Entertainment For Lively Minds
Have you ever boycotted anything...a band, a brand, a country maybe?
I was reading some of the responses on the Sky TV thread, where there appeared a few anti-Sky comments - I enquired as to why there was such a negative feeling. Of course some felt quite strongly about the Murdoch angle, rather than the product itself.
It got me wondering if you have ever felt strongly enough to have made your own stand against something, whether it is as seemingly trivial as a rock band for, say refusing to sign an autograph, for more worthy political reasons or just out of a bad experience?
Isn't it annoying though when you do take a stand on something to have to occaisonally back down. Such as my heroic boycott on British Airways - bloody difficult to have to admit defeat on that, but when the only other option is Ryanair...!
- More from Retro Man.
- Login or register to post comments
-
Yep:-these brands
Sharp Electronics
AON
Vodafone
AIG
Funnily enough I came on to post exactly the same.
Managed to take Vodafone out of my company a few years back and reinstated them when they didn't sponsor them anymore
:-)
I tried to boycott Jaffa Cakes for the same reason...
...but their tastiness was greater than my willpower.
Is that...
...a football thing? I couldn't work out why the up-arrow, then it occured to me that there might be some kind of team fellow-feeling involved.
You're not a Leeds fan
are you Richie by any chance?
No, I'm from Manchester.
'Nuff said.
Emmm......
Is your favorite drink Bitter?
Ian
All
of these are just things people dont like for one reason or another, i cant see much of any principle here.
Birthdays
Did you used to boycott Birthdays card shops due to the Bryan Robson connection as well.....
I'd forgotten about Birthdays
And yes, I never darkened their doors.
Similarly in days gone by, my family wouldn't go anywhere near Louis Edwards' butcher shops, but that was down to the alleged quality of the meat...
haha, I know the feeling,
but with me it is
JVC
SEGA
O2 and
Emirates airlines
I still have the habit of covering up their official magazine with other publications if I see it in a newsagents too.
Three things I won't ever touch: -
1) The S*n - for their 'coverage' of the Hillsborough disaster.
2) $ky - for being cheeky sods (charging people to watch adverts on channels that they don't want).
3) Apple (Macintosh) - it's not so much the products themselves, rather the fanboy cult which surrounds them. Also, if Microsoft did the same sort of things as Apple (Macintosh), they'd be rightly castigated, but Apple (Macintosh) always seem to be allowed to get away with it for some reason (runs for cover...).
The careful use of the phrase
Apple (Macintosh) suggests that you'd be happy to use a non-Macintosh product from Apple such as an iProduct?
It's simply...
...to distinguish them from Apple (Corps), Stimply.
Ah, yes. Good point...
When I was a student...
...I boycotted Nestlé for a little while, but then I discovered I fancied a KitKat.
Did you boycott
Nestlé when they became Nest-lay instead of the good old traditional Nessuls as we all grew up with?
Ha.
I'm not sure when the change happened, but I do still associate that with my granny's pronunciation of nougat as "nugget".
Your Granny was correct.
Anyone calling the stuff 'noo-gah' is a ponce.
Nestle deserve all the boycotting they get due to the baby-milk/Africa fiasco, don't they?
Too right, Foxy!
Have an 'up'.
That's for the "Anyone calling the stuff 'noo-gah' is a ponce" line. Sod the baby milk..
A few
Ryanair - One flight was enough. I want to be treated as a customer (funnily enough I fly BA nearly all the time - one man's boycott is another man's ... er ... favourite airline)
Daily Mail / Sun / Times - political differences
Halifax / Abbey National - poor service, but to be honest I'm running out of slternatives that haven't screwed something up.
Nissan - miserable customer service
Utility companies - the GLW deals with these - I think we are running out of options there as well
A few have gone by the board over time - Greene King, Samsonite, Jongluers.
Me - hold a grudge? Never !
Royal Bank of Scotland
For having their heavies screw my wife out of a lot of money when she was seriously ill. She would not tell me the hassle she was getting because she wanted to deal with it herself. I then heard a trailer for a programme on Radio4 about 2 couples who suffered the same fate. One guy almost attempted suicide, it was that bad.
I took my account from them and would tell anyone who would listen to do the same. It was just before the banking crisis and I longed for "Sir" Fred Goodwin to die a horrible death. Evil bankers.
Oh loads
Sharp Electronics / AON / Vodafone / AIG - as per Richie B above
Holsten / Hewlett Packard / Thomson Holidays / Mansion.com / Autonomy Corporation - same reason, different club (different in so many ways!)
South African produce in the 80s
Barclays Bank in the 80s
Shell Petrol in the 80s
The S*n - the Hillsborough lies & Murdoch connection
Sky / Times / Sunday Times / News of the World - Murdoch
Daily Mail - sure I don't need to explain
Ryan Air - ditto
Nestle - baby milk
...and the list goes on...
Have any of these boycotts achieved anything? Well, I'd like to think that the mass boycott of Barclays helped to shape their attitude to S Africa, but I suspect it was more a commercial decision that they pulled out when they did.
I'm sure none of the others have achieved anything, but they make me feel good about myself and surely that's the whole point? I don't really expect the Daily Mail to crumble because I don't buy it...
A little bit of politics
I have a suspicion of avocadoes labelled "Israel" because it seems an unseemly percentage have come from farms run by Israelis but from farms in the Occupied Territories, which is misrepresentation at the very least. It shouldn't stop me buying Jaffa oranges (unless you tell me different).
Otherwise, no boycotts just now. Not buying The Daily Mail or Sky or The Sun is not a boycott, I'm just not buying what they're selling.
Covent Garden Soups...
About 11 years ago, I worked for a small PR firm who represented New Covent Garden Fresh Soups.
The job only lasted three months, I hated them, they hated me. (The owner was the sort of girl who got her perfume out on the tube if a working guy got on and, having done a hard days graft, hadn't yet got home to the shower. F*cking infuriated me then, f*cking infuriates me now...)
