Day 159 - 20 Jul 95 - Page 02
1 Thursday, 20th July 1995.
2
3 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, before we start, can I mention that
4 Mrs. Farrer is here and is ready to give her evidence
5 whenever your Lordship pleases after the interlocutories
6 have been completed.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think I will stick to not before 2.00. The
9 position is I am ready to give my ruling on the transcript
10 matter, but because of the situation with regard to
11 transcripts, including transcripts of rulings, since there
12 is no objection from you and none from Barnett Lenton, it
13 seems to me helpful if I can have it word processed. So
14 although in this instance I will deliver it in open court,
15 I can hand to the Defendants a copy of what I am saying
16 already typed up. I am hoping that all that, with Mr.
17 Dudley's hard work, will be achieved in time to do it at
18 2 o'clock. There need be no mystery about it.
19
20 MR. MORRIS: Does that mean the ruling is likely to be at
21 2 o'clock?
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Hopefully. Mr. Dudley is working very hard.
24
25 MR. RAMPTON: The other thing I mention now -- it may be sooner
26 rather than later -- is that the kindly usher said she
27 might be able to prompt the kindly authorities to provide
28 us with some kind of fans during the course of the day.
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
31
32 MR. MORRIS: In the order which Mr. Rampton brought up his
33 points, he started off saying that the seriousness with
34 which they took the situation with the UK Brazilian beef
35 showed how serious they were about their claimed policy
36 although, of course, we are saying the policy is confusing,
37 contradictory and, effectively, non-existent, but the only
38 reason that Mr. Walker discovered that there was any
39 policy, if there was a policy, was because of the massive
40 political row with Prince Philip. Unfortunately, there is
41 not a massive political row with Prince Philip every few
42 weeks to make McDonald's have policies or adhere to
43 policies. That is what made that situation particularly
44 special. I think that is pretty clear from all the
45 evidence we have heard, and that situation was,
46 effectively, completely hushed up and buried until it was
47 discovered by accident.
48
49 Then Mr. Rampton said something about it is clear that
50 could not have happened around that time, are the words he
51 said, anywhere else. It may not have happened around that
52 time anywhere else because of the massive political row
53 that they had with Prince Philip, who was head of the World
54 Wildlife Fund at the time, but that particular edict, even
55 though it was contravened, would have probably inhibited
56 people from doing anything publicly similar around that
57 time, but we are talking about throughout the 80s and,
58 indeed, possibly into the 90s. Again, this is not in any
59 effective order, but it is just our view on it, really.
60 Mr. Rampton said something about if there was discovery,
