All that comes with it

The Co-operative Group Ltd is an extremely rare beast.  It’s a massive national company that actually has ethics.

Founded in Rochdale in 1863 it has grown to become the worlds biggest publicly owned consumer’s co-operative. It's owned entirely by it’s 5.5 million members, which I am proud to say I am one.

The group has its fingers in a number of different pies – from funerals to properties, farming to legal services.  But it’s perhaps most known for it’s grocery shops and it’s banking services.

We bank with the co-op, and have our mortgage there too.  We chose them mainly because of their ethical standpoint.  They do not use our money to invest in any company that violates human rights, is environmentally unsound, or exploits developing countries.  You’d think that all that should be a given for a major bank, but trust me – it isn’t.

That’s not to say we pay any extra for this ethical stance though. The co-operative bank is as competitive as any other out there.  What’s more, because we bank with them we are automatically members and every year get a dividend of a proportion of the companies profits.  Marvellous.

Yes, this is a sponsored post.  But it’s one I’m happy to write as I honestly truly believe in the ethos of this company.  The fact that a principled organisation like this can thrive in the modern marketplace gives me hope for the future.

Currently the Co-operative is running a campaign highlighting the things they are doing for the community.  For example they are funding a project to help protect dwindling honeybee populations in urban areas by educating city-dwellers in beekeeping. They have helped  establish 20 new hives on rooftops and in community gardens and allotments across London, and they will have given training and start-up equipment to approximately 300 people by the end of 2011.

Other projects they are involved in include a community owned windfarm in Cumbria, a toy library in Wales, and a education program to support farmers to set up their own co-operatives in Kenya.

And these aren’t token gestures.  They are symptoms of a real commitment to make the organisation a force for good in the world.

So how can you get involved?  Well, one way is just to buy stuff from them like you probably are already doing.  Even better, become a member and share in their success. 

But if you want to learn more about their projects you can join their facebook page or visit their Join the Revolution webpage

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In case you didn’t witness my crowing on twitter recently, I just bought a iPad 1. Yes, I’m still Steve Job’s bitch.

I would have got a iPad 2, but the 1 was reduced by £100 and to be honest it does everything we need it for.

Now that Apple is such a big company and no longer the underdog it will be interesting to see if there is a public backlash against them over the coming years. I know I certainly don’t feel as favorably towards them as I once did. Obviously I’m still buying their products, but my absolute loyalty is wavering somewhat.

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What’s got two thumbs and is a professional freelance writer?

This guy!

I’m not really sure if it’s reasonable to classify yourself as a professional writer after just one published paid piece. But bugger it, I’m going to anyway. After all I’m sharing a blog with Patsy Kensit. She was in Lethal Weapon 2 you know!

Anyhow, if you are at a loose end go and read my Beginners Guide to Geocaching over at Ready For Ten, a blog run by Robinson’s Fruit Shoot for parents of 6-9 year olds.

It’s a pretty good resource and is also home to a few familiar faces such as Hadrian’s Walker Jo Beaufoix and of course the UK’s Premiere daddyblogger.

In around six months Evan will start school and theoretically I should be looking for a full time job so I can start pulling my weight financially again. I say theoretically as:

• There are very few full time secure jobs for nurses out there at the moment – any vacancies being either purposely left unfilled or given to those at risk of redundancy.
• If I’m honest I don’t really want to work full time anyway. When will I find the time to podcast?

Recently I’ve started getting a trickle of income from blogging and the internet, and I’m starting to wonder if there is any way to turn that trickle into a modest stream. It’s early days yet, and one article doesn’t exactly make a career. But it’s something to think about.

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This year’s moonraking festival was most enjoyable indeed.

To be honest on the whole the lanterns weren’t as imaginative as on previous years, but I blame this on the theme. There’s not much you can do with the topic of “wool” in my opinion.

Still, I was fairly pleased with my sheep, and during the parade even caught a few people pointing at it and saying “ooo, that’s a good one” which was pretty cool.

Unfortunately I didn’t really get any decent photos of it so you’re just going to have to take my word for it. Kerry did manage to get a shot of me with the UK’s premier Daddy Blogger however. I’m thinking of seeing if he’ll be willing to autograph it for me.

Now of course my lantern is kicking around the kitchen getting in the way. We have nowhere to store it, so it’s going to have to go in the bin – but I haven’t been able to bring myself to do the dirty deed as yet. It just feels so wrong to destroy something you’ve spent so long poring over.

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Today is Arjan Been’s birthday. Which is a little unfortunate really because coincidently Lee and I spent a good 20 minutes ripping the piss out of him behind his back over on the Midnight Movie Club podcast this week (where we also talk about The ‘Burbs and have a visit from Mr John Grey).

Anyway. Happy Birthday Arjan, You’re a good chap. Even if you are one of those funny foreigners.

The Birthday Boy

In other news our family have been furiously beavering away making our lanterns for our villages upcoming Moonraking Festival on Saturday. If you are in the area you really should come along – it’s a lovely almost magical experience and one of the reasons we moved here in the first place.

We’re also being graced with the presence of the UK’s top daddyblogger himself during the festival (what a PR coup!)

Here’s some photos of our lantern in progress. It’s supposed to be a sheep – but you could see that, right? Right?

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I like to think of myself as a pretty political animal. I keep up with the news, I have strong opinions on many issues, and I always make the effort to vote – even in the boring elections.

Additionally I’ve always prided myself in the fact that the political opinions I have are generally well informed and reasonable. Granted I stupidly voted Liberal this time round, but I maintain the fault for that lays with them not than me – the slimy lying bastards.

But there is one current political debate that has me completely scratching my head. I have no idea how to vote on AV.

For those who don’t know the vote on AV is….

…

…

Sorry, I nodded off there for a moment.

The vote on AV is basically a referendum on changing the way we vote in elections here in the UK. Currently we have a “first past the post” system, where the candidate who gets the most votes wins the seat. Under an AV system you rank the candidates with first, second, and third choices etc. Then the counting goes in rounds. Each round the candidate with the lowest number of votes gets knocked out, and the people who voted fro them as their choice have their second choice vote counted instead. Or third. Or whatever (I’m not sure how it exactly works).

So this basically means that people are able to vote idealistically, and still have their vote count for something. For example I could vote for the Green Party as first choice, and then have Labour as my second choice. The greens would have very little chance of ever getting in – but I wouldn’t have wasted my vote and handed the seat to the Tories, because once the greens got knocked out my vote would transfer to Labour.

I think.

Theoretically this could end up with a person who did not get the majority of 1st choice votes still winning the election due to the number of people who voted for them as second choices.

Or something.

One good thing about AV is that people can vote idealistically for parties such as the Greens and still have a voice in the battle between the major parties. One bad thing about this is people can vote idealistically for parties such as the facets BNP and still have a voice in the battle between the major parties.

I have absolutely no idea what I should vote in the referendum. No idea at all. Both the Yes to AV campaign and the No to AV campaign are supported by politicians I admire. Both the Yes to AV campaign and the No to AV campaign are supported by politicians I despise.

I have no idea what to do. This may well be my first ever abstention.

Image blatantly stolen from The Daily (Maybe)

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