Anyway, one of their clients was New Covent Garden Soups, which at that point I quite liked, but haven't touched them since, don't even know if they are still a clinet but I won't take the risk that I might inadvertently put some money in the evil cow's pocket. One small consolation was that as I got married at the time, they bought a decent wedding present which I use daily and relish them having spent the money on.
*ahem* apart from that nowt...and its OK I went on to bigger and better.
Just two
Ryan Air
and anything recommended by my father-in-law
Absolutely
So many;
Won't visit Cuba under the current regime.
Dixon/Currys - crap service/overpriced warranties etc.
A few pubs where I live because I dislike the landlord or the clientele.
Won't sign up to affinity cards as I don't like what they can do with the data
A number of charities, Christian Aid, Oxfam, War on Want, RSPCA, NSPCC either due to their politics and/or unacceptable admin costs.
I doubt I'll ever buy a French car, actually that one's more just prejudice.
Gordon's Gin ever since they craftily reduced its strength.
All of the main supermarkets - haven't been in a Tescos, Sainsburys or Asda for at least 3-4 years.Morrisons I do buy petrol but don't shop.
Not wanting to cause an argument
but can you explain the charity politics thing to me, please?
Don't wish to kick off an argument either
My problem with all of these charities is that they spend too much on campaigning, advocacy and education, broadly espousing a world view to which I don't subscribe.
Taking Christian Aid as an example it has a budget of £82m, only £54m of that figure is spent on emergency and development aid with £12m being spent on campaign activity mainly in the UK. Before recent cutbacks the charity employed 453 staff here — at an average cost of £37,000 each — and only 306 abroad.The record of the others isn't a great deal better.
I do donate to charity but tend to stick to smaller charities
who get more of the money to those who need it.
My argument is usually with chuggers, in that
if they do feel so strongly about whichever cause it is this week, why don't they simply volunteer for them?
I did school work experience for Cancer Research two decades ago and was given £50 a week to cover bus and lunch for quite physical work. I went back over summer and did a few more weeks for the same pay and felt good about it, although I did cycle there and back at that time.
You're missing out I fear,
by not considering Cuba just to spite Fidel. Taking your Yankee dollar to their crumbling economy might be the best thing you can do to spite the old fella, oddly, as every Cuban who relies upon earning from tourists is another Cuban who's less inclined to want everything ladled out by the Party. It's top of my 'next place to explore' list.
I'm inclined to agree
As someone rather keen on travelling to dictatorships, the fact that a share of what you spend feeds government coffers does trouble me, but is generally offset by the fact that locals you meet are absolutely delighted you showed up at all.
Cuba
Haven't been online for the past few days so didn't appreciate my initial comment stirred up so much feedback.
Each to his own, but I wouldn't wish any of my money helping in any way to keep the Castros and their cronies in power. I'm old enough to have travelled to Czechslovakia in the early 80's and even as a skint student felt pretty uncomfortable visiting a dictatorship and living well while the population were exploited and oppressed.
I will visit before the place is inevitably ruined by US money, hopefully soon when Castro finally shuffles off.
You'll do more good
going to Cuba than not. I've been twice with my, ahem, 'Yanqui dollars' and being a fluent hispanoparlante found it one of the best places for talking to people I'd ever visited. And anything you can do against the Florida gusanos is a good thing.
Oh yeah, on that. I boycott Florida. A shithole. Currupt, largely as shallow as a puddle.
You pays your money...
Two opinions from two recent visitors to Cuba
My Mate : "nothing works; we were flagged down four times by the police, to give them lifts as they had few cars of their own; the local girls can get into trouble for fraternising with the tourists, and when we had two in the car, and reached a police checkpoint the girls were really afraid, so we had to run it, on the principle they would have to flag another car down to chase us."
My Uncle : "beautiful, what Hawaii would have been before America turned it into a whorehouse."
An unrepresentative sample, I grant you.
Equally unrepresentative,
and twenty years old now, I'd nonetheless recommend anyone with a passing interest in travel and Fidel's Cuba to invest in this little yarn, available for next to nothing secondhand via Amazon Marketplace: Driving Through Cuba (Abacus Books) [Paperback] Carlo Gebler (Author).
There's a newer perspective available from this book: Cuba - The Land of Miracles: A Journey Through Modern Cuba [Paperback].
I'd love to go there this summer, but have other plans. In a way I hope El Commandante lives long enough for me to experience what it's like under his Cuban heel.
That's a nice thought however
I'm not too certain it's really Fidel's Cuba any longer. It's been limping toward Raul's Cuba for some time now and hermanito just isn't the leader Fidel is/was. Certainly the last time I was there driving oneself about the island was muy prohibido. Seems like a sign of things to come...
RSPCA
I won't support them either. They're too often guilty of 'bully-boy' tactics like this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/7920217/...
I do wonder about some of the charities.
The RNLI, for instance. I live by the coast and watch what they do. The last set of their accounts shows total net assets of £511m. A good few bob. £221m of which is invested cash. Which had lost £60m on the year. They ain't poor.
288 lives were saved in the acounting year, they claim. Which is good. But how many of these were pissed-up yachties who should be billed for their idiocy, rather than use up charitable donations? How many were crews of incompetently-mastered commercial vessels? Why does the RNLI have to be a charity? Shouldn't it be government-funded like any other emergency service? Shouldn't the lifeboatmen be remunerated appropriately for risking their lives to save those others?
I'll ask my mate Andy the shipping lawyer for the low-down.
I suspect that
if the Lifeboats were taken under public funding, the Daily Fail and the rest of the usual suspects would whine about the need for further 'stealth taxes' to pay for services 'our gallant sailors' had supplied through their charitable efforts for decades.
Plus there'd be an extra layer of salaried bureaucrats required to monitor policy, enforce Health & Safety, report to Westminster, etc etc etc.
Right with you on cross-charging pissed up yachties though, like that berk who chugged round and round in circles off Essex this year, clueless to his own stupidity.
Just the one.
The Sun: Most importantly because of Hillsborough; I was only three at the time so I wasn't aware of the significance of the reports and the events back in 1989, but these are the kind of issues you're taught to believe in as a supporter.
Also, it's an awful paper anyway.
Humourless Male Millie Tant sod writes...
