something of the night - a little bit of politics

THE GOVERNMENT NEVER SAYS NO TO TESCO: Interesting news from Liverpool - especially trotted out in the semi-secret Christmas week - with the news that the government has over-ruled local councillors and the wishes of the people who live there and allowed Tesco permission to build on the university sports ground on Mather Avenue.

One of the biggest protests was raised because opponents said the larger store would encroach into green space.

But the inspector said the hockey pitches, with their artificial surfaces, had little positive visual quality as far as green space was concerned.

Yes, that's right: government policy now seems to insist that an ugly, block-designed shedstore is as nice to look at as a hockey pitch.

On their corporate website, Tescos claims that they are "committed" to minimising environmental impacts. It's not clear how doubling the size of a store by building on green space, when there's already a large store a few minutes walk from the current site, is a plan that has been designed to minimise environmental impact. We've emailed them to ask if they can clear that up.

Perhaps you might want to ask them as well: cr.team@uk.tesco.com