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Working out how to vote: Establishing my priorities

  

It is now less than three weeks to the general election and I find myself increasingly exercised over how to vote.

It seems to me that we face a stark choice as a nation:

  • On the one hand the prospect of many more years of a Conservative government, with the danger that this will prolong the damage caused to our public services, further increase the widening inequalities in our country, and fail to tackle the issues of housing, poverty and the environment; and all this under the leadership of Boris Johnson – a prime minister who has shown himself to be dishonest, and disrespectful to women, ethnic minorities, disabled people and those of different sexualities; a leader who will push through his personal vision of Brexit, ignoring the concerns raised by politicians and specialists of all parties and persuasions, and refusing to take it back to the people.
  • On the other hand we could see a Labour government, with a manifesto which (while I don’t agree with all that is in it) offers hope for promoting environmental care, building up our public services, reversing the growing inequalities, and lifting people out of poverty; under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn who seems to me to be a man of principle and integrity, who has consistently stood up for justice, equity and human rights, who respects and listens to people, and who, by taking a neutral stance and offering a second referendum with a clear deal on the table, is showing that he is genuinely listening to and respecting the will of the people of this country.

I recognise that many will have a very different (and no doubt equally valid) view of those two options; also that whichever of those two comes to pass, a lot will depend on the role of the other political parties in forming a coalition, or in supporting, opposing or moderating the policies of the ruling party. For me, the main choice seems to be between voting Green with the long view in mind or voting Labour to counter the immediate risk of a Johnson-led Tory government or – worse still – a Johnson-Farage coalition.

I read a rather disturbing editorial in the Times last week which basically suggested that most people vote, not on the principles they believe in, or on the basis of any manifestos, but rather in line with what they perceive their social circle will vote.

That troubles me, and just because most of my friends, most of my colleagues, and most of the people I spend my time with voted remain and are firmly left of centre on the political spectrum[1], I want to be able to listen to all sides, to think critically about what the different parties are promising, and to base my vote on the values and priorities I truly believe in.

So what are my priorities?

Lois and I have been giving this some thought over the past weeks, and here is our starter:

  • Addressing the deep social and economic inequalities in our society, and reversing the widening gap between rich and poor;
  • Caring for our environment and taking meaningful steps towards reversing the damage we are doing to our planet;
  • Providing affordable, suitable housing for all and taking immediate steps to tackle homelessness and food poverty;
  • Reinvesting in our National Health Service and valuing and supporting all public sector workers;
  • Putting children’s rights, their health and their welfare at the centre of all policies;
  • Rethinking our defence and international policies to promote peace, justice and human rights, and to curb the power of the arms industry;
  • Reforming our electoral system so it more genuinely reflects our society and works for the good of all.

As I continue to read through the party manifestos and listen to the news and what people are sharing on Facebook and elsewhere, that is what I will be trying to judge it all against. At the moment I genuinely am undecided what way I will vote, so it would be really good to hear from others what your priorities are, and how you feel any of the parties match up against them.

[1] Yesterday, Lois and I spent a thoroughly enjoyable evening with some friends who had all voted to leave the EU, were somewhat right of centre politically, and were deeply engaged, well-informed and highly thoughtful. It was an inspiring and refreshing evening.

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A Children’s Rights Act? Are our politicians serious about building a society where every child matters?

A letter to The Times

from Article 39, The Association of Child Protection Professionals and over 70 other signatories

 

Today is the thirtieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the UK ratified in 1991. This treaty grants every child the right to an adequate standard of living, the best possible health, to inclusive education which nurtures their talents and personality, and to protection from all forms of violence and exploitation.

It cherishes child-parent relationships and entitles parents to positive support from the state. Special protection and assistance is granted to those children unable to live with their families. Compassion, dignity and humanity are extended to all children, including those caught up in our immigration and criminal justice systems. The treaty’s general principles entitle children to be heard and taken seriously, to develop their full human potential and to enjoy all of their rights without any form of discrimination. Governments and public authorities are meant to treat children’s best interests as a primary consideration in all actions concerning them.

Earlier this month we published a document setting out 30 general election pledges. Our first call to political parties is to commit to incorporating the Convention on the Rights of the Child into UK law. If we are serious about building a society where every child is respected and can thrive, then let’s show we mean it with a Children’s Rights Act.

