This is Money Blog

Al Bangura: When money doesn't mean anything

This isn’t about money. I’m sticking this warning in because it isn’t strictly This is Money territory and it's about an instance where money means nothing.

Alhassan Bangura, a 19-year-old football player for Watford - the team I support - this week lost his Asylum and Immigration case to stay in the country and faces deportation back to Sierra Leone.

Al Bangura arrived in England four years ago, to escape the civil war in his country because his life was in danger due to his late father’s connections to the Soko cult in the country. After his father’s death, its elders threatened to kill Bangura after he refused to join and take part in its rituals of withcraft and mutilation.

He fled his home and a Frenchman who found him sleeping rough in Guinea trafficked him to London via Paris in 2004, when he was aged just 16. He was then taken to a house where two men attempted to rape him. Bangura escaped and was found in the street by a passer-by who took him to the Home Office’s immigration centre in Croydon.

He underwent therapy to help him deal with his ordeals and began playing non-league football where he was spotted by a Watford scout.

Since he signed for Watford, Bangura has been a great player and fan’s favourite. Al became a father less than two weeks ago. He says he feels more English than from Sierra Leone and his ambition is to play for England.

He was originally given indefinite leave to stay in Britain. However, the Home Office has decided that Bangura shouldn’t be here anymore and wants to deport him back to Sierra Leone.

As part of its evidence at the tribunal it accused him of lying, as he told the Watford programme that he came to England with an uncle he trusted called Eric. This was rather than tell fans a man tried to traffic him for use as a sex worker and that he was almost homosexually raped – hardly the kind of thing a footballer would tell in a culture where no player dares to admit they are gay for fear of opposition taunts.

Al can appeal the decision and needs as much support as he can get to continue living in the country where he has built himself a life with a family and a job.

His problem illustrates how money isn’t the solution to everything and puts a bit of perspective on stories abour credit crunches, house prices and interest rates. This is a someone who escaped a war torn homeland as a child, built a new life in Britain and has become one of the privileged elite – a professional footballer with a six figure salary and all the trappings that entails.

Bangura has played in the Premiership and despite being only 19 has tasted wealth and a life that most others can only dream of – but that will mean nothing if he is sent back to Sierra Leone.

Next time you see an article about asylum seekers or immigration think about Al's story. In the best circumstances most people who come to Britain arrive to work and do well, and in the worst they arrive after trauma most people could never imagine.

There are hundreds of people out there like Al Bangura who could have their lives torn apart and be deported back to homelands where they are in danger of being killed. His case has gained publicity because he is a professional footballer – enjoying the fame and fortune that brings.

But this isn’t about money - this is about someone’s life.

- Simon Lambert, This is Money

Useful links:

Sign the petition for Al Bangura here

>> US eyes Premier League football

>> Premiership pay average hits £1m

A water meter cut my bills by 35%

I felt ethically obliged to have a water meter installed just over a year ago. We had endured another dry summer, resevoirs were parched and the south-east's hosepipe ban looked permanent.

I also thought I might save a few quid... and I have.

I've had my first full-year bill. It was £220, a dramatic reduction on the approximate £330 a year I was previously paying with Sutton and East Surrey Water board.

Admittedly, it was a wet summer so my thirsty tomoatoes largely looked after themselves but it's still remarkable given it's a home with a family of three (and now four with a new addition in the past few months).

It's some anecdotal evidence to back my previous estimates that households of three people or fewer should be able to save with a water meter. If you're interested in more advice see these articles...

- Can a water meter cut costs?
- 10 ways to cut water bills (and try an official water meter calculator)

- Blog: The great water meter rush (September 2006)
- Blog: A £110 cheque for having a water meter fitted (December 2006)

- Andrew Oxlade, Editor, This is Money

Ken Livingstone - how to not ask what people want

Sadly, it seems even self-styled men of the people like Ken Livingstone fall someway short of actually asking the public what they want nowadays.

The public consultation on the emissions related congestion charging scheme that Mayor of London Ken Livingstone wants to use to impose a £25 daily congestion charge finishes on Friday October 19th.

However, despite Ken's alleged belief in delivering people's wishes, the actual process of asking if Londoners want this to happen is abysmal.

Visitors looking at either the Mayor of London's website, or the Transport for London website would not realise that they were about to lose the opportunity to comment on one of the biggest changes to life in the capital.

Nothing on the front page of either website tells you about this, and if you eventually dig out the public consultation, it falls a long way short of managing to ask the simple question - do you want this?

How the modern world works, part 297 - public consultation

Foolishly, you might imagine that a public consultation would involve a simple 'yes/no', what do you want question. But of course not.

