Illustration by John Sadler www.johnsadlerillustration.com

• OF course the dismantling of Britain’s manufacturing sector during Margaret Thatcher’s reign made economic sense.

Under capitalism we couldn’t compete with goods made using the cheaper labour in emerging economies.

But we are only now realising that a very important baby was thrown out with the bathwater.

All that personal protection equipment so desperately needed in our hospitals and care homes could surely have been run up in a trice by my nan and the millions of other mums and grandmas who used to have sewing machines in their homes and in many cases worked for buttons in the rag trade.

But then in exchange for that we were able to buy cheap, disposable fashion goods made by child labour overseas. That was progress!

CT MARKS
NW1