Link to the article: BBC Panorama
Chocolate manufacturers and industry bodies gave the following comments to Panorama regarding the programme Chocolate: The Bitter Truth.
The programme is Wednesday, 24 March on BBC One at 9pm and available to watch again in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.
Read Fairtrade's full response to Panorama here
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Cocoa slave tastes sweet freedom
Link to the Video: Panorama (Cocoa and Child Labour)
This Easter, Britons will eat their way through 80 million chocolate eggs but would we have such a sweet tooth if we knew how it was harvested?
Sixty per cent of cocoa beans found in chocolate on UK shop shelves are sourced in Ghana and Ivory Coast.
Fatao is a 12-year-old boy from Burkina Faso who Panorama discovers working on a cocoa farm in Ghana.
He is just one of thousands of trafficked children helping to feed the world's appetite for chocolate.
Panorama - Chocolate: The Bitter Truth is on BBC One, Wednesday 24 March at 2100GMT.
This Easter, Britons will eat their way through 80 million chocolate eggs but would we have such a sweet tooth if we knew how it was harvested?
Sixty per cent of cocoa beans found in chocolate on UK shop shelves are sourced in Ghana and Ivory Coast.
Fatao is a 12-year-old boy from Burkina Faso who Panorama discovers working on a cocoa farm in Ghana.
He is just one of thousands of trafficked children helping to feed the world's appetite for chocolate.
Panorama - Chocolate: The Bitter Truth is on BBC One, Wednesday 24 March at 2100GMT.
Tracing the bitter truth of chocolate and child labour
Link to the article: BBC Panorama
This Easter, Britons will eat their way through 80m chocolate eggs without the slightest taste of how the essential ingredient in our favourite treat is harvested.
The truth, as BBC Panorama reporter Paul Kenyon discovered when he posed as a cocoa dealer in West Africa, leaves a bitter taste.
In an investigation into the supply chain that delivers much of the chocolate sold in the UK - more than half a million tonnes a year - the BBC found evidence of human trafficking and child slave labour.
Panorama also found that there is no guarantee, despite safeguards, even with chocolate marketed as Fair trade, that child labour - as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) - has not been involved in the supply chain.
This Easter, Britons will eat their way through 80m chocolate eggs without the slightest taste of how the essential ingredient in our favourite treat is harvested.
The truth, as BBC Panorama reporter Paul Kenyon discovered when he posed as a cocoa dealer in West Africa, leaves a bitter taste.
In an investigation into the supply chain that delivers much of the chocolate sold in the UK - more than half a million tonnes a year - the BBC found evidence of human trafficking and child slave labour.
Panorama also found that there is no guarantee, despite safeguards, even with chocolate marketed as Fair trade, that child labour - as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) - has not been involved in the supply chain.
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Google's next move
Link to the article: Reuters Video
Mar 23 - After re-directing users to its Hong Kong website, Google faces some big decisions about its future strategy. Bobbi Rebell reports.
Mar 23 - After re-directing users to its Hong Kong website, Google faces some big decisions about its future strategy. Bobbi Rebell reports.
Monday, 22 March 2010
Broadband turns on the taps
Link to the article: Reuters Video
Mar 22 - As Virgin Media debuts its 200 megabits per second ultra-fast broadband, visitors to the UK Ideal Home Show get a glimpse of "embedded devices" that promise to reinvent bathtime and bedtime. Technology correspondent, Matt Cowan reports.
Mar 22 - As Virgin Media debuts its 200 megabits per second ultra-fast broadband, visitors to the UK Ideal Home Show get a glimpse of "embedded devices" that promise to reinvent bathtime and bedtime. Technology correspondent, Matt Cowan reports.
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Coca-Cola tops £1bn UK sales
Link to the article: Channel 4 News
Source PA News
Coca-Cola has become the first brand to top £1 billion in annual UK grocery sales, a survey has revealed.