 

Are our politicians serious about children?

The election manifestos are all being published; the leaders of the political parties are actively campaigning and appearing on TV. Let’s hold them to account on their attitudes to children – will any of the parties truly show they are serious about building a society where every child is respected and can thrive?

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Austerity, income inequality, and the unprecedented rise in infant mortality for the poorest in our society

Changes in infant mortality

For the past twenty years I have been researching child mortality both in our country and overseas. One of the most encouraging aspects of this has been the steady decrease in child deaths over this period and for many decades before throughout the world. There have been some particularly positive achievements in this, with deaths from cancer, external causes and violent deaths in children all falling by more than 50% in England and Wales since the 1970s, while Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) fell by over 80% (Sidebotham, Fraser, Fleming, Ward-Platt, & Hain, 2014). Globally, under five mortality rates have fallen by more than 50% since 1990 (Unicef, 2019).

Sadly, though, those huge achievements have not been maintained, and a recent paper in the British Medical Journal has shown that, for those in the most deprived areas of our country, infant mortality has actually been rising since 2013 (Taylor-Robinson et al., 2019). The gap between the most wealthy and the most deprived, having been reducing for many years, has now started to increase. While there are some limitations in their research, the overall pattern seems very clear. In this graph from that paper, infant mortality in the most deprived local authorities is in pink at the top of the graph, with the least deprived in brown at the bottom.

Changes in infant mortality rates by local authority deprivation quintile (Taylor-Robinson et al.., 2019)

 

Politics, Poverty and Austerity

In the run up to a general election, with all the political posturing going on, it is hard not to conclude that this reversal in infant mortality is linked to a combination of poverty and austerity, with increasing wealth inequalities, reductions in welfare benefits for families with children, and real-terms cuts to the NHS, local authority children’s services, social care and public health budgets. It is notable that throughout the Labour administration from 1997 to 2010, infant mortality fell, particularly in the most deprived areas of the country. The reversal in this trend seemed to kick in just a few years after the change of government.

It seems to me that we need a clear change in policy (and not just electioneering promises) if we are going to see a reversal of this recent trend and a change in the life-chances of those who are most disadvantaged in our society. Perhaps we should be judging our political parties, not so much on what they promise to do, but on their actual track record in tackling poverty and inequalities, ill-health and child mortality.

 

In the context of increasing health inequalities in England, policies that reduce poverty and social  inequalities and investing in child health and social care are likely to reduce the occurrence of infant  mortality and that of many other adverse child health outcomes.  – Taylor-Robinson et al., 2019

 

 

Sidebotham, P., Fraser, J., Fleming, P., Ward-Platt, M., & Hain, R. (2014). Patterns of child death in England and Wales. Lancet, 384(9946), 904-914. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61090-9

Taylor-Robinson, D., Lai, E. T. C., Wickham, S., Rose, T., Norman, P., Bambra, C., . . . Barr, B. (2019). Assessing the impact of rising child poverty on the unprecedented rise in infant mortality in England, 2000-2017: time trend analysis. BMJ Open, 9(10), e029424. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029424

 

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Benefits of Brexit

Echo Chambers

One of the challenges of our social media age is the tendency for us all to inhabit our own little echo-chambers, where the posts we view tend to reinforce our own views and prejudices. This is perhaps no more so than in relation to the ongoing debates around Brexit. I seem to be getting a lot of Facebook posts at the moment, from fellow remain supporters asking for anyone to tell them, please, what are the benefits of Brexit.

While I am quite clear about what, to me, seem to be the disadvantages of Brexit (both for the people of the United Kingdom and those of Europe), and the advantages of us remaining in the EU, I have previously been rightly challenged to listen to the other side and to think critically about the drawbacks of the European Union and the benefits of us leaving.

