Various family priorities have kept me away from blogging for a time, but I felt I had to note the passing of the Fairtrade 500 Miles for 500 Towns Bike Ride through Kendal. The three hardy souls who arrived at Janet’s house on Tuesday looked remarkably unscathed despite some truly appalling weather as they came [...]

After living in Edinburgh (population 450,000) it’s a bit of a change living in Kendal (population 26,000). We went to a Fairtrade event last night, and were pleasantly surprised at how many people we knew already from other places. I spotted another town councillor plus a district councillor there – it made me wonder how [...]

Consumers here in the UK are now increasingly familiar with Fairtrade – 70% of the population recognise the Fairtrade mark, and over half of the population link it to a better deal for producers in the developing world. While it’s good to see Fairtrade food and drink, clothing, handicrafts, etc., an article in today’s Guardian [...]

We’re off on our holidays in a cottage overlooking Loch Broom, in the Scottish Highlands. Alas, my mobile internet connection fails to connect here – some issue with the Three mobile network when using legacy (GPRS) networks. I remember seeing comments about it, but as I have no internet access, I can’t Google for the [...]

Today is the start of Fairtrade fortnight, the annual celebration of the campaign to secure better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. With Scotland aiming for Fairtrade nation status, and Britain’s biggest sugar producer switching all its retail sales to Fairtrade, Fairtrade [...]

Fairtrade is alive and well in Scotland, with a compelling vision that economics can be made to serve people, and shopping can build a better world.

Is it considered polite these days to tell wedding guests that you’ve already got everything you need, but American Express will do nicely?