Sales of the drink rose £47.6 million in the past year, taking the total to £1,011.1 million, according to figures compiled for The Grocer magazine's Britain's 100 Biggest Brands annual survey.
Warburtons was the second highest-selling brand with sales of £706.1 million followed by Walkers crisps at £511.2 million.
Hovis was the biggest growing brand with sales of £458.7 million, up £53.8 million on 2008.
The brand to suffer the biggest decline in actual terms was Tropicana, down £19 million to £269.4 million.
The Grocer editor Adam Leyland said: "Coca-Cola's success is a testament to the power of branding and marketing management, not least in the mystique surrounding the secret formula, but also the consistency with which the same curly-wurly logo has adorned countless bottles, cans, paper cups and other receptacles since its UK launch in 1900.
"Amid all the talk of retro brands, no-one talks about Coca-Cola. But a retro brand implies it went out of fashion, while Coca-Cola is somehow timeless."
He added: "In much the same way that established rock acts are wheeled out for another world tour, 'golden oldies' such as Coca-Cola, Hovis, Heinz soup, John West, Rowntree's and even Twinings have skilfully exploited their familiarity in these uncertain times while new acts go undiscovered."
New entries to the top 100 include Glade, Quavers, Heinz pasta, Rowntree's, Philadelphia, Clover and Twinings.
Among those falling out of the rankings were Aero, Yeo Valley Organic, Cadbury's biscuits and Bernard Matthews cooked meat.
Source PA News
Coca-Cola has become the first brand to top £1 billion in annual UK grocery sales, a survey has revealed.
Sales of the drink rose £47.6 million in the past year, taking the total to £1,011.1 million, according to figures compiled for The Grocer magazine's Britain's 100 Biggest Brands annual survey.
Warburtons was the second highest-selling brand with sales of £706.1 million followed by Walkers crisps at £511.2 million.
Hovis was the biggest growing brand with sales of £458.7 million, up £53.8 million on 2008.
The brand to suffer the biggest decline in actual terms was Tropicana, down £19 million to £269.4 million.
The Grocer editor Adam Leyland said: "Coca-Cola's success is a testament to the power of branding and marketing management, not least in the mystique surrounding the secret formula, but also the consistency with which the same curly-wurly logo has adorned countless bottles, cans, paper cups and other receptacles since its UK launch in 1900.
"Amid all the talk of retro brands, no-one talks about Coca-Cola. But a retro brand implies it went out of fashion, while Coca-Cola is somehow timeless."
He added: "In much the same way that established rock acts are wheeled out for another world tour, 'golden oldies' such as Coca-Cola, Hovis, Heinz soup, John West, Rowntree's and even Twinings have skilfully exploited their familiarity in these uncertain times while new acts go undiscovered."
New entries to the top 100 include Glade, Quavers, Heinz pasta, Rowntree's, Philadelphia, Clover and Twinings.
Among those falling out of the rankings were Aero, Yeo Valley Organic, Cadbury's biscuits and Bernard Matthews cooked meat.
Friday, 19 March 2010
BA strike to go ahead as talks collapse
Link to the article: Channel 4 News
The prime minister condemns the "unacceptable inconvenience" of a British Airways cabin crew strike as talks to prevent the midnight walk-out collapse.
Officials from the Unite union have been locked in talks with the airline's chief executive, Willie Walsh, this week in a bid to find a breakthrough in a bitter row over cost-cutting.
Following the collapse of the talks Unite's joint leader, Tony Woodley, said he was "extremely disappointed" that the efforts to head off the strike had failed while accusing BA of wanting a "war" with the union.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh said he "deeply regretted" the breakdown of talks, adding that a new offer tabled by the airline will be withdrawn once the strike starts. He called the strikes "unjustified".
Mr Woodley emerged from five hours of talks with Mr Walsh at the TUC headquarters in London today to say that "hawks" on the BA board had won the day.
He said BA had tabled a worse offer than one withdrawn last week after the union announced this weekend's strike, and another four- day walkout from March 27.