No, instead you get a bizarre multiple choice questionnaire asking what you have done to help the environment over the past year, and then a pair of woolly questions about whether charging people with larger engine cars £25 a day to use them would be an incentive to use a lower C02 emitting car?

And that's it. A brief quiz about your bin and a, ‘Durr, of course ripping people off for driving a bigger car is an incentive not to drive one’ answer.

TFL and the Mayor of London will then use your answers to assess their own proposals - which they have already said they want to implement.

This is sadly what public consultation means nowadays. Don’t ask the public - they might say no. Instead, introduce a procedure that makes mock elections under tinpot regimes look a model of democracy.

It's unfortunate this, as hidden deep in Ken's plan is a germ of an idea. We do need to reduce emissions and as someone who cycles through London everyday I can see the benefit better air would bring.
But this plan will simply be one of the final steps in making Central London a rich man's playground.

The £25 per day charge - with no residents discount - for cars with engines over 3 litres, or that are in the highest emissions bracket, will hammer families who own people carriers, estate cars, or larger saloons and small businessmen.
Meanwhile, £6,000ish a year will only be a minor inconvenience to the Bentley brigade, that is slowly chasing the last ordinary families out of Central London.

Diversity is essential to a city's make-up, but those last remaining inhabitants of central London not on six figure salaries are being squeezed from their homes. If you're a wealthy Londoner paying the charge or buying a new less polluting car is no problem, for others - who often do only around 2,000 miles per year - this is deeply unfair.

There is also no exemption for classic cars, which are again rarely driven and also due to their extended lifespan much greener than buying a brand new Prius

It's a shame really. What we needed was a proper debate about how to deal with this, or even a genuine chance to answer yes or no. But as with the problems with bendy buses, Oyster cards, 'green' taxi filters that make them pollute more, and many other issues, it doesn't seem that the people get a say.

Don't worry you might think, I don't drive in London/live anywhere near it. But when something like this can be forced through without meaningful consultation in London, any other council anywhere can easily do the same.

And it's only a matter of time before they do.

- Simon Lambert, This is Money

Useful links:

How to get elected London Mayor - 30 minutes free parking

Congestion charge expands - money saving for the rich

Cut taxes for the super-rich and give us all a break

How to get elected London Mayor - 30 minutes free parking

Becoming London’s mayor has come a long way since Dick Whittington heard the Bow Bells singing his name and turned around.

Whittington, as the story goes, was walking away from London - where he had arrived as a pauper with his trusty cat - when he heard the bells calling to him as he climbed Highgate Hill and made an abrupt about turn.

Of course, Whittington was not mayor in the same sense that Ken Livingstone currently is and Boris Johnson wants to be, he was Lord Mayor of London, a separate post that still remains as a figurehead role.

But I’m sure that Ken or Boris would dearly love to go down in history in the same way as Dick has - even if instead of a cat Ken would have a newt and Boris his bike.

So, here’s my suggestion of a sure-fire vote winner for whichever of the sabre-rattling duo want to make London their own:

30 minutes free parking.

It’s a simple plan – easy to implement, bound to be popular with a lot of ordinary Londoners and could blaze a trail for common sense throughout Britain.

Cars can be parked in any space, be it residents’ bay, public car park, or metered area for 30 minutes for free. After that parking wardens can give them a ticket.

Residents will still be able to find spaces to park, as people will not be able to park beyond half-an-hour, small businesses will benefit from shoppers enjoying the same privileges they get at the supermarket, and people can regain the right to nip into a shop and buy something without getting a £60 fine.

The only people who will be affected are parking wardens, who will now have to go back to the way things used to work before the current insanity took over. In those days, wardens tended to write down people’s number plates and give them a bit of leeway before slapping on a ticket.
The 30-minute rule will not apply to single or double yellows and any council seeking to extend a yellow line area will have to justify it and then put it to a local vote.

I can’t see a single reason why everyone can’t have the right to park for half an hour and it would be the biggest boost we could give to local shops. Any environmental concerns about increased car use would be offset by less people driving to out-of-town supermarkets with their free parking.

Parking restrictions are meant to be for the benefit of local residents and businesses – at the moment they penalise them - so how about it Boris or Ken?

After all nowadays if Dick Whittington was travelling up Highgate Hill, he’d probably get a parking ticket while he was pulled up, mulling over whether to turn back or not.

- Simon Lambert, This is Money

PS. There’s a second part to this vote winner that could be implicated at a later date - make traffic wardens pick up litter while they are walking round too.

