The Astro Flame Candle Issue - A Word Of Reason?

The "devil's advocate" in me can't help but wonder, if maybe the Astro Flame, and the candle debacle that goes along with it, could be seen as a commentary on today's consumerism and production standards?

Think about it... Mathmos say that their candles are "made in the UK". (+1)

Clearly, in comparison to whatever cheaply produced candle that people tried in its place, the Mathmos candle is of superior quality. (+2)

Should we not consider that a value worth to be rewarded in hard cash?

Don't get me wrong... until now, just like you, I only saw the high price and realize that local shops peddle a bag of 100 candles, identical in size, for a 10th of Mathmos' price.

But is it really that unreasonable from Mathmos to NOT outsource that item to countries that for decades have done and still do nothing but violate their intellectual property (-1) and wage a destructive campaign on them by flooding the market with cheap and generally substandard knock-offs? (-2) Not to list all the other faults one can find in such business methods (-10) and how, generally speaking, they hardly ever lead to better products (-20)

Looks like Mathmos is winning by points, isn't it?

So what's the right perspective here? What position do we take? Whose side are we on?

Discuss!