Ethical Shopping in the UK

Are you after value for money when you're shopping for fashion; or fashion that's made with values? Listen and find out more.

Hello and welcome to Trend UK, your shortcut to popular culture from the British Council. In the next few minutes we’re going to be asking whether you’re after value for money when you’re shopping for fashion; or fashion that’s made with values. We’re all after a bargain on the high street. But how often do you stop to consider how some stores seem to stock low-cost/high fashion items quicker and more cheaply than others? Fulfilling our needs for fast fashion means increased production and competition in clothing made in countries with low-wage economies. Our reporter Mark has been to the high street to find out more.

Here in a typical British high street there are plenty of bargains to be had. Handbags at £3.99, T-shirts for a fiver and shoes for under a tenner - all roughly equivalent to the price of an everyday meal. But how many of the people shopping in this high street have stopped to think about how it’s possible to sell clothes so cheaply? Is it because some companies are turning a blind eye to the exploitation in the countries where these items are made? Ruth Rothelson is an expert on ethical shopping from the Ethical Consumer Research Association, who amongst other things produced the magazine ‘Ethical Consumer’.

Ruth, just tell us what the Ethical Consumer Research Association is.

OK, well the Ethical Consumer Research Association exists to provide information for shoppers, letting them know what the companies are doing behind the brands that they see on the shelves.

So what makes an ethical shopper?

Very broadly speaking, people who are concerned about ethical issues want to know that the product they’re buying hasn’t been made at the expense of the people who are producing it, whether it’s in this country or abroad. They might also be concerned with other kinds of issues: whether the company is involved in armaments, or whether they’re donating money to certain political parties. And that as a shopper, you might not want to give your money to that party so therefore you might not want to buy a product from a company who is supporting a political party that you don’t agree with.

And is there any kind of rule of thumb? Is something that’s more expensive, for example, likely to be more ethical?

Unfortunately it isn’t always the case that the more expensive something is, the more ethical it is. We can buy very cheap products and it’s very likely that when products are cheap, something has suffered in order to get it to us. Whether it’s the person making it or the animals or the environment. Quality however, is often a good indicator whether something, especially with clothes, has been made well. And unfortunately a lot of ethical products will cost more because they reflect the real cost of bringing that thing into the shops. So something that has been made in a factory where the workers have been paid a proper wage will cost you more to buy, simply because the people making it are getting paid enough to live on.

Do you have to be well off then to be an ethical shopper?

It really depends. You don’t have to be rich to be an ethical shopper. One way of thinking about ethical shopping is thinking about buying less. Sometimes we buy an awful lot more than we need. We buy more items of clothing than we need. So being an ethical shopper really means thinking a bit before you go and spend your money in the shops. Some things may cost a little bit more in the short-run, but be worth it in the long-run. If you are paying for quality, something will last you longer and then save you money. And sometimes you can buy things second-hand. There’s a lot of charity shops on the high street to buy good clothes. Sometimes you can look a lot better than someone who’s just bought off the high street because you can have quite a unique look, and the quality that you find in most second-hand shops is really very good these days. So it’s about thinking before you shop.

Thanks Ruth. Now among the shoppers here I’ve got Lauren and Bella. Starting with you Bella, would you consider shopping ethically?

Definitely for food. And clothing, well, when I buy clothes I wouldn’t want to think of them being made in a sweat shop.

Lauren you do shop ethically. But you’ve got a slightly different take on it haven’t you.

Yeah I suppose I shop ethically but my original thing for that was that I like to wear clothes that are different from everyone else. So I would start shopping for vintage clothes. So ethically, obviously they’re second-hand so…also I buy a lot of clothes from market stalls, from fashion students maybe. So they’re all made here, so they would be made ethically as well.

Thanks Lauren, thanks Bella. Well it’s an interesting debate, and I’ll certainly be doing my clothes shopping with a little bit more care in future.

Manners

Did you know that manners are all about a reduction of violence between people? If you don't believe it , have a listen to this.

In the next few minutes we’re going to be talking about modern manners. It’s an argument that, on the face of it, has been going on between the generations, for hundreds of generations. Older people can often be heard saying the youth of today lack the basics in good behaviour and with newspapers and the media focusing on the anti-social activities of a minority of young people, it’s easy for them to be branded with a negative stereotype. So are British manners really getting worse? Our reporter Mark went to find out. Listen to the report by clicking here (you can download it)

Well, I’ve come to a typical UK high street on a weekday to talk to the young mums and dads, business people, elderly people and students that are out doing their shopping. So we should get an interesting mix of views. Let’s go see what people think.

