DERBY PATRIOT

To many people shopping is something they enjoy. To a nationalist it is a nightmare.

I have always bought what I can from my local market, but since my hours have increased, shopping has to either be done at silly o’clock or online and delivered.

I tried online shopping and half the items were either missing or ‘substituted’. Each time I stated that I didn’t want a substitute, each time they sent one.

Now, for some this could be a good idea but not in my experience. I mean, how the hell can a family sized deep apple pie be substituted with a pack of six tiny apple pies? And why the hell would someone replace fresh green beans with a can of peas?

So I thought ‘sod it’. No matter what the time is I will go myself. Not as easy as I thought considering I work all hours God sends, including weekends.

Absolutely shattered from a 13 hour shift and 70 hour week, I hobbled to the nearest 24 hour Tesco. And this is where my nightmare began.

On reflection, the variety of goods is impressive. The problem is finding anything remotely British.

My first complaint is with the fruit section. The majority of fruit is imported from overseas. Fair enough if you want something exotic, but why have 10 varieties of French apple?

For the record, France is not my favourite place. I have found the people arrogant and ignorant towards the British; I would rather sail round it than fly over it, so buying anything French is a resounding ‘non’ for me.

Back to apples. Out of a whole row of apples I found only one English apple. Whoopie-do! Of course, it is a variety I do not even like so I go without.

Now for the meat. I could never be a vegetarian, I enjoy eating meat far too much. What bugs me about stores like Tesco is the way they try and trick you with the packaging. You pick up what you think are British sausages or bacon when in fact they have only been packed in Britain. The meat itself has been reared in another country, for example Poland.

Pork products start life in Poland under horrendous conditions. Thousands of pigs are crammed into sheds where they frantically chew at bars and fight each other. Sows are kept in steel farrowing crates, unable to turn around but still able to feed piglets. While our government banned these cruel practises, the EU poured money into Poland and Romania, enabling the importation to the UK of cheap pork. In fact 70% of the one million tonnes of pig meat imported into Britain every year does not meet British welfare standards.

Stores in Britain only have to process and package the meat for it to qualify as being British, hence my nightmare shopping trip. A whole row of pork products and not one stated that the pig was reared in Britain. Some stated the pork was sourced in the Eu but none said it was reared here. No one at the store could find a pork product that stated it was British reared. I came away with no meat.

Now for other meats, halal and kosher. I also asked a couple of Tesco workers how I could tell if a meat was halal or kosher; there are no halal or kosher sections in my local Tesco but that doesn’t mean they don’t sell them. They sell everything else.

For halal or kosher to be permissible the animal has to be alive and healthy. The jugular vein, carotid artery and windpipe have to be severed by a razor sharp knife by a single swipe and any flowing blood of the carcass should be completely drained. In other words the animal bleeds to death and is not stunned beforehand.

I do not agree to something being killed in such a barbaric way and will not buy it, but how am I to know if it’s been slaughtered in this way? After all they are serving halal meat to our school children without then knowing so why not sell it in shops without telling us?

Once again I was told by the staff that they didn’t know. To be quite honest, they don’t know much. I could go on and on about other items but the story is always the same and after about an hour and a half I gave up and left the shop with bread and a few chocolate cakes to keep me going until tomorrows market.

The moral of this story?

Only use stores such as Tesco if absolutely necessary. Support your local butcher and grocer. It may cost a few pence more but you know you are supporting your fellow countrymen, you know the product will be top class and it will be fresh.

BUY BRITISH!