June 2008


We have always stated that companies that structure their sales around cheap clothing have never considered the impact to fellow humans regardless from which country the reside.

How can it be ethical to have the lowest retail prices available to consumers and then state that they are a fair trade company?

Primark have recently been given bad publicity with the apparent use of child labour on their products.. but were the manufacturers forced into this through a price driven ethos? or just greed.. Who knows but companies who promote themselves on price surely must be made accountable.

We all have our own thoughts but the consumer has to realise that although price is important they do have a choice. And that choice given that the retail industry is very competitive will ultimately have an impact on another individual.

It would be deemed as illegal to produce products in this country with the use of child labour, let alone the conditions which they are being produced.

 

Amy winehouse

Amy Winehouse’s father has spoken of his fears that the singer risks losing her award-winning voice and her life unless she kicks her drug habit.

In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, Mitch Winehouse said his daughter - who was rushed to hospital after collapsing last week - has developed the chronic lung disease emphysema, possibly brought on by smoking crack cocaine.

It has put in doubt Winehouse’s appearance at the Nelson Mandela birthday concert in Hyde Park on Friday with concerns that she may also pull out of Glastonbury the following day.

The extent of her health concerns were outlined by Mr Winehouse in the interview. He told the Sunday Mirror that doctors said if the singer had continued in the way she was going, she would have ended up an invalid.

He said: “She’s got emphysema. It’s in its early stages, but had it gone on for another month they painted a very vivid picture of her sitting there with a mask on her face struggling to breathe.”

Mr Winehouse added that smoking crack and cigarettes had meant that her lungs were “all gunked up”, saying: “The doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs it won’t just ruin her voice, it will kill her.”

The concerned father said his daughter had vowed to stay clean and has started a drug replacement programme. But he fears the circles she moves in could lure her back to substance abuse.

Mr Winehouse said: “I’m saying to those drug dealers, and they know who they are, if they are supplying crack to Amy, then they’ve got to take responsibility. I don’t want her hanging out with her mates like Pete Doherty either. What hope does she have if people are taking drugs around her?”

It is now almost two years since the jazz chanteuse’s last studio album, the critically-acclaimed Back to Black. And fans will be further frustrated if Winehouse is forced to pull out of her forthcoming engagements.

No mention was made by her father of the Mandela gig, but he said he hoped she would make Glastonbury the following day.