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| Newsletter | April 2001 |
Earn all you can. But not at the expense of conscience, not at the expense of our neighbour's wealth, not at the expense of our neighbours health. -- John Wesley
Problems, problems, problems.
If our web site is still down we apologise but at the moment we lack the resources to fix. We may have a something, if only a temporary site, up and running by next month and hopefully we will be hosting on a site outside the UK. Offers of help are welcome.
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Up until the Second World War, British farmers worked with nature not against. It was this symbiotic arrangement that gave us a diverse range of habitats, that enriched our lives, our literature and our culture. Post Second World War there are few real farmers left, farms are owned and run by big business, the countryside has been devastated, animals tortured and abused, pumped full of antibiotics and growth promoters. The price has been miles of hedgerows ripped out, ancient woodlands grubbed up, wetlands drained, the land and rivers poisoned, battery farming, salmonella, BSE and now foot and mouth disease, every single wild species in dramatic decline.
When man was a minor player on planet earth natural systems could cope with his abuses. Now with little of the planet not affected by man the natural systems are on the point of collapse. Global warming is only part of the general malaise.
If the planet is to survive in anything like a pristine state, man-made systems have to emulate and integrate with natural systems. The waste output has to be the input to other processes, toxic and carcinogenic products eliminated, at the end of their lifetime products to be easily dismantled into their component parts to be reused or composted, greenhouse gases reduced, loops have to be closed and localised. We also have to not only safeguard our existing natural systems but enhance, rebuild and extend them.
[see natural capitalism, localisation, making local spending go further, closing the loop, in BVEJ newsletter #0006 November 2000]
The legal agreement (aka section 106 agreement) drawn up between Rushmoor and TAG for Farnborough Airport is a worthless bit of paper. So much for the cast iron agreement of which the local community was assured.
This agreement, as part of the planning documents, should be kept in the TAG box in Planning readily available to public inspection. It is not. It has to be requested from the legal department.
To make matters worse, there are two legal agreements. One of which only a handful of people were aware, another of whose existence has only recently come to light.
Please ask at Planning to see the agreements. If they are not with the TAG box, ask why not. If only one agreement is forthcoming, ask to see the other one.
There may be more legal agreements but so far we have only unearthed two, there may be other documents of which we are not yet aware.
Please note there are associated planning documents concerning the scorched earth policy on the heathland to the west of the runway. This is not kept with the TAG box nor is it referenced. [BVEJ newsletter #0010 March 2001]
We had to fight for eight months to remove a tree in our garden that was destroying the foundations. They, of course, as developers had no problems. I just do not like the double standards. -- Farnborough resident
The work will not enhance the tree population for the long term benefit of the environment, amenity and community. The only benefit of this cutting will be TAG. -- BVFoE
I will not let them on my property and nor will any of the other residents in Albert Road. This is purely being done by TAG and is total corporate greed. -- John Starling, Rushmoor Lib-Dem councillor
In February several trees in Farnborough were destroyed, part of the ongoing process of tree destruction to clear the flight path for Farnborough Airport of all obstructions (BVEJ newsletters passim). To the west of the airfield not only have thousands of trees been destroyed, but the whole area, hundreds of acres, has been gutted of every living organism, including even the topsoil, this scorched earth policy is claimed to be heathland management (BVEJ newsletter #0010 March 2001).
MoD are carrying out this work for TAG under Crown Immunity. Claimed Crown Immunity is being abused for corporate greed.
The legitimacy and practicality of this work is under question. Until MoD can be certain of being able to clear all the trees there is little point in clearing a single tree as one tree is as much a hazard as several hundred. Several local residents are refusing to allow MoD onto their land to destroy their trees. This impasse will have to be resolved at a Public Inquiry. Under EU law MoD lack Crown Immunity.
Contractors vehicles have been spray-painted with 'Eco vandals'.
Well done Geoff Marks who stood in front of the contractors vehicles and held up the work for a couple of days. Where were all the local so-called environmentalists? Quick to claim credit for other peoples work, but nowhere to be seen when needed. If they had got their act together they could have organised site occupation, held up the work long enough to get effective legal action started.
