Importing the worst of American culture

SIR – It’s December and if you’re a senior executive for Asda or Coca-Cola, Christmas is a happy, prosperous time.

For many of us, however, the festive season is a time of difficulty and worry. Many people are lonely and others overstressed, trying to meet ever rising expectations and to give their loved ones a happy Christmas against a background of lower disposable income and increasing demands of work.

Last year Asda brought a new dimension to Christmas misery with Black Friday. Aside from gun legislation, Black Friday is one of the worst aspects of American culture.

Last Christmas saw horrific scenes of older and vulnerable people being pushed over and fights taking place in order to grab hold of a few discounted electrical items. The incidents showed human nature at its very worst.

I was very surprised and pleased to hear Asda would not be partaking in the insanity this year and had naively thought the company had taken a more enlightened view of retailing.

On Thursday night I discovered the reason for not holding the usual Black Friday fight club: they had found a different way to make our lives even more difficult.

They invited the Coca-Cola van to visit their already overcrowded car park at a busy motorway interchange.

Entirely predictably and depressingly this brought thousands of people eager to grab a tiny free can of coke.

The resulting gridlock brought new levels of misery to commuters trying to get home for a few hours’ rest before the next day.

By the way, drinking overpriced, sugary soft drinks does not bring you happiness any more than buying a TV with £50 off. Patrick Fielding

Pentyrch