Sweet thoughts

When Labour came to power, Robin Cook said they were going to have an ethical foreign policy.

Years before, I'd decided to have an ethical domestic policy, but my principles have lasted (in the main) longer than theirs.

My stand of conscience is to avoid Nestlé products, because of their policy of financing health care workers in the Third World, on condition that they plug Nestlé's formula milk for babies.

Unsophisticated mothers are persuaded that their babies will do better on formula, which..

• helps to impoverish the families
• prevents the babies from getting nourishment and antibodies from their mothers' milk
• leads to sickness because of the difficulties of guaranteeing a clean water supply

A campaign called Baby Milk Action in Cambridge provides a handy list of Nestlé products, but as I've been observing the boycott for years, I'm pretty well sussed up on them now.

My big problem is condensed milk, which I adore, as it's impossible to get a non-Nestlé product in the UK, as far as I'm aware.