Several weeks later (end of March) after Geoff Marks held up the contractors, more trees were being cut down on the corner of Church Road West and Alexandra Road. When questioned the contractors admitted they were contracted to TAG and not MoD to cut down the trees. This exposes the lie that the work is being done by and on behalf of MoD under Crown Immunity. There would seem to be grounds to serve an injunction to stop further tree cutting and at the very least for a judicial review.
Landowners should say no for access to destroy their trees. MoD/TAG have no right of access. To say no is to force a public inquiry.
TAG should be held up at every possible opportunity. Every delay is a loss to their foreign bank accounts. It has to be made clear to them that they are in for the long haul and it's going to be a very costly business for them.
How sick can you get? In a letter to the local press (letters Farnborough News Friday 9 March 2001), Graham Wood, airfield manager, described the scorched earth policy, massive devastation, to the west of the airfield as 'sensitive restoration of heath land'. In the same letter, Wood failed to keep to the official line that the work was heathland management, carried out by the Crown for the Crown, by admitting what we all know that the work is actually flight safeguarding for the benefit of TAG: 'It must be emphasised that this work is the absolute minimum to to meet MoD standards now, but will also safeguard TAG's operating needs.' Echoing a similar recent admission in the local press by Donald Spiers (letters Farnborough News Friday 2 February 2001). Wood also tried to claim that there had been widespread consultation with all interested parties: 'Detailed maps of the areas to be affected by tree work and hill clearance were available to the public and were supplied to many of those now accusing the MoD of exceeding planning proposals.' Really, news to us! The only consultation was a cosmetic exercise between MoD and Rushmoor. [BVEJ newsletter #0010 March 2001]
1540 Wednesday 7 March 2001, an aircraft came in exceptionally low and very fast. Had the trees off Albert Road not been destroyed it would have ploughed through the trees. Those who witnessed the incident expected to see a crash.
0900 (approx) Thursday 8 March 2001, an aircraft made three attempts at landing. The aircraft was flying in a low cloud base and partially obscured from the ground, from one location not visible. After two attempts unless there are exceptional circumstances (ie an emergency or low on fuel) a pilot should abort and attempt to land elsewhere.
Morning Thursday 15 March 2001, an aircraft had to abort on approach, had it not done so it would have crashed into the college.
All afternoon Thursday 15 March 2001, aircraft were taking off over Farnborough hidden in a low cloud base. The aircraft were not visible from the ground.
Late afternoon/early evening (between 1800 and 1900 BST) Tuesday 27 March 2001, at least two aircraft came in over Farnborough very low.
Aircraft are coming into land when visibility is down to a couple of hundred yards. They are unable to see the runway and are having to be talked down. Visibility should be at least a mile on the approach to Farnborough. Aircraft are all over the place and not keeping to the flight path.
Contrary to the repeated assurances from TAG we are seeing a cavalier operation with scant regard for the safety of those on the ground.
We have reported in the past the problem of ice falling from aircraft and the danger it poses to those on the ground (BVEJ newsletter #0006 November 2000). What is believed to have been a large lump of ice from an aircraft fell through the ceiling of offices in Farnborough close by the airfield leaving a gaping hole in the roof. TAG have refused to comment.
Across the UK there has been a sharp increase in the number of near misses over the last ten years. The situation is worse than the official figures indicate as many incidents are going unreported. How many near misses over Farnborough has TAG reported to the CAA? At a guess we would say none, that's how TAG claims a clean safety record.
With the privatisation of Nats we can only expect a rapidly deteriorating situation to worsen.
Emerging Government policy ... is that there should be no significant increase in the number of people living, working or congregating in areas subject to a risk greater than 1:100,000 per annum. -- Rushmoor Borough Council
... safety from aviation risk is a material planning consideration based upon NATS modelling ... where the risk is greater than 1:100,000 per annum ... the risk modelling now carries greater weight ... because planning permission has been granted for TAG's business aviation use of Farnborough Aerodrome. -- Rushmoor Borough Council
It has always been claimed that flying at Farnborough is safe, that the local community is not at risk. In dribs and drabs the truth is slowly starting to trickle out. Two applications for planning development beneath the flight path have been rejected on the grounds of risk. [Rushmoor planning committee 21 March 2001]
Expansion of the kindergarten on the corner of Albert Road and Alexandra Road has been rejected on the grounds of risk. 30% more under 5s will be put at risk.
