SUPERMAKETING An interesting defence of WalMart's business practices from H Lee Scott,their CEO. He singled out their store in Breck Road, Liverpool as an example of how great the company is at building communities:

Mr Scott told an audience in Arkansas: "Let me take you to Breck Road, in Liverpool. It used to be a shopping centre with about 10 stores in it. For several years it was anchored by a small supermarket which closed and gave way to a bingo hall. Eventually that closed, too, and became a magnet for vandals, muggers and drug pushers.

"Our British unit, Asda, committed to revitalising this neighbourhood. We opened last November creating 300 jobs. Around 60% of those went to the long-term unemployed. We also redecorated the local community hall. This what I say to critics: talk to the people who live along Breck Road and ask them if what Wal-Mart does is a publicity stunt."

Impressive. What Scott fails to mention, of course, is that Breck Road has recieved hundreds of thousands of pounds from central and European government to turn it around, so in effect WalMart have just turned up after the hard work had been done. He also neglects to mention that the decline of the area came when the neighbourhood to one side of the store was bulldozed. So the [Co-Op Leos] supermarket which became a bingo hall lost a large proportion of its customers almost overnight; that area has now been redeveloped and repopulation has commenced, making it less like the company was taking a chance on a blighted area.

Oh, and what really did for the Leos? The loss of a large swathe of its few remaining customers to, erm, a giant Asda which opened up the other side of Stanley Park.