Art From London Markets, a-n feature

So the kids are back at school and I have time to spend on the new larger scale piece I have been planning, but suddenly all those domestic jobs I have been putting off are calling me…… this is the disadvantage of working home. SO I have fixed the door handle on the kitchen door, resealed around the shower tray,cleared the drains, found a leak, and used the washing machine so much it has broken down. All this displacement activity is then commented on by my partner who in a pleased voice says you have been busy… grrr. Displacement activities….. but I have a deadline creeping up and need to get on with it. Given that the activities listed are all time consuming but mindless I supose I could rename it “thinking time”…but it is now time for action and not DIY. As I write this the washing machine hums thanks to the plumber, and climbing on the roof requires two adults present so get to work

Slavery and trade: So preparing my piece for John Moores I have been thinking about trade and Liverpool both the current increase in imports represented by the Tetley deal and international trade in Liverpool in the past. You can’t then get away from the fact of the history of slavery and the role of Liverpool in the slave trade triangle. So to come back to the present in October the Modern Slavery Act 2015 was published, which means that very big companies will have to publicise what they do to prevent slavery being part of their supply chain. Initially I felt a hurray moment, and then I went to the government website, and it became clear that big business with over 35million turn over are required to publicise what they are doing to try to prevent slavery being part of the supply chain, not actually show that there is no slavery in their supply chain. So it is down to consumers to then find the information and…. boycott I guess, to actually make them do it…..hardly robust anti slavery law. I guess it will make journalists jobs a bit easier, but not strong enough.

And then more displacement activities on Monday leave me watching TV Hugh Fernley Whitingstall’s recent anti-waste campaign on TV, and the Aldi critique in channel 4 illustrate how there can be a great big gap between what companies say they do and what they actually do, and actually these issues are not unrelated. Excessive consumerism is at the heart of both, and in the model of the Anti-Slavery Act the consumer is expected to be the police. Funny that I thought that was the job of governments.