Safety from aviation is a material planning consideration and based upon NATS modelling the site is confirmed as lying almost immediately under the centre line of the flight path at Farnborough Aerodrome in an area where the level of risk is greater than 1:100,000 per annum ... the development would accommodate large numbers of young children where the consequences of an incident may extend beyond any immediate fatalities. Such 'societal risk' is also a material planning decision ... Planning ... refused ...: The proposal would significantly increase the number of people exposed to a level of aviation risk that is likely to be greater than 1 in 100,000 .... It would also pose an element of societal risk due to the large number of young children on the site.
18 months ago when the present owners bought the kindergarten they were assured by Rushmoor that there would be no problems with expansion.
A private housing development off Sycamore Road has been rejected on the grounds of risk.
It is recommended that planning permission be refused ...: The proposal would result in an increase in the number of people exposed to a level of aviation risk that is likely to be greater than 1:100,000 per annum contrary to emerging Government policy.
Ironically a development at Knellwood that may house old folk (societal risk) has been approved. The houses are outside the 1:100,000 risk contour, but not 'well outside' as claimed by planning official Daryl Phillips. In granting planning approval there was a failure to heed government planning guidance on noise (the developments are well inside the noise footprints). We merely note without comment that Rushmoor Tory leader John Debenham is also on the governing board of Knellwood.
Rushmoor also failed to heed PPG 24 'Planning and Noise' when granting TAG planning permission. PPG 24 regards schools as noise sensitive. The upper limit for noise sensitive areas is 60 dB. TAG, on 20,0000 movements (they requested 25,000 and were granted 28,000), would place Farnborough College of Technology within the 63 dB noise contour. Apart from risk (the college is bisected by the proposed PSZ), students at the college are placed at a serious learning disadvantage compared with students at quieter locations. FCoT has been left to wither and die.
Although no PSZ has yet been established, the planning applications were rejected as though one existed. There is a presumption against development within the PSZ on the grounds of increased risk (ie more people placed at risk). On the other hand the development which created the original risk, and placed considerably more people at risk was permitted. Had the planning inquiry inspector's recommendations been heeded the PSZ (ie 1 in 100,000 risk contour) would have been retained within the airfield boundary and the local community would not have been put at risk.
One rule for Rushmoor and developers, another for the local community.
Farnborough College of Technology is bisected by the centre line of the flight path. Granting of planning permission to TAG, has brought a societal risk of upwards of 2,000 staff and student within the 1:100,000 risk contour. The 1:100,000 risk contour extends over residential Farnborough encompassing what would otherwise be prohibited development. The kindergarten that has been denied further development on the grounds of risk to the under 5s existed before planning permission was granted to TAG for a business airport at Farnborough. There is also a kindergarten on the college campus.
At the same council meeting a paper on public safety zones was presented. The general gist of the badly written paper was that there should be a presumption against development within the PSZ to reduce risk. '2.1 The safety of people on the ground is a material consideration for both the Council and DETR ... 2.3iii there should be no significant increase in the number of people living, working or congregating [within a PSZ (1:100,000 risk contour)].' Were Rushmoor to have followed this policy and correctly interpreted DETR policy on PSZ, they would have heeded the inspector's recommendations and not allowed airfield development that caused the PSZ to extend over residential Farnborough.
It is according to Rushmoor, when rejecting planning applications from the local community on the basis of risk, 'Emerging Government policy ... that there should be no significant increase in the number of people living, working or congregating in areas subject to a risk greater than 1:100,000 per annum.' Why therefore did Rushmoor grant outline planning permission for a business airport at Farnborough which will lead to a substantial 'increase in the number of people living, working or congregating in areas subject to a risk greater than 1:100,000 per annum.'
The agenda was back to front. The paper on PSZ should have been first, not last, so that councillors knew what a PSZ was, before judging planning applications on the basis of a non-existent PSZ.
