Meera Syal at The Edinburgh International Book Festival

Poor Meera Syal, the expectations were so high from the audience around me and indeed myself that she would be incredibly sharp and witty and have us in stitches that once the discussion started and it became clear that it was all about surrogacy and motherhood (the main subjects her fictional book centres around) we were a little disappointed.

Of course Meera should want to promote her new book, The House of Hidden Mothers, at the Edinburgh International Book Festival there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m just not

Fashion Victims and Villains

Top by new ethical fashion brand, sketch london.

Left-leaning newspapers have been running a series of articles ever since the Bangladesh garment factory collapsed.  The death toll has now sadly passed 500, mostly women, but why are consumers and fashion brands being made to bear the majority of the guilty burden? That fingers have been pointed at some brands was inevitable and fashion is regularly targeted for being a poison of the world: the very sick and visible face of capitalism and greed.  In Bangladesh and India the tragedy is being reported as a corrupt failure of building regulations not a story about Evil Fashion Brands.

The usual suspects of British ethical fashion have been carted out with the usual snippets of condemnation and hissing at the likes of Primark, GAP and so on.  Will consumers care they ask? Can they afford to I ask?  This could be a long article so please get a cuppa or a glass of wine.  I promise you will learn a thing or two.

Murdoch: Not Fit For Purpose

Media moghul, Rupert Murdoch, was declared unfit to run a major international company today and the question of ethics in business was brought  to the surface in this inquiry. He was not condemned today for the  illegal phone hacking which swiftly became widespread in his tabloid paper “New of the World”, but for ignoring and allowing it to continue for personal gain. Surely he would act responsibly towards his stakeholders, shareholders, employees, customers, sources, victims etc..?

Goldman Sachs Muppet Show

If you are going to resign from one the world’s largest investment banks, I guess you got to do it in style. Greg Smith, resigned today from his position as Executive Director from Goldman Sachs and yesterday his letter was published in the New York Times.

The letter exposes the sheer nature of the culture within investment banks that seethes most of us and finally one individual has stood up to be counted after 12 years of working at the company that he once loved. Clients are said to be referred to as “muppets” internally by senior management, clients’ best interests are sidelined in the way the bank makes money and there is a distinct lack of integrity in the way business is conducted. So will anyone take notice of Greg Smith or will his resignation letter just go on a pile and he be forgotton. Furthermore, who will employ him now that he has made such a public statement about his previous employers?

Ethics, What Ethics?

The BBC Trust ruled that the footage on the Panorama programme showing small children working on clothing for Primark in Banglore in June 2008 was not authentic. The programme highlighted how Primark’s own ethical guidelines were being broken with its suppliers outsourcing to home workers and smaller factories who were using small children.

 

However, some of the journalists concerned, including Guardian media correspondence Roy Greensdale, are outraged and are concerned that this ruling has been made on inconclusive evidence.

Ken Dumps Barbie

The “Ken dumps Barbie” campaign launched by Greenpeace to protect the natural habitat of the Sumatran tigers, orang-utans and elephants was being promoted globally this week. The campaign is to stop Mattel from using Indonesia’s most notorious rainforest destroyer Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) for their packaging.

     

Slaves in 2011?

A rather chilling news item in The Guardian yesterday about a woman of South Asian origin and former hospital director who has been charged for keeping a home-help as a slave! What’s going on?

Fed two slices of bread a day and made to sleep on the floor