More:

Cost of parking rockets

Tycoon says £80,000 car in pound is good value compared to London parking

Councils banned from setting ticket targets

Something fishy about that chicken?

Have you ever opened a pack of supermarket chicken breasts only to be assaulted by a smell from somewhere between High Heaven and the drains at the colostomy clinic?

I have.

Three days ago to be precise.

Which, if you look at the label from the pack, pictured, was three days before its use-by date (today).

Apparently this is not uncommon. You are, I'm told, supposed to freeze chicken on the day of purchase and not leave it in the fridge for two days as I did.

But if this is correct, why doesn't it say so on the label?

This isn't the first time that I've sent chicken to landfill because it's gone off before it says it should and it got me thinking. What exactly does it say on the label?

Well, with a little help from Google, I attempted to find out.

1. Asda.
Big supermarket, Britain's cheapest. Started in Yorkshire now owned by American giant Wal-Mart. Named after founding Asquith family and the word Dairy, according to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not always reliable. Wal-Mart's industrial relations record is often debated.

2. Fresh British Chicken
Blimey. There's a whole other world out there. A world of chicken marketing. 'Sporting legend Sally Gunnell, who still holds the 400m hurdles world record, is a big fan of British chicken.' Nice one Sal. Your chicken clearly doesn't whiff of sewage.

3. British chicken breast fillets
Although I'm reluctant to search for 'breasts' from my work computer (I like my job) it turns out the phrase returns Waitrose in the top slot. Waitrose chicken breasts cost £5.99.

4. £4.00
This pack of three big chicken breast seems very cheap to me. At the local butcher this would set me back three times more than that. Turns out you're allowed to inject chicken with water and beef so long as the ingredients list it. There are no ingredients listed and no mention of any beef. So we're OK. But how come it's so cheap?

5. UK 4633 EC
4633 is the name of 20cm pothole in York, a ray of sunshine watch, and the starting salary for a teaching assistant in Tameside. What it's got to do with meat is not immediately obvious.

6. L317107:09
317107 relates 'to the DPE deficit and unallocated resources of £9,707 from other Highways Revenue Budgets' in Cumbria. It's also the Barnes & Noble sales rank of The most critically acclaimed of all of Dr. Frank H. Netter's works, Musculoskeletal System: Developmental Disorders, Tumors, Rheumatic Diseases, and Joint Replacement. What this number is or has to do with dead poultry is not clear.

7. 5.88
This is the heading of a chapter in a document on the definition of dangerous weapons in Dublin and outdoor vending rules in Sacramento. It's also the price of an audio Sherlock Holmes book. Here, it is of course the price per kilo of my chicken breasts. £5.88/kg. This compares to waitrose, which sells at £11.98/kg. More than twice the price. Organic chicken breasts are more than £18 a kilo. How does Asda do it?

8. 680g
This is the weight of a jar of vegetarian tortoise food, a type of coaxial car speaker and the subject of a not-very-popular discussion in foreign on airbot.net. It is also the weight of my chicken breasts. That's heavy chicken, man. At Waitrose, the average weight of FOUR chicken breasts is 530g. At Asda you get THREE for 680g. Wow.

9. Use by HDY
HDY is the stock exchange code for Hyperdynamics Corporation, an offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation company in Guinea and Louisiana. It's the official code for Hat Yai airport in Thailand. But I'm guessing in this context it's probably a shortform for Hadaway, a bit of Geordie slang for 'get away'.  I can find no other explanation.

10. Fresh Class A
Class A is 'ecstasy, LSD, heroin, cocaine, crack, magic mushrooms, amphetamines (if prepared for injection)'.

11. Packaged in a protective atmosphere
This means the air's been sucked out to prolong the shelf-life. There's some serious science going on here. Protective atmosphere means the packet's full of nitrogen. There's a website called Chicken Yoghurt.

12. 'Produced in the UK', and the red tractor logo
'The red tractor logo guarantees that the food you are buying has been produced to high standards from the farm right through to the supermarket shelf to ensure you are buying quality fresh food.' So that's OK.

Must be my fridge that's dodgy. 

Richard Browning This is Money

More...

Asda / Tesco telephone prank
Asda under fire over cheap roses
Asda guilty of anti-union bribes
Is Wal-Mart getting it wrong?
Asda showdown with unions
Asda milk ads banned from kids TV
Caring consumer

And finally...

A calculator to see when fruit is available in the UK

Whole Foods Market is here... and M&S is scared

The opening of Whole Foods Market has been keenly anticipated by us here at This is Money. The store is just below our building and we've been wondering what on earth they've been doing that meant it would take a year to refit. So when it opened on Wednesday several of us went down to the store in our lunch hour to check it out. We were very excited by the free cheese samples, gobsmacked by the enormous wine selection and terrified by the fact that a pork pie costs £6. 

