More Tesco - no thanks

After announcing record £3bn profits Tesco promises to get even bigger. According to the Standard:

It now has 1,770 stores in Britain, including about 250 in London, and said it would not slow down its relentless expansion despite the recession.

Tesco hopes to add between six and seven per cent more shop floor space every year, roughly equivalent to doubling every 10 to 12 years.

This kind of bullish talk is clearly intended to impress the City, which demands that huge companies like Tesco keep getting bigger and bigger. But I'm sure I'm not the only member of the public who is horrified by the prospect.

Tight Tesco

Both the Guardian and the Independent report that Tesco are asking new shareholder Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to pay nearly £90,000 to circulate papers on a resolution regarding chicken welfare.

It may be legitimate but it somehow gives the impression that Tesco doesn't want the issue discussed.

Comment is free... sometimes

On Comment is Free this afternoon, Jackie Ashley argues that we shouldn't expect commentators to be anyone's mouthpiece:

We're commentators - not MPs, not spin-doctors, not players - and there's a basic duty to tell it as we see it.

If only...

Meanwhile, Lisa Appignanesi, deputy president of English PEN, has a go at Tesco for trying to stifle criticism in Thailand.

Tesco the tyrant

The Times reports that various authors have condemned Tesco for prosecuting its critics in Thailand.

The British authors said that the supermarket’s action “sends a deeply chilling message to others who seek, quite legitimately, to discuss Tesco’s impact on their local economy”.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill, QC, a human rights expert, said that he was outraged by Tesco’s actions. “It is deplorable for Tesco to raise the sword of Thai libel law to suppress honest criticism of their policies and practices in Thailand, especially since they would be unable to succeed in similar proceedings in this country,” he said.

Jonathan Heawood, director of English PEN, said that Tesco’s actions had more in common with a tyrant than a supermarket.

It doesn't look like Tesco will be suing any of these people so what they have said must be fair comment.

Tough on Tesco

Tesco's attempts to silence critics in Thailand and the UK appear to have backfired.

The Guardian's David Leigh reports that:

One of the three writers from Thailand whom the giant retailer Tesco is trying to suppress with serial libel writs arrived in London yesterday at the invitation of the free speech body Index on Censorship.

Leigh mentions the various groups here who are not overly impressed with Tesco, from Tescopoly to Article 19

"We condemn Tesco's tactic of issuing defamation writs against those who dare to criticise its aggressive expansion plans in Thailand."

to the National Union of Journalists

"Tesco's bid to silence its critics should be vigorously opposed by all those who believe in freedom of expression. The chilling effect of such actions would be to deny the public the right to know about the practices of major corporations."

and the International Federation of Journalists:

"Tesco is displaying an extraordinary amount of intolerance over what is legitimate journalistic scrutiny. It is very high-handed of them to take this approach."

Leigh's piece includes the Tesco viewpoint too but they have corporate PRs to get their message across.

Tesco the bully

The Guardian reports that:

Tesco in Thailand is suing a second columnist from a Bangkok business newspaper for £1.6m in libel damages.

Apparently:

The offending article in Nongnart Harnvilai's tongue-in-cheek "Buzz" column was part of a collection of short stories on page 28 of the paper, and ran to just a few sentences.

So Tesco is a bully abroad as well as a bully in the UK. They can sue me for saying that if they want but I think it's fair comment.