If Serco is capable of such appalling beaches of safety in the field of aircraft maintenance, then you have to ask very serious questions before allowing such an organisation to take over responsibility for another branch of the aviation industry. -- Andrew Weir, author of Tombstone Imperative (book on aviation safety)
Serco, leader of one of the consortia bidding for Nats, was responsible for a safety incident involving the Queens Flight (6 November 1997). During a service Serco failed to replace oil seals on all four engines on a BAe 146. Fifteen minutes into flight the plane had to make an emergency landing at Stansted with severe oil loss and was within minutes of engine failure. The engines hold 24.2 pints of oil, three engines needed 20 pints of oil to refill them, the fourth 12 pints. A leaked MoD report has severely criticised Serco for poor maintenance standards. Of the 12 people responsible for servicing the BAe 146 three were missing: two senior supervisors and one supervisor. Luckily Serco has failed in their bid for Nats.
If RAF Northolt closes the Queens Flight and all other MoD and Crown flights at Northolt will relocate to Farnborough. This increase in numbers will not be counted in the 28,000 movements TAG is allowed at Farnborough as it excludes Crown and MoD. Serco still holds the service contract for the Queens Flight.
Ex-Air Vice Commodore Graham Wood, now Airfield Manager at Farnborough Airport, used to be responsible for the Queens Flight. The Learjet that crashed in France last May with engine failure took off from Farnborough.
The successful bid for 46% of Nats, for which a consortium of airlines (Airline Group, seven airlines incl easyJet, Virgin Atlantic and BA) has paid £800 million, includes bmi british midland. bmi british midland was involved in a similar incident to Serco in 1985, when bmi british midland failed to fit oil seals on both engines of a 737-400. The Airline Group is seen as the best of a bad deal.
In opposition New Labour said the skies were not for sale.
The part privatisation of Nats, part of the widely discredited public private partnership (PPP), has gone ahead despite strong criticism from the industry. At a time when air traffic control is close to meltdown, we have now created the Railtrack of the skies and air travel and safety on the ground has just got worse.
For more on public private partnership read:
George Monbiot, Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain, Macmillan, 2000
[Nats, air safety, public private partnership, see BVEJ newsletters passim]
At the tail end of last year the government launched a consultation exercise on the Future of Aviation. Within the consultation document there are two fundamental flaws - only lip service is paid to sustainability, the report is underpinned by a widely discredited economic study by Oxford Economic Forecasting (paid for by the industry) which exaggerates the economic benefits and pays scant regard to the economic disbenefits.
If you have not already done so, please make a response (deadline 12 April 2001). Further information and comments to:
Richard Beavis Aviation Policy Division DETR Great Minster House 76 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DR 0207 944 3896 atcd@detr.gsi.gov.uk www.detr.gov.uk
It has always been claimed that it is government policy for a business airport at Farnborough. This is the fall-back position of the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor when all other lies fail, that it is government policy, that it is writ in tablets of stone 'there shall be a business airport at Farnborough'.
Government policy on aviation is contained in a mid '80s white paper on aviation. It is recognised as long out of date. At the Heathrow Terminal 5 Inquiry as dated, as recent as last month Mike Fawcett (head of Airports policy at DETR) said it was 'out of date' and that 'a lot had changed' since the 1980s.
At the same AEF conference Mike Fawcett outlined emerging government policy on aviation (Future of Aviation is a consultation for aviation policy for the next 30 years). It had to integrate with ground transport, it has to be sustainable.
Mike Fawcett outlined the key points of sustainability:
Mike Fawcett added that the ratio of public to private transport had to increase.
Farnborough meets none of these criteria:
Why therefore was backdoor pressure applied to Rushmoor, why was an airport approved that meets none of the emerging criteria?
Quieter Skies Campaign was launched 18 months ago by a handful of people in Dunsfold, Surrey, concerned about the tranquillity of their part of Surrey. For people from Gatwick, Heathrow, Farnborough it is difficulty to take seriously a problem of aircraft noise from aircraft at 2,000 ft and higher, and if nothing else it smacks of NIMBYism, but this handful of people have attracted a membership of 700+, caused an adjournment debate in Westminster, attracted the attention of government ministers and airline bosses, forced BAA Gatwick to listen, got their local MP working hard at their side, held a packed meeting last month in Dunsfold Village Hall on a dreadful night.
