CADBURYS

If ever there was proof that the human race is not on a continuous course towards a better world it is the current story that Cadburys are cowering in a corner from big bad confectionery company, Kraft (who?).

Cadburys, who need no introduction to any person British, was started in 1824 by a family of Quakers. Chocolate was ethical you see and no Quakers wanted to make money out of anything that brought any harm to the world.

Cadburys not only brought us all chocolate, they gave their workers exceptionally good pay, conditions and pensions as well as building for them Bournville Village, which is still there not far from where I live. The people of Bournville had parks built for them, boating lakes, football, hockey and cricket pitches, bowling greens and swimming pools, as well as beautiful houses to live in the arts and craft design, with large gardens so that the occupiers could grow their own fruit and veg.

It was important to the Cadbury family that the emotional and physical well being of their workers, and they people they lived amongst, were taken care of. They cared about the quality of the lives of the Bournville residents.

The whole story is like a fantasy of mine where I come into lots of money and turn West Bromwich one of the best places to live in the country. At the very start I'd take a wrecking ball to the ridiculous waste of public money The Public and give the town its bloody swimming pool back, stock its library and bring back the heydays of Dartmouth Park.

Now although Cadburys can no longer be considered a Quaker company, it does still treat its workers well and the idea of a nasty American "snacks" company coming in to snatch it up so that it can be BIGGER and SELL MORE and MAKE MORE MONEY, as if there was nothing else in the world worth aiming for, could fair make one weep.