 

The Benefits of Brexit

So I have had a go and here are what I see as some of the benefits of us leaving the EU. Others who are more in favour may well be able to identify other benefits and to articulate them more clearly than I ever could, but here are my starters:

  1. Leaving the EU on the 31st October would put an end to the uncertainty that has plagued our country for the last 3 years. At least, then, we would know where we stand, and the government, civil service and parliament could start turning their attention to dealing with all the damage that has been (and likely will continue to be) caused by the outcome of the referendum;
  2. It will silence the ongoing complaints of those who voted to leave (and, more importantly, those who champion themselves as the voice of those who voted to leave – and, by extension, the ‘voice of the people’ that the government, parliament, the press, and those who feel strongly that leaving the EU are not respecting the will of the people);
  3. It will mean we can have a general election that focuses on the needs of our country, rather than just this single issue of whether we should stay or leave;
  4. It will reduce the paralysis of the civil service and government caused by over 3 years of preparations for Brexit (although I note that it won’t eliminate it, since there will still be a long drawn out period of actually implementing our withdrawal where other government priorities continue to take second place);
  5. More significantly, and this, to me, is perhaps the only genuine benefit that I can see, it provides an opportunity to challenge the dominant paradigm in both the EU and in our country that constant economic growth is something to be strived for.

If economic growth is indeed one of the principles on which the EU is founded, then that will not have benefitted the Union’s least privileged countries or individuals. By leaving the EU, we have an opportunity to emphasise that a strong, united economic bloc is not necessarily what we should be striving for.

However, it is disturbing that the importance of constant economic growth seems to underlie many of the arguments both for leaving and remaining in the EU. I am increasingly convinced though, that this is a flawed model, and what we should be aiming for is a stable, sustainable economy, not one of constant growth (Kate Raworth’s book Doughnut Economics presents a particularly helpful appraisal of this).

 

The third objective of the European Union is to ‘work for the sustainable development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive social market economy’. So, while economic growth is there, it does set it in the context of sustainable development.

And, if you look at those in the government who are promoting Brexit at any cost, it is hard not to conclude that they are doing so for their own economic and political gain, not for any desire to challenge this underlying paradigm.

Perhaps what is needed is other voices to challenge the status quo, regardless of whether we are in or out of the EU; and just perhaps, staying in the EU and pressing for the upholding of the underlying principles of peace, freedom, security and justice, with respect for the rights of individuals and of national, cultural and individual diversity, will be more effective in doing so.

 

I remain grateful to my friends, relatives and colleagues who have different views on Brexit to mine, and who challenge me to listen and to question my own views. In light of that, I would always welcome any genuine thoughts on how leaving the EU really will benefit the UK and its people.

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What are your priorities?

Boris’ Priorities

Last week Boris Johnson posted on my Facebook page telling me his priorities for the country and asking me for mine. Apart from wondering who had funded this marketing campaign, I was deeply disturbed by the underlying message: his top priority, highlighted in bold and set apart, way above any other priority was to deliver Brexit by 31st October.

I am disturbed at the thought that a prime minister of our country could put, as his top priority – far above any concern for the health, safety and well-being of our citizens, driving through a controversial political decision that many believe will be deeply damaging to our country, and one to which a substantial proportion of the citizens of the country, and their representatives in parliament are opposed.

These past few weeks it has felt as though dark clouds have gathered over our land. Events in Westminster convey a sense of a few unscrupulous men[1] seeking personal power and wealth regardless of what that might mean for our country and for ordinary people.

So what do I think should be the top priorities for our government at this time?

In no particular order, here are my top five:

  • Ensuring that the most vulnerable members of our society can afford a decent basic standard of living;
  • Reducing the gross inequalities in wealth and privilege that exist in our society;
  • Providing affordable and accessible housing for all;
  • Tackling climate change and environmental damage;
  • Reversing the impact of years of austerity and ensuring that teachers, police officers, social workers, doctors and nurses have the resources they need to do their jobs well.

 

To achieve that will inevitably mean higher taxes for those who are financially well off (and I recognise that includes me); it will mean addressing the tax-avoiding activities of individuals and corporations; it will mean substantial investment in public services and housing; it will mean investing in renewable energy and public transport and putting a halt to environmentally damaging projects such as the expansion of Heathrow and HS2.

And therein lies the rub – all of those threaten the wealth, privilege and comfort of those with the money and power who seem to be influencing our current government.

Having received, unsolicited, a post of Boris Johnson’s priorities for our country, I thought I might take the opportunity presented by his survey to tell him what I thought the government’s priorities should be. But, in order to take part in the survey, I had to agree to the Conservative Party using the information I provide to keep me updated via email, online advertisements and direct mail about the Party’s campaigns and opportunities to get involved. That is not something I want to agree to, nor, I suspect, will most others who do not share Boris Johnson’s views. So when, in a few weeks’ time, the prime minister says that the results of his survey of the nation’s views overwhelmingly support his drive to get us out of the EU at all costs, once again, this will be based on biased and distorted data.