Blooming loads.
1) All Murdoch products
2) Nestle Products
3) I refused to go to America when George W Bush was in power
4) U2 in all of their evil forms
5) TV Talent Shows, Heat, Big Brother, all celeby crud
6) The Daily Mail
7) Sport. All of it. The Celtic- Rangers crap in my hometown soured it all for me
8) Dominos Pizza (for giving money to mental pro-lifers in America)
9) MacDonalds, Burger King etc - shit food, shit wages
There might be more, but that's all that springs to mind right now
I am a fun guy in my head. Perhaps just not in real life. Maybe I need a hobby...
Oh yeah
I forgot about Domino Pizza. The owner funds Catholic universities of the conservative persuasion in the United States, i.e. they call themselves conservative, but the rest of us don't see anything worth conserving.
Now, as a recovering left-footer myself, I say he is, of course, perfectly entitled to fund them, and I, in turn, am perfectly entitled not to fund him.
That is indeed a boycott, as opposed to not buying MacDonalds because it is disgusting.
You are me, and I claim my £5.
I'll add Dominos to my own list after that eye-opener. I already have all the others you listed, bar one, having been to CA twice while the buffoon was in office.
Does no-one else boycott...
McDonalds (cultural imperialism)
Starbucks (ditto)
Gap (ditto again)
Primark (can't avoid every sweatshop-using clothes chain, but this seems the worst offender)
Weatherspoon's (general crapness)
oh yes
...my use of the phrase "and the list goes on" in my previous post covered McDonalds, Starbucks and Primark (among others) for the very reasons you give.
Never really thought about Gap, but now you come to mention it...
Weatherspoons have escaped my ire thus far. But I'm clearly going to have to add Domino's to the list after Ganglesprocket and Doods' revelations above. Saturday night in front of the TV with the kids will never be the same again!
Phew...
...our Saturday night pizzas are safe!
According to NNDB.com Thomas Monaghan ("Domino's Pizza founder [and] pro-life activist") has sold his share of Domino's. Wikipedia (I know, I know!) says he did so in 1998. Given that 12 years has now passed I feel safe in continuing to support my local branch.
I wouldn't go counting my pizza slices just yet
Closer to home they have had some other stuff to answer for
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7017152.stm
Several years ago...
... I dimly recall Burger King in Glasgow accused of making staff members clock off during quiet hours, but making them work a full shift, dragging things out for often 11 hour stretches.
In case m'learned friends are reading
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/burger-king-pays-pounds-106000-to-staf...
Agree with Wetherspoons
Definitely avoid/boycott due to, as you say, general crapness.
What I really need in my life is: a bar full of silver pumps serving the same stuff from Plymouth to Glasgow, 2 (often in-edible) Meals for a tenner and a group of pissed-up 15 year olds falling out of the door.
(Maybe thats just in Reading?)
Same avoidance of: Yates's Bar/Wine Lodge, Harvester, Brewers Fayre & Sizzler
Wetherspoons
I think they serve a purpose if not a decent pint. It's cheap and they do have an excellent selection of foreign beers, bottled beers too if you don't want their dregs-of-the-barrel, poorly pulled draughts.
They also, like the Pizza Express chain, do a half decent job of trying to keep as close to the original character of whichever building they take over, which is something I quite like.
Rigid, you going along to support The Royals on Saturday?
Royals
Haven't been for a couple of years (Championship Winning Season).
It is on my "to do" list to get down to the MadStad at least a couple of times this year. Scunthorpe is a good opening fixture, but I'll probably wait to go to the Crystal Palace game
Haven't set foot in McD's
in more than 10 years. But this cultural imperialism thing is a bit old, no? In your town do they stand outside on the pavement with guns forcing people into their establishments to stuff their uncultured gobs with shite? I've not seen it, personally. I've only seen stupid fools making the choice to go in.
The arrival of Starbucks in the UK at least
seemed to force up the standards of coffee. I don't think there was much imperialism - they just provided something that hadn't been widely available before. They may have been overtaken now by other chains, and smaller businesses, but they created the market (Although everybody seems to have adopted their terminology, such as using a mixture of Italian and English for different cup sizes.)
I don't know how it is where you live
but here it's customary that the class chip in to buy a gift for their class teacher at the end of the school year, and a more expensive gift at the end of comprehensive school.
We had a horrible teacher, everybody hated her, but of course when the end of term was near the collection started for our parting gift to her...and I refused to chip in and forbade my mother to pay anything towards this monument of hipocracy.
The woman was a complete arse, I was more than glad to get away from her, why on earth would I want to give her an expensive gift ?
I hope she read the card carefully and saw my name missing ( I'm sure it came as no big surprise to her ).
Apart from that I only boycott Coca-Cola ( after reading an interesting article about the way they do business ), though today I wouldn't be tempted to buy it anyway since I've stopped drinking anything that isn't tapwater, juice or contains alcohol...
My wife
would never go to McDonalds because she thought they supported the IRA.
I refuse to buy anything associated with Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Rolex and Armani.
Ah, the old IRA story
I thought that was finally nailed as being Old MacDonald's putting down what their staff paid into Individual Retirement Accounts as "IRA Contributions".
Still, anything which puts folk off McDonalds.
McDonalds and the IRA.
It's just an urban legend.
It's probably derived from the fact that McDonalds gave some of their senior employees a form of pension called an Individual Retirement Account, or IRA for short.
What's wrong with Porsche
Mercedes and BMW?
Too cheap
Besides, I'm happy with my Ferrari Mondeo 8-p
Bodgit and Quit,
the well known DIY superstore, are top of my domestic retailing list of places to avoid.
This is in no small part due to their having taken 5 grand off me for kitchen work which they then had the temerity to sub-contract to a bunch of no brain, no skills, no manners, no clue morons who royally buggered up everything they attempted.
In the end I threw them off the job and fixed it all myself. When I finished it I threw a BBQ party to celebrate. I was tempted to have another one, in their warehouse. I still might, one of these dark weekends. Allegedly.
