SUCH is our way of looking at the world that a Bangladesh fire wouldn't normally merit much news coverage, even if it kills several hundred.
What, however, propelled this recent blaze into the headlines is that the factory destroyed used to make clothes for Primark, the popular discount clothing store.
Like with the earlier scandal of horse meat in cheap burgers, questions were being asked as to whether there is a human price to pay for having low-cost goods on sale in Britain.
I remember the old knitwear factories in the Midlands, long since victims of cheap foreign imports. I also recall when M&S prided itself on buying British, and once had a dancing partner who used to work for one of their suppliers.
Sadly M&S now is like most firms, in getting its products from all over the globe, so Primark is certainly not alone in availing itself of overseas labour. Sadly, that isn't going to change. We may make quality clothing in Britain, but can compete no longer in the mass market against nations who have lower living costs and can get away with paying its workers the level of wages that it'd be impossible to survive on in the UK.
If firms went back to the old M&S policy, the upshot is that prices would rise sharply. Which given that we have so many both in and out of work struggling to make ends meet, that is a strategy which only the most other-worldly ivory tower liberal would seriously advocate.
However, we can encourage firms to sign up to the fair trade agenda, and ensure that the working conditions for those abroad are improved. It does no one any good to support the exploitation of workers, wherever they come from.