The uk retailers are the ones constantly being described when comparing prices such as buggy in argos was €90 here but argos in the north only charged £35 why not boycott argos altogether?
As for lofty morals and putting food on the table how many more jobs will be lost on account of retailers in the south continuing to lose business? You don't have to look at it on patriotic grounds, think of it more on selfish grounds i.e I would like the country to get back on its feet so that some day soon I will have less to worry about when it comes to putting food on the table.
The local shops have started to drop prices significantly but that doesn't mean that it is profitable for them and that they can do so and maintain job levels in the long term. I know small to medium builders that are pricing work at a loss to stay in business and not face hefty redundancy payments so while everything may look cheap and rosey on the outside there are going to be repurcussions down the line that will affect this country.
Why did people know the price of the buggy in the Argos Stores here in the first place? Because even with the ludicrous difference between the ROI & Uk prices, they were still better than the locally owned shops. I was in a Next store just off Trafalgar Square in London a while ago. Noticed a jacket I had bought in their Glasgow store was £20 dearer. But rather than boycott them, I choose to think about where, location wise, I shop.
This thread was asking about lack of patriotism, not selfishness, but in any case I won't be party to protectionism. Garages that were delighted to sell petrol to Northerners now squeal about imports, and actually now advertise that they are selling imports themselves. Shops whine about cheap prices in the UK, then suddenly find themselves able to offer a 6-pack of coke on buy one, get one free. Guess what, it's UK coke. So we shouldn't do what they do, we should do as they say?
I'm very fortunate that I'm not amongst those I was referring to earlier, those who are really struggling to make ends meet, quite possibly for the first time in their lives. But I absolutely see why they choose to save a couple of hundred a month on their shopping, rather than subsidise the local shops who aren't trying hard enough to compete, just to keep Mary down the road in her part-time job.
Wanting to help the country is a very noble ambition, all I'm saying is that for a lot of people, that ambition is one they just can't afford.