-Excuse me, sir, would you say that manners are getting better or worse in the UK?

"I actually think they’re getting worse. I think that the standards are declining generally. "
"I think they are getting worse but not terribly so."
"Generally in buses and trains I think that people’s manners have improved in many ways."
"There are cultural differences, so you might meet someone from a different culture and your set of manners will quite be different to theirs."

-----

Well, is it all a question of individual taste or is there some common ground? With me here is Simon Fanshawe, author of a book called ‘The Done Thing’, all about modern British manners.

-Simon, what are the basic dos and don’ts?

-I think one of the things that’s confusing for people is when they come here is there appear to be hundreds and hundreds of rules, hundreds of things you should and shouldn’t do. And the truth of it is that most of them are about class. And lots of them are trip-wires actually for people who don’t know them.

So what I tried to do in my book was take it back to some sort of first principle and say look – there are anthropological reasons why we have certain kinds of manners. So I’ll give you a very good example, in Britain there are sort of two ways of holding a knife, very broadly. And broadly speaking the middle-classes hold it with the index finger on the top, gripped in the hand. And working-class people hold it like a pen. Entirely a class distinction and people mercilessly exploit it if they want to. The truth of it is, the one way not to hold a knife at the table, is clasped in your fist, raised as if to kill your guest. And what does that tell us about eating? Well, what it tells us about eating is two things: it's never confuse your guests with either the food or the enemy. Don’t eat them and don’t kill them!That’s about how you should hold your knife, because actually manners are really about the reduction of violence. There’s a lot in there about reducing violence. So that’s just an illustration of what one tries to do so actually when you look at real table manners they’re about people feeling comfortable with each other, sharing food around a table. Very important human thing.

-And are things actually getting worse?

-Very broadly speaking, we all rub along together pretty well, actually, we don’t do so badly. The trouble with bad manners is that when you experience it, it completely occupies your field of vision. So you feel completely knocked back and rather hurt by somebody.

-Should foreigners, say, comply with British manners when in Britain or should they just be themselves?

-Well I think, one, they should be very gentle with us because we’re not terribly good at understanding that there are lots of different customs from round the world, so you know, be gentle. But I think the thing what I would say to anybody going to any other culture, any other country in the world: Number one – be curious, ask yourself. The other thing is don’t think there’s a right and a wrong way to do things in terms of little funny details. Always remember that fundamentals matter more than anything else. ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’ is a gift and a grace in any language so treat people in the fundamental purpose of manners which is to make life easier. If I can give you a definition of manners, it is it the reduction of actual or potential violence between strangers. So always seek to defuse conflict, always seek to reach out and offer yourself to other people, always seek to open the door and let them through. Do those kind of things because actually you’ll find people love it and they’ll respond to you.

-Simon Fanshawe, it would be very bad manners of me not to say, ‘thank you’ for coming to talk to us.

Falkland man chooses Argentine citizenship

A British man, born on the Falkland Islands has become the first person from there to chose Argentine citizenship.

James Peck was handed his national identity card by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, during a ceremony to mark the 29th anniversary of the end of the Falklands War.

Peck's father fought for the British during the conflict.

2012: The end of the world?

Mayan End of World Prediction Explored in Film
Texas Guardian
Friday 20th May, 2011

In recent years, the idea that the world will end on December 21, 2012 has gained attention and spawned thousands of web sites, blogs, books and even a Hollywood movie. Although scientists generally dismiss the idea, curators of the Museum of Natural Science in Houston decided to use the prediction as a hook to draw visitors into the world of the ancient Maya. They do it through a planetarium film and an exhibit being prepared for next year-- just in time, some might say, for the end of everything.

The film shown on the museum's huge planetarium screen examines myths and rituals of the ancient Maya in southern Mexico and Central America. It focuses on the Maya calendar, or long count, which was divided into baktuns of 144,000 days each.

From the film: "All Maya kept the same ritual, solar and long count calendars, using them to describe the past and foretell the future."

On some surviving calendars, everything ends on the day equivalent to our date of December 21, 2012.

