I have not quite been able to get around the logic of Chris Tamblin's comments made in a letter to the Cornish Times (15.10.99). It would appear that there is extremely isolationist thinking behind what he has to say, which tends to throw any structured argument off-balance.
He states that 'supermarkets are draining Cornwall of millions of pounds every year'. To coin a phrase, 'you cannot be serious' Mr Tamblin. First take the job front. On the contrary, the opposite happens to be true. It has been clearly recognised and calculated that the dozens of supermarkets throughout this country have brought thousands of job opportunities to those who could not get work from local traders, or anywhere else for that matter. For example, take just one supermarket situated at Liskeard. If that supermarket closed down, local traders could never replace the job losses incurred by such a closure. To have to make up the employment loss, each trader would have to employ approximately seven to ten extra people in their shop, which is unreal.
And what is this about the supermarkets draining money from Cornwall? Supermarkets, banks, fast food chains, car dealers, or any others too numerous to mention, are as much a part of Cornish everyday life as any other county in Britain in the 1990s. What about 'Boots' stores or the national banks who have been around for generations, should they close as well? The argument is totally ridiculous and unfounded. It could be argued that national companies, without any doubt, have brought jobs and prosperity to many areas in Cornwall and not deprived it of such. And may I ask what or who would replace all these corporations which enable and assist financial stability and support the very infrastructure of the county?
Mr Tamblin's complaints are not new. Northerners have been accusing southerners of the same practices for generations. In reality, money flows in and out of the various counties, which make up the nation, by means of marketing, business, retailing and wholesaling. No one county can steal another county's money by planting a supermarket in it. Many would like life in Cornwall to return to pre-war days. Unfortunately, or fortunately, that is not going to happen for anybody, anywhere.
R James
7 Pool Hall
Menheniot