I'm not easily rankled, I'm not a laid back person quite the opposite really, but there are things that really annoy me and a bit like Anna last week I'm going to rant about them.
u-ni-k IT HQ is in Surrey, which can lay claim to being part of England, GB, and the UK. All three of which have a proud heritage of high quality workmanship, visionary concepts and hard work. These combine to create world leading products or services. We should be building on our rich heritage not saying “the UK doesn't make anything anymore, that's why our country is in the state it's in”.
I believe we are still rich in people who make high quality, world leading products. Just visit any local fete or local market and there will be the world's best products right there. Any county show will be showcasing the softest homemade knitted clothing, sewn toys to cherish, or beautiful hand thrown pottery. All of which would have been made by hand, right here in the UK. Why don't we hear about these small pockets of industry? Because we the consumers aren't looking for them.
It's like apples, I come from the best apple growing country in the world. England has the perfect climate for apples and although the original plant came from India, it is here in the UK that more species have thrived and settled. English apples taste better, last longer and look superior to those grown in France or South Africa. However, walk around any supermarket and 95% of the apples will come from a faraway land. (Oooh my blood pressure is up just thinking about it!). Why? Probably because of price, we the consumer have demanded lower and lower prices pushing the small apple grower in the UK out of the competition and the big commercial growers abroad have stepped in.
As consumers we now have a selection of plastic shiny looking, dull tasting, regimental apples to choose from, we could have the world's best but we're now settling for 3rd or 4th best. It's been like this for so long that we don't know what choice we have, we think we have choice because we can see apples.
The same goes for many other products available here in the UK, we the consumers have not supported our homegrown producers and we've now forgotten that they are there. So the small producers are now found in the fringes; in local fetes, school fayres, county shows and, dare I say it..., on small internet sites like www.unikgifts.co.uk.
So in this quiet corner of Surrey I am starting a revolution (I did state I'm not a laid back person), I am supporting high quality, small makers / producers / craft people by buying their products. I am not going to settle for 2nd best because that's the choice the commercial big players say I have. I may pay a little more, but you would expect to pay a little more for the best.
I, a consumer, will find the best products for my family because we deserve the best.
English apples grown at u-ni-k IT HQ
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