The prime minister condemns the "unacceptable inconvenience" of a British Airways cabin crew strike as talks to prevent the midnight walk-out collapse.
Officials from the Unite union have been locked in talks with the airline's chief executive, Willie Walsh, this week in a bid to find a breakthrough in a bitter row over cost-cutting.
Following the collapse of the talks Unite's joint leader, Tony Woodley, said he was "extremely disappointed" that the efforts to head off the strike had failed while accusing BA of wanting a "war" with the union.
BA chief executive Willie Walsh said he "deeply regretted" the breakdown of talks, adding that a new offer tabled by the airline will be withdrawn once the strike starts. He called the strikes "unjustified".
Mr Woodley emerged from five hours of talks with Mr Walsh at the TUC headquarters in London today to say that "hawks" on the BA board had won the day.
He said BA had tabled a worse offer than one withdrawn last week after the union announced this weekend's strike, and another four- day walkout from March 27.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Facebook beats Google to become top US site
Link to the article: Channel 4 News
In a landmark victory for social networking Facebook overtakes internet giant Google last week to become the most visited website in the US.
Figures by Hitwise released show that last week Facebook received 7.07 per cent of all internet traffic, edging just ahead of the web's most powerful internet search engine on 7.03 per cent.
It is the first time Facebook has held onto such a lead for an entire week.
Hitwise director of research Heather Dougherty, hailed an "important milestone."
Facebook enjoyed a massive 185 percent increase in visits in the same period, compared to the same week in 2009.
Visits to search engine home Google.com increased only nine percent in the same time, although those figures don't include visits to Google property sites such as the popular Gmail email service, YouTube and Google Maps.
Facebook's membership worldwide has doubled in the last year to 400 million users, 133 million in America.
Joe Rospars, who was personal advisor to Barak Obama on digital media during his election campaign, told Channel 4 News he believed there was a change in internet utilisation.
"For a long time we've had a trend of people seeking out searched information on the internet and what we are seeing with the emergence of Facebook and sites like Twitter…is that people are looking for socialised information and news and topics in the culture and society but also information about their friends that are socialised and curated by their friends and neighbours and communities," he said.
In a landmark victory for social networking Facebook overtakes internet giant Google last week to become the most visited website in the US.
Figures by Hitwise released show that last week Facebook received 7.07 per cent of all internet traffic, edging just ahead of the web's most powerful internet search engine on 7.03 per cent.
It is the first time Facebook has held onto such a lead for an entire week.
Hitwise director of research Heather Dougherty, hailed an "important milestone."
Facebook enjoyed a massive 185 percent increase in visits in the same period, compared to the same week in 2009.
Visits to search engine home Google.com increased only nine percent in the same time, although those figures don't include visits to Google property sites such as the popular Gmail email service, YouTube and Google Maps.
Facebook's membership worldwide has doubled in the last year to 400 million users, 133 million in America.
Joe Rospars, who was personal advisor to Barak Obama on digital media during his election campaign, told Channel 4 News he believed there was a change in internet utilisation.
"For a long time we've had a trend of people seeking out searched information on the internet and what we are seeing with the emergence of Facebook and sites like Twitter…is that people are looking for socialised information and news and topics in the culture and society but also information about their friends that are socialised and curated by their friends and neighbours and communities," he said.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Ten wave and tidal power schemes get go ahead
Link to the article: Channel 4 News By Julian Rush
The dream of harnessing the power of the waves and the tides to generate electricity has passed a significant milestone, writes science correspondent Julian Rush.
Ten projects have been granted leases to install the world's first commercial-scale wave and tidal power schemes in the waters off northern Scotland.
Between them, the proposed six wave and four tidal projects in the Pentland Firth and Orkney could produce 1.2GW of electricity by 2020, enough for some three quarters of a million homes - and about the same as a new nuclear reactor.
