Bazj Posted January 10, 2010 Report Share Posted January 10, 2010 ici est la plume de ma tante!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2010 Tu parle Francais comme un anglais - trop mal (je pense ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 Tu parle Francais comme un anglais - trop mal (je pense ) Â tres trop mal mon ami..... je suis un anglais apres tous!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LymmParent Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 Si vous etes fini, par combien sont mes ruddy bananes subsidees?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 Dole an American company, have had more fines for expoiting workers than there are days in a month, did I mention they are one of the biggest banana producers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 Changing the subject again LtKije? Worker exploitation isn't the same thing as shipping subsidy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safeway56 Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 . The cost of sending a 40 foot container from the the UK to China is only around ?100. Â That cost wouldn't even buy you a short journey to a UK port. No UK haulier would turn his engine over for that kind of cash...Not even Stobart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 That figure was given to me by William Everard, former President of the Chamber of Shipping and shipowner. He was telling me how much it cost to ship equipment for his new buildings from the UK to Shanghai. I presume this is the onboard cost and does not include the road transport element which is, obviously, much more expensive. The economy of scale again, a ship can carry several thousand containers while a truck only one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LymmParent Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 Dole an American company, have had more fines for expoiting workers than there are days in a month, did I mention they are one of the biggest banana producers. Â We know. We disapprove. What's that go to do with this discussion? We've done the bit about 10p a pound extra to pay the pickers properly. Fyffes have a blanket agreement with all their workers in Belize and every banana they import is Fair Trade. They are also one of the biggest and compete with Dole on price. Â You said 77p a kilo couldn't include the cost of shipping bananas here so somewhere down the line they are being subsidised by someone and if that subsidy was removed, local produce would be miles cheaper. All I want to know is who and how much, cos I can't see how that can be true. If it was, then nobody would sell bananas would they? Why go to all that trouble to make a net loss of a quid a kilo. Might as well stay in bed and break even! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 Why did I ever mention bananas?  Just to get this debate back on to global warming track, this whole argument now hinges around what we choose to eat. We can?t avoid having to import food because we?re not self-sufficient but should we feel guilty about this or does this make us socially irresponsible in a global warming kind of way?  The idea that people will give up eating bananas in favour of turnip stew might be a global warming protagonist?s dream but we all know such things will never happen. If we as a society can evolve to have a freedom of choice, be it the food we eat of how we choose to travel then I believe we can also evolve to address any issues the future has in store for us..  For me to stop eating bananas, stop using my car, having holidays, or to sit in a cold dimly lit house, I?d have to have a bloody good convincing argument that I?m not wasting my time but so far no such argument has been put forward.  Bill  PS Personally I do look at where things come from and if it was the case of choosing between two identical spuds one grown in Cheshire and the other from Argentina I?d go for the local one every time. Nothing to do with global warming, just good old fashion common sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted January 12, 2010 Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 what percentage of our foodstuff is imported. i watched the wartime garden and kitchen on "yesterday" last night and they quoted a figure of around 60% and that was at the start of the second world war. has it gone up since then and if so how much. Â if that is the case then we could never be "self sufficient" unless more land was turned over to farming which will not happen as the eco police would kick up a stink about losing natural habitats and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 12, 2010 Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 Think you'll find that the Government, in the form of Hilary Benn, as finally latched onto this one, and is encouraging increased sustainable use of land for food production. This of course conflicts with the previous EU doctrine of "set aside", whereby farmers were paid to leave land fallow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LymmParent Posted January 12, 2010 Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 Do you know, that set aside thing and the milk quota thing and the butter mountain thing have always puzzled me. There's just no sense in them for us, as an island. For the mainland, it does make sense to have a uniform market, and OK, stockpiling surplus to maintain steady prices is sort of sensible, but where's the sense in limiting our production so we have to import food and pay more for it, whilst using our tax money to pay farmers to not produce anything? Â I bet some bloke thought it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 Ted The Teeth Trust me on this one, it was him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted January 12, 2010 Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 Ted The Teeth Trust me on this one, it was him  At least he gave us a referendum, albeit to vote on a "Common Market" NOT a Federal State that controls what we do and when. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 But he did lie through his , not inconsiderable, TEETH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Kennedy Posted January 12, 2010 Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 Seems that the Antarctic isn't warming: Â http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1242398/Now-tests-ice-ISNT-melting-Sea-water-shelf-East-Antarctic-freezing.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LymmParent Posted January 12, 2010 Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 But he did lie through his , not inconsiderable, TEETH Â Well, oh how terribly rare for a politician to do that, Asp! I am shocked to the core of my artificially overpriced imported French apple! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 Shouldn't that be underpriced due to the shipping subsidy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LymmParent Posted January 12, 2010 Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 Shouldn't that be underpriced due to the shipping subsidy  Oh Asp, do keep up. That's only on BANANAS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 Silly me, I should have realised apples and pears don't count Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 A container from China to the UK ?100 sounds subsidised to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Not being an expert like wot you are Loo that would be about ?1.5 million a trip. Would that be cheap or expensive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 So who is the benevolent billionaire who is subsidising all those millions of containers just to keep the price of our imported food down LtKije? Back to the drawing board for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LymmParent Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Does he really believe that, or is he just having fun with us? I'm quite fascinated now. It's a worldwide conspiracy between growers, fuel suppliers and shipping companies - all taking a loss on their businesses in order to achieve the global aim of...... cheaper fruit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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