Global business (From Cotswold Journal)

Global business

9:00am Thursday 2nd August 2012 in Letters

IT was good to see the splendid Olympic Games opening ceremony revert to extolling our communitybased achievements.

Thankfully there was no reference to the razzmatazz of powerful global businesses touting their wares. The selling scenes that we had to endure during the torch parades through our struggling high streets.

It still rankles that, despite their market protection and expected profits, our Olympicsrelated corporate partners and service providers can claim valuable tax exemptions running for several months.

So what’s in it for us locals here then? We have centrally imposed cutbacks for the disabled and the young. Farmers are squeezed on their milk prices by over-powerful global retailers, making it impossible to make dairy farming really pay. Rural post offices are made irrelevant and decimated along with their local shops.

Casino banking is still left supreme. We have bailed out a failed security behemoth to save the Games.

We need more than the one-off chance to cheer a Midlands-made torch, parading through our streets selling monopolised, corporate products, only to be followed by feeling jealous of their conspicuously empty seats when we watch events on the telly.

When will Westminster itself genuinely start to prioritise local community needs and master the art of containing corporate exclusivity?

MICHAEL T PARKER, Sedgeberrow