That is nearly double the originally scheduled 700MW, which the industry body RenewableUK says "clearly demonstrates that the industry has now reached a stage where it is ready to deliver". RenewableUK is calling on the government to commit to a minimum of £220m to support wave and tidal development over the next five years.
Some of the strongest tidal currents in the world race around UK shores and there's some of the highest energy in the waves that roll in from the Atlantic. And while wave power is, to an extent, dependent on the weather, tidal power has the tremendous advantage of being totally predictable.
In spite of the fact that the UK's waters have been called the "Saudi Arabia of marine power", it is a resource that has a long and inglorious history of being ignored by successive governments until very recently.
The scandal of how, in the 1970s and 80s, Whitehall officials secretly killed off wave power by understating by a factor of 10 the power output of Professor Stephen Salter's "nodding duck" wave machine - some believe deliberately because they favoured nuclear power - cast a long shadow over the technology.
The dream of harnessing the power of the waves and the tides to generate electricity has passed a significant milestone, writes science correspondent Julian Rush.
Ten projects have been granted leases to install the world's first commercial-scale wave and tidal power schemes in the waters off northern Scotland.
Between them, the proposed six wave and four tidal projects in the Pentland Firth and Orkney could produce 1.2GW of electricity by 2020, enough for some three quarters of a million homes - and about the same as a new nuclear reactor.
That is nearly double the originally scheduled 700MW, which the industry body RenewableUK says "clearly demonstrates that the industry has now reached a stage where it is ready to deliver". RenewableUK is calling on the government to commit to a minimum of £220m to support wave and tidal development over the next five years.
Some of the strongest tidal currents in the world race around UK shores and there's some of the highest energy in the waves that roll in from the Atlantic. And while wave power is, to an extent, dependent on the weather, tidal power has the tremendous advantage of being totally predictable.
In spite of the fact that the UK's waters have been called the "Saudi Arabia of marine power", it is a resource that has a long and inglorious history of being ignored by successive governments until very recently.
The scandal of how, in the 1970s and 80s, Whitehall officials secretly killed off wave power by understating by a factor of 10 the power output of Professor Stephen Salter's "nodding duck" wave machine - some believe deliberately because they favoured nuclear power - cast a long shadow over the technology.
Monday, 1 March 2010
Mercedes unveils car of the future
Link to the article: Reuters Video
Mar 01 - Mercedes-Benz reveals a new four-door concept car with green drivetrain technology ahead of the 2010 Geneva car show which opens on Thursday.
Hayley Platt reports.
Mar 01 - Mercedes-Benz reveals a new four-door concept car with green drivetrain technology ahead of the 2010 Geneva car show which opens on Thursday.
Hayley Platt reports.
Friday, 26 February 2010
Can Carnaby Street continue?
Link to the article: BBC News
London's Carnaby Street in Soho is hosting a series of events today to mark the 50th year of it being one of the capital's centres of fashion and music.
The exhibition on the street is called Carnaby Street 1960-2010 and there is a book to go with it.
One of the organisers and co-author of the book Amy De La Haye and Robert Elms, the broadcaster and author of The Way We Wore analyses the importance of Carnaby street in fashion world.
London's Carnaby Street in Soho is hosting a series of events today to mark the 50th year of it being one of the capital's centres of fashion and music.
The exhibition on the street is called Carnaby Street 1960-2010 and there is a book to go with it.
One of the organisers and co-author of the book Amy De La Haye and Robert Elms, the broadcaster and author of The Way We Wore analyses the importance of Carnaby street in fashion world.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Own-brand products behind Thorntons growth
Link to the article: Financial TimesBy Esther Bintliff
Less discounting over the festive period and an increase in sales of own-label chocolates helped Thorntons increase first-half pre-tax profits by almost a quarter, prompting a sharp lift in its interim dividend.
“We’ve prioritised growing the Thorntons brand,” said Mike Davies, chief executive. “With Thorntons-branded products, we make a higher margin, rather than with private-label products, so there’s a profit implication.”