But most interesting was the reaction by M&S, which is just on the next block. Suddenly there were green t-shirt'd employees frolicking up and down Kensington High Street offering free fruit salads (which we also sampled) and scratch cards and attempting to usher people into the store. The tills are fully staffed and there are signs up lauding M&S's green credentials. It's amazing how a bit of competition spurs business into action.

I've never been a big fan of M&S food stores. While it's true that these days I occasionally visit two of them - near home and near work - traditionally I've shunned them for being ridiculously overpriced and for their excessive packaging. Pieces of fruit are invidividually wrapped and vegetables packaged in their own special containers of three or four. It seems crazy for a store so keen to market its green credentials. As it happens, I also object to queuing for ten minutes to buy a sandwich, although this has improved in the past months.

It will be interesting to see what other changes M&S implement now that Whole Foods Market has finally arrived. But at least the queues might be a bit shorter.

- Sascha Hutchinson, This is Money

Useful links

• Organic store is problem for supermarkets
• US food store to cause stir on UK High St
• TIPS AND ADVICE: Be a caring consumer

Plastic bags: Help me tackle the supermarkets

I'm a big fan of Ocado, which delivers Waitrose shopping to your door.

It's free for orders over £75 and if you shop, and then don't order for a few weeks, they will send you discount vouchers or codes entitling you to £10 or £15 off or 10% or 15% off.

This is exactly the sort of big business marketing ploy that shrewd consumers should take advantage of.

However, I have a gripe - every delivery seems to come with an annoying number of carrier bags (that come within reusable plastic boxes).

I complained to Ocado and this was the swift response (see below). You can help encourage Ocado to improve their polluting ways by also emailing your disapproval to them.

Dear Mr Oxlade,

Thank you for your email.

I am sorry to hear that we have used so many carrier bags in your order. We are keen to limit Ocado' impact on the environment as much as possible. Recently we have redesigned the container that the carrier bags sit into, dividing them into three sections so the bags sit upright and can be packed more easily in our warehouse. This in turn should also reduce the number of bags used in each container to a minimum.

I have also forwarded your comments to the warehouse manager. They are able to bring this to the attention of the supervisors in the warehouse so that we can monitor the amount of bags being used.

Our existing Ocado bags use approximately twenty-five percent less raw materials than the previous bags and are easier to store for future customer re-use.

There are currently no plans to remove carrier bags from the delivery process completely.

If we can be of any further help, or you have any further comments or suggestions, then please contact us by e-mailing ocado@ocado.com, or by calling us on 0845 3991122 or 0845 6561234 (8am-11pm Mon to Sat, 12-8pm Sun), seven days a week.

Yours sincerely.

Nathan xxxxxx
Ocado Customer Service Team

If you want your consumer power to improve the world, keep an eye on the advice and news in our Caring Consumer section.

- Andrew Oxlade, Editor, This is Money

Congestion charge expands - money saving for the rich

One side has been wailing and gnashing its teeth and the other is accusing anyone who dares disagree with them of being grossly irresponsible.

No, it’s not the nation’s footballers buffing up their reputations over the weekend, but two very vocal opposing sides of the argument about the extension of London’s Congestion Charge today.

(Readers outside the reach of the capital, please don’t click away now – this does concern you, I’ll explain how later.)

One faction that has been relatively quiet on the Congestion Charge front recently though are the wealthy residents of Chelsea, Kensington and Notting Hill, who now live within the zone.

In fact, ask a lot of these residents of London’s richest areas and you find that despite their initial distaste, the extended zone will actually do them a favour.

If you live in the zone you get a 90% discount on the £8 congestion charge. Buy a month’s worth of the charge and it’ll cost you just £16. That means the wealthy citizens of Chelsea, Kensington and Notting Hill can now drive around central London, at any time of any day of the week, for a bargain price.

Previously, despite the fact it made little difference to their deep pockets, most avoided driving into Central London, as they objected to paying £8 for the privilege. Now, many I have spoken to say there will now be no point not taking the car. Going to the hedge fund office in Mayfair - might as well drive; Bond Street for lunch and shopping – I’ll take the car; Meeting in the City – traffic might not be too bad at this time of day.

The people who it will really hurt though are small businesses. West London is one of the few places in the country still full of small shops and traders, as the rich residents’ cash helps support them. But these small traders – who don’t get the same discount as residents - find the Congestion Charge hits their delivery vans and their staff who have to drive for business reasons. And the pain is worse as big chain rivals can easier absorb similar issues.