[1] it does seem to be men – white, wealthy and public-school-educated – whoops, that describes me, too.

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Adventures of an armchair activist: Gratitude, generosity and greed

One of my greatest pleasures at the moment is to spend an hour each morning in quiet contemplation, gazing out of the window. It is the height of summer and the garden at Breathing Space is flourishing. The bees buzz busily among the flower heads; the tall grasses wave their heads in the morning sun (or glisten in the gently falling rain); the raspberries and blueberries are starting to take over from the strawberries and currants to give us our breakfast fruit; everything is lush, vibrant and green.

 

Building Barns

It was in the midst of all this abundance and generosity that I read, the other day, the hard-hitting parable of the barn builder:

The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: ‘What can I do? My barn isn’t big enough for this harvest.’ Then he said, ‘Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll gather in all my grain and goods, and I’ll say to myself, Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!’

Just then God showed up and said, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods – who gets it?’

(Luke 12: 13-21 The Message)

 

When I took early retirement I thought we might need to do some very careful budgeting to live on a much lower income. In fact, Lois and I have found ourselves in the strange position of having far more than we either need or want. My financial adviser will tell me that I have to invest wisely to get a good return, to set aside contingencies for the future, and to ensure I pass on a good inheritance to my children. But all of that seems rather hollow: self-congratulatory; resting on my laurels and my well-endowed profession; dominated by excessive comforts; and adding to the already gross inequalities in our society.

It seems to me that the counters to the consumerism, self-absorption and sense of entitlement that seem to dominate our culture are gratitude and generosity: gratitude for all that we have, for the simple things in life, for the goodness and beauty that is all around us; and generosity with what we have been given – learning to share and to bless others as we have been blessed.

 

Learning to live with gratitude and generosity

So how do we live with gratitude and generosity in a culture of entitlement?

As with so much, we can only ‘make the road by walking’. So here are some of the things we are exploring:

  • Getting close to nature. Lois and I are blessed through where we live – being able to enjoy the garden at Breathing Space and to share it with others; spending time working with the soil and the plants; putting out food for the birds and creating havens for wildlife; going for walks in the countryside around us.
  • The ‘prayer of examen’. We often end each day by each reflecting on the two or three things for which we are most grateful in that day. It generally isn’t hard: even when one of us has had a bad day, there is usually something we can find for which we can give thanks.
  • Living simply and within our means. I recognise that we are wealthy and privileged, and not everyone will be in the same place. For us, though, it is fairly easy to live within our means; it is less easy to resist the constant drive to acquire more things, to get the latest gadget, or to treat as essentials what are really luxuries.
  • Enjoying treats and celebrations. We do try to make a point of taking opportunities to celebrate and to enjoy special treats: going to the theatre; relaxing with a nice glass of wine; having a special meal with family or friends… We have been blessed, and I don’t want to spend my life feeling guilty about that, but rather to be grateful, enjoy the blessings we have, and share them generously with others.

I am reminded of the story of the pious woman, who lived a life of austerity and spent her life in constant service of others. Arriving at the gates of heaven, God met with her and asked her just one question: ‘Did you enjoy the world I made for you?’

  • Conspiring to bless others. We came across this wonderful phrase in one of Brian McLaren’s books. I love the idea of looking for ways to bless other people – whether through gifts or little acts of service. We try to give generously, recognising that we could do more. We have been blessed with the generosity and support that others have shown to us, at different points in our lives, both individually and now through Breathing Space. Now, at this stage of our lives, we have both money and time and want to use those to bless other individuals and causes.
  • Supporting charities that promote justice, compassion, and care for creation. It is always hard to choose which charities to support – with money or time. There are so many out there – all good causes. We have tended to look for smaller, local charities that are clearly making a difference: ones that are involved in supporting vulnerable families and individuals; ones that are addressing deep-seated problems such as homelessness and poverty; ones that are working for our environment; and ones that are engaging with local communities in less wealthy areas of the world.
  • Investing ethically. One of our biggest challenges is deciding what to do with the extra capital that we have. We don’t want to just be sucked into the trap of feeling we need to insure ourselves against any possible bad-outcome scenario; nor do we want to buy into a system that ultimately just benefits those who are already wealthy. So we have opted for ethical banking through Triodos, and we are exploring the possibility of partnering with Hope into Action – a charity that provides affordable housing for vulnerable people, linked in with support from local church communities. Someone once said that the process of discernment is not so much about choosing between good and bad options, but about choosing between different good options. So there will be those who promote investing wisely for a high return with which we can then be more generous in our giving; others who take the opposite view of ‘sell all you have and give to the poor’. Perhaps we can find a middle way, which stems from both gratitude and generosity.