QSC have recorded these success because they are well organised, have worked hard. They have people organised in every Surrey community who can be called upon to act. They don't leave it to chance to respond to events or the the media. Virginia Bottomley has been working very hard on their behalf (cf Gerald Howarth MP who works on behalf of TAG against the local community). They put the efforts in Farnborough to shame.
If QSC are to be taken seriously, especially by people more seriously affected by aircraft noise, then they need to expand their campaign to include the skies over the whole of South East England, to call for a halt in the growth of aviation, to press for the introduction of quieter aircraft, to ensure that any technological improvements benefit those of us on the ground (smaller noise footprints, lower peak noise).
Quieter Skies Campaign
Rose Cottage
Pear Tree Green
Dunsfold
Surrey GU8 4LS
01483 200919 {24 hour answer machine}
AEF, in conjunction with HACAN ClearSkies, organised a conference with DETR on the consultation document Future of Aviation to enable a forthright exchange of views.
Mike Fawcett (DETR airports policy division) opened the discussion on behalf of DETR. He explained that 'a lot had changed' since the 1980s white paper which was now seen as 'out of date'. There was therefore the need for a new policy which looked forward to the next 30 years. A White Paper following on from the Future of Aviation is expected by 2002.
Mike Fawcett said they were 'listening' and explained the key points which he listed under sustainability:
Mike Fawcett added that any aviation policy had to integrate with ground transport and that the ratio of public to private transport had to increase.
In response to a question from the floor that Farnborough met none of his criteria, Mike Fawcett claimed it was a local planning decision, ignoring the fact that backdoor pressure had been applied by his division.
Mike Fawcett admitted that aviation had 'an impact on global warming' and in response to questioning from the floor accepted that if we are to address global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that would lead to a reduction in aviation, not the exponential growth were we to follow 'predict and provide'.
Any aviation development should be in the public interest.
John Stewart (HACAN ClearSkies) rubbished the economic case (paid for by the industry) that underpins Future of Aviation, and gave a warning to DETR, that if they failed to listen, then we would have no choice other than to disengage and go back to the direct action of the anti-roads movement that proved so effective in the 1980s.
An interesting point was made by the chairman (Jeff Gazzard). Airport proposals always have a glowing economic case, the local economy depends upon it, thousands of jobs will be created, prestigious corporations will move their headquarters alongside the runway. Why are there never any follow up studies to test these hypotheses? He gave the example of Manchester where the second runway was to lead to prestigious companies moving in, all that has happened is that a local company has moved in from down the road.
Speakers who were giving a regional perspective gave examples of how they were fighting regional development agencies who promote a false economic case, local authorities who own the airports, who are also the planning and transport authority. No regional airport has proved to be a wealth generator any more than the construction of a motorway, but it has made life hell for local people.
Tim Johnson (AEF) in his summing up, highlighted current and emerging national and international agreements, all of which call for noise reduction.
A point that was made again and again by the delegates was the failure of the local planning system. Community participation is invited, then ignored. This reinforced the call for direct action. In the 1980s direct action may not have stopped individual road projects but it ground the whole roads project to a halt.
If you have not already done so responses on the Future of Aviation have to be with the DETR by 12 April 2001.
To anyone who looks at T5 for the first time the sheer scale of the project comes as something of a shock. T5 exceeds the size of the entire existing Heathrow Airport.
The economic case for T5 is inward investment, job creation, in an area of the country that already has an overheated economy.
Job creation in excess of 60,000 in an area of very low unemployment. The six local authorities around Heathrow have around 9,000 jobless. Where are the people to come from, even assuming the jobless have the required skill base? Local companies is one solution. They will be unable to compete and will eventually go bust or be forced to relocate. The area around Heathrow will become a razed desert, no employment other than that relating to Heathrow. The other alternative is that people will be forced to commute. Heathrow is already the biggest traffic generator in Europe.
