A Very British Protest

There is a certain satisfaction in learning about direct protest from an authoritive figure. Congratulations, from this Blog, are very much due to Ray Egan a 69-year old retired policeman from Birmingham who on Tuesday dressed in a John Bull costume breached security at HP Sauce's British Factory to protest against the decision to switch production of the very British condiment to Holland.

The protesting ex-copper made his point very clearly from his roof top vantage point on the top of the HP factory:

'' The point I am making is that we are losing a British icon - a bastion of Britishness and a worldwide product and brand. It has to stop. I am just sick of the industries we are losing and direct action is what's needed in this country. This would never happen in France.'' said Ray Egan.

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HP manufacturer announced its decision to close the Aston Cross site last summer and move production to Elst in the Netherlands.

Whilst the protesting ex-plod was taking direct action a company press officer in award winning corporate speak (and missing the point entirely) issued a statement saying it was aware of the protest which he described as a ''health and safety issue''.

National disgrace we say --- there are some of us who are still trying to cope with the loss of Lea and Perrins Sauce to the French and the MG trademark to the Chinese. At least this week we learnt of the return of the Classic Aston Martin motor range to British ownership. Clearly the lesson to be learnt from ex-plod Ray Egan is that if it's British it is worth fighting for - after all, all we want (well ok want back) is our heritage.