This problem was raised when the original charge was introduced and nothing has really been done to help. And that's why the rest of the country should be concerned, because, despite any denials you hear, similar congestion charges are being plotted for the rest of Britain's cities.

Congestion will drop substantially at first as a result of the charge – it did in the original zone – but then it will rise again – in the original zone it is now estimated to be 8% lower than before. (As stated by the eco-friendly Guardian)

Unclogging our painfully congested streets is an admirable ambition, but freeing them up for the rich and hurting our already struggling small businesses doesn’t seem right.

- Simon Lambert, This is Money

Useful links:

Money saving for the not so rich (rich folk not excluded)

Investing tips to help you get rich

Selfish drivers must shove up and share

[N.B. Jo is a new blogger for the Money Blog - read her biog]

I've been sharing my friend Laura’s car for a couple of years now along with another friend of ours. It’s a great arrangement that saves us all cash and we feel like we’re doing a bit to reduce our carbon footprint.

Ours is more of a car pool arrangement, meaning we share the car but not journeys. It’s convenient because Laura only lives about a ten minute bus journey from my flat, but even so I only tend to use the car about once every couple of weeks.

In truth, in my case it is an arrangement that benefits me much more than Laura since she actually owns the car and has the hassle of parking it, insuring it and maintaining it. She added me to her insurance policy because as a new driver her premium was high. I’ve been driving a lot longer so my clean driving record brought the insurance cost down. But in any case, it has stopped me being tempted to buy my own car, which is the main point.

Car sharing is slightly different. This is where colleagues or people living in the same town share lifts to work. The idea is growing in popularity but still too few drivers are willing to get involved. A survey by the Energy Saving Trust shows that less than ten per cent of drivers would be prepared to share a car in order to reduce carbon emissions.

I find it depressing to read about people signing up to petitions to stop the Government’s new road pricing schemes, which will charge drivers who want to use the busiest roads at busiest times. It is clear something needs to be done to reduce emissions but sadly too many people are tied to their cars and are unwilling to change habits.

Clearly in London and other big towns and cities people don't have to rely so heavily on cars because public transport networks are better. Motorists in rural areas who argue that public transport is less reliable probably do have a point. But I think all car owners have a responsibility to be a bit more imaginative or thoughtful in the way they use their cars. If more drivers accepted that their motoring habits have to change then it would make a big difference. The websites Liftshare.org and Carplus.org.uk have more information about the benefits of car sharing and how to find other people in your area keen to share lifts.

- Jo Thornhill, Financial Mail on Sunday

>> Read more about being a caring consumer

If you can't stand the cold, get a sweater

In shops, in pubs, in offices, in houses, it seems thermostats are set at levels normally associated with Turkish steam rooms. Well I'm getting overheated about overheating.

I realise there are people who feel it necessary to heat their homes to fainting-point in the winter while wandering around in shorts and t-shirts, and they are probably quite happy with this thermal extravagance.

But they should grow up.

First, there is a basic ethical objection to waste: in a world of scarcity no one has any business using up unnecessary resources. It is selfish and ... well, wasteful. As well as stupid (everybody's wearing five layers for pity's sake, they don't need it to be 26 degrees indoors).

Second, you can add to that an environmental objection, which is pretty self-evident.

Third, there's the financial consideration: why waste money on blasting superfluous heat around buildings? But I suppose that's individuals' and companies' prerogative - to waste their money how they like. According to my moral compass it's out of line, but not necessarily to someone else's.

Fourth, it's unpleasant (subjective, I admit) and it's unhealthy (objective truth).

Fifth, if the experience of Christmas shopping becomes any more appalling someone will surely crack and end up in the newspaper headlines. Me perhaps.

And on that note, seasonal cheer to you all!

Adrian Lowery, This is Money

A £110 cheque for taking a water meter

I had a free water meter fitted on our home three weeks ago (the delay was less than I feared).

At the weekend I received a cheque back from Sutton & East Surrey water for £111. It's a refund of four months of our bill. We then pay £17 a month which is based on our water usage.

It's a pleasant surprise. The water calculator I used suggested my bill would fall from £330 a year to around £250 (based on three of us using average amounts). It looks like we'll be paying little more than £200 a year.

There's nothing better than a bumper cheque before Christmas but the better present will be if my monthly payments are correct. There's nothing worse than underpaying and being caught out with a larger demand later on. Just ask this reader or these gas customers.

- Andrew Oxlade, Editor, This is Money

Don't miss...

