This morning I took my foot pump to church, as one does, to inflate the giant Fairtrade banana and giant cup of Fairtrade coffee that will be visual aids for tomorrow's service.  I am fairly sure the sizes of the two are on pretty much the same scale, which is fine until it comes to blowing them up!  It is fair to say that my legs got a good work-out this morning as it took around half an hour's work to get the two done.  A moment's panic when the size of the inflated cup was remarkably similar to the size of the vestry door, but it will go through - just.  Maybe next year they could make a Fairtrade grape, just one, not a whole bunch, that could be inflated in seconds...  As it is I am trying to think where I can safely store these items inflated as the thought of deflating them and doing it all again next year lacks appeal.

Another visual aid I have is a whole selection of fairtrade chocolate bars - Divine, Maya Gold, Supermarket own, Cadbury Dairy Milk, four finger Kitkat (for some reason the two finger and chunky ones aren't).  As well as the 'big swap' we now seem to have the big choice - do we buy Divine or do we buy Cadbury?  Do we buy Dubble or opt for Green and Blacks?  Is it possible that Fairtrade is becoming a victim of its own success and a new competitive market is opening up among the Fairtrade brands?  Intuitively it seems good that more and more products are more ethically produced (including animal and planet welfare considerations) but what happens if the goal of it all being this way is reached?  Would the ethical production prove sustainable or would 'market forces' (consumer power) actually tip it back to the old ways, as brands sought to undercut one another to keep market share?  I would hope not, it would be amazing to have a world where justice for all was achieved.  Maybe the Jewish folk lore philosophy that one day like this would trigger Messiah's arrival, or the occasionally voiced Christian view that we can hasten Christ's return by our actions mean that were it done then it could never be undone.  In the meantime, I find it a pleasant, of bizarre, situation that when I go to my local supermarket instead of my choice being 'Fairtrade or not' I can choose among the own label products such as tea, coffee, sugar, bananas etc . knwoing they are all fairly traded.