Economic disbenefits were ignored. Health costs alone are substantial. People disturbed at night, are unable to perform as well in the day. Doctors around Heathrow report increases in asthma-related illness due to the deteriorating air quality. Asthma is a debilitating illness leading to poor performance and days off work. Traffic congestion costs businesses in Surrey alone œ500 million a year. Noise under the flight path costs an estimated œ37 to œ66 million a year in depressed property prices alone.
T5 is being considered outside of the review of aviation in the south east and the Future of Aviation, even though Heathrow dominates the south east. The report from the T5 Public Inquiry landed on the Fat Engine Controller's desk last December, it is not expected to be made public until June. That is why Tony Blair has been sweating at the prospect of delaying the General Election from 3 May 2001.
The main speakers were John Stewart (chairman) who spoke of the last year and looked forward and Caroline Lucas MEP who described the internal machinations of the EU.
HACAN is pushing for no T5, no night flights.
25,000 members if affiliates are counted. The media now come to HACAN. Recruitment has been a problem. Doorstepping and leafleting does not work. Members join when HACAN has an event, important for HACAN to raise its profile. Numbers count, but only when seen on the street. HACAN needs more events to raise its profile, to make politicians sit up and take notice, possibly direct action as known to be effective (cf anti-roads protests).
Caroline outlined the procedures that led up to her report on aviation, the massive lobbying by the industry and what was expected to happen next.
EU is now considering Caroline's report on aviation. They recognise the projected growth is not sustainable, that the growth has to be managed, the anomaly of zero tax on aviation fuel and zero VAT. Possibility of an environmental levy as not a tax and could be pushed through on qualified majority voting.
There is something very wrong when as Caroline pointed out it costs her three times as much to travel between Brussels and London via Eurostar as it does via Virgin, that it is cheaper to fly to Europe then it is to travel via train to the north of England and beyond.
Caroline was warmly applauded. Someone is actually working on our behalf. Unfortunately she had to dash off early for a radio interview with the BBC World Service.
[see BVEJ newsletter #0005 October 2000 and Green World Winter 2000/2001]
A Labour MP made snide remarks about Ken Livingstone (doing nothing for transport) and Darren Johnson (doing nothing for the environment) which fell on very stony ground and he was very lucky not to be slow hand clapped. This within days of Prescott going ahead with the unwanted privatisation of Nats. There was a general feeling from the floor that more had to done to generate a higher profile, that letter writing and lobbying was not enough, that there was a need for direct action. A straw poll showed that the overwhelming majority of those present were in favour of direct action. A spin-off action group was suggested. FoE claim pollution from Heathrow kills 50 people/year! A spur is being constructed from the M25 to service T5.
Not only are Airbus Industrie planning to build the obscene A3XX (helped via a soft loan from the British taxpayer of £500 million to BAE Systems), making life hell for the people of Farnborough with the Airbus business jet, they are now planning on destroying one of Europe's most important wetland sites through expansion of their Hamburg factory.
Expansion of the Airbus Industrie Hamburg factory would fill 420 acres of Muhlenberger Loch, a Ramsar wetland site, a specially protected are under the EU Bird Directive.
NABU and BUND, two German NGOs, have obtained temporary injunctions to stop the filling of the Loch but the injunctions may not hold as a court has ruled that the NGOs can not be recognised by the court to sue.
If the Loch goes it will be an important blow to conservation in Europe, as if this site goes, no site is safe.
As we have seen in Farnborough, where aviation is concerned money talks. The heathland to the west of the runway that has been destroyed under the guise of 'heathland management' was an important area for heathland birds and many other rare and endangered species, a SSSI and part of a proposed SPA.
Boeing have said they will not not be competing with the obscene A3xx super-jumbo as they do not see it having a future.
The rail network was to be up and running by Christmas, then Easter. It will not be fully functional by Easter, the next target is May. The Commons select committee on transport has recommended nationalisation of Railtrack (cf part privatisation of Nats).
An overwhelming percentage of the public want to see Railtrack re-nationalised. The government has recently handed Railtrack œ1.5 billion of public funds, sufficient to buy half of Railtrack at its new low share price (Railtrack has fallen from a high of £17/share to less than £5/share).
SWT operate a crap service. Surrey Heath voted unanimously last year to oppose renewal of the SWT franchise. SWT have been rewarded with a 20 year renewal of their franchise. Another crap operator is Virgin (joint venture with Stagecoach). Virgin have just raised their fares (yet again) by a little under 10%.
