by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
The Bradshaw’s are just a normal British family living in a two-bedroom semi-detatched house in the small town of Westerham in Kent. Emily is a teacher and James works in London (nine-to-five ‘for the man’). They have one son, Lucan, who is now 2½ years old. Pretty normal so far!
However, this year (2013) they have made an unusual New Year’s resolution. Frustrated by our failing economy and fully riding the current wave of nation pride, the Bradshaw’s have chosen to see if they can survive family life buying only British goods and services.
Now let’s put this into perspective. This means everything from the mortgage to the toilet roll must be the product of a British company operating in Britain and employing British workers.
Is British manufacturing in such a poor state that one family cannot survive without foreign imports? This family are about to find out.
Throughout their challenge they will keep a running commentary, through their blog www.britishfamily.co.uk and their Twitter account (@britishfamily), on the difficulties they face while trying to buy British.
They hope to highlight the gems of British manufacturing they find along the way, offer practical tips to help lead a truly British life style and even having a go at making a few things themselves along the way.
Ultimately, the Bradshaw's want to find out if we are anymore an island, and if it is possible to make living entirely British a viable long-term option.
One can but wish them luck for our problem today is that most of what we consume and use is no longer “Made in Britain” and not even “Made in EU” but “Made in China”, or some other cheap labor nation, such as Vietnam, India, Thailand, etc.
It is indeed a worthy effort and we all should attempt to use more goods produced locally, whatever it may be, but, at present, as far as one can see with the great majority of of goods, products, produce and services on the market not being “home-grown”, so to speak, relying entirely on “Made in England” could be a very difficult undertaking, very much in the line of total self-sufficiency.
© 2013