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Google aims for a Buzz against Facebook
Link to the article: Channel 4 News
By Benjamin Cohen
By Benjamin Cohen
Google unveils a new product - Google Buzz - in an effort to combat the huge growth and popularity of social network Facebook and social media system Twitter.
Google is without question the most powerful company on the web, its search engine is used by more than 90 per cent of British web users.But Google is threatened by the growth in these rival networks.
Recent statistics from Hitwise indicate that the proportion of traffic to news websites from these social networks is growing dramatically, more than doubling over the past year.
Google News contributes 1.4 per cent of clicks to newspaper websites, while Facebook contributes 3.52 per cent.
The main Google search engine contributes 17.32 per cent of clicks. Google hopes Buzz can counter the growth in Facebook.
It allows users to quickly share messages, Web links and photos with friends directly within Gmail, the company’s email product.
"Buzz is like an entirely new world inside of Gmail," Todd Jackson, Google Buzz said tonight. "If I want to post images publicly I can share them to the world.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Inflation surge forces Mervyn King letter
Link to the article: Channel 4 News
Updated on 16 February 2010
Inflation has surged, but it is only temporary insists the Bank of England's governor after he was forced to write his sixth letter of explanation to Chancellor Alistair Darling.
The consumer price index rose by 3.5 per cent in the year to January, according to the latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics.
That is up from 2.9 per cent the previous month.
The increase between December and January is the second largest ever recorded. Worryingly, this follows an increase of one per cent in the inflation rate between November and December last year.
So the two largest monthly increases in inflation on record have occurred in consecutive months.
Part of the explanation is a technical one. Back in November 2008, the government cut VAT from 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent in a move it hoped would boost the economy.
When VAT was cut, that lowered the inflation rate. Now it has been pushed back up, that has made the inflation rate go back up.
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said: "This figure is a stark reminder that, despite the small growth in the economy at the end of last year, we are still living in very uncertain times.
"The Bank of England's explanation of this as a temporary blip is welcome but there is a danger that inflation will stay high while growth remains low."
The other main factor at work is petrol prices.
In the last month, the fuel element of the inflation rate has gone up by 2.2 per cent. But go back a year and petrol prices were actually falling by 3.4 per cent, a big switch that helped to push inflation higher.
The big increases have added significance because the Bank of England has to keep inflation within a target range of one per cent to three per cent.
With inflation now rising above that target range, Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank, has had to write a letter to Chancellor, explaining what has gone wrong.
The Governor argues that the petrol and VAT changes are temporary, and over the course of the year, inflation is likely to fall back because the fragile state of the economy will make it hard for companies to push through higher prices.
Mr King also notes that pay rates are growing very slowly, so at this stage, there is little sign of a wage-price spiral taking off.
In a reply, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, broadly accepts the Bank's analysis that this rise in inflation will be temporary.
The bad weather at the start of January also had an impact, with many vegetables, like cauliflower, in short supply and therefore more expensive.
There was some good news though, with a decline in the price of fruit, notably bananas, thanks to heavy discounting by supermarkets.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Greek economy: will the IMF help?
Link to the article: Channel 4 News
By Channel 4 News
World leaders are calling for the international monetary fund to be called in to sort out Greece's collapsing economy.
By Channel 4 News
World leaders are calling for the international monetary fund to be called in to sort out Greece's collapsing economy.
It would be a humiliating step, but what Greece faces today, Britain went through in 1976 and with the world's economy still fragile and vulnerable to after-shocks, could it happen again?
For a short while, the Dutchman Dr Johannes Witteveen sat at the Cabinet table in No 10 and held Britain's future in his hands.
Now retired and living in The Hague, he told Channel 4 News the IMF may have to come to the rescue again unless Britain makes cuts.
He said: "It is clear the structural deficit is too high."
Channel 4 News's political editor Gary Gibbon said: "IMF bailouts have been in the news, with some European leaders wanting the money men from Washington brought in to sort out Greece.
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