I, too, had one of their kitchens
and after a couple of years a few problems with the cabinets emerged. They dealt with it quite quickly but their supplier was no longer trading and a match could not be found. In fairness, they paid out a generous compensation for the actual problem but I had to sign a disclaimer that no further action would be taken. (And the fitter we had was jolly good, if a trifle messy.)
I worked for them for almost 20 years
60 hour weeks, less than a week's sickness in all that time, no bonuses for the last four years due to the state of the market. But when the regime became even more Stalinist and cranked up the more-for-less demands in much the same way as the ConDems are doing now, I cracked and walked out.
Did the bastards contact me to see if I was okay? No. Did they invite me in for a leaving interview? No. Will I ever set foot in one of their stores again? No chucking fance!
WH Smiths & Burger King
When WH Smith announced some time in the (mid?)80's that they would stop selling records with sleeves that they thought some of their customers might object to, I stopped buying stuff in there and, although I expecte they've changed their view since, I will still only go in to buy a newspaper and a bottle of water at the airport when they're pretty much the only option. In the high street I wouldn't even consider going in the door.
I haven't set foot in a Burger King since they served me a chicken burger instead of a vegiburger and didn't appologise. Mind you, it's not a hard boycott to keep up.
No need to worry about a censored music stocking policy.
For several years now, WH Smith have been getting their dwindling selection of shiny discs known as 'The Chart' from a supplier who does the stock for many other high street outlets; the Entertainment division has been run down almost to nothing at head office, and the intent is to ditch as much of the CD/DVD trade as possible. As far as music's concerned, they don't select what they sell anymore, they take what they're given by the supplier. They have been shafted by music sales on the internet, and have had the sense to realise that fact. A lot of it is down to CEO Kate Swann's drive to take the business back to stationery basics. The whole shooting match is undergoing continuous radical change; the 'travel' stores actually make more money for the group than the 'high street' stores these days.
You should reconsider your boycott; they really are trying hard!
It's now irrelevant
I suppose the reason I still don't use WH Smiths is really less to do with the original boycott and more to do with the fact that I've lived without them this long, I don't really know what they sell anymore so they are irrelevant to me. I can't recall the last time I bought any basic stationery (I like the cheapo Bic pens they leave in hotel rooms so I have a supply of them) and if I want a choice I'll nip out to Staples which is nearer and more convenient anyway and I buy books and CDs/DVDs online.
Disney
Can't stand anything to do with them. Twang Jr lives in a Disney free world other then visits to friends who have bought into the cultural imperialists, and consequently he isn't that bothered one way or the other. Mrs T is bent on taking him to Disneyland later this month, much to my disapproval. I'm not going of course. Bah.
Anything which declares itself "chemical free"
It's like saying you only read books without any words in, because some words are nasty. Plus, I object to paying for a perfect vacuum.
Bit of a drag, admittedly, when you want a bag of compost and have to traipse round umpteen garden centres to find something which is peat free but does admit to containing lots of luvverly chemicals.
Surely, by definition, NOTHING can be chemical-free?
In the same way that everything based around carbon chemistry is, by definition, organic.
Virgin.
Virgin Holidays spoilt a trip to Jamaica a few years ago and, after getting what I felt were unsatisfactory replies when I contacted them about it, I wrote to Sir Richard. One of his staff sent me a letter saying that Sir Richard had personally asked him to investigate and resolve the matter. A few weeks after that I got a letter from Virgin Holidays saying in effect: your letter has been passed to us and we've no more to add to what we already said. End of.
In my experience, then, Sir Richard talks about customer service and that's all. By his example, he and his organisation couldn't really give a hoot about me so I've boycotted his brand from that day on. And will continue to.
Virgin
Ooh! Me too!
Except it was a trip to Barbados. Otherwise, identical experience from the complaints side of things. Branson gets no more of my money.
Tesco
mainly for their land grabbing and local vibe-trashing. Ms V. won't have them in the house.
re Barclays
and all hideous banks I've got my current account, house and car insurance with the Co-Op and they've been nothing but excellent. Ethical investment policies etc. And no I don't work for them.
Florence & Her Machine
and Robbie Williams. Not only do I refuse to buy any of their evil produce, but I often injure myself leaping up to turn off the radio or TV if they ever appear on them.
I do that when The Archers comes on...
.
Arsenders
I'm the same with Eastenders, i've never let it get to the 4th drum beat of the intro yet, i'm like a coiled spring.
Garners Pickled Onions and HP Sauce
Both best of breed, both originally produced in the UK, both trading off their brand-image of authentic Britishness (whatever that may be!), but both moved production outside the UK in the name of business efficiency. So I moved my custom to other pretty-much-as-good brands made in the UK. Well, in the case of the pickled onions, started making them myself - they're even better, and definitely made in the UK!
Barry Norman makes a mean pickled onion
What does he do?
Torture them?
South African wine
I never liked the idea of all those little black feet in the grapes.
Rooney et al
Going for the Premiership this year.
It clearly doesn't matter who wins it (and only two teams can) and all the England players in those two teams are rubbish.
Sure, I'll see the results in finding out about other leagues, but I don't intend to see a live Sky match, nor any news on it, nor any edition of 'Match of the Day'.
If it's anything like last season, I won't be missing much.
After that list
where do we start???
The Daily Hate of course
Ryanair for charging me 50 euros for my case being 2 kilos over the limit.
Margaret Thatcher for being born.
I'd like to boycott Homeland Security but my love affair for New York is to great!
a few
Siemens (World War 2,Slave labour,Refusing to pay)
Nestle (Baby Milk)
Vodafone (Constant harassment when i paid a bill a day late,They phoned 12 times in 4 hours)
Barclays (Bad service,rude staff)
Has anyone said Nike yet?
For their third world exploitation?
Anyone clear up a point about Tesco for me? Their clothes are very cheap - makes me think 'sweat shop' yet a polo shirt contained a Fairtrade label inside it despite being less than a tenner.
WHO'S WITH ME, COMRADES?
(hopes no-one asks about my habitual use of Starbucks, Sky and KitKats).
Power
to the people!
Was that when Robert Lindsay was starring in...
Mao Family?
OK..
