Watch out for outdoor pets

JUST a few lines to warn local poultry keepers and owners of outside pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs.

I went down the garden to feed my hens recently and found one carcass shredded and two chickens missing completely.

Please be aware of the dangers posed by suburban foxes and secure your poultry and pets at night.

Name and address supplied

FAIRTRADE: WHO PAYS?

I CANNOT believe it!

Sainsbury’s has long been the market leader on fair trade but it’s now casting aside this role by announcing it will replace its Fairtrade tea with its own “fairlytraded” logo which will not be independently verified by outside experts – and the same system could extend to other products.

If the other supermarkets follow its example and devise their own schemes, the Fairtrade mark could collapse, accountability being the key hallmark of the Fairtrade certificate.

In about 25 years, the Fairtrade Foundation has risen to being a global retail business with consumers spending more than £6bn on Fairtrade products.

This has helped give a fair deal to 1.6 million farmers in 75 countries worldwide.

Hundreds of thousands of farmers have been rescued from exploitation in a system otherwise loaded against them, and ‘social premium’ payments of £150m have been invested in schools, hospitals, housing, sick pay and pensions in their communities.

Sainsbury’s excuse is that although it sold £200m worth of Fairtrade products last year, company profits have dropped 8.2% and its ethical trading is not producing a good enough return.

But does this merit such a reaction?

I beg Sainsbury’s to realise that its previously loyal customers could well choose to shop elsewhere, especially if campaigning groups such as Christian Aid and Oxfam respond to this news with undercover investigations, journalistic exposes and consumer boycotts of the kind they have deployed against manufacturers of cheap clothing and sportswear!

This can be effective, because in today’s world more and more people, especially the young, cheerfully accept the costs of caring about those in poor countries.

Why should the citizens of poorer countries have to pay the cost of keeping prices low for those in the richer world?

Besides, if ethical behaviour depends on its profitability, where in the world does that take us? Angela Robinson (Rev Mrs) Southport

COUNCIL LOSING OUT?

IN RESPONSE to the Southport Visiter article “What would you do if you were in charge of Sefton Council”, I believe that there is a potentially significant income that Sefton Council could collect if they were to have someone in their planning department devoting their time to examining Google Earth and checking for property extensions, conservatories etc (usually at the rear of the property) that have been built without the requisite planning and/or building regulations consent – and therefore, the fees which would have been incurred had the property owners made the official applications. Via email

DON’T BE SO SURE

CAN I welcome the reassurances given as to the future of our local hospital by the Southport Hospital chairman to my successor as MP.

I have the highest respect for the