brow of a hill or trolley crossing
• opposite a special offer or (if this would cause an obstruction) another parked trolley
• where you would force other traffic to enter a staff only area 
• where the aisle has been widened to help wheelchair users and powered mobility vehicles
• in front of an entrance to an aisle 
• on a bend
• where you would obstruct a checkout designated for basket only shoppers except when forced to do so by stationary trolleys
  (section 238-252 of the shopaisle code)

See, that part is user friendly.. you all know what I'm talking about now! It would be a world of sanity. Hers a few other changes:

• Lane markings
• No 'U' turns
• Traffic Lights
• Give way signs
• Roundabouts
• Junctions

The laws would be slightly different than the normal PLG license, where you can APPLY for a shopping trolley license OVER the age of 15 and UNDER the age of 60. If you commit a shopping code violation, then you will get points on your license. If you accumulate more than X amount of points within a given time period then you have you trolley license revoked and forced to be a basket carrier. I don't give a fuck if you've gotta do a months shopping for a family of six.. You better bring them kids and their pals, cause you're gonna need alotta baskets!

 Senior citizens (over 50) will operate under the 'I dont give a fuck' section, whereas they get one chance... ONE CHANCE and if they fuck up.. better bring the grand kids next time, or grow some fucking arms!

People who stand there behind the dude with a handful of items in a trolley and COUNT every item then remark to their spouse "He's got 12 items and he's in the 10 or less aisle" will be taken outside and beaten with a big fucking stick!

For updates on my world domination and making the supermarkets safer places, please subscribe to my bi-weekly newsletter which you can find at www.DontBeACuntAtTesco.com

By Douglas Walker

A DOPEY bus driver who crashed a busy double-decker after blowing his nose at the wheel is claiming unfair dismissal.

David Patton, 47, was sacked after his packed vehicle careered out of control down a busy road before eventually slamming into a bus stop.

The father-of-two claims he passed out after using his hanky but should not have been fired for his poor driving.

Patton, from Edinburgh, woke up to find his front windscreen lying on top of him after he had crashed into a bus stop.

He said: “I had a cold at the time and I gave my nose a good blow.  I set off and then I blacked out.

“When I came to, the windscreen had come in on top of me and the bus was shaking.

“One of the passengers came rushing down to make sure I was all right.  The bus had travelled about 30 or 40 yards down the road so I must have blacked out.”

Patton was later sacked by Lothian Buses for his poor standard of driving but maintains he had previously never been faulted during his 20 years in the job.

He has now decided to take the company to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal.

He said: “They can’t just sack me because I blew my nose and blacked out.  They don’t believe I blacked out and are making a monkey of me.

“They were out to get me because I am the type of person who stands up for himself.  I am not interested in money - I just want my name cleared.

“I have been told many times that I am an excellent driver.  As soon as I got in the cab that was my office and I was like clockwork.

“If they wanted to get rid of me on medical grounds then fair enough, but not for the standard of my driving.”

Patton said he had undergone an operation to remove a cancerous lump a few months before the accident, which happened in November last year, and had been suffering a cold.

He insists he has had a blackout since then and his health is under investigation by doctors.

He can no longer get work driving buses and is working at Asda at weekends.

A spokeswoman for the employment tribunals service confirmed it had a record of the case but said no date had yet been set.

Mr Patton was facing prosecution on a charge of careless driving but the case has now been dropped.

George McKendrick, Lothian Buses’ operations manager, said: “This particular case is subject to an industrial tribunal and therefore we cannot comment on any claims made by Mr Patton as it would be prejudicial towards its outcome.”

By CHRISTOPHER LEAKE

Supermarkets are rationing rice in some stores after panic-buying by customers worried about a global shortage.

Retailers including Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Lidl have introduced quotas for the staple food, which has increased in price worldwide by 70 per cent in a year.

It is believed to be the first time major stores have limited purchases of such foodstuffs since sugar and bread were restricted in the Seventies because of strikes by producers.

http://urlet.com/insufficient.mortgage

Normally I'm more accustomed to the hustle 'n' bustle of shopping at the traditional hours of business,  last night saw a break from that trend and me head toward the retail colossus that is Asda at Cribbs Causeway. More often than not, I try to avoid shopping at such an ungodly hour (12.00am) as I'd far rather be tucked up in bed with a nice brew. Primarily I avoid it because I assume that late at night is when murderers and lunatics do there shopping, as well as the predictable selection of inebriated social inbreds and Chavs, most of whom are readily accompanied by annoying, tricked-out shit-boxes with 13 year old girls in the passenger seat - girls that look more like the 'Bratz' than they do actual human beings. My recent trip to Asda did not disappoint on any of the aforementioned.

Firstly, why would I willingly shop there at such a time knowing all the above? Well, kids - I didn't have any choice in the matter. I was intending to hit the Mall at a respectable hour in order to shop for Olivia's 21st Birthday present. Instead, I decided to play a game I like to call 'fall asleep in front of the telly at 5.30pm then wake up at 9.00pm when everywhere is shut'. What a prick. Once I finished calling myself a whole host of colourful names, I was left with Asda as the only option left to me. In the interest of procrastination, I buggered about a bit before heading out of the house at around 11.45, blasting it down the M5 and arriving at just after 12.00am.

Upon the very second I reached the car park, I was greeted with the sight of Chavs. Barely literate, gibbering retards all of whom finished each and every sentence with either the word 'safe' or 'innit' - sometimes both. I tried to avoid eye contact, or to be found casting my eye over the barely-legal hussies hanging of their every belch in case I became the latest victim of a stab attack. With that obstacle cleared, I headed indoors to find Liv something nice. The place was desolate, like the opening of Vanilla Sky when Tom Cruise runs around Time Square in a dream. The only people about where the shelf-stackers. They can be a peculiar bunch, they either take their job way too seriously (I saw one guy stack 'Hob Nobs' on the biscuit shelf with the kind of precision a geometric scientist would be proud of), or they look as if they'll kill the first person that speaks to them - something I wisely chose to avoid.

I have to admit, it was oddly liberating to have such freedom of movement in a supermarket, and if it wasn't for the feeling of being an outsider I would of quite enjoyed the whole thing. Sadly it was spoilt by social outcasts and one diminutive Asian gentleman who appeared to be following me around the store carrying a basket filled only with Cheese - they guy had a serious problem with Cheese by all accounts. Every corner I turned he was the there, with a look on his face that either meant he had terrible wind, or he was plotting to disembowel me at the first opportunity. Needless to say, this meant a sharp exit was on the cards, so I picked a couple of things I hoped Liv would like and walked briskly to the checkout, looking over my shoulder for small, scary Asian men as I went. The final hurdle was the self-serve checkouts.

I fucking HATE self-serve checkouts.

Is it just me, or do they never work? Why do they have to have the most annoying, shrill female voice talking you through the options? Why is it that no matter how slowly you scan the items in your basket they don't register? After 5 minutes of trying, and reaching the point of homicidal fury myself, a kind woman came to my rescue. She scanned my items for me, whilst I stood by looking pretty foolish indeed. Bags full, items payed for (Except the bottle of Coke Zero, which didn't scan and I got for free - don't tell Asda) I left for home, vowing never to return again at the same time.

The best analogy I have for Asda at night is to think of playing the 'Resident Evil' games - fiendish puzzles and fighting off hordes of Zombies and creatures of evil.

You certainly need your wits about you.

Price: 8.93