Never mind boycotting US products, the rate the orange hued shitgibbon is going at with mucking up the global economy, i'm going to have to start boycotting food soon.
I think quite a large proportion of Americans would benefit from boycotting food...
Far and away the majority of American musicians are appalled at the direction their government has taken, so why should I make them suffer financially by boycotting their music?
As already said, by treating them (Americans) as a collective and considered generally dislikeable from the rest of the world's perspective would I hope fuel their desire to be vocal in their dislike of the orange turd to not be lumped in with him. To do everything reasonable to make it very plain to their fans both in and out of the US why they think him so unpleasant and dangerous. Same for big companies that find themselves boycotted.
The best any of us can do from the outside is so use our very limited powers to promote fracture. An awful lot of prominent and influential non-politicians in America have gone very quiet.
The US was never our closest ally. Biggest and most powerful? Definitely. Closest? No. That would probably be Australia, although Canada and NZ would also make a convincing case.
i hear orders for a somewhat pricey UK built hyper car have been cancelled by US citizens due to the tariffs. Being rich is one thing, but an extra 700k on a car must be a bit tough to swallow.
Closest?
Ireland? Although we’ve been working hard to destroy that relationship in the last decade. Trump is doing similar with Canada.
Ireland? Although we’ve been working hard to destroy that relationship in the last decade. Trump is doing similar with Canada.
If the island of Ireland was unified, would you still give the same answer, or change it to France?
I think if Ireland was unified, the elephant would (mostly*) have left the room and the relationship might mature in a more positive way.
*only mostly - the history of 'us' being pretty turdish to Ireland their people for centuries would still remain.
The US was never our closest ally. Biggest and most powerful? Definitely. Closest? No. That would probably be Australia, although Canada and NZ would also make a convincing case.
Well the UK's closest ally is very obviously France. Both France and Britain joined two world wars as staunch allies within hours of eachother.
The United States on the other hand refused to come the assistance of the Britain for literally years, even when the very survival of the of Britain as an independent nation was at stake. In both cases the United States only reluctantly got involved when their shipping got attacked.
The whole nonsense about the US being our closest ally that was predictably spouted by a government minister a couple of days ago goes back to a Tory prime minister who happened to have United States citizenship and famously said :
"If Britain must choose between Europe and the open sea, she must always choose the open sea”
I believe that Donald Trump might have a bust of Winston Churchill in the Oval Office, no surprise there.
Ireland is an interesting suggestion, neutral countries don't normally make reliable allies!
Edit : Yes as confirmed by Nigel Farage the bust of the racist white supremacist is back in the Oval Office.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/nigel-farage-winston-churchill-bust-donald-trump-b1205792.html
You know when things are bad and your early 20's son comes down stairs and says 'have you seen what Trump has done'. I'm like what's new today then !
I have no words.
I wonder if the few on this thread that have responded so negatively would have been so triggered if I'd just titled it 'anyone trying to buy more European products?'
That's really all I was asking, and there's nothing dramatic about that.
Yes.
My pecking order for years has been something like
- British
- European
Australian / NZ
Canadian
Asia (S Korea, Japan, etc)
South American
American
Chinese
The bottom 2 have just changed place. And a harder line on the ownership as well as where made. Eg no more Ford (though made in Valencia for my current motor - I can buy a Seat made in Valencia to keep supporting Spanish workers)
Use ABE books instead. It's a Canadian run book shop intermediary that links to bookshops all over the world. Absolutely brilliant.
Brilliant, but ultimately owned by Amazon
There was a program on the radio about how difficult all of this is. I didn't realise Costa is owned by the Coca-Cola Company for example. American companies are prolific in buying up foreign companies to gain access to a particular market or brand loyalty. This is especially true in Ireland and the UK. To a lesser degree in Europe. A number of our largest defense companies like Cobham have been sold to the US in recent years. Something a EU country like France would have blocked on national security grounds, whether Trump was president or not.
Use ABE books instead. It's a Canadian run book shop intermediary that links to bookshops all over the world. Absolutely brilliant.
American companies are prolific in buying up foreign companies to gain access to a particular market or brand loyalty.
I knew this. Although that's hardly a new concept - see 1960s UK breweries, etc, etc, etc.
Brilliant, but ultimately owned by Amazon
Didn't know this... disappointing.
The whole Amazon/Abe and Costa problem, along with many others, would be solved by just using little independents wherever possible. And you'd have a much nicer cuppa as a bonus.