 

 

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Preventing Children’s Deaths in Jordan

On Saturday, as I set out to hike up the stunning Wadi Feynan in South Jordan, a Bedouin lad on a donkey rode up to me and introduced himself as 16-year old Khaled with his donkey Ferrari. He rode beside me a little way before heading off to find his herd of goats scattered about the valley. His happy, carefree manner and endearing sense of humour brought home to me the reason I am here in this amazing, complex country.

Every year in Jordan at least 5,000 children do not survive to the age of 16. That is similar to the numbers of children dying in the UK – yet in a country with a population less than a sixth of the UK. And the real tragedy is that many of those deaths are preventable. Outside infancy, nearly a half of all child deaths (280 children aged 1-14 each year) are from external causes – mostly road traffic accidents, but also from falls, drowning, fires and electrocution, suffocation. A further 220 infants and children each year die as a result of infections.

Over the past year I have had the privilege of working with UNICEF and the Jordanian National Council for Family Affairs to develop a national system for reviewing and learning from children’s deaths.

The overall aim of the project is straightforward: to systematically gather comprehensive data on all children’s deaths in order to learn lessons and make recommendations for system improvements to prevent future child deaths and improve child health and welfare.

A straightforward aim, perhaps, but far from straightforward to achieve.

Jordan is an amazing and profoundly complex country: a haven of peace and stability in one of the most troubled regions of the world; a country where progressive, liberal values are dominant, yet sometimes seem to hide some deep and confusing traditional ways; a country where rapid urbanisation and development have both improved living standards for many, but also caused huge problems of overcrowding, traffic congestion and pollution; a country where the generous and hospitable nature of the Jordanian people has seen huge influxes of refugees, now making up close to a third of the total population.

With wide discrepancies in the life chances of children from the wealthiest and poorest segments of society, and significant pressures on resources and infrastructure, making changes to improve children’s lives remains a massive challenge.

This week marked the end of the project. We delivered the finished protocol and forms, and ran a training workshop for senior representatives of the different agencies who will be involved in running the programme. With a sense of fulfilment, I started writing my final project report, and recognised that, in spite of the inevitable challenges, we had met all the project objectives we’d set 12 months ago. With my colleagues Vicky and Hamza, we set off to our final meeting with UNICEF and the National Council, ready to hand over the baton and fly back to England to enjoy my retired life.

Only to be told that they would like me to prepare a proposal to support the implementation of the programme over the next 12 months!

Perhaps I should take a lesson from Khaled and Ferrari, take it with a smile, and launch into this next phase.

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Adventures of an armchair activist: Going green-er… gingerly (2)

In my last blog I started exploring how we could live in a way that is better for our environment. As our personal biggest contributor to carbon emissions, I thought about what Lois and I are doing in terms of travel and transport, the struggles we face, and what more we could potentially be doing.

It seems to me that, after travel and transport, the big areas in which I, personally, have an impact on our environment are (not necessarily in this order):

  • Housing and energy
  • Food
  • Waste
  • Consumer goods

 

So, as with travel and transport, I have to ask myself what am I doing about each of these? What could I be doing? And where is it that I am struggling?

 

Housing and energy

This is the area that I’m most tempted to give myself a pat on the back. When I calculated our carbon footprint, I worked out our energy use on the basis of zero kgCO2e/kWh. Was this a bit ingenuous? It certainly made a significant difference to our overall carbon footprint, but is it really true?

When we moved to Breathing Space, there was no active gas supply for heating or cooking. We decided to keep it that way and rely on electricity.

For several years now we have been purchasing our electricity from a company that only supplies renewable electricity (first Good Energy, more recently Bulb).

One of the first things we did when we moved in was to install solar panels.

