Keep HP British!

I'm not especially patriotic. I won't be cheering on England at the World Cup (too many Liverpool players - Peter Crouch world class? - can't stand the manager and hate the 'Engerland' stuff that accompanies any major championship); don't own a pair of Union Jack shorts; and generally have little truck with any sort of Dambusters/Rule Britannia/Little Englander/St George's flag waving sense of Britishness.

All that said there are some things which are clearly, proudly and uniquely British - and HP Sauce is one of them. The perfect accompaniment to anything from a fry-up to Scouse, roast dinner to plain old beans on toast - HP is the King of Sauces.

So I'm gutted to hear Heinz who own the rights to HP are shipping production of HP to the Netherlands. Not only does this mean that a great British brand will no longer be produced in the UK, but - more seriously - it also means 120 TGWU members will lose their jobs. As usual this announcement comes after Heinz had previously promised that there would be no shift in production. I'm sure Heinz have their reasons - but HP has been produced in the Midlands since the turn of the century and it seems a real shame that a good, loyal workforce producing an iconic product is being let down once again. Lets hope Heinz show a bit of common sense and reverse their decision. In the meantime I will be scouring the supermarkets over the next few weeks to build up a stockpile of Brummy produced brown sauce!