Day 260 - 11 Jun 96 - Page 35
1 like that; they just addressed the group as a whole, and
2 anybody who was interested would say so, you know, but
3 other people who were not necessarily interested might keep
4 their mouths shut or, you know, do nothing?
5 A. I would assume so. This is natural human behaviour,
6 that if somebody broaches a subject and other people within
7 the group who they are talking to were not interested, they
8 would not get much of a response.
9
10 Q. That is generally what happened at the meetings, that
11 someone would bring up a subject they were interested in
12 and then, if other people were interested in it, they would
13 then say, "Oh, yes, I am interested in getting involved
14 with that as well", and other people would not say
15 anything, they would just stay out of it?
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is it that, or is it the situation everyone
18 has found themselves in, that someone might start talking
19 to you about politics and it might be quite clear from what
20 they say that they assume that at the next election you are
21 going to vote for a certain party?
22 A. Yes, that was my impression.
23
24 Q. They may be quite wrong, and if they are quite wrong you
25 may tell them you are wrong or you may just keep quiet; but
26 it is quite apparent from the way they are expressing
27 themselves to you that they made that assumption?
28 A. Yes.
29
30 Q. Is it that sort of situation?
31 A. That is what I was trying to describe, yes.
32
33 MS. STEEL: If I put to you whether or not this was the basis of
34 that statement, that, generally speaking, at the meetings,
35 people would bring up something they were interested in and
36 other people who were interested also would say so and
37 might get involved, and other people would just keep quiet
38 and, you know, stay out of that discussion and maybe join
39 another one on a different subject that they were
40 interested in?
41 A. This comment that we are discussing was a comment made
42 on the individuals who formed part of the group. It was
43 not specific to the meetings. I find the meetings, what
44 happened at the meetings, not covered by the comment that
45 I made. This is about the people that were within the
46 group.
47
48 MR. MORRIS: As I said, that is our misunderstanding, that we
49 are basically on that comment. But just forget that for
50 the moment.
51
52 This kind of very informal and fragmented interest in
53 different things, did that apply to the meetings as well,
54 where people would suggest things that are coming up and
55 say, "I think this is great, we should get involved in
56 this", and there would not be much discussion about it, and
57 the people that did want to get involved with it got
58 involved and the rest just did not get involved; is that
59 kind of informal way that things happened at the meetings?
60 A. The meetings were formalised, in that the agenda was
