Day 186 - 10 Nov 95 - Page 30


     
     1        your submissions?
     2
     3   MS. STEEL:   Really, it was to answer some of the points made by
     4        Mr. Rampton.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
     7
     8   MS. STEEL:   Some of these are going to be a bit kind of bitty,
     9        I am afraid.
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I suggest you do is you just knock them
    12        off one by one; you can probably take them fairly shortly.
    13
    14   MS. STEEL:   Just he made a point about headline writers playing
    15        with fire which was quoted from some case, and that the
    16        ordinary reader might not notice curative words tucked away
    17        further down in the article.  I just wanted to say that
    18        I think that is hardly appropriate to a situation where the
    19        whole paragraph is the explanation of what the leaflet is
    20        saying.  It is not as though it is tucked away in small
    21        print at the bottom somewhere.
    22
    23        There is a point about the once over reader, or whether
    24        someone was going to read it twice.  I do not actually know
    25        that it makes much difference because I think that the text
    26        is totally clear anyway.  But I would say, in case you do
    27        feel it is an important point, that there is only one
    28        allegation which is just against me and not against
    29        Mr. Morris of distribution in the street.  The rest of the
    30        allegations with regard to distribution are at meetings or
    31        putting in envelopes in response to enquiries.
    32
    33        People who attend public meetings of the London Greenpeace
    34        or any such organisations are going to be attending because
    35        they have an interest in the issues that are being
    36        discussed.  Therefore, if they do pick up a leaflet, they
    37        are likely to read it more than once because they do have a
    38        particular interest in the subject.  That is the same with
    39        somebody writing in asking for information about
    40        something.  It is very likely that they are going to read
    41        that not just twice but probably several times and to read
    42        it very carefully.  But, as I say, to be honest, I think
    43        the meaning is clear anyway, so I do not know that it makes
    44        much difference.
    45
    46        Can I also say that Mr. Rampton said something about if
    47        someone was going to take an important decision they might
    48        read something twice before deciding what action to take,
    49        and it might be thought that if someone was going to stop
    50        eating at McDonald's ----- 
    51 
    52   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You say the contemplation of changing your 
    53        diet or altering it in any way would be acting upon it,
    54        which was the phrase which Lord Reid used in ------
    55
    56   MS. STEEL:  Was it?  I cannot remember -- just that they would
    57        be likely to read it more than once.
    58
    59        Mr. Rampton also said that the effect on the ordinary
    60        reader would be to say to his wife -- I do not know why it

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