Virgin (see above)
The Sunday Times, following the ditor's disgraceful support of AA Gill's disgusting homophobic comments about Clare Balding.
The Mail. For obvious reasons.
RyanAir. O'Leary is a vile, mendacious, twisting bit of bottom-scraping who needs to be beaten into weeping, dribbling, pentinent submission by a group of large men all wielding stockingfuls of diarrhoea.
Airfreighted fruit and vegetables.
The Spice Island Inn round the corner from me. Dreadful, dreadful service there one night about sixteen years ago. Haven't darkened their doorstep since. I don't hold a grudge or anything, me..
Anyone who sponsors Ars*n*l
It's a personal thing.
I especially boycott Emirates since they stuck their name on that horrible big plastic thing that ruins the view from my house.
I boycott airports...
...there's lots of things I decline to be involved with, often only on mild grounds (like computer games - which I've just never played and now feel that that's a record worth adhering to), but putting myself in the hands of airport little hitlers, and hidden taxes (stand up Newquay airport: home of craven money-grubbing scumbags), and all that crap about queueing for ages and taking your shoes off etc etc, is something I've actively chosen to avoid for a couple of years now, and have no plans ever to fly again because of it.
We all have to draw the line somewhere. My line is simply not giving the rotten system a chance to play God with me. If I really have to go somewhere I'll take the ferry instead.
Us too.
We're off to Fishguard shortly, bound for the fast ferry, partly to avoid the insulting experience of RuinAir (you know the story) combined with Knock Airport (10 Euros 'airport' tax, probably to pay for the upkeep of a silly shrine).
As somebody living only a few miles
from Knock airport, I'd give 'em a break on the tenner tax. They're not trying to gouge you, and the money certainly goes nowhere near a shrine. It's a clean, well run, efficient airport and for those of us living in the sticks, a tenner is a fair price (on top of a fare i'll grant you) for the service, when compared with having to drive to an alternative airport. The sad fact of the matter is that there simply isn't the throughput of passengers that they could make the equivalent to the tax on cups of coffee and Duty Free.
I don't disagree for a second with your Ryanair sentiments.
Fair enough.
I've actually more of a complaint that RuinAir don't bother to warn you in advance that you'll be fleec, er, asked for 10 Euros at Knock, than a complaint about paying the charge itself!
I agree that it's a nice place to fly to and from, and it is clean and well run. I can even post to the Word blog from one of the internet connected PCs in the departure lounge. We've used it on many occasions; we have a friend who lives only five minutes away, and it's a great way to drop in on him and then carry on to the west coast.
I did say that our use of the ferry was only partly due to being taxed at Knock - no one would put themselves through the 400K drive from Ros Lair to Galway and beyond (we're usually heading for Connemara) just to avoid stumping up a tenner at Knock!
no worries, foxy, old chap...
It's just I get a bit prickly when people diss the local airport, but I appreciate that wasn't your intent. When you consider the history AND geography of the airport (it's on a foggy boggy hill!), it's a miracle it's there at all!
Enjoy your stay.
And there's a great song about Knock Airport
Christy Moore starts singing about the 'fantabulous' place at around 1:05mins.
This thread makes me feel *so* apathetic...
Operating on the principle that a boycott only counts if you've stopped buying something deliberately, or if you're refusing to buy something on some political or moral principle... I don't think I've ever boycotted *anything*. I've even campaigned *against* a few boycotts in my time.
FWIW, I loathe Rupert Mudoch and everything he stands for, but we're still Sky customers.
If it helps
Rupert Murdoch only owns 38% of British Sky Broadcasting. He has made an offer for the rest of the company but this has been rejected by the shareholders. I'm sure David Cameron's government will block the deal anyway. Yeah right...
The list
1. Paul McCartney - for his absurd evangelizing of vegetarianism.
2. Glastonbury - for its association with environmental propagandists Greenpeace.
3. Lush - after its owner funded the protests at Stanstead Airport.
4. The Guardian - pompous, holier-than-thou twaddle.
Feeding time is over,
back in your cave.
I'm no troll
Can't stand McCartney....I like sausages, I know how they're made, I'm intelligent enough to make an informed decision about whether I want to eat any meat products or not. Until he stops preaching about turning veggie, I shall avoid his output.
Greenpeace is quite a radical organisation, and certainly not a voice of reason when it comes to environmental issues. I don't object to it, though...they have a role to play. I do object to the biggest festival in Britain giving the group a platform.
There's certainly a debate to be had about the expansion of air travel. Protestors invading airports isn't a useful addition to that debate, and shop owners who fund such protests won't get a penny of my money.
Bang to rights on trolling on the Guardian, though....I just wanted to add a little balance to the default position of many massive members that Murdoch publications/Daily Mail = evil.
Default position
"...the default position of many massive members that Murdoch publications/Daily Mail = evil."
It's not a default position. It's a carefully considered one that I've arrived at after 30-odd years' experience of reading newspapers.
If I was looking for a reason to boycott Lush
I'd be considering their financial support for the Hunt Saboteurs rather than their support for airport bashers.
I hate Lush because
they stink out the high street.
Also I bought one of their solid shampoo blocks and it stained into my bath leaving a big purple mark. Yuck.
If I was looking for a reason to boycott Lush...
...I'd go for the terrible, vomit-inducing pong that comes out of their shops.
Totally agree on Lush
I used to quite like using their products until I heard him on the radio saying that the protestors were right and they should be supported as all right-thinking people support their views but the rest of us aren't so committed as to take direct action.
That pissed me off on two fronts - the fact he was supporting an illegal protest in the first place and, secondly, the fact that he tried to suggest that anyone who disagreed with him was misguided.
Never set foot in one of his shops since.
Geoff Boycott.
I'll have nowt t'do wi im.
Rosie Boycott
I will NOT drink pink wine.
Fern Cotton, Holly Willoughby, Vernon Kay, Tess Daly, Cat Deeley
Smearing excrement across the face of light-entertainment, one and all.