• 10 ways to shrink water bills
• Can a water meter cut costs?
• Water meter plans for millions
• 'I've been paying the neighbours water bills'

The incredible anti-global warming airplanes

You’ve got to hand it to the Government when it comes to displaying its green credentials.

How could anyone doubt its dedication to fighting for the environment?

After all, didn’t it commission the Stern report and didn’t Tony Blair stand up himself and say how vital it was to do something while we still had time.

‘This disaster is not set to happen in some science fiction future many years ahead, but in our lifetime,’ he warned. ‘Investment now will pay us back many times in the future, not just environmentally but economically as well. For every £1 invested now we can save £5, or possibly more, by acting now.’

And we knew our leaders were serious about cutting back on our carbon footprint when Gordon Brown delivered his Pre-Budget Report. He left us with no doubt that it was time to act, and in a statement of intent he doubled air passenger duty to stop us all frivolously flying around the place and polluting the air with cheap flights.

So, I can only imagine that somewhere there is a secret fleet of planes waiting to be put into service that are so green that they actually clean up the air.

After all, why else would a Government committed to cutting back pollution announce that another runway will be built at Heathrow, allowing 500 more flights a day?

Having told us how much they care about the environment, I won’t question our leaders’ green credentials.

Nope, I’ll just look forward to the arrival of the top secret, air-cleaning, pollution-removing air fleet. Think about it:

One more runway = 500 extra flights per day x 200 passengers per plane x 365 days per year x at least £10 tax per seat = £365m per year.

That’ll buy us even more anti-global warming planes.

Genius.

- Simon Lambert, This is Money

Don't play the innocent on non-ethical clothing

Sky's new green side

Be a caring consumer - the latest ethical and green news and features

Don't play the innocent

Think about it. Be honest with yourself. Does it really come of any surprise to you that the big supermarkets and discount clothing stores are relying on Asian sweatshop labour?

How else do they produce shirts for £5 for pity’s sake? Suits for £30? We all know it, we just don’t want to admit it to ourselves.

And you can guarantee that this is just the tip of the iceberg; you can guarantee that most of the clothes that you wear with a 'Made in Vietnam' or 'Made in China' label inside will have been made in conditions which you would find appalling.

We cannot shrink from the fact: Western nations' standard of living is based in no small part on what can only be descibed as a rapacious economic imperialism which forces millions around the world into indentured graft on poverty wages. Labour which is in all but name forced.

Having recently spent six months poking around the remoter corners of the Indian sub-continent, I can assure any doubters that only a small minority of that enchanting regions' inhabitants are benefitting in any meaningful way from the 'economic revolution' much-trumpeted by the likes of the Economist and the FT (and, yes our sister publication Financial Mail too).

And I can also assure you that the people who end up in these sweatshops have very little realistic choice in the matter: faced with a choice between baking cow dung into patties under the sun and selling them for fuel at the roadside in 40-degree heat - and sitting for 16 hours at a sewing machine in 35-degree heat … what would you do?

With the rise of Primark and of supermarket clothing (and not just them but the more fashionable High Street fashion chains), we have grown to expect clothes at knockdown prices. 'Disposable clothing' some call it. And I'm no exception. But as I've argued before in this blog, maybe we should start thinking of paying a little more, and buying a little less if necessary.

Then perhaps nobody else is paying for it too.

Adrian Lowery, This is Money

DON'T MISS: Our new 'Caring consumer' channel

Sky's new caring side

Lots of companies are paying lip service to reducing carbon emissions; I assumed few were delivering.

But last week, I was amazed by the lengths BSkyB were going to. I appeared on Channel Five News talking about why its costing parents £180,000 to bring up a child and giving tips to help meet the cost. 

Five News is made by Sky. They were good enough to provide a cab to get me to the studio in Osterly, a distant part of south-west London unaccessible by public transport.

And the cab? It was an eco-friendly Toyota Prius.

Who would of guessed - Rupert Murdoch, enemy of the liberal left blazing a trail as an industry eco-warrior.

- Andrew Oxlade, Editor, This is Money

>> Don't miss our new Caring Consumer section

>> Read all our stories on the Toyota Prius

>> Read all our stories and charting tools for BSkyB

Don't tax my bin - tax Tesco

In the latest Orwellian move to be introduced to Britain, councils are on the verge of starting pay-as-you-throw rubbish collection with micro-chipped wheelie bins.

Already stories are surfacing of furious locals ripping the chips out of their bins and trying to stash their rubbish in others' bins. Of course, whether these tales are true is questionable - clue if the report involves anyone brandishing a pitchfork it probably isn’t - but you can guarantee that they soon will be.

