Day 296 - 07 Nov 96 - Page 31


     
     1        The other point, when weighing up his evidence,
     2        particularly on this area, is that under cross-examination
     3        he refused to disclose his income from the amount of his
     4        income from McDonald's.  That was on day 15.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes, I seem to remember at the time
     7        I thought if your point was a good one you would have
     8        established enough of it by showing 'a percentage of',
     9        regardless of what the actual amount was.
    10
    11   MS. STEEL:   He was obviously reliant on McDonald's in a
    12        substantial way, which could well affect the amount he was
    13        willing to criticise them.  You might remember that it took
    14        quite a long time; when he was confronted with things that
    15        he had previously written he started admitting large parts
    16        of our case.
    17
    18        The second point to bear in mind about whether or not
    19        McDonald's meals -----
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause for a moment.  (Pause)  The second
    22        point?
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:   The second point to bear in mind when looking at
    25        whether or not Professor Wheelock is right to say that the
    26        recommendations do not apply to individual foods, we would
    27        say, other than in a strictly scientific sense, is that, as
    28        I said this morning, to the average person on the street
    29        McDonald's meals is about phrases about hamburgers, fries
    30        and milkshakes rather than about the products which
    31        McDonald's has brought in more recently, such as salads and
    32        so on.
    33
    34        In fact, we would say that the introduction by McDonald's
    35        of matters such as salads and low fat milk and things like
    36        that, are a red herring.  They are not relevant to the time
    37        of the alleged libel and they are not really relevant to
    38        this case, except they do show a recognition that, as
    39        Mr. Morris said, clearly previously their products, the
    40        range of products they had available, could not be termed
    41        healthy products; they would be termed unhealthy.  That was
    42        how they would be viewed by the vast majority of the
    43        public, as is shown by the surveys that were referred to by
    44        Mr. Fairgrieve.
    45
    46        So, in particular the question is not what individual foods
    47        are available now, but what was available in and before
    48        1990.
    49
    50        Professor Wheelock defined diet as 'the totality of what
    51        the person eats and drinks'.  That was day 15, page 13.  It
    52        was accepted by him that lard in buns used by McDonald's
    53        persisted until 1990 or 1991, which is obviously after the
    54        date of the alleged libel.  That was on day 15, page 14.
    55
    56        That the reformulation of processed cheese to reduce the
    57        fat content was only made in the year or so before he gave
    58        evidence, i.e., 1994, 1993, obviously after the date of the
    59        alleged libel.  The reference for that is day 15, page 14.
    60

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