Greene King
Bought the last historic independent brewery in Nottinghamshire (Kimberley/Hardy and Hansons) and promptly shut it down putting plenty of people out of work. Kimberley never brewed the greatest pint but it was just the manner in which Greene King did their business that p*ssed me off.
Oh bugger.
I'm really fond of Old Speckled Hen.
Sigh...
I still drink Guinness. Despite the Saunders family. Although I stopped drinking Coors, I claimed because of their anti union stance. The fact that it tastes of wee helped though...
Well
I didn't go to Boots for years after they lost not one but two sets of photos on two different occasions.
And I really don't much care for Hollyoaks, mainly because it's absurd.
Never darken my door
Jeremy Clarkson - anything he's involved with I avoid. I know it's not big or clever, and achieves nothing. But I hate him that much.
Ditto AA Gill
Anything Simon Cowell's involved in
ALL celeb mags. All of them. 100% waste of paper.
McDonald's
Etc
I boycott Boycott...
...on the radio - whingey, whiny, charmless.
Also Ryanair, Little Chef (except for Heston Blumenthal's), anything to do with Rupert Murdoch, Israel (except when I forget and buy tarragon in Tesco), the Daily Mail and its readers (except my Mum). And people who moan about Apple.
Avoid like the plague.....
Robbie Williams
Gok Wan
Chris Moyles
Daily Mail/Express
I would also boycott GMTV except it is unintentionally the funniest thing on TV. You can't help but laugh at the ill-informed and exaggerated comments. An infant with an abacus could prove their statistical analysis to be nothing but scaremongering.
The departure of Penny Smith was a loss to all those who hate the show. At least Andrew Castle is still there to provide a short-sighted sweeping generalisation every other minute!
Most of these are not boycotts, are they ?
A boycott is a principled stand against something which offends you on ethical grounds, possibly in conjunction with a clearly defined campaign. So the apartheid boycott had you avoiding what otherwise you would accept, like South Afican wine, fruit, sport, holidays, banks, jewellery. Then, when the protest is declared over , you are free to imbibe/scoff/spectate/invest/bling as much as you like.
This is not the same as avoiding Michael Winner because he is a bit of an arse , is it ?
Ooh don't
Ooh don't go all hair-splitty on us Doods.
Airing personal grievances and pet hates like this is fun.
Ooh, get her
I know, I know....am in pedantic mood. Must be due to today's particular work, searching all afternoon for le mot juste. Makes a boy decidedly cranky.
Carry On Ranting, all...
And Michael Winner is, indeed, an arse. (Happy now ?)
I always was
I always was happy - but thanks for asking all the same.
And I'm as one with you on Winner, M.
I was interested in
hearing if an experience had moved you enough to boycott something, that could have been trivial like a snub by a respected celeb or through some political leaning.
So, I'd say I was after a slightly different approach than refusing to watch Michael Winner, I mean that goes without saying doesn't it dears?!
In addition to The S*n
anything that involves the vile piece of filth that is Kelvin McKenzie.
Just the site of him fills me with an almost overpowering urge to smash my TV to pieces.
The Word blog.
It's frequented by some pretty rum coves, y'know...
Those blasted check out machines at Sainsbury's
and other supermarkets that talk to you. I like the idea of a supermarket check-out queue and talking to a live person. These blasted machines just make our public life a little less civil.
Occasionally blacklist Waterstones for ruining bookselling.
Tesco for corporate bullying of the worst kind and ruining high streets.
I used to blacklist any company that had anything to do with Machester United and conversely buying anything that was associated with Leeds United. Soon learnt my lesson when my Packard Bell computer packed up, just like the club really.
Any pubs that become gastropubs; a future that awaits the great Duke of Hamilton in Hampstead.
Libraries that have become internet cafes.
Cafes that serve you bacon in ciabatta with a sprig of parsley when you ask for a bacon sandwich.
Cafes or pubs that present you with sauces in those ridiculous egg cup thingies. What's wrong with a sodding sauce bottle. I'm not at the blasted Ritz.
Right on newspaper blogs that espouse the virtues of freedom of speech, liberal principles and then moderate out any opinions that don't fall in with the right on party line.
Interactive bloody libraries
I agree with all of these, especially libraries (and museums) that are more "interactive" than wot they were. Maybe I LIKE the smell of old books, and looking at museum exhibits without help!
Right on newspaper blogs"
Interesting. At the risk of whataboutery, being a liberal cut from the most right-on bleeding-heart cloth, I have not noticed being moderated out of, say, the Guardian, but have given up attempting to comment on The Telegraph site because anything Tory/UKIP/BNP gets filleted out.
Right on newspaper blogs
Interesting. At the risk of whataboutery, being a liberal cut from the most right-on bleeding-heart cloth, I have not noticed being moderated out of, say, the Guardian, but have given up attempting to comment on The Telegraph site because anything not Tory/UKIP/BNP gets filleted out.
Just Ryanair
After we were conned out of £160 by that crook O'Leary and his criminal company policies last summer. Completely ruined a family holiday and their so-called 'customer services' were simply not interested in discussing the matter. If they were the last airline flying out of a disaster zone I'd take my chances on the ground. Business practices bordering on fraudulent. When Ryanair dies I will dance naked on its grave, then dig it up and kill it again just to be sure. Then piss on the freshly dug earth.
Bee in Bonnet
I declared all out war against the HSBC a few years ago after they completely screwed up my account, charged me for their mistakes, never offered an apology and didn't put up any resistance at all when I closed my account.
I used to walk the extra full length of the street to use another bank's ATM and when I found my car insurance taken out with a broker was with the HSBC I promply cancelled it.
Shame as I loved the Midland Bank. I still have the blue dictionary somewhere I got with opening an account when I was a kid.
Go Compare
Not just for the intensely irritating adverts on TV but for letting the insurance companies plague me with phone calls just because I forgot to tick one box on their website.
Robbie Williams - because he's a d*ck.
Florence and the Machine/Whitney Houston/Maria Carey - for crimes against music.