Carolyn Sumners, Vice President of the museum's Department of Astronomy and Physical Science, supervised the film project. "There is an alignment with the center of the galaxy on December 21st. It just happens that the Maya 13th Baktun starts on December 21st, at least in some of the calendars, and there is just enough going on to make one wonder if it is all connected," she said.

But the film makes clear that the Maya were not necessarily predicting catastrophe.Sumners says the end of Maya time periods generally were regarded the same way we look at such things as the start of a new century or a new millennium. "It seems to be a cause of celebration. There does not seem to be any indication in the Maya writings of great disaster. They did believe in the end of time; they talked about great floods,
Sumners explained. "All these things were discussed, but they did not tie them to the long count."

To bring audiences into the world of the Maya, Sumners and her team went to four sites in Mexico and Guatemala to shoot extreme wide-angle video of the ruins.

They employed computer-generated images to show what those sites might have looked like centuries ago when they were the centers of great Maya achievements in math and astronomy.

Visitors to Houston's Natural Science Museum can also see Maya artifacts on display.

Curator Dirk Van Tuerenhout is developing an even larger exhibit for next year, to coincide with the end-of-world date. "It is a combination of all kinds of sources of information that we are pulling together to tell the story of the Maya culture, ancient Maya, colonial Maya, modern Maya," said Van Tuerenhout.

The Maya civilization collapsed more than 500 years ago, probably because of environmental changes that undermined its agriculture. But Maya people still live in the Yucatan peninsula and parts of Central America and many have emigrated to Houston.

Researchers have used their knowledge of modern Maya languages to decipher the ancient hieroglyphs, and many top experts in this field are at the University of Texas.

Van Tuerenhout says they offer valuable insights. "The ancient voices are speaking through these very few individuals who can read and decipher Maya writing," he said.

Van Tuerenhout says ancient Mayan sites continue to provide new information about the mysterious ancient civilization and its achievements.

He says the Museum's goal is to show people that there is much more to the Maya than a spurious prediction of doom.

"Chicago" in Buenos Aires, New York and London!

Buenos Aires' Teatro Lola Membrives houses one of the most powerful pieces of musical plays: CHICAGO. It is a musical with lots of history behind, and in Buenos Aires is being staged for the third time. The following is a review of the current Broadway production.

Judging by the performance of “Chicago” I recently attended, it's easy to see why it's lasted so long. Six years is a milestone for a show that at first blush seems so dramatically hollow. But with this one, it's really all about style, and stylistically, this is a gorgeous living tribute to Broadway style master Bob Fosse, with a tremendous assist from composers John Kander and Freb Ebb.

It continues to be a lean and mean production; there’s nothing windy about this “Chicago.” In the leads now are Charlotte D'Amboise as the murderess Roxie Hart, and her jailmate Velma Kelly, played by a scintillating Caroline O'Connor.

Another revelation in this cast is movie star Billy Zane as the suave mercenary lawyer Billy Flynn. Besides being dreamy to look at, he has all the requisite chops for Broadway. Making his New York debut, Zane’s crooning and confident acting is on par with any polished veteran.

D'Amboise plays up the hometown girl in Roxie, lowering the temperature a bit on a role that others have turned red-hot. But she brings a kind of giddy, free-spirit to the part that is utterly charming. Her extended solo turn that seemed entirely improvised was sensational.

Caroline O'Connor is slinky and sexy and loaded with attitude. With her smashing singing voice and fat-free body, she is one very impressive package.

Of course much of the credit for keeping the show in such fine shape goes to Director Walter Bobbie and Ann Reinking, credited with choreography in the style of Bob Fosse. In this faithful recreation they manage to enhance Fosse's dazzling work, never to detract.

“Chicago” is a show that can take some serious tampering, and part of the brilliance of the creative team is knowing just how far they can alter the original concept without losing its essence.

Roxie's husband Amos was played six years ago by the very trim song and dance legend Joel Grey. Now, the role is filled out by the physically opposite Rob Bartlett, and the results are equally satisfying even though Bartlett neither sings nor dances.

And as the prison matron Mama Morton, there's the booming voiced, ample-bodied Roz Ryan, who adds a wonderful new dimension to the part, created by the great character actress Marcia Lewis.

But the true keepers of the Fosse flame are the dancing ensemble. These mostly unheralded triple threats are always onstage, and it seems never short of vitality or style.

Six years usually spells the geriatric ward for a Broadway show, but whether it's the showbiz equivalent of Viagra or tremendous quality control, "Chicago" continues to hold up beautifully.

