Day 255 - 23 May 96 - Page 22
1 Q. Were you involved in that?
2 A. Probably, I cannot remember. Hearing it in court
3 bought it back to mined again, but I cannot remember
4 whether I was responsible for initiating that particular
5 action.
6
7 Q. You were in charge of these cases at the time?
8 A. Yes but there were dozens. I was also in charge of 3
9 departments. This was a very small part of my life, I just
10 cannot remember.
11
12 MR. MORRIS: You were involved in the authorisation of action
13 for that though, whether you got involved in the nitty
14 gritty?
15 A. I am not sure.
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We have had that.
18
19 MR. MORRIS: Sorry, Mr. Nicholson has said that he was involved,
20 has he?
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He said that he would be consulted before any
23 letter was written by the solicitors.
24 A. Yes.
25
26 MR. MORRIS: You would have?
27 A. I would have heard.
28
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He would authorise it. He said that if it
30 came to legal action, he would consult Paul Preston who,
31 out of courtesy, if no more, would inform the Board of the
32 UK Company.
33
34 MR. MORRIS: You do not remember at that time being concerned
35 about any misimpression that was being given, or inaccurate
36 statements being said by the solicitors?
37 A. No.
38
39 Q. Right.
40
41 MS. STEEL: Tab 20, do you remember this one, The Slough
42 Observer, 13th October 1989?
43 A. Not really.
44
45 Q. Do you see that Liberal Councillor Richards Stoakes, this
46 is in the first column, said:
47
48 "I think if you are a green 'mayor' you should think twice
49 about identifying with a product which is environmentally
50 unsound. Everyone knows that McDonald's have for years
51 helped to destroy the rainforest to provide grazing land
52 for their cattle."
53
54 Were you aware that basically all these criticisms that
55 were in the London Greenpeace fact sheet, anything in that
56 area, obviously not the exact words, but the drift of what
57 was in the fact sheet were basically widespread belief
58 throughout the country?
59 A. I think there was a perception with some people that
60 McDonald's were concerned. I think equally there are a lot
