So, the big drinking season is upon us ! Another reason for supermarkets to actively encourage excessive alcohol consumption by selling 'slabs' of beer (24 cans in a shrinkwrap tray) for apparently irresitible prices. And all that Half Price wine, which must be illegal, because those wines have never been worth double the 'half price', as even a monkey could tell you.

So, what to do ? How to remain true to the values you espouse, amid the unsustainable consumerism, and in the face of a financial meltdown ?

Surely a perfect moment to really get used to the fact that your wallet is a weapon. Whatever you buy will be replaced on the shelf by another of the same. That's how retail stock control systems work. They are software packages. They are NOT thinking, intelligent, people. They dont distinguish right from wrong. Just full from empty. Cash or NO cash.

So your every purchase is a direct vote for the kind of products you want more of, and ultimately the kind of world you are actively creating around you. The things you aren't buying are also voted off the shelf just as directly. So despite what they say, it's not the thought that counts in Tesco, ASDA, Dunnes, SuperValu or ALDI and Lidl; it's the till receipt. 

So how about a toast to fairtrade and organic wine , and a Wish4 a fairer world in 2011 ?

Cheers,