Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Pah ethics!

Good to have em, so long as you know all the issues and/orconsequences.

Is cheap supermarket clothing as ethical as it should be?

If cheap supermarket clothing is 'unethical', would it be legally available for sale in this country?

If 'ethics' are simply a matter of labour conditions (which I don't think they are), would this not fall under the ethical foreign policies this government espouses?

If so, there should be rules, so those of us without the time (or the single track mindset to pursue pet issues and decide it is the only one there is) can be confident that our consumer choices in this country are all they could and should be.

If that carries an extra cost to us here, that we are happy to sustain, so be it.

And it can be a matter for our elected representatives to control, with oversight by media and activist groups to highlight, with the people's mandate.

Anything in excess of what the country decides upon can of course be voted upon with wallets and personal choice.

I just hope the decision-making process is better informed than some on such as biofuels or food miles, which have worked so well on the liberal guilt ethics of Middle England, but perhaps not so well on the ground elsewhere.

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