http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...epts-kraft-bid
Cadbury's, a British company with a 169 year long history of ethical standards and British manufacturing has just been brought by the American food conglomerate Kraft Foods.

Personally, I think this a triumph of short-termism over far-sightedness. According to the article, the company was sold out to Americans by Americans. Kraft, which is now £22bn in debt, will have to cut costs across their entire operations; where better than Bournville? Sure, they've guaranteed to protect their ethical standards, but they said the same thing about Terry's Chocolate Orange.
If all this looks like a protectionist rant, then I'm not surprised. But consider this list of British companies recently bought out by foreign companies. ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/dan...dbury-takeover ) Is there any comparable list of British companies buying foreign corporations? The answer is no, as the free trade principals which we trumpet are not being applied equally in foreign countries (God help anyone who tries to take over a German/French/South Korean company). British companies are being exploited for their cultural worth to be used as marketing tools in the rest of the world, whilst Britan is stripped of the company's economic value.