Burma, boycotts and the BBC

Feeling fairly powerless about the whole Burma thing. Of course, anyone that studied at Exeter at the same time I did is already aware of the issues, I've long been of the opinion that if the point of Iraq was to do good and acheive 'regime change' then a much better target would've been the evil bastards in self-styled Myanmar. But the only effective thing we can really do is show solidarity and apply pressure on those companies that invest and/or exploit the Burmese people. Especially alleged forced labour using Total Elf Fina (what the Exeter problems were centralled around). Fortunately, the Burma Campaign has a dirty list, which while a little heavy on the rhetoric is fairly exhaustive. Included in this list:

Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is an Australian multinational publishing company specialising in travel guides. Lonely Planet publishes a guide to Burma which encourages tourists to visit the country. Lonely Planet also vigorously defends tourism to Burma, attempting to undermine calls by Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s democracy movement for tourists to stay away.

Fair enough, avoid buying their products, across the board, and tell them what you think. Hmm, problem. BBC Worldwide buys Lonely Planet. Boycott the BBC? Um...

I guess an email to be sent after I finish work won't be too bad, possibly copy in Feedback--they could easily change their policies in light of current events, especially if the above quoted is Suu Kyi's stated position. Ah, the travails of ethical consumerism, there never is an easy answer.

Even Amazon thinks it...

Via the ever amusing Register odds feed, James Blunt is definitely a wanker, try it for yourself on the Amazon.co.uk search page and look at 'related searches' (ETA: The search for James Blunt appears to have been fixed, I now link to the search for wanker—if they've fixed that, try tedious). No, I don't know how their algorithm works, but I might look into it at some point—I think it's something to do with what people search for while buying things.

In other news, via Gareth, how about a Scotsman with a 4-week hangover? Gareth thinks he's a lightweight, Jennie knows people that drink more than that regularly. I'm scared.