Today’s politicians have got the T-shirt, without the requisite ‘been there, done that’

Anyone surprised by the revelation that workers manufacturing those expensive Fawcett Society/Whistles T-shirts are paid just 62p per hour will probably get a nasty shock if they research the origins of the clothes in their own wardrobes. That’s why it’s a little hard to pass judgement on Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Harriet Harman for not knowing where those £45 T-shirts came from.

Alex wrote a splendidly provocative blog a while ago about sweatshops which reminded us of the alternatives that are realistically available to most of the workers who crouch over sewing machines to produce tops that only survive a few washes anyway. But even with that acknowledgement, you might hope that a T-shirt claiming to be a kitemark for all those who care about equality could do a little better than this. Advocates of a voluntary living wage in this country often argue that it could get its own kitemark for those who really care about where their food and clothes come from.