The trailer to the original London Production

CNN Student News: April 15, 2011

CNN Student News is a ten-minute, commercial-free, daily news program for middle and high school students in the US produced by the journalists and educators at CNN.

Today we bring you the latest edition of CNN Students News (April 15. 2011) for you to practise Listening Comprehension. The programme is not intended for learners of English, but we think it is a great way for you to improve your target language and to be in contact with English. Additionally, you may download today's program's transcription. Enjoy!

TRANSCRIPTION

Bomb detection dog wins purple cross

Bomb detection dog wins purple cross

Jennifer Macey reported this story on Tuesday, April 5, 2011

This report is brought to you courtesy of ABC Radio Australia.

As you listen, you may read the transcription. Ideally, it would be great not to do so. We post it here for you to check some words that may be difficult to understand beca

use of their pronunciation.

LISTEN HERE

________________________________________

MARK COLVIN: The bomb detection dog Sarbi which went missing in action in Afghanistan for 13 months today received the RSPCA's highest honour, the purple cross medal. It's only the second time the purple cross has been awarded for service in war. The first was bestowed posthumously on 'Murphy', one of John Simpson's Gallipoli donkeys.

Jennifer Macey prepared this report.

LYNNE BRADSHAW: So here's your reward, Sarbi. Congratulations.

JENNIFER MACEY: At the War Memorial in Canberra today, the national president of the RSPCA, Lynne Bradshaw received a big lick on the lips from the latest recipient of the animal bravery award, the bomb detection dog Sarbi.

LYNNE BRADSHAW: I think there's no doubt that Sarbi has shown an incredible resilience and strength that should be recognised. The RSPCA would like to present Sarbi with the RSPCA Australia purple cross award for the courage she has shown while serving her country during her time in Afghanistan.

And by presenting this award to Sarbi, the RSPCA hopes to raise awareness of the role that animals play in war, the unquestioning and unwavering service to man. And we hope now that Sarbi can live out her life here in Australia with all the love and luxuries that any dog deserves.

JENNIFER MACEY: The medal was in recognition of an encounter Sarbi had with the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2008. The Taliban ambushed a convoy of Australian and American troops, injuring nine soldiers, including Sarbi's handler, Sergeant D.

The explosion blew off the leash that attached Sarbi to her handler and she went missing in action. One of the soldiers, Trooper Mark Donaldson was later awarded a Victoria Cross for risking his life to rescue an Afghan interpreter who was blown off the vehicle. Today the nine-year-old Labrador/Newfoundland cross, Sarbi, becomes the second member of that convoy awarded a medal for bravery.

LYNNE BRADSHAW: Throughout our history thousands of animals have supported the Australian Defence Force in a variety of roles. Like most people, no doubt, we would prefer animals didn't go to war but they do go, and while ever they do we must recognise the part they play and, in many cases, the lives lost.

JENNIFER MACEY: After the ambush, nobody could find Sarbi. Then 13 months later an American soldier on patrol in north-eastern Uruzgan province spotted a Labrador cross walking with an Afghan man. She was eventually identified and reunited with her handler, Sergeant D. Then, after several months in quarantine Sarbi returned to Australia in January.

Corporal Adam Exelby from the School of Military Engineering in Sydney trains dogs to sniff out explosives and accompanied Sarbi to the ceremony in Canberra today.

ADAM EXELBY: I think it's great. I think they probably don't maybe get recognised enough for the job that they do over there.

JENNIFER MACEY: Sarbi meanwhile took all the attention in her stride.

ADAM EXELBY: Yeah, I think she's all a bit bewildered at the moment but all the attention, you know they do tend to get a lot of attention, especially overseas as well with the troops. Yeah, probably wouldn't be the first time that she's actually had a lot of attention.

JENNIFER MACEY: But she won't be going back to the front line again.

ADAM EXELBY: No, she won't actually deploy overseas again. As far as her role here in Australia, she's currently helping with a course that's running. But other than that, she's probably due to retire in the not too distant future. So she'll actually, Sergeant D will be taking her home and she'll become a bit of a home dog.

JENNIFER MACEY: This is the Sarbi's third award. She's also the recipient of the Afghanistan medal and the canine service medal awarded by the Australian Defence Trackers Association.

MARK COLVIN: Jennifer Macey.