Peoples Republic of South Devon

Food miles v Fair trade.

I do believe Devon County Council are to be looking at cutting down food miles in the county. They may not of course, but is seems to me, we are better placed than many to make the most of our agricultural heritage, keep jobs, promote healthy living and enhance the region’s reputation as a destination of choice without undermining the fair trade debate. But I’m just an unelected dreamer…
Talking about unelected dreamers,the editor of the Herald Express, who is currently on some sort of pilgrimage (walking with his hat and dog to make money for some deserving cause, last I heard he was on his way to Bovey Tracey - who will rid me of, oh nevermind), is pursuing a campaign to promote (a new version of) the ten commandments - Living For the Weekend,
no that’s something else. When in doubt, especially about the state of society, I always find it refreshing to turn to the old testament. At least it promotes responsibility within society. Honour your parents, for example. And if I’m allowed the latitude that the Herald Express has shown with the commandments, let’s say that means all our ancestors - care
for the elderly, for example. Teignbridge council, it seems, is going to the county council to recommend selling some of the area’s old people’s homes. That’s just what I like to see. Now if we could just do something about those privately run and profiteering children’s homes…

January 11th, 2006

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Wind of change

Getting through the weekend papers I read a marvellous piece by Gaby Wood on Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs in the Observer. Read it on the Guardian website

January 10th, 2006

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Arts in your hand

Art should be accessible for everyone. The Exeter Picturehouse has some really interesting exhibitions (including an accomplished and powerful one by Magic Carpet) and tonight was to be an auction of all the work that wasn’t sold in its Christmas art fair. But it didn’t happen.

I’m keen to showcase art on the site and to have a list of all the galleries that it’s ok to browse in.

January 9th, 2006

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Your eye teeth

It’s not normal that I see daytime Sunday tv, but today I walked past a feature on Welsh women who took their dental treatment on themselves because an NHS dentist was too remote. Despite all the news hooopla, my kids are still without NHS dental provision (I think we were told that they would be covered if we went private, but that’s not going to happen). London surgeries have said they’d be open to us.

January 8th, 2006

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Fair do’s

The Fairtrade stall in Newton Abbot closed down before Christmas, it has been reported. Apparently the students who were running it couldn’t make enough to pay for the stall in the market. It’s a shame that the town which is vieing for Fairtrade status couldn’t support a small market stall.
As far as I know there are three designated fairtrade areas in Devon: Plymouth, Exeter and Teignnmouth - if I’m wrong, let me know. But the failure in Newton Abbot is the failure of the market (quite literally) to support fairer aspects of trading.
The Fairtrade movement as a whole has been criticised for subverting market issues - at its most subtle this argument runs along the lines of if there is an obvious provision for ‘fairer traded’ produce, then the rest of the market doesn’t have to step in line. I would say, if there was no obvious and growing need for more fairly traded produce then the movement wouldn’t exist.
I wonder how many people in that market town of Newton Abbot even care about how much of their produce is produced locally. The notion of fairtrade should touch every Devon consumer.

January 6th, 2006

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Being conditioned into doing something you don’t want to because of external factors that have been imprinted into your subconscious (life part one-o-one)

Derren Brown told me to do it.

January 5th, 2006

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Wind beneath my wings

It’s always good to hear about jobs being created, especially in the South West, and our hats go off (if we wore them) to flybe and its new contracts in that new hangar at Exeter Airport. But doesn’t this promote air travel, and isn’t air travel one of the worst producers of carbon dioxide?

Sure you can buy offsets for when you travel (more about that later in lifetime of this site), but then why not holiday a little closer to home (ibid).Anyway, this is just the second entry, and we’re still trying to find our feet.

January 4th, 2006

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In the beginning

This is as good a place to start as any.The People’s Republic of South Devon hopes to be a kind of community-based blog that highlights stories and issues that may have been overlooked in the South Devon area.

We aim to be both inclusive and a little left field. We will cover arts, culture, politics and the environment and other issues, social and otherwise, that interest us on a day-to-day kind of basis. If you have anything to add, get in touch.
(This is supposed to be a mission statement of sorts and as such, I’m sure it will grow and expand along with our experiences.)

January 3rd, 2006

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