Day 308 - 28 Nov 96 - Page 26
1 knew the leaflet was not true, and then at line 21 he says,
2 "Why do I say that? In the face of people like the BBC2,
3 The Guardian or The Scotsman apologised to us on the
4 rainforest issue, it is just inconceivable to me...". You
5 can read it yourself. What he is basically saying is that
6 because the BBC2 or The Guardian have apologised we
7 obviously must realise that there is something wrong with
8 what is in the fact sheet. He says they were presented
9 with the facts in the matter, but there is no evidence on
10 that whatsoever. In fact there is evidence that they were
11 just presented with bald statements without any factual
12 basis whatsoever.
13
14 As we have heard, they were actually incorrect -- well,
15 lies were presented to BBC2 and others.
16
17 So, in this and the following pages the strategy becomes
18 clear that McDonald's gain apologies from organisations and
19 use those apologies to convince other people, or persuade
20 other people, that therefore what they are saying must not,
21 cannot, be true, or that they should not say what other
22 people apologise for, and they are using this as a strategy
23 and he is relying on this as what he says is his belief
24 that we are telling lies.
25
26 Right. This is quite incredible, but he is actually
27 relying on it between pages 30 and 33 on day 246, which
28 I urge you to have a look over again.
29
30 I will come back to that. On page 31, first of all, we
31 said, "But you know that we had 70 witnesses lined up to
32 appear in court to defend this issue". That is line 14.
33 Answer, "I was aware of that". So he cannot say he does
34 not know we were actually, you know, prepared to
35 substantially defend all the issues in the case. Then he
36 says, page 31, lines 32 to 40, "I think if I wrote the
37 leaflet, or if I wrote these words, different words than
38 'lies', I think I could have made my point otherwise".
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I remember that.
41
42 MR. MORRIS: Therefore, we would say that is a basic concession
43 that he is recognising the words 'lies' should not have
44 been used. It is gratuitous and unsubstantiated wording.
45
46 Then, just to continue at page 32, Ms. Steel asked him,
47 "You have also used the apology over Channel 4 over Jungle
48 Burger film as part of your strategy to persuade other
49 people they have got it wrong and they ought to apologise
50 as well, have you not?" Answer, "I believe we have used
51 Jungle Burger and that issue on several occasions, yes".
52 So it is an admission of this kind of strategy they have
53 got, which is relevant to this counterclaim because it is
54 all part of the strategy of suppressing critics and
55 undermining their credibility.
56
57 Then line 29. "You have also used the letter from Prince
58 Philip", regarding rainforests, et cetera. Answer, "We may
59 very well have, I think so, but I cannot recall here and
60 now".
