| Bangladeshi collapse | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 27 2013, 01:29 AM (604 Views) | |
| Caro | Apr 27 2013, 01:29 AM Post #1 |
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Normally when a tragedy hits Bangladesh we hear of so many hundreds of thousands killed by flooding, and that's it, except perhaps for the World News weekly edition in our newspaper. But this building collapse has continued on the main news items for several days now, with accounts of people being found and saved, or killed and not saved, or of how building rules are ignored because they are not policed. Has it been the same in the British media? I've been quite surprised at the coverage this has had. Now there has been some comment from American sources (I think) or how the insistence on getting materials made up quickly for their markets has contributed to people taking shortcuts. It's all very easy sitting here in small well-regulated NZ where people are generally sheep-like in their obedience to rules to think eastern countries should do better in these regards. But how do you start to change a culture which has constantly ignored these rules? (The main parallel I can think of here is the wearing of life jackets on boats here - we have many people killed each year when boats overturn. But there is not a legal requirement to wear them, whereas there are legal requirements for Bangladeshi people to build their buildings solidly.) It's the same with bribery. When you live in a country where bribery is treated on about the same level as murder, it is easy to think every country should be corruption-free, but when wages are low, it's the custom, etc how do you start to change that? |
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| Lurkalot | May 5 2013, 10:18 AM Post #2 |
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UK had a good textile industry especially in yorkshire / lancashire. it is a shame that costs has meant that the industry has closed down. what price does one pay for a life lost though? Primark, a high street fashion store here in UK is one of those shops involved along with Matalan. |
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| Mobson | May 5 2013, 10:40 AM Post #3 |
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It is indeed a shame Lurkalot...that we have to resort to importing what are very cheap and sometimes shoddy goods when we could do so much better if we only had the will, the money and the support of a Government to get these lost industries back...
Edited by Mobson, May 5 2013, 12:19 PM.
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| madfor4 | May 5 2013, 11:19 AM Post #4 |
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C'm on mobs; surely you remember Margaret Thatcher’s famous proclamation in the 1980s that ‘There is no alternative to free market capitalism'? |
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| Mobson | May 5 2013, 12:40 PM Post #5 |
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do you know I can't mads...too busy setting up a business that employed hundreds under Maggie... Anyway it's not good to dwell on the past, we need to look to the future. I know little about that end of the fashion garment market but am surprised that members of the Asian community have not taken up the gauntlet; making affordable clothing for the younger market. In central London, Margaret Street above Oxford Circus used to house many wholesale manufacturers, now gone. In East London, Brick Lane was famous for importing and manufacturing clothes. I used to visit a couple of indian-run companies with a friend that made up leather, suede and fur garments, and another making casual and tee shirts. One owned the freehold of their premises and told us of his plans to develop a hotel/restaurant on the site and close down the clothing business altogether. Visiting last November we saw how the area has changed.... Edited by Mobson, May 5 2013, 02:32 PM.
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| Lurkalot | May 5 2013, 02:23 PM Post #6 |
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One of my relatives use to own a warehouse in leicester but closed down. A few asians have set up retail outlets like New look (Tom Singh) and i'm sure I've seen in the rich lists asians own a few other retail outlets. However, i suppose costs mean they get the goods cheaply from overseas. A few reputable sports brands also use overseas sweatshops to manufacture their goods (NIke etc.). What i find disappointing is M & S made a policy that use to say 90%+ of it's products were British back in 80's etc. I understand this policy discontinued in 2002. probably competition from other retailers like primark, asda etc. |
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| Caro | May 5 2013, 11:10 PM Post #7 |
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As a consumer it is very difficult. I went looking for a top recently and went to a rather upmarket department, thinking I would pay a little extra for a good one. What a shock I got to go closer to some tee-shirts and find they were $210. I suppose they must have been NZ-made (something not that easy to find these days) and had a bit of extra pizazz, but they weren't very different from an ordinary tee. Anyway I walked away from that shop and bought my top for $20 at a NZ-owned (and socially responsible in many ways) large chain. But I decided that I should buy NZ-made and not Chinese clothes. Till this morning when I decided it was time to buy new panties. And I know that I will go to Farmers and buy packs of pants for a few dollars. They fit, they are comfortable, they are CHEAP! And I am someone who theoretically can afford more expensive clothes - who can blame people on (too) low incomes for buying as cheaply as they can? I don't know what the solution is, since we don't seem likely to go back to the restrictive inporting practices of the past. |
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| Lurkalot | May 10 2013, 11:33 AM Post #8 |
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22477414 A woman has been pulled alive from the ruins of a building that collapsed in a suburb of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, 17 days ago..... |
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| Norm Deplume | May 10 2013, 01:22 PM Post #9 |
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Did they also say that she was found in a prayer room? Who believes in Miracles? |
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| Caro | May 10 2013, 09:21 PM Post #10 |
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Well, not me. She was very lucky and obviously determined to stay alive and seek rescue as long as she could. But why couldn't God have done a similar miracle for the people near her? I would be miffed if one of my kids was killed in an accident and it was considered a miracle that his companion was saved. People say the same thing about soldiers in war, as if God picks and chooses at random. It makes him seem a very erratic sort of being. |
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| madfor4 | May 11 2013, 09:18 AM Post #11 |
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My wife's words exactly.... I remember something regarding an American Christian group smuggling bibles into Tibet.... The spokesman said, "The first time we tried there was an avalanche which swept the animals carrying the bibles way." "On the next four attempts we were driven back by snowstorms." "However, on our fifth try, the snow miraculously held off andf were were able to get through; God really wanted us to succeeed in our efforts" As a cynic pointed out, "It sounds to me like God did all he could to stop you!"
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