Use ABE books instead. It's a Canadian run book shop intermediary that links to bookshops all over the world. Absolutely brilliant.
Brilliant, but ultimately owned by Amazon
There was a program on the radio about how difficult all of this is. I didn't realise Costa is owned by the Coca-Cola Company for example. American companies are prolific in buying up foreign companies to gain access to a particular market or brand loyalty. This is especially true in Ireland and the UK. To a lesser degree in Europe. A number of our largest defense companies like Cobham have been sold to the US in recent years. Something a EU country like France would have blocked on national security grounds, whether Trump was president or not.
Angus Hanton has an excellent book (released last year) on the subject of American ownership of everything in Britain, see interview with him below
Nah....usual forum **** ups, can't embed link to YouTube, if you are at all interested then check out Angus Hanton Novara media interview
edit - this took 12 seconds to post....with no link.
well done stw....do you employ doge as your web devs?
There was an excellent UK alternative as well, The Book Depositary. Popular almost entirely because it wasn’t Amazon. But you can guess who bought them out and made the website just an alternative front end for their own book sales…
Angus Hanton has an excellent book (released last year) on the subject of American ownership of everything in Britain, see interview with him below
Nah....usual forum **** ups, can't embed link to YouTube, if you are at all interested then check out Angus Hanton Novara media interview
edit - this took 12 seconds to post....with no link.
well done stw....do you employ doge as your web devs?
Don't worry, pretty sure that video is in my first post 🙂
Some of us can only dream of 12 seconds🤣
Rhe sale of strategically important company Cobham was a fine example of it being raised as being unacceptable by defence experts... only for the American-resident-to-be-near-billionaire-Sunak Prime Minister's Gov to wave it through with a few hollow 'assurances' (which had zero legal standing) that Blighty wouldn't be shafted.
Sold down the sewage-infested river once more.
So go to them direct.
You can in some cases, but lots of the bookshops that i tend to use (dull academic stuff) haven't got direct selling web sites - because why reproduce something that gets no traffic when Amazon will do all that stuff for you?
WWSTWD ?
I have a little dilemma.
I'm in the 'not American when possible' camp (as per earlier posts).
I now find my few-years-old Garmin GPS watch on the wane. I use it outdoors, swimming, biking, and Triathlon. So a 'Smart Watch' eg from Samsung just doesn't cut the mustard in terms of battery life (im not a world class 8-hour ironman guy... not unless you cancel the marathon!), swim metrics etc.
The choices seem to boil down to
- Garmin. American owned, made in Taiwan.
- Polar. Finnish owned, made in China.
- Suunto. Now Chinese owned (not Finnish) some high end Ti models made in Finland still. Rest in China. Best mapping.
I'm not vested in any ecosystem (yes I have other Garmin devices, but the Connect app is poor and I'm most certainly not paying a monthly premium). Polar's Flow site is infinitely better. Suunto's looks OK too.
So WWSTD ?
So go to them direct.
You can in some cases, but lots of the bookshops that i tend to use (dull academic stuff) haven't got direct selling web sites - because why reproduce something that gets no traffic when Amazon will do all that stuff for you?
Phone them?
Convenience does not trump morals in my book
I'm not vested in any ecosystem (yes I have other Garmin devices, but the Connect app is poor and I'm most certainly not paying a monthly premium). Polar's Flow site is infinitely better. Suunto's looks OK too.
So WWSTD ?
Go second hand?
(Stealth ad) I'm about to advertise a Fenix 6 Pro for a very sensible price. Still get 13 days battery life in smart watch mode. Screen protector fitted since new so the screen is immaculate and there's very few other marks on it.
I needed to replace my WTB tyre and I've ordered a Pirelli instead. I don't generally buy a lot of kit so I'm rarely looking at obviously American brands. Like I said elsewhere though I'm doing this at a fairly superficial level - so I wouldn't buy e.g. Reese's peanut butter chocolate but I'm not checking the labels on other stuff and looking up who ultimately owns the brand.
I have unwittingly bought something else from an American brand though - some JBL earbuds. I'd just assumed they were from the Far East but no.
I have unwittingly bought something else from an American brand though - some JBL earbuds. I'd just assumed they were from the Far East but no.
JBL is owned by Harman which is American and is a subsidiary of Samsung which is South Korean
I'm not vested in any ecosystem (yes I have other Garmin devices, but the Connect app is poor and I'm most certainly not paying a monthly premium). Polar's Flow site is infinitely better. Suunto's looks OK too.
So WWSTD ?
