Dirty Foreigners

Pause, if you will, and admire the peculiarly British genius behind this arrangement, one of many which - like the proliferation of finger-wagging warnings to turn off taps, put things in water tanks, and lower thermostats - go by the rubric of "environmental policy" these days. Plastic bags manufactured in China for such clean-living paragons as Tesco and Argos are shipped five thousand miles to the UK and then sent five thousand miles back for disposal. In one village, thousands of carrier bags "choke the waterways, snag on tree branches and contribute to a rotting stench during floods and hot weather"; elsewhere "small family-run businesses chop up and melt down toxic plastics and metals from discarded computers, printers and mobile phones", to the inestimable advantage of the countryside and the environment in general. Britain, supporting the recycling business, stated through the consulate that "individual companies should take more responsibility", which will make all the difference, no doubt. The provincial government, in a harsh throwback to Marxist interventionism, recently intervened to shut down some of the worst offenders; but, taking more responsibility, "most firms simply relocated".