The Southall and Ladbroke Grove rail inquiries have jointly recommended that advanced train protection to European standards be installed by 2008. The Health and Safety Commission have said they wish to see legislation to enforce the recommendations. HSE would shut down lines that did not comply. The number of signals past at red in February saw an increase over the previous year.
The local Tillingbourne bus company has gone bust.
There are plans to force a bus lane through the main Farnborough Road. The convent will be forced to use the back entrance, mature trees will be destroyed, extra traffic forced onto Highgate Lane which already can't cope during rush hour. The few buses seen along the main Farnborough Road does not justify a bus lane.
All part of what is known as Blackwater Valley Bus Route 1, to provide a high speed bus route from Yateley through Camberley and Farnborough to Aldershot. Even Victoria Road will have a bus lane, something the volume of traffic does not justify.
Blackwater Valley Bus Route 1 is being drawn up by Surrey and Hampshire County Council. They are not on the spot, haven't got a clue what's going on, and if they mess it up well it's not their problem. Give your views to:
Blackwater Valley Bus Route 1 will be meaningless as it will be ground to a halt by the traffic chaos caused by the multiplex cinema in Farnborough. Traffic is to be fed into the multi-storey car park straight off the main Farnborough Road (A325). This will drive the whole area into gridlock.
What the area needs is a reputable bus company (which automatically rules out Stagecoach), running a cheap, reliable, regular service.
There is a hidden agenda behind Blackwater Valley Bus Route 1. It will used to provide fast access to and from Farnborough Airport for executive transport, which is to be classed as 'public transport'.
Plans for the Blackwater Valley Tram System appear to have been quietly dropped.
Lobbyists pushing for Tube and Nats privatisation are to work for the Fat Engine Controller during the election campaign.
We fully back Ken Livingstone in his plans to take Prescott to court to stop privatisation of the Tube.
Construction work is carrying on regardless on the Birmingham Northern Relief Road, even though a large part of the route is within foot and mouth exclusion zones in Staffordshire. The Highways Agency has admitted that the new road will do nothing to reduce congestion when it opens in 2004.
Christiani and Nielson, the company contracted to complete the Avon ring road went bust before Christmas. A bridge had to be rebuilt when it was found to be in the wrong place. Pixies moved the markers in the night!
The Hastings bypass appears to be missing from the recently announced tranche of road building. Either an oversight or withheld until after the election. The local Labour MP who is hanging on by the skin of his teeth to a marginal seat is strongly in favour of the bypass. [BVEJ newsletters passim]
Letters, no matter how much garbage, how many untruths they contain, if they support the airfield get published. Letters correcting the garbage and untruths, or highlighting the numerous disadvantages to the local community and environment rarely get published. To correct this glaring imbalance FARA (Farnborough Airfield Residents Association) will attempt to publish these censored letters on their web site.
Farnborough Mail no longer publishes readers letters on a Tuesday, Farnborough News has reduced to less than half a page the letters it publishes on a Friday.
If you have not visited the FARA site, please do so as it has a wealth of information on the airfield.
They are making phenomenal profits and paying their workers a pittance; people should be paid a fair wage in fair working conditions. -- Rod Hall, Global Resistance
Protesters from Global Resistance picketed GAP the sweatshop shop in Guildford. Excellent full page coverage on the front page of the Guildford Times (Guildford Times 17 March 2001).
Gap boss earns $123,00 a day, Gap sweatshop workers in Honduras $4 a day.
A sad reflection of the sick society in which we live, when shoppers were asked not to shop in Gap they said they would still buy from Gap even though they were aware of the conditions under which their clothes were made.
In Sheffield an alternative GAP stall was set up outside a GAP recruitment fair to tell the true story of GAP employment practices. In Birmingham and Bristol GAP were picketed.
Just in time for Christmas, Nike Town in Oxford Street were visited by Santa and his helpers to expose the Nike sweatshops.
Trainers are not just bad for the health of the people who make them. A recent report has shown that wearers are more likely to suffer damage to their ankles.
