WE LIVE in an age when every restaurant menu seeks to reassure diners about the ethical sourcing of the fare on their plates.
Local farms are named as sources of meat and poultry, while fish dishes are described as “line caught”.
A line-caught fish is one which has been taken from the sea without jeopardising other species that might otherwise become entangled in trawler nets.
It can be no surprise to Princes to discover protesters shinning up their Royal Liver Building headquarters to draw attention to the collateral damage done to the world’s fish stocks from their tuna fishing.
Princes is Britain’s largest canner of tuna. A wide variety of other species, including sharks, rays and turtles, are, according to Greenpeace, caught up in their nets. Greenpeace says the list equates to the entire cast of Finding Nemo.
Business ethics are increasingly under scrutiny. Whether it’s fishing methods in the Caribbean, mining firms in South America who try to influence appointments of teachers and clergy in regions where they are in conflict with local people or oil companies polluting tribal lands in West Africa, the way we treat other people and the environment is a top priority for many.
It’s one thing being pro-business, which I am. But part of the deal is that things are done with decency and honesty.
That also goes for the crowd control equipment Britain exports. It’s unimaginable how anybody ever thought it was a good idea to send electric batons and CS gas to Libya. How else were they going to use them? Unless the Libyans have a big problem with football hooliganism, the most likely use Libyan riot police would have for such equipment was always going to be the suppression of political demonstrations. It’s no use the Government reviewing these policies now. It’s too late. It should never have happened and the fact it has is shameful.
But if you think British crowd control equipment is bad, what about French war planes? I thought the Libyan airforce flew MIGs. It turns out, though, the pilots that sought asylum in Malta were flying Mirages. Now let’s be clear about this. We are talking about Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, part of George Bush’s axis of evil – and the French are selling him fighter planes. They may have been used against civil protesters.
Whose side are the French on?
IRELAND holds a post-crash General Election on Friday.
It’s clear that the opposition Fine Gael party is going to win. With the exception of some Arab states, it must be hard for an incumbent government to be more unpopular.
The Government was partly to blame for Ireland’s current financial hardship. With hindsight, it’s easy to say there should have been intervention to prevent banks, particularly Anglo Irish, from going wild. They lent money as if it grew on trees.
Once this week’s election is over, it should be time for the Irish to put these mistakes behind them and look to the future. Their economy will recover. Unemployment will fall again and banks will start to lend to homebuyers on sensible terms.
While nobody’s buying property now, Ireland’s fundamental demographics mean strong demand for homes will return. It could be several years yet, but when the market does come back, the government should call on the nation’s housebuilders to complete the half- built ghost estates that blight the landscape.
