[Gayle]

Tealeaf, yes you are right Hyndburn is not a rich area, although it has now risen up the rankings and is out of the bottom 50 deprived areas in the UK. I did not suggest for a minute that anyone who was below the poverty line should spend their money on more expensive items, I suggested that some people who do have that few pence extra to spare may consider what they are buying and purchase goods that are fairtrade rather than alternative expensive items (and Fairtrade goods are not the most expensive items on the shelf). In other words buy using your concience occassionally.

Yes, there are countries and governments out there that are corrupt, I don't even begin to know how much money we have poured into their coffers, but the whole point about Fairtrade is that the suppliers are organisations who have guaranteed to pay their staff acceptable wages and to operate under certain codes of health and safety that other suppliers have not. For a supplier from a third world country to be able to supply Fairtrade items they have got to sign up to the basic principles which is why it is called 'trade' that is 'fair'.