Read No Logo by Naomi Klein.
Would you trust big business to supply the poor with clean drinking water, to feed the poor, to provide affordable health care and cheap drugs? No, neither would we we. As we have seen in Bolivia with the privatisation of water (BVEJ newsletter #0007 December 2000), action by the world's biggest drugs companies in South Africa to stop the supply of cheap drugs (BVEJ newsletter #0010 March 2001), or here in Farnborough with expansion of the airfield (BVEJ newsletters passim), big business is only interested in corporate greed. Under GATS, big business will have written in tablets of WTO stone the right of exploitation in all these and many more areas of public service.
WDM have produced an action pack to lobby Stephen Byers MP (DTI Trade Secretary) to stop GATS. Like MAI, GATS must be stopped.
Has your MP signed Early Day Motion 260 calling for a complete rethink on GATS? If not, why not?
House of Commons Information Office: 020 7219 4272
Read:
The Constant Gardener by John le Carre (Hodder & Stoughton, 2001)
No Logo by Naomi Klein (Flamingo, 2000)
[see BVEJ newsletters passim for more on GATS]
The Canary Islands, especially Tenerife, grow excellent bananas, small and very tasty. Far better than what we get from the Caribbean, and considerably better than what comes from South and Central American industrial plantations controlled by US mega-corporations. One of these mega-corporations, Chiquita, is taking a multi-million dollar action against the EU.
Like the Caribbean growers, Canary Island growers are small family businesses, and like the Caribbean they have a special protected status within the EU.
Chiquita are arguing that this special status is an unfair barrier to trade and contrary to WTO rules. Chiquita are seeking $525 million damages in the European Court of Justice.
Chiquita is the world's largest banana company. Chiquita uses aerial spaying to spray the bananas and the workers out in the field, workers are denied basic trade union rights, producer is set against producer, country against country. In Guatemala when trade unionists tried to obtain decent working conditions, the army was sent in, union leaders arrested. Through various front companies Chiquita controls dozens of supposedly independent banana producers in Central America. Chiquita are major contributors to party funds in the US, had easy access to the Clinton White House, which is why it was the US not Latin America who sought a WTO trade ruling on the protected status of bananas within the EU.
In Tenerife, with no market, bananas will be abandoned, the land left derelict and eventually given over to apartments. In the Caribbean, denied preferential access to European markets, the growers will have no choice other than to turn to growing more lucrative narcotics.
Do not buy Chiquita bananas, ask your supermarket not to stock them.
GlaxoSmithKline is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. -- GlaxoSmithKline web site
The reality is that they spend twice as much on marketing and administration than on R&D, that Africa comprises 1 per cent of the global market, that there are Aids drugs developed using public money, and that the overwhelming majority of their R&D spending is on drugs with little relevance to Africa. -- Glenys Kinnock MEP
This legal challenge is a warning to other developing countries that many within the world's pharmaceutical industry will use any tactic to defend their patents, whatever the cost in human suffering. -- Oxfam and MSF press statement
We cannot operate in a situation where we have an epidemic, a national disaster ... and being asked to keep on observing the international patent law. -- Sam Ongerim, Kenya Health Minister
If the international mafia - the drug companies - really mean business, they should waive their patent rights and let developing countries make the drugs themselves under their supervision. -- Dr Mohammed Abdullah, chairman of Kenya's Aids control council
GlaxoSmithKline has been forced into an embarrassing $30 million payout to silence a claim against it for Imigran (aka Imitrex). A major portfolio drug for GlaxoSmithKline, annual sales £700 million, profits £300 million, Imigran, a treatment for migraine, causes heart attacks, strokes and wasting illness. GlaxoSmithKline stands accused of marketing a dangerous and defective drug and misleading the US Food and Drug Administration. 58% of patients during clinical trials suffered adverse reactions at the point of injection.
Last month 40 of the world's largest drugs companies took action against South Africa to stop the use of generic drugs. At issue is South Africa's right to import and manufacturer cheap generic drugs from India and Brazil. The drug companies are asking the Pretoria High Court to invalidate a South Africa law that permits the import and manufacture of cheap generic drugs. The case was expected to last one week. On the second day the case was