Day 308 - 28 Nov 96 - Page 25
1 record all those leaflets and told the communications
2 department they must not send out that press release, that
3 is incorrect?" Then he says, answer, it is a long
4 sentence, "Yes, I am concerned by it". Question, "But you
5 are not concerned enough to actually do something to stop
6 the dissemination of false information by McDonald's?"
7 Answer, "Not at present, no". Then he says something about
8 the term lies has been used by myself, he says "yourself",
9 in reference to McDonald's "on numerous occasions".
10
11 Now, the point is I would say we only use the words 'lies'
12 when we are absolutely clear that McDonald's are saying
13 something that is wrong and they know that something is
14 wrong, and that we have evidence to back it up, as we have
15 done in this case, and that the word 'lies' is not used
16 once in the London Greenpeace fact sheet. Therefore, the
17 use of the word 'lies' by McDonald's is stepping up and is
18 inappropriate -- well, it is just rubbish, anyway, it is
19 just irresponsible. They have failed to corroborate it in
20 any way, shape or form in any particular instance.
21
22 I want to say something else about this. He says at the
23 bottom of that, page 17, when being criticised about the
24 environmental effect of the modern industrial food
25 production system, "If what McDonald's is doing is wrong,
26 then the entire rest of the food distribution system in the
27 world must be wrong, that just cannot be." I think this is
28 important, that he just cannot conceive that people can
29 stand back and criticise a whole way of organising modern
30 society, or modern industrial society, based upon profit
31 and industrialisation.
32
33 The point is it can be, people can criticise, and they
34 should have the protection of the law in their right to
35 criticise, and he cannot conceive that as far as he is
36 concerned all must be to the best and the best of all
37 possible worlds, like Candide.
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is Canlosse (?), in fact.
40
41 MR. MORRIS: Canlosse, like in the book. I have not read it for
42 about 20 years.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I commend it to you.
45
46 MR. MORRIS: Voltaire was a magistrate, I believe.
47
48 Day 246, page 29. He does say on line 51, in conclusion
49 about the press release, "It does not explain anything at
50 all about why we are going to court. It makes some
51 statements but it does not say why we are saying any of
52 this." This, to me, is an admission that in fact that,
53 although it was dressed up as that, the real purpose of it
54 was to attack the credibilities of myself and Helen, and
55 that is an admission that it is not doing what it is
56 claiming to do.
57
58 Then on day 246, page 30, he was under serious pressure
59 from us in cross-examination about the use of the word
60 'lies' in that document, and he says that he knew that we