Go second hand?
(Stealth ad) I'm about to advertise a Fenix 6 Pro for a very sensible price. Still get 13 days battery life in smart watch mode. Screen protector fitted since new so the screen is immaculate and there's very few other marks on it.
Thanks. I will respefully decline - i need a full 2 year warranty as I repeatedly kill the barometric alti on Garmin watches. Who'd thunk that a triathlon watch will be fine? Unless of course you do any swim training 🤔. Or that swimming pools contain chemicals 🤔. Obviously not Garmin that's for sure. I went through 3 or maybe even 4 910XTs for that under warranty or exchange. A 920XT too. Current one is the only one that made it past the warranty- and mainly I suspect because of not swimming indoors during the Covid years and little since ( Open water or a spring fed pool mainly instead, and that doesn't seem to cause the same problem). It's a known problem that's never been properly designedout.
I have unwittingly bought something else from an American brand though - some JBL earbuds. I'd just assumed they were from the Far East but no.
JBL is owned by Harman which is American and is a subsidiary of Samsung which is South Korean
Take a look at Flare. English.
I have unwittingly bought something else from an American brand though - some JBL earbuds. I'd just assumed they were from the Far East but no.
JBL is owned by Harman which is American and is a subsidiary of Samsung which is South Korean
Ha, ended up in the right place after all
Thanks. I will respefully decline - i need a full 2 year warranty as I repeatedly kill the barometric alti on Garmin watches. Who'd thunk that a triathlon watch will be fine? Unless of course you do any swim training 🤔. Or that swimming pools contain chemicals 🤔. Obviously not Garmin that's for sure. I went through 3 or maybe even 4 910XTs for that under warranty or exchange. A 920XT too. Current one is the only one that made it past the warranty- and mainly I suspect because of not swimming indoors during the Covid years and little since ( Open water or a spring fed pool mainly instead, and that doesn't seem to cause the same problem). It's a known problem that's never been properly designedout.
No worries!
You could go second hand from CEX - they offer a 5 year warranty.
However - am I the only one avoiding American culture? I'm not watching obviously American TV (not so much where its are made or who is doing the acting, but American themes or lifestyles) or films and avoid American books.
Not so much avoiding but it does seem suddenly irrelevant. White Lotus for example. Who gives a carp about some rich Americans on vacation?
I reckon he's a forum regular...
Until reading that I hadn't heard the name Dailymotion in about 10 years. So I get the site up and search for stuff I'd be interested in. Sure enough most of the videos are about 10 years old.
Not my choice of subscription for all sorts of reasons, but Mrs Lawman has today insisted on taking out Amazon Prime, and very much against my better judgement. Mainly so as to be able to see Clarkson's Farm, which even though he's a bellend, can be quite funny at times. Hopefully the sub will be cancelled when she's up to date with Series4, and discovers there's not much else on Prime worth paying for <fingers crossed>
Is it about time to resurrect this thread?
I've been doing my best for ages,.and doing pretty well I think, although struggling with alternatives for some software/web stuff but almost none of that I pay for. However, I still see many threads on here recommending various American bikes, SRAM components, etc, there are easy alternatives to those. What American stuff I have bought (a couple of tools) have been second hand so that doesn't send any money their way at least.
I have been trying to avoid products & services that are obviously from the USA : SRAM, Amazon, various outdoor brands. I understand that not all American businesses are pro-trump, however this is the only realistic thing that I can do to make me feel better about things.
Does anyone have a list of companies (especially parent companies) that would help me to avoid more USA made products? I understand that there are apps available that you can scan barcodes to see if they are American. I'd prefer a list or website so I can be a bit more aware of what companies have USA ownership.
Thanks
Where possible for sure. I had intended ordering a waxed jacket from USA to replace one stolen recently. Not found a UK style i like but decided to look for something else now.
*Any recommendations for a waxed cotton short lightweight jacket that isn't Barbour/belstaff/kuhl?
Bought a new BBQ recently. Made a point of finding which were made (and actually made, not just company owned) in Canada, not USA. A couple of the higher end Napoleon and Broil King ones are.
.*Any recommendations for a waxed cotton short lightweight jacket that isn't Barbour/belstaff/kuhl?
Check our Peregrine and maybe Community Clothing.
Peregrine do a wide selection of wax jackets as well as other stuff all UK made.
Edit: URL in case STW gets click through https://www.peregrineclothing.co.uk/collections/mens-coats-jackets (also 10% off first order with newsletter signup)
