David Davis
I am not in the pay of Tesco – really I am not – honest, guv. But it deserves two cheers or at least its CEO Sir Terry does (not three – for reasons I will explain, and which Sean Gabb has explained below) for his spirited defence of Markets discovering the best way to allocate resources, as opposed to governments decreeing (see Sean again.)
I expect this piece by him was absolutely as far as his own “in-house” Communications Department apparatchiks would allow the poor bugger to go. Everyone knows of course that, to a first approximation, 99% of all “communications executives”, which is to say PR girls people, are left-leaning graduates of things currently called “universities”, who have studied “journal-ism” or “media studies”. There will be enough exceptions to prove me almost not quite totally right, so I await brickbats, but I feel that Sir Terry’s private views on these matters are stronger than he was allowed to express.
Because Tesco, and its plans for giving people what they want to buy, is the prime target for assaults by greenies and anti-shopping Stalinists (who like “local” shops and “car free town centres” – an oxymoronic position if ever I saw one) it falls to poor Sir Terry to do the defence. I urge you all of you who appreciate crypto-Stalinist circumlocution, to read the whole thing here about why the local Stalinists bureaucrats don’t want Tesco to expand an already successful store where parking is free – but want it to take a site nobody wants (it’s been empty for three years!) in a town centre nobody can park in except for money to the Soviet.
Sir Terry does not get the full three cheers, for he tries to defend Government’s action in propping up a gasping banking system, which, like Hitler’s Generals who first shunned him – then lauded him – then were in hock to him, ought to have seen through this government’s debauchment of money earlier. Then, they should of course have opposed it in the first instance – but they didn’t, so here we now are. (Like Hitler’s generals in the Bunker.)
I found the usual torrent of anti-free market comment following the article very depressing. There’s the odd lone voice but the degree of economic ignorance is shocking.
(Gabb’s post was good too)
David
The “Southport Visiter” is basically the mouthpiss (that’s good I will leave it!) of the local Lib-Dem MP John Pugh, who although a nice fellow who works hard, actually walks about in the street when he doesn’t have to, and spends most of his time in the constituency seeing people (as he is ought to do), does do too much of what the paper calls “calling for” stuff.
Whatever he “calls for” invariably involves more State action. It’s embarrassing. but everybody here believes it, which is why the anti-Tesco thingy got ! “3,300+ signatures”. !
Yet, you don’t go to Tesco without meeting absolutely everybody, and I mean everybody, who lives in this smallish town.