The whole rubbish debate is going to ignite in this country and I am praying that for once we learn to stand up for ourselves and say we want the real problem targeted.

Because while I think we should be recycling more, I don’t think it’s me or you that should be taxed – it’s Tesco.

The biggest creator of rubbish in this country is our supermarkets, with their obsession with little plastic trays, individually wrapped fruit, different plastic bottles that can’t be recycled together and other such lunacy.

If I took all the rubbish I created in a week, then I bet at least 80% of it would be uneccessary packaging. I recycle everything I can and my council, Islington, is reasonably good in what it takes, but there’s still loads of stuff that can’t be recycled and I have no option but to bin it.

Is that my fault? No, it’s Tesco’s.

Perhaps instead of targeting me, the Government should be turning its attention to Tesco, which made £904m profit in the UK over the past six months, and the other supermarket giants.

And when it comes to fortnightly collection, my binmen went on strike for two weeks in August and I can testify that leaving rubbish for that long is a stinking, rat-attracting health hazard.

So far, about the sum total of the supermarket’s efforts has been to say that they will cut down on carrier bags. This is a somewhat lame effort when we’re on the verge of being forced to have dalek wheelie-bins and keep rotting rubbish for two weeks.

So Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrison’s, Waitrose etc. what are you going to do to help?

- Simon Lambert, This is Money

Useful links

Become a vegetable vigilante

Get the farm to deliver your food

Supermarket watch

The water meter rush

This summer's water shortage and the increasing trend for consumers to have more social awareness is spurring more of us to apply for water meters.

The basic rule is that if you are in a household with three people or fewer and use an average amount of water, you'd probably be better off with a meter than paying the standard charges to your water company. You can do the maths yourselves with our water meter calculator.

However, the problem is that the rush for meters has caused a delay. Sutton & East Surrey water, our local board, has passed our request to their contractor - but there's a delay of at least two to three months.

If you want to switch to a meter and benefit from the winter deluge (if it arrives) filling your water butts, then don't delay in ordering.

- Andrew Oxlade, Editor, This is Money.co.uk

Don't miss...

>> Can a water meter cut costs?

>> 10 ways to shrink water bills

A cycling manifesto

GENERALLY speaking, drivers don't like cyclists.

And I can understand that. But do drivers really hate cyclists more than other road users? Probably not. I reckon there are the same proportion of bad cyclists as there are bad drivers. Which means there must be more bad drivers since there are simply a greater number of car users.

It seems to me that much of the anti-cyclist sentiment comes from the fact that cyclists can get to the front of traffic jams and weave their way through the queues, leaving fuming drivers sitting there.

Now I must declare an interest, I am a cyclist. But I'm not going to be a cycling apologist - because I agree that there are stacks of terrible people on bikes out there. There are three reasons why I cycle to work. It's quicker than the tube, it's cheaper and being able to get a bit of fresh air every day is great.

And for those sceptics, it really is cheaper and quicker. My bike cost me £300. Even if I don't look after it will last three years. Extras (clothing, lights, batteries, bags) are another £200. Roughly its £300 a year.

A one month tube card costs £99.

I live in Balham in south west London. The Mail's offices are on High St Kensington. As you can see this requires two changes on the tube, plus a 10 minute walk at either end and waiting time. All in all, its a 45 minute journey. If the tube has delays it can take more than an hour.

To cycle takes 20 minutes. Even if the journey gets disrupted it only takes 25 minutes.

So I have decided it is time for a change. It is time for cyclists, pedestrians and drivers to sign a truce.  Here is my manifesto for change:

Cyclists

- For goodness sake, wear a helmet. I know it means you have to do your hair again when you arrive.

- Wear bright colours.

- Buy lights.

- Signal.

- Don't undertake cars that are indicating left.

- Don't jump red lights, and please, if you are at a crossroads wait for your lights to turn green rather than watching for the other lights to turn red.

- Don't cycle with headphones on or while chatting on the phone.

- If another cyclist has overtaken you on the road don't then push in front of them at the next set of lights. They will only have to overtake you again.

Drivers

- Don't overtake a cyclist and then immediately turn left afterwards.

- Don't get annoyed by cyclists because they can weave their way through a traffic jam. It is not their fault you are in a car.

- Signal.

- Look before opening your car door.

Pedestrians

- Look before you cross. Just because a road is quiet does not mean nothing is coming.

- Don't walk in the road. You don't want cyclists on the pavement, so stay off the road.

Let me know what you think.

James Coney, Money Mail

How drinking Coke can save the world

If you drink Coca-Cola, shop at Wal-Mart's Asda, like a Budweiser, shave with a Gillette (owned by Procter & Gamble) or spend with American Express, then you've helped save the world.

