Day 292 - 01 Nov 96 - Page 08
1 November to be ready. The fact is I was ready on 14th
2 October because I realised that I might have to start then,
3 according to one possible scenario. All that that would
4 have meant is that I would have had to do the whole thing
5 orally from the notes which I made during the summer, and
6 indeed before that, which would have taken a very long
7 time. As it is, I am still hopeful that I will have the
8 whole thing in typed form by 22nd November, which will save
9 a lot of time. That is the first point I wish to make.
10
11 The only other point is this: I am not, and I have said it
12 before and I say it again, I am not going to interfere, or
13 try to interfere, in the way that your Lordship directs the
14 Defendants should manage their closing speeches. The only
15 thing that concerns me a little is that I should have --
16 if the Defendants are going to put in, as it were,
17 supplementary written submissions during the course of my
18 closing speech -- sufficient time to deal with anything
19 which I see as needing a response. That is all. The way
20 your Lordship has laid it out a few moments ago, it seems
21 to me that I will have that opportunity.
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I hope you will. The main point of that is
24 that if that is what I say when I have given the matter
25 some further thought over the weekend, the purpose of it
26 will be so that Ms. Steel and Mr. Morris will have an
27 element of additional time to make specific references,
28 albeit references only, rather than written speeches, as it
29 were, to specific parts of the evidence which they think
30 they may not have mentioned by reference in the course of
31 their submissions. But I think it was a useful
32 discussion.
33
34 Let us now go on to recycling and waste. As a target,
35 particularly to see how we go, I think you should,
36 Mr. Morris, have it in your mind, 'I have got to finish
37 what I have to say by close of play on Monday', allowing
38 some time for Ms. Steel, if she does wish, to address me on
39 these topics as well. Let us see how we go.
40
41 I think it would be helpful, Mr. Rampton, if those who
42 instruct you are prepared for it, if a transcript of what
43 has passed so far could be prepared and a copy given to me
44 and to Ms. Steel and Mr. Morris, if Barnett Lenton can
45 manage it, before we all leave court this afternoon. That
46 is this first half hour today.
47
48 Right, I will draw a line under that, and we go to
49 recycling and waste.
50
51 MR. MORRIS: We said, when we served our defence six years ago,
52 that the meaning, effectively, of this section is that the
53 huge scale and nature of McDonald's business inevitably
54 involves them purchasing many tons of paper, most of which
55 is not recycled and which therefore contributes to the
56 destruction of trees and forests. Further, that for many
57 years McDonald's used materials for food packaging which
58 were harmful to the environment, and continue to use
59 packaging which is harmful to the environment.
60