Gloria Hunniford - for bustling past me like a prima donna and nearly sending me flying, in fact any presenter, Fearne Cotton, Holly Willoughby, to name but two whose ego is in inverse proportion to their IQ. I suppose that should also include Jonathan Ross (who had the sense to resign otherwise I would have had to change channel/radio station whenever he came on) for Sachsgate and because he always came across as a leery old man interviewing his female guests on his TV chat show. Oh, and Chris Evans. Just for being Chris Evans.
I stopped using the price comparison sites
Once the buggers have your details the various companies keep calling you for months. Not having that again.
The Conservative Party
The Tories ruined my life, and many others, in the 1980s and they are setting about doing it all over again perpetuating their corrupt and inherently flawed model of neo-liberalist globalised capitalism. I hate the bastards. I loathe and detest them with every fibre of my being. Cameron is a vacuous dimwit. Osbourne, Hague, Maude, the whole lot of them, are wazzocks.
I could go on.
Now...
...I'm pretty sceptical about the Tories, god knows I am. But two things from your post stood out. Corrupt? Really? In the sense of what? In hock to special interests, or what? Because seriously, that's equally true of Labour of both the old and New varieties. If you didn't mean the special interests thing, then I suppose you must know something I don't about them.
And "vacuous dimwit"? Come on. You might not like him, and I remain to be convinced, but he's a bright chap by any standards.
Here's where partisan politics (you'll notice I didn't say PARTY politics) falls down. It turns debate into name-calling. I'm sure you've got very good reasons for disliking Conservatism, but I don't really get where that turns into disliking Conservatives.
I keep seeing folk shouting about the cuts being "ideologically motivated", which is just DAFT. As if the last 13 years of Labour's massive investment in the public sector WASN'T ideologically motivated! Apparently, ideology is only an unpleasant thing when it's not one's own ideology. Some people act like being on the Left is the territory of the naturally fair-minded and kind, whereas being a Conservative is for nasty selfish buggers who want to make the poor suffer. It's not like that: both the Left and the Right believe that there are different approaches to governance. Both philosophies think their approach is the better one for the country, and neither is out to mess people's lives up on purpose.
However it works out, people on the right of the political spectrum tend to think that small-state government is the best thing for running a country. People on the left tend to be more comfortable with interventionist statism. Neither philosophy is inherently nasty and evil. If I were a Tory, I'd argue that 13 years of a vast and growing state didn't do us much good, so why not try something else? There are plenty of people who would argue that Labour messed up their lives, too.
Now, I'm doubtless going to be accused of being a Tory here. Actually I'm not. I'm a disappointed ex-Labour voter. I've never voted Conservative in my life, and am naturally liberal-lefty, but lots and lots of people perfectly reasonably think that Labour fucked a lot of things up, just as the Tories fucked a lot of things up in the eighties.
Sorry. Wild digression there. My personal view is that all the mainstream political parties think they're doing the right thing. Certainly the by-product of the two big ones' actions of the years have harmed some people, just as they've helped others. I just think it's a mistake to do the whole ad hominem thing.
OK
first of all, the adjective 'corrupt' was used here to describe the Conservative's "inherently flawed model of neo-liberalist globalised capitalism" rather than the Tories themselves. Which I thought was pretty damn civilised of xorg. Heh.
Secondly, it's perfectly possible for two opposing ideologies to both "think their approach is the better one for the country", but the question here is whether or not the Tories think "the country" is the same thing as you and me. I believe they don't. I believe they think "the country" is the ruling class, and the rest of us can jolly well tag along behind, picking up the crumbs.
Thirdly, I think your paragraph where you "wildy digress" says the most important thing; Labour blew it. Far too much big statism, and no bloody idea whatsoever how to recover from the ghastly fuck-up that is Iraq and Afghanistan. Top that with the fact that Gordon Brown was NEVER an electable Prime Minister, and could never have been one, and the rest is recent history.
Personally, I'm seriously considering renewing my membership, having posted my card back to Tony @ Number 10 when he ditched Clause IV, in some misguided delusion that I might be able to steer them away from doing it all over again once the electorate have realised, from their dank, power-cut stricken homes, that Osborne IS a wazzock. And I don't care if that is an ad-hominem insult, it's also the honest truth.
Clause IV
That's Clause IV. The first 26 words of that are pretty unarguably fair enough. The rest is mental, IMO. Common ownership of the means of production? Your previous post said that you agreed that Labour's statism had got out of control - how much worse if they'd been constitutionally bound to nationalise everything?!
Anyway, other than that, fair enough. I disagree about Osborne and think he's widely underestimated. I also think the jury is out on the cuts; they're painful, but if they work to rebalance the economy towards business-driven growth, I'll be the first to applaud. I'm not a wizard, though. I can't tell what's going to happen and neither can anyone else. It might be terrible. I'm not daft enough to make predictions. If it's a big old fuckup, I won't deny that. If it's a success, I won't deny that either.
Chances are, it'll be a mix of the two. Like everything else.
Thanks,
but I didn't need reminding.
I 'sent back' my disappointment when I cancelled my membership. I still have the actual card in my wallet, and carry it with me. It has Clause IV printed on the back. Here's a scan:
You can argue about the practicalities of what the 'common ownership' bit means, but for my money (and it is partly my money the state spends), taking into account the phrase 'that may be possible', those are fine ambitions.
(flicks back hair, adopts sullen revolutionary pout in a Comic Strip / Meryl Streep style, and marches off into the sunset, fist raised...)
Me too, Vulpes
I have the form at the bottom of the stairs. We need activists to get out and inform people of their rights and what they should demand the state provide for them, which it is in the process of denying them.
That is, the majority of the cuts so far have been ideologically driven - their primary aim is not to bring down the deficit, it is merely the excuse for them to be implemented.
Now, there are massive cuts required in some sections of the public sector, I agree, but there is also a need for massive reform of the banking system and some of the former privatised industries which are merely institutionalised profiteering often at the expense of the most needy.
Has there been as swift movement on either of these issues by the Tories? No, the markets are too fluid and work best without intervention, bankers will move on blah... Privatised companies offer the customer better services...
Transport, water, power, fuel prices always go up and profits always rise and now my relationship with the state is becoming eroded, despite the burden of taxation, because the public sector costs too much.
