Gary Monro’s blog

Wal-Mart is America’s largest retailer and is really, really very big. Apparently some stores are bigger than small British shopping malls (mega-Wal-Marts are the size of five football pitches. American football or soccer - that’s big).

It also represents a fascinating focal point for discussion about values and standards, freedom of speech and the over-arching of corporations to impose their own will on a country’s culture. It appears that Wal-Mart, a company with family-based values and a conservative outlook, has a prominent affect on all these.

Wal-Mart is known for several practises. Even I have heard accusations that it pays low salaries and provides poor health benefits to its staff. I also am aware that the family heading the company is a committed Christian one. And I am aware also that Wal-Mart makes its own decisions on whether items are family-friendly - and it will not sell those it regards as contrary to its own value system.

Take, for example, Wal-Mart’s refusal to sell Sheryl Crow’s self-titled album in 1996, citing objections to a lyric that criticized Wal-Mart for selling handguns (a practice that the chain has since discontinued), which they felt was “unfair and irresponsible.” Much as Crow probably appreciated the paternalistic advice, as the No. 1 CD retailer in the world (yes, the world) with sales accounting for 10% of total domestic CD sales, a Wal-Mart boycott can result in hundreds of thousands in lost album sales.

Music producers sometimes produce two versions of their albums - the original and the Wal-Mart friendly version - in order to get round the company’s embargo:

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It’s Barbados. Whoo hoo.

To paraphrase John Prescott:

“Enjoy your holiday. Make it a long one. Heh heh heh…”

If the Iraqis are going to be ‘allowed’ to apply Islamic law to their country - which, seeing as it’s their country seems entirely reasonable - one has to wonder if one of the major benefits of the war is being lost.

The country’s draft constitution - already delayed once - is due by the end of today and there is some anxiety to see that it’s produced on time.

American diplomats backed religious conservatives who threatened to torpedo talks over the shape of the new Iraq unless Islam was a primary source of law. Secular and liberal groups were dismayed at the move, branding it a betrayal of Washington’s promise to advocate equal rights in a free and tolerant society.

According to Kurdish and Sunni negotiators, the US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, proposed that Islam be named “a primary source” and supported a wording which would give clerics authority in civil matters such as divorce, marriage and inheritance.

Women have begun to protest against the constitution and their perception that they would become second-class citizens. That the US might be instrumental in the creation of an Islamic state would be ironic indeed:

If approved, critics say that the proposals would erode women’s rights and other freedoms enshrined under existing laws. “We understand the Americans have sided with the Shias. It’s shocking. It doesn’t fit with American values,” an unnamed Kurdish negotiator told Reuters. “They have spent so much blood and money here, only to back the creation of an Islamist state.”

From a UK perspective this war was fought to protect us from Weapons of Mass Destruction, evidence for which had to be fabricated in order to sell the idea to Parliament and the world in general. To date, none have been found.

For those few of us who are uneasy with the war altogether but also do not want to join in the unthinking anti-Americanism of many who also oppose, the imposition of democracy was a kind of compensatory argument, a ‘well, it should not have happened but at least the Iraqis get something out of it’ type of silver-lining.

That argument slinks quietly out of the room as Islamic law marches boldly in.

A robber who stole a laptop computer from a shop selling Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) security equipment was caught on 8 separate cameras while carrying out his theft. The shop owner, David Arathoon, was amused.

I’ve got to see the funny side of it, even though I’m annoyed to have lost a £700 laptop. The stupidity of the guy to think stealing from a CCTV shop of all places would be a good idea is quite astonishing, really.

The clear shots of the robber were shown in the press and the shop is now doing a roaring trade…

Mr Arathoon has blocked off a part of his shop where the thief’s hands may have left fingerprints. He just needs the police to come and do their bit now:

“I’m a bit surprised that they haven’t come back yet, because I’ve got all this evidence on a plate for them.”

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said: “We will certainly be gathering any evidence, including these pictures and any fingerprints as part of our investigation.”

She added that a forensic team had called at the shop to take fingerprints on Sunday afternoon - the day after the thief struck - but that the shop was closed.

In the meantime, The Manchester Evening News has printed some of the picture which will hopefully lead to the culprit being identified soon.

Following the spoof email for a Bin Laden-free see-through rucksack, Assist Safety Project are selling a range of clear vinyl bags and cases designed to assure your fellow commuter that you’re not carrying a little something extra with your cheese salad sarnies.

For would-be bag snatchers they add the convenience of knowing who’s worth robbing and who isn’t…

Actually, these are a little more practical than the posters now being displayed by London Transport whose attention it is to make travellers feel safer. The posters inform us that there are more police on the underground, random checks and police dogs.

This is all very nice but I suspect none of these things will prevent a concerted effort to detonate more bombs on the Tube if somebody out there has the desire to do such a thing.