Our newly-installed solar panels

So, although between us and Breathing Space, we consume 13.7MWh of energy per year, all of this does come from renewable sources, and we are putting 2.4MWh of energy back into the grid from our solar panels.

My slight reservation about all this is that we remain very high energy consumers. So far we’ve done what I think we can do to insulate our home, turn our heating down, use low energy bulbs and appliances, and turn things off when we’re not using them. But is this enough?

And what about our appliances? Our cooker, fridge/freezer, dishwasher and washing machine are all quite old and I’m sure not as energy-efficient as newer models. Should we replace them? Or run them firmly into the ground and then replace them? Or could we do without any?

And, much as I might like to congratulate myself for using green energy companies, the reality is that our energy comes from the national grid, so ultimately remains a mixture of renewable energy, coal, gas and nuclear.

The domestic sector accounts for 28% of all energy consumption in the UK. Over 2/3 of this energy comes from fossil fuels. (Source: Energy consumption in the UK. HM Government, 2018) 

 

Food

The other evening, Lois and I went out for a lovely vegan meal at Arabian Bites, a Middle Eastern restaurant run by recently arrived refugees from Syria and Iraq.

The food was great and the staff friendly and welcoming.

The following day, sticking with the vegan theme, Lois persuaded me to try my cereal with apple juice rather than milk. I don’t think I’ll be trying that one again.

Much as it may be better for our environment. I’m ready to go vegan yet. I confess – I am far too attached to milk on my cereal and in my coffee, a bread and cheese lunch, meat of fish for at least some of my evening meals.

 

So what can we do to reduce our food imprint?

  • We have already cut down our meat intake, rarely eating red meat, and eating vegetarian several times a week;
  • We now shop mostly at our local OneStop store,  buying only what we know we will consume and local, seasonal produce rather than air-freighted food from NZ or Morocco;  but how to avoid unnecessary packaging? where is our nearest greengrocer?
  • We may not be particularly green-fingered, but we more and more grow our own vegetables, salad leaves, and fruit; and commit to preserving, freezing, or giving away any surplus
  • We are avid composters – the three compost bins behind our greenhouse are one of my favourite parts of the garden. To see, smell and feel all that wonderful, rich humus is a pleasure few can beat! (Nah .. there are many others! but its good) (Lois added that last bit!)

 

Waste

Which brings us onto waste.

The UK statistics on waste make interesting reading. As a country, we generate over 200 million tonnes of waste each year, mostly from construction, demolition and excavation (61%), followed by commercial and industrial waste (19%) and household waste (12%). Nearly half of this is recovered or recycled, but nearly a quarter (52.3 million tonnes) goes into landfill.

While we have seen increases in the proportion of waste recovered, recycled, and used for energy production, and decreases in the proportion going to landfill, the overall volume of waste generated has gone up over the years. We clearly have a long way to go.

We are doing what we can here at Breathing Space, but it sometimes feels rather like a drop in the ocean – particularly as the third skip from our building work is now full and ready to be taken away, no doubt to go to landfill somewhere!

  • We strive not to buy things we don’t need; to repair things that are broken and to reuse things for different purposes
  • We are taking some steps towards upcycling – I enjoyed making a bench from an old pallet last year and recently used an old drawer to repair our wheelbarrow and made a sorrel composter out of an old dustbin
  • We give unwanted clothes and other items to charity shops, or offer them on Freecycle
  • We do our best to allocate our waste appropriately – composting what we can in the garden; putting other garden waste in the brown bin and recycling in the blue bin
  • Should we be weighing our different types of waste so we can monitor and set our own targets for waste reduction? Does anyone know any sensible way of doing this?
  • It seems to me there is some value in keeping things that we’re no longer using in case they come in handy somewhere else (e.g. old bits of wood, or hardware that could be upcycled), but that takes up space. How do you strike a balance between sensible reuse and pointless hoarding?
  • How do we deal with all the senseless packaging – particularly from things ordered online?

 

Consumer goods

It sounds like a dirty word now. I don’t like it. But the reality is, I am a consumer.

The issues surrounding our consumer lifestyle go way beyond waste and the impact on the environment. They also affect my fellow human beings, the inequalities we see both within and between countries, and the exploitation of so many who work to produce the goods I consume.

So I will put that on one side for now and tackle it more deeply in another armchair activist blog.