I can't boycott inept utilities companies short of becoming yurt boy and Mrs H and Miss H like their cable TV and broadband too much.
The binary, bipolar approach to the public and private sector is [...massive edit...].
Mark my words, Cameron.... grrrrrrr... etc
*flaps hands in a Magnus Pike fashion and rubs forehead*
Spot-on about the cuts, Paddy.
The deficit provides a convenient excuse. The banking system will stay as it is until the current system allows the banks in which we have a significant stake to return to vast profitability, so the government can sell off the public stake at huge profit, thus wiping out an enormous lump of the debt. They will claim credit for this. Will the government then introduce big legislation to hamstring the banks, making sure that they won't go tits-up again? Profitability will be hit and the share prices of the banks will then plunge. And lots of people will lose money, real money, their own money. They won't be happy with the government.
I can't see Big Reform happening.
popular administration and control is where we are right now
After 3 decades of governments of different stripes trying to reduce the role of the state massive intervention with public money saved the bacon of private financial institutions. Private markets will be transparent when regulators make them, not before. Banks will lend when public money reduces their risk, not before. The idea we can get out of the mess without more, not less, state intervention and basically a managed economy is fantasy in my opinion.
Fearne Cotton
Has anybody ever met anyone who actually likes Fearne Cotton?
Here's my list
1. The Daily Mail, although the boycott didn't stop me wiping my arse on it once (it was an emergency and someone had helpfully placed one in its usual receptacle.
2. Dale Winton. Or Dale 'fucking' Wilton as he is known in my vicinity.
3. Warminster. Haven't been anywhere near it for years following a run-in with a very dim traffic warden, no, parking enforcement officer.
I'm definitely boycotting any England football
matches from now on, I mean just how stupid do they think we are?
The big changes, the revolution, the hungry youth, the radical overhaul...yeah right!
Those pathetic wasters, Terry, Ashley Cole, Lampard, Gerrard, Barry and Rooney (although I hate to include him...) all picked for the squad again! Un-f*ckin-believable!
Just what do they have to do NOT to be picked?
Disgraceful!
So much pent up anger
There's lots wrong with the world but I doubt I have the ability to keep up with what is and isn't permissible to buy/support/own (is property still theft?)
I go by my own moral code, if something feels wrong I don't do it, if something offends me I don't support it, if I know someone has suffered unjustly to produce it I don't buy it, if I find I've made a mistake on any of these - I learn.
The only exceptions to this is Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday. Bastards.
Tolka Park 1987/88
Tolka Park 1987/88
Shamrock Rovers' owners moved the club to the northside and fans boycotted all "home" games forcing owners to sell out a year later. Man Utd fans take note!
Radox
They call their shower stuff "shower therapy". Tosspots.
At least it wasn't "solutions".
I know a chap
who is boycotting this blog and indeed Word magazine. Something to do with Quantick and Morrisey, he says. Anyone know what that's about?
Me, I try not to give a penny to Tesco if I can avoid it as that den of unprincipled rascals will one day rule us all, because we were all too greedy to stop them.
Robert Plant....
Talk about passive-aggressive. As Zeppelin front man he holds all the cards for them to play again together. But all the time his solo records are getting good reviews and people are still buying them i wouldn't bother holding your breath. It's his ball and he's buggered off home with it! So Zeppelin fans are shooting themselves in the foot buying his solo stuff, somebody'll keel over at this rate, like Rick Wright in Pink Floyd and that'll be the end of that. I see he's got a new one out, i won't be buying it.
errr... Someone in Led Zeppelin *did* keel over
that's why Robert Plant wanted to move on.
Yup
Percy's Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)
Two
Murdoch: Sky, The Sun, NewsCorp's general ideological stance. and James Murdoch's asinine comments regarding content, quality and profit last year. I intensely dislike the way that Sky let terrestrial channels buy shows like Lost and 24, for example, invest in growing an audience, then muscle in and throw cash at the shows to take them onto the Sky channels. It will be a cold day in hell before I buy a Sky box.
Samsung: built a factory on Teesside at Wynyard. They promised lots of hi-tech facilities and major technological investment. And they trousered development money from the development agencies. The high-powered stuff never turned up. The plant ended up making TV's and microwaves for a while before being unceremoniously closed down. Result: Samsumg can stick their consumer products up their rapacious arses.
France
and all french products, for a while at least.
Around the time of the pacific nuclear tests we were in the market for a car and would have seriously considered a Peugeot, but didn't for completely wanky, right-on reasons.
And any Murdoch publication or media organisation. Not so much ideologically, they just make me feel ill.
Peugeot and my Dad
My Father had a similar boycott of all things French until some years ago he read somewhere that the French Government were bailing out Peugeot to the order of £1000 per car.
He rather liked the idea of sponging off the French taxpayer and secretly fancied a Peugeot so the boycott on French cars at least was broken. I don't think he has been there in 30 odd years and boycott on French wine remains intact.
My long-standing personal boycotts:
1) The Daily Mail. I'll leaf through a copy if someone's left it around (just to check it's still as hateful as ever), but I would never pay for a copy.
2) Anything featuring Mel Gibson. Again, I will not pay money to watch anything that he stars in or produces. Actually, money doesn't come into it, I actively refuse to watch anything he's connected with.
3) Here's where it falls down: Ryanair. For years, I have refused to fly Ryanair. Sadly, my mother has recently moved somewhere that only Ryanair serve. Given a choice between flying Ryanair and never seeing my mother again, I've had to compromise my principles...
I showed them...
Being an avid reader of music weeklies since the late 70s I always made sure to order a copy from a newsagent for when I was on holiday. In about 1996 a certain newsagents in Chelmsford fluffed my order and left me without that week's NME (this was pre-internet when getting hold of back copies was a pain). Not a word of apology either. Two of my obsessions - accumulating music papers and customer experience - collided. I vowed never to go back there, even though they were conveniently located behind the place where I worked which would have have made my every newspaper, bag of crisps and birthday card purchase for the next decade easy. I went down that street the other day and noted that they'd shut down. I think my curse has served its purpose.
Now then Lloyds TSB...