Keeping it local - Minister of Common Sense

I see that the FSB are promoting and encouraging us all to buy local these days, and keep local trade running. I see everywhere their corporate cry on behalf of the local tradesmen and women of the UK.
Great idea I heard myself saying, with reminiscence of a bygone age to ‘keep it British’ But is it really? After a while of pondering on this something didn’t quite sit right with me, and the more I said it, the more it started to bother me. But why?
Ok let’s take the FSB for example as an organisation based in or around Blackpool I believe. So are they practicing what they preach? Their monthly newsletter that sits in our visitor toilet, not quite punchy enough to have pride of place in the reception, is a perfectly presented membership document, posted out to its vast membership. Was this printed by a Blackpool based printing company, or mailed out using a local mailing house with a Blackpool postcode? I suspect annual tendering is present in their print and mailing procurement policy, so the chances of this coming out of Blackpool are slim. However, in the absence of any acknowledgement immediately visible let’s give them the benefit of any doubt.
So was the paper used to print the document purchased from a paper mill based in Blackpool? The answer to this is NO, as there aren’t any mills in the UK let alone Blackpool. Was the design agency involved in the content a locally based company? Sadly No. And this interrogation will continue in the same vane if I am allowed to.
Are you starting to see why I am questioning this drive to buy locally now? What it should say is ‘BUY LOCAL IF YOU CAN PLEASE NOT WITHSTANDING ANY PROCUREMENT POLICY OR BUSINESS DRIVE’, but who would want to promote something as wishy washy as that, let alone support it?
Therefore my conclusion is that the FSB need to go back to the drawing board, put out to tender their marketing communications (hoping that a local business may win it) and come up with something that is a bit more meaningful in this business climate.
Buying local is out of date and out of touch. Even if I were as a consumer wandering down the High Street looking for a book for example, what is buying locally? The bookshop may be a local distributor, but what if the cashier is from Bulgaria, will that count FSB? What if the bookshop is owned by an American business? What if the author was French and so on and so forth. In actual fact a tesco store (which incidentally is probably the perceived wrongdoer) may well prove more ‘local’ than the newsagents or hairdresser!!
As a business Printhut! would buy all their print supply from a locally based Ultra Wholesale printing company based in St. Neots, providing they were best of class. What would the FSB suggest in the absence of this? Close the business on ethical grounds. Hmmmm! Again a classic example of the need for a Ministry of Common Sense.