Walmart's sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at US companies that are re-evaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programmes to bolster historically under-represented groups. The changes announced by the world's biggest retailer on Monday followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programmes aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees. The retreat from such programmes crystalised with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes a priority. Trump's incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser Stephen Miller, who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies. There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking