Aug
8
Let’s try something new today… shop watch!
Filed Under Shop watch | 7 Comments
Each month we’re going to focus our efforts on one supermarket chain. Starting this August with Sainsbury’s.
We invite readers to submit reports or pictures of any instances of flag and labelling inequality. If there are any particularly glaring examples it would be useful if you could note the bar code number.
At the end of the month we’ll compile a report and contact Sainsbury’s directly and ask their views.
Update
August is disappearing rapidly so – last call for any reports from Sainsbury’s!
Several comments have pointed out how important it is to offer praise where praise is due. So if you’re in Sainsbury’s over the next couple of days let us know what they are doing right. That way we can come at them from both angles.
Update 2
Right well, we’re obviously behind schedule on the letter writing front – but it is happening in the background. We’re not going to be too harsh on ourselves for lagging behind a deadline as we can only work on Fairflags as time allows.
If anyone feels like helping out and has the inclination to get more involved please get in touch.
Aug
7
Northern Ireland doesn’t have one official flag, so how do we treat the Northern Irish the same as everyone else in our flag flying campaign? All flags and symbols can have Unionist or Nationalist connotations and we’d like to get this right. Joe MacDonald of the Ulster Farmers’ Union has said
“We believe there is a growing interest in products that are from Northern Ireland because of their freshness and low carbon footprint but if people aren’t able to identify the country of origin accurately, they are not able to make that informed choice.”
(link)
But what form should this labelling take?
As Englishmen, we aren’t experts on the Northern Ireland flags issue so we’d like to invite comments from people who are Northern Irish. We understand this is a controversial issue, but please keep it friendly! Any answers to the following questions would be much appreciated.
1.How is British and Irish food currently labelled? Do you get the same mix of Union Jacks and national flags?
2. Would you like a flag to label Northern Irish produce? If so, which one?
3. Would any flags be offensive to you, and stop you buying produce, and why?
4. Would you prefer a label stating “Produce of Northern Ireland” or “Made in Ulster” or similar?
Any general comments are welcome, thank you.
Aug
6
A quick recce at Waitrose
Filed Under Waitrose | 7 Comments
I had a quick trip round Waitrose earlier on. There wasn’t time for a proper look round but it looks like Waitrose are pretty good at mentioning country of origin but there are inconsistencies.
This gammon is labelled as English but it shows the Union Flag.
English gammon - british flag
But these Welsh (it says on the back) Lamb fillets are but are described as British lamb. Obviously Wales is in Britain and England is in Britain but why can’t they be consistent? Why doesn’t it say Welsh Lamb?
It also has a sticker promoting the Beefy and Lamby website – not sure what that’s about yet.
Welsh lamb - marked British
Looks nice though eh? A bit of olive oil , sealed in the frying pan then into a hot oven for 20 mins. to be served with buttered marrow [W.Sussex, UK] and sweet onion, steamed pointed spring cabbage [England] and new potatoes [UK] .
Yum – better get rattling some pots and pans. Promise not to bore you with every evening meal I have.
Feel free to recce for us – field reports are always welcome.
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