Jayne and I were supposed to be helping out with the Fairtrade Fortnight by dishing out free teas and coffees in Crawley town centre today. When we turned up for our shift there were still 5 or 6 other volunteers who were in no rush to go home

No problem.  We hung around for a while and helped to fend off the goths who kept begging to have one of the inflatable bananas, and then gave a hand with dismantling all the bunting, balloons and display boards which had been tied to the upper reaches of the bandstand.

I had wondered how it got up there, what with most of those involved being old, short or in a wheelchair.  It turns out that they had a lot of help from a couple of the Council’s Community Wardens.  There is a lot of speculation in town about what they do, so I can report that today they brought along a stack of folding chairs for the Fairtrade people to use, unlocked and set up the power supply for their urns (which is part of their job) and then decorated the bandstand (which isn’t).

One difference in the Fairtrade situation since last year is that it is a lot easier to get Fairtraded sugar. It used to be a bit of a niche product, hidden away in the supermarkets and priced higher.  You could tell anyone who asked about the wide range of teas and coffees available in most shops – all reasonably priced and delicious, but to get the sugar you had to be quite dedicated. Now all of Sainsbury’s own brand sugar is Fairtrade and Tate & Lyle have announced that they will follow suit.

Not to denigrate the Fairtrade movement, of which I am a supporter, but what a shame we can’t also show the same sort of commitment to British farmers – and especially the diary farmers.  We should not stop making sure that third-world producers get a fair price for their products, but what do we know about what our farmers get for their milk?  At the moment, unless you take your Fairtrade tea or coffee black it is not as guilt-free as it could be.