Organic-Ally

I think this is a great example of localism, entrepreneurship in general and how, in particular, many mums start their businesses. We see an unmet need that our child/ren can benefit from our taking the plunge. Mother desperate to make sure her children and their classmates eat healthy lunches after canteen closed launches her own catering firm and becomes school's new cook Localism: The problem with big business is they can only take profit if they trade on a big scale. With the scale usually comes a drop in care and quality. I now do some work locally. I walk to work. I am not paid a lot of money. But I do good work (at least I think so). Fellow human beings benefit from what I do. I don't mind the low wage too much. Entrepreneurship: I meet too many clients who say they or their children are highly qualified 'but there are no jobs'. So they get on to JobSeekers Allowance and wait for an employer to come calling. Even if this means subjecting themselves to the

Based on what my numerous clients at the advice agency have told me, it appears that one mode of operation goes like this (note: there are other ways they make money): 'Conditional solicitors' advertise their 'expertise'. Ninety-year-old happily watching her day-time TV sees an advert. O yes, she was injured in a public place, why not give these people a call. Nothing to lose , she thought. Wrong! Solicitors assure her that they will look after her. She's likely to get £x000 in compensation. She signs a piece of paper giving them exclusive rights to act on her behalf. No-win, no-fee. Happy, she hobbled off. About nine months later she comes to me. Her solicitors do not seem to be doing anything. When she chases them up they make unhappy noises and are rude. They won't let her deal directly with the people she is complaining against. They keep telling her she has to wait. Crucial question this: "Can I sack these lawyers?" I check my 'rul

OK. This was supposed to be my first heart-warming story, but the Ferguson urgency took over. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/30180472 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2847555/He-crawling-parasites-Sportsman-adopted-stray-dog-followed-Ecuadorian-jungle-wait-four-months-reunited-pet-recovers.html   Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/30180472

Some time ago I said I wanted to start a 'good news newspaper'. I'm sure others have already done that. So, here is a story that warmed my heart. Except that that there is often more to good stories. Some years down the road, we may learn that all is not what it appears to be. Never mind. For now let us just enjoy: Chinese millionaire builds free luxury homes for entire village where he grew up The timing was also serendipitous as I had watched on 'catch-up' TV a programme about Tatler . This programme featured rich Nigerians in the UK, multi-millionaires. My meandering thoughts were just going: if only these multi-millionaires could spare a million or two for their fellow countrymen, how different would Nigeria be? Extrapolating this argument I think of all the ultra-rich Chinese and Russians which are flooding the west, buying up land and homes. What if -- WHAT IF -- each of these would just spare a million each for their fellow countrymen. What a huge di

I was reminded to write about this after reading another news item today about PPI. Just last week I had an elderly client at the advice agency where I do some work present a letter demanding some £700 for getting his £1700 PPI claim back. Seven hundred eye-watering pounds for something the Client could have got for free. All he needed to do was complete a form to churn out a letter. Go to websites like Adviceguide , Moneysavingexpert  and Which . Worse still, this "claims handler" alleged that the bank had duly refunded the Client and so the Client should cough up the commission within seven days, or risk having bailiffs at his door. The bank however tells the Client that this claims handler is not even a registered claims handler. O dear! Meanwhile poor guy gets sucked further and further into debt while his blood pressure goes higher and higher. Were they a bogus company simply trying to frighten an old man into giving them £700? Who knows? If you know friends,

This has nothing to do with anything organic. On Facebook I read huge number of comments about people who cannot 'warm' to Pixie on Strictly Come Dancing. Well, glad I am not the only one who finds something about her so annoying. This is the opposite to 'something about Mary', as in the film starring Cameron Diaz, where there is something about Mary that makes her so lovable. I am not bothered with the argument/gripe that she had had dance training. She clearly has the benefit of 'muscle memory' to help her dance so well. She IS a delightful and competent dancer. If I was watching a programme about celebrities who dance fabulously then she will be loved. Full stop. I know little (ie not a lot!) of Pixie Lott except that she's a singer. I do not know what songs she is famous for, or the genre of music she sings. OK, I'm not really into popular music these days. Why don't I like her? There seems to be something 'put on' (fake) about

I had just realized a link from www.organic-ally.co.uk  is not working properly. This is because the original article is now being protected by a paywall although the original article was published before the paywall went up. The critical details are here: By: Anna Shepard Eco-Worrier Published at 12:00AM, February 23 2008 Q Is it better to use tissues or real handkerchiefs? A Hankies all the way. Kinder on the nose, they also save trees and reduce landfill. A tissue is a one-use-only product. Needless to say, if you don’t use the recycled variety, you are using virgin fibre fresh from the forest, which requires a significant amount of energy to transform into a silky-smooth tissue. Under Health and Safety regulations you can’t recycle tissues as they are considered contaminated. Composting them is the best disposal method, but I know that when I have a stinking cold the amount of tissue I get through would overwhelm my wormery. According to the European Tissue Symposiu

My family and I went over the pond in the summer to attend my niece's wedding on the Pacific coast. I took the opportunity to shop for fabric. Since I've lost my main source of organic cotton fabric I have been eyeing suppliers overseas. But this particular one does not ship abroad without a great kafuffle. And it's expensive. So I ordered fabric which was delivered to my brother and picked it up on one of the several occasions we met up. While cutting the fabric I was suddenly brought back to a floral pink (yes, I'm afraid) that I remember I loved so very much. My eldest sister worked in an import-export business and she had samples of everything under the sun that a little girl could want: buttons, fabric swatches, make-up, etc. I remember a book of swatches which I took to school when I was about nine years old. I had to show my teacher that beautiful swatch. The fabric Miraleste (the orangey one) is a bit like the swatch from this memory.      

I am becoming more like my mother every day. My son is heading off back to school today. I had offered to make him pancakes, but a meeting got in the way. So I thought, "Ah! Pancakes for breakfast then." Of course, being the efficient person that I am, I thought, "Ah! Prepare the mixture the night before." Which I did. Mixture done and stashed in fridge for the next day, I then put a finger into the egg shells to scrape off whatever egg yolk was left and ... just like my mum used to do ... smear it on my face. You can feel the skin tighten. After a few minutes I washed off the eggy film. Has it been any good for my skin. Dunno. But it cannot be bad. If you google egg white face mask, you will come up with loads of ideas and info about this very natural and nutritious face food. That's (1) pancake mixture, (2) face mask and then (3) after removing the membranous bit inside the egg shells I let them dry overnight. When dry I broke the shells into b

I tried ways of making a viable reusable organic cotton version but they were not very successful.   So very please to read about this: The Indian sanitary pad revolutionary

Wow! I've been away from this blog for such a long time. Been writing my more political ones elsewhere, I'm afraid.   Anyway, this week, several reports on BBC Radio 4 You and Yours on 'sustainable cotton'. Might be worth catching up.    Working in the cotton industry   Fast Fashion: Affordable or Exploitative?   Cotton imports