The Welcome Lounge: introduce yourself 👋

Hi Chris – Welcome to Which? Convo.

Although we have spent much time discussing waste plastic and short-lived electrical goods, I cannot remember anything much about sustainability and tourism.

Giant telephones have featured here before but you are first with a giant banana. 🍌

@jon-stricklin-coutinho

Jon – one day you are going to slip up on one of these jokes and scare people away.

Welcome Chris! You will find no end of sustainability discussions here. 🙂

Dressing as a banana, eh? I can hear the peals of laughter even now, as you pursued your lonely but ultimately fruitful foray into the high street. Helps to have a thick skin, of course. Still, it could have been worse; you could have become decidedly meloncholy had you dressed as another comestible, but I’m sure you were the pick of the bunch, very appealing and destined to start your own banana republic…

Cower in abject shame, JSC…

Yes welcome to both of you ,as somebody in constant touch with Greenpeace and some US organisations I get the latest unbiased news on the world sustainability and all the Eco issues .
You have a job on your hands as you will be up against big governments and big business forces, the latest news isn’t good even in this country.

Hi, folks; good to have you both joining in the fray, here.

Hi Grace, welcome to the, er, conversation 🙂

Hi Grace, and welcome from me too. I went to university and landed up working there. One of my favourite jobs as a lecturer was arranging meetings between students and staff. I would love to see the return of student grants instead of pushing young people into debt.

I am in favour of grants instead of loans, but I should also like to see fewer university students.

I agree with grants – for useful courses and for students with talent. The problem I see is far too many universities have been created out of other institutions that had perfectly sound objectives for students not really cut out for university, resulting in devaluing the degree qualification in many cases. We should encourage people to enter further education in courses that are appropriate to the abilities of students, whether academic, vocational, apprenticeships, and stop being hung up on the notion that everyone must have a degree.

I would like to see taxpayers’ money go to support those who show both ability and motivation to work for a degree, John. There is a lot to be said for school leavers working for a year before applying to university. This can improve self-confidence, think about careers and decide whether three or more years at university is worthwhile for them.

When I was an undergraduate students worked during the long vacation and sometimes at weekends or in the evening, but nowadays it’s not uncommon for students to miss lectures etc. to do paid work. They may drop out or go on to achieve a qualification that demonstrates under achievement. I once had a student plead with me to phone their employer who had said that they would lose their job if they took time off to attend my lectures on Tuesday mornings. I refused but gave the student the confidence to tell the employer what he could do with his job.

Malcolm – I agree with you on there being too many universities. Some of the polytechnics were doing a great job but were pushed into becoming second-rate universities lacking a track record in research, which is complementary to teaching in universities. Thankfully some of them have gone on to catch up with the older universities.

Welcome to the convos Grace. 🙂

Hi Neil – Welcome to Which? Conversation. I’ll bet you wish you could have joined Which? in happier times. 🙂

You mention consumerism and sustainability, and that’s something that I feel very strongly about. I would like to see each Which? product review suggest repairing rather than replacing products.

I would like Which? to fight against obsolescence, whether this is planned or just happens. If you buy a smart TV, it’s likely to lose some of its functionality within a few years. Which? should be running a campaign to force manufacturers to provide long-term support and providing consumers with advice on how they can, in the meantime, prolong the life of their TVs by adding an inexpensive device to provide the missing apps. Which? keeps us up to date on smart devices but makes no mention of how long they are likely to last.

In my view, Which? has damaged its reputation for independence by suggesting where we can buy products. I particularly object to the reviews pages suggesting “Amazon Marketplace” as a place to buy products since Which? has demonstrated that Marketplace traders sell some dangerous products and Amazon has no legal responsibility. The same applies to other online marketplaces.

I hope that does not sound negative and look forward to your first Conversation.

Glad to hear from you, Neil.

The thoughts of many of the regular contributors to Which? Conversation on sustainability relative to consumerism were set out in the Conversation called What does it mean to live sustainably? authored by Alfa. See –
https://conversation.which.co.uk/sustainability/sustainable-living/

I am pleased you acknowledge the importance of communication and the role of communities. I feel this could be better reflected in Which? Magazine which rarely makes any reference to Which? Conversation or the feedback it provides on the testing of products and the articles on consumer issues. A number of the Conversation regulars feel that the role of Which? staff relative to Conversation is unfinished business and characterised by its general invisibility. It would be useful when the time is right to converse with you on these points and see how the sense of community can be developed.

Welcome, Neil; interesting time to jump aboard but you do bring an important brief with you.

I suspect one major issue with which you’ll have to contend is the definition of ‘sustainability’. There’s really no universally agreed meaning, and it’s one of those terms that seems to change shape according to the economic environment of the time. But many of us deplore what seems to have been an inexorable slither into a disposable culture, if for no other reason than those who promote recycling seem unaware that the recycling industry is in little short of chaos, in many ways.

But good luck.