Is buying fair trade a waste of money?
With the recession threatening the UK's fair trade market, Lucy Siegle asks whether it is really doing anybody any good
Last year, important internet cables connecting Europe to Asia were mysteriously severed, resulting in days of outages for millions of internet users. It was a stark reminder that, no matter how instantaneously our information seems to travel, it is, in fact, moving through cables on the bottom of the ocean. And, while the internet might seem like the cutting edge of technology, it's interesting to note that information has been traveling this way since the first telegraph cables were laid across the Atlantic ocean in the 19th century.
The biggest ship on the world's waters is delivering record amounts of goods to Europe this Christmas, all the way from China, reflecting the country's rise as the world?s new manufacturing hub.
Interesting talk to use as a starting point for Global Interactions - How did we get to where we are? Why is it so difficult to produce goods at a small scale today? Where do all the materials we use for everyday products come from? What are the environmental consequences of mineral extraction?