John Burns Blog - 22nd February 2010 - Virgin Media; The Co-op; Halal

John Burns' Blog

Virgin Media; The Co-op; Halal

john burns Virgin Media
Yesterday I heard an advert on Classic FM telling us how easy it is to switch to Virgin Media Broadband. What the ad didn’t explain was how difficult and expensive it is to cancel the account. We recently got stung for £15 to end ours. That hurts and I won’t use them again. In fact I’ll think twice about all Virgin products. Two years ago I was thinking of subscribing to Setanta TV to get the football but decided against when Hamish told me how difficult it was to stop. They’ve now gone out of business.

The Co-op
David Cameron’s election talk has focused attention on the Co-op movement. Rochdale is credited with the birth of the Coop in 1844 but I was doubtful. The red sandstone Co-op buildings in Darvel in Ayrshire carried an inscription which I thought pre-dated that. I checked with Ian Robertson who tells me that the Darvel Coop started in 1840 (the buildings have recently been demolished which is a crime against humanity). There was a co-op in Fenwick –also in Ayrshire in 1837 – the Fenwick Weavers but history will always have it for Rochdale.

Halal
Halal meat has been getting a lot of publicity recently. The Food Programme on Radio 4 had a feature yesterday and a glossy magazine article a few weeks ago told us that it was very fashionable with our celebrity chefs. What is overlooked is that, like Jewish kosher, halal animals are killed without pre-stunning. Now, pre-stunning is either considered to be necessary on animal welfare grounds or it isn’t. The law of the land says that it is necessary as does The British Veterinary Association and, in my opinion, there should be no exceptions.

22nd February - Virgin Media; The Co-op; Halal

John Burns' Blog

Virgin Media; The Co-op; Halal

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