CONFUSION surrounds the fate of the Safeway stores. Morrisons has tabled a bid, Sainsbury is to table a bid, and Asda is likely to table a bid.

The only certainty is that Safeway will eventually be taken over.

As happens in the corporate world, the winner in this takeover battle will be the company with the deepest pockets. There are other considerations, of course, but they pale into insignificance compared to pounds, shillings and pence.

It is a pity shoppers can't have a say in the outcome. If they did, they may express concern at the prospect of either Sainsbury or Asda swallowing up Safeway.

Either deal would reduce the number of genuinely national supermarket chains from four to three. That cannot be good for competition and consumer choice.

A Morrisons-Safeway merger, on the other hand, will strengthen the hand of the fourth national retailer and hold out the hope for more competition and more consumer choice.

Sadly, what is best for the public at large does not always equate to what is best in the eyes of the City.

Time to say no

BRITAIN is a close ally of the United States. But friendship does not equate to slavish obedience. A true friend says no, as well as yes.

Tony Blair must bear this notion in mind as he considers his policy towards Iraq.

Faced with division in his own ranks and lukewarm public support for war, Mr Blair must press President Bush to avoid unilateral military action against Saddam Hussein.

The United Nations remains the only means to control any perceived threat from Iraq without risking further upheaval in the Middle East.

Mr Blair must remember to put the interests of his own country and the wider international community above the interests of his closest ally.

Just as Harold Wilson did in the 1960s when he resisted American pressure to enter the Vietnam War.

No one today doubts the wisdom of Mr Wilson's decision.