Warren Buffett (pictured), the world's greatest ever investor and the world's second  richest man, has just given away £24bn to the world's richest man via the Bill Gates charitable foundation. Buffett, 75, has handed over this voluntary and pre-emptive inheritance tax as he doesn't believe the world should give a head start to 'members of the lucky sperm club'. He wants to create an even playing field of opportunity while also helping the developed world.

But the point here is that Buffett has spent his live investing in safe, sturdy companies with steady earnings growth - companies like Burger King, Gillette and Coke. For example, he owns 8% of Coca-Cola.

You can find out what else his company owns on the charmingly basic Berkshire Hathaway website.

The company also owns an eclectic handful of companies outright: Fruit of the Loom and MidAmerican, which owns Northern Electric and Yorkshire Electric utility companies in the UK.

So if you use those products, you've indirectly been donating to charity. Have a shave, slip on your Fruits of the Loom t-shirt, sup a Bud bought in Asda on your Amex and feel good about yourself.

Capitalism, eh. Isn't it crazy?

- Andrew Oxlade, Editor, www.thisismoney.co.uk

Don't miss...

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Become a vegetable vigilante

It’s not often I seek to associate myself with the Women’s Institute and it’s even less frequently that I seek to associate myself with a WI member wrapped up in clingfilm (well, at least not during work hours.)

But today I am adding my support to the WI’s campaign to cut out excessive packaging. The Institute is urging people to say ‘no to packaging’ and start helping the environment by bringing supermarkets to account over their wasteful wrapping of food.

To promote the campaign some WI members will apparently be wrapping themselves in clingfilm – so if you see a shrink-wrapped, middle-aged lady on the streets, don’t run away but lend your support.

According to the WI supermarket groceries account for 70% of the UK’s £9bn packaging market, and we all know how unneccessary most of that is.

To highlight the problem the WI has chosen the noble cucumber, that staple of sandwiches on the lawn, which often arrives on our shelves tray-packed and shrink-wrapped, despite surviving quite well in the wild without protective plastic coating.

With talk of taxes on those who don’t recycle enough the problem of packaging is a big issue. So, fight back and become a vegetable vigilante by unwrapping over-packaged goods and leaving the surplus in-store. On top of this complain to your supermarket, refuse carrier bags and support small shops.

And if you don’t act now we’ll end up stuck in an apocalyptic world of unused plastic and clingfilmed WI members.

- Simon Lambert, This is Money

Useful links

Give us the chance to recycle and we will

Bring back brown paper bags to save the world

Money saving advice to make you richer

The latest property and mortgage news

(How to post a comment)

I want to be a conscientious consumer

I not only want to be a good consumer by always hunting out the best deals, I want to be a good consumer by doing the right thing.

I have just spent two weeks sunning myself in Spain. I wanted to pay an optional  'green tax' with BA, only I couldn't find the option when I was booking the flights. Instead I will go direct to do this with www.climatecare.org - I apparently need to pay £5 to make amends for the CO2 my journey created. I was expecting far worse.

Refreshed from my holiday I'm now determined to do the right thing on food shopping. I've lazily slipped into regular visits to our local giant Tesco - it has helped wipe out nearly all our local shops. Instead I'm going to try a farm delivery service. A box of organic fruit and vegetables (sourced from local farmers where possible) will be delivered to my door once a week.

The benefits are:

* Producers get a better deal.

* The food is organic, so my insides are better, the land benefits and there's no CO2-creating industrial processes for pesticides, etc.

* The food is seasonal and sourced locally - so produces very few food miles in shipping it to me.

* My vegetable box is refilled each week - so no packaging or plastic bags. (Our reporter Simon Lambert has strong views on this).

I've opted for farmaround.co.uk which seems to be pretty cheap - I'll get a veg box for £7 and fruit for £5, plus £1 for delivery.

Rival sites include organicdelivery.co.uk, abel-cole.co.uk, riverford.co.uk, organics-4u.co.uk and freshfood.co.uk. It's hard to make direct comparisons on price as box sizes may vary. However, info on ethical commitments are pretty clear on all the sites. Have a browse and tell me what you think. I'll let you know how I get on with farmaround.co.uk

Also let me know any other ideas you might have about being a conscientious consumer. (How to post a comment)

- Andrew Oxlade, Editor, This is Money

Useful links

* If you want to fightback against Tesco, Asda et al, don't miss our brilliant round-up at www.thisismoney.co.uk/supermarketwatch

* See more about how This is Money is holding big business to account and how we can help you in my editor's message at www.thisismoney.co.uk/message