It's so convenient...
You're not shopping there won't make a difference anyway...
Rubbish!
We must all send a clear message to Tesco - that we are not to be treated as second class citizens. We must demand clearly marked English produce in line with Scottish and Welsh Tesco produce. If Tesco are pandering to anti-English racists from Scotland and Wales, or if their board of directors is mainly comprised of the same, they must be taught a lesson.
We must thwack Tesco straight in the profit margin.
You CAN shop elsewhere.
A couple I know live in a village without a shop. They don't have a car and the local bus service is lousy. There is a Tesco on their doorstep. But they never shop there. How do they manage it? A few tips...
For frozen stuff...
Try somewhere like Iceland. Amazingly cheap, good quality, and a far larger range than Tesco. Excellent frozen vegetables. Small range of non-frozen products - like cheese, bread, salad ingredients. If you have a freezer, shop there once a month, save pounds, and watch the housekeeping allowance stretch.
For fresh veg, also look at local markets and greengrocers - English produce is clearly marked and is often cheaper - yes CHEAPER - than that sold in Tesco, and much of what my friends have bought strikes me as fresher. Things like peppers for stews and casseroles can be prepared and frozen at home - with less loss of nutrition than if they had been sat on a supermarket shelf/in your fridge.
Visit the market/greengrocer once or twice a week. The couple I know manage this without a car and both work full-time. If you have a car and/or don't work full-time, think how much easier it will be for you!
On a budget - economy products. If you depend on the big supermarkets "basic" ranges, then Sainsbury's is better than Tesco. Sainsbury's is also anti-English, but has not yet taken it as far as Tesco. Your "Basic" milk or beans will not be emblazoned with the dreaded Union Flag.
Voila - your changes in shopping habits will not have meant uncomfortable changes to your lifestyle, you will be eating fresher produce, saving money and never having to boost the local Anglo-phobic Tesco store's coffers with your hard earned dosh!
REMEMBER - ANYWHERE BUT TESCO!
Nice one!
UPDATE 4/8/2006
Grace tells us...
Even more important, if you don't run a car, Iceland run a free home delivery service. Great store - wins hands down for freezer food quality and its range of £1 products can't be beat!
I used to be a confirmed Tesco shopper. Thought I'd never beat the habit until they started doing away with the Cross of St George on English products and hyping the Saltire on Scotch products. That's racial discrimination, I decided, Tesco can get stuffed!
And I've never looked back.
UPDATE 8/12/2006
Simon in Manchester...
Came across this blog via a BBC thread - good for you.
We have various cancer treatment drugs which are not available in England, but ARE available on the NHS elsewhere in the UK.
We have non-representative MPs from Scots constituencies forcing legislation onto England;
We have England being broken up into regions - despite the North East, the only area allowed a referendum on the subject, voting NO massively, we still have unelected regional assemblies and their powers are growing.
We have Channel 4 making out that Englishness cannot exist without Nazi-style DNA tests (although apparently this does not apply to any other world ethnicities/nationalities).
We have farmers in England getting a worse deal than those in Scotland and Wales.
And, of course, we have Tesco refusing to recognise just one of the UK nations.
As soon as you say you are English, the PC crowd cry "Racist!" I believe that the English are downtrodden and are the most non-racist nation in the UK - and I have non-white friends who are as English as I am.
You're doing good here. It's all part of a much wider issue, and it needs highlighting.
This blog is supportive of the aims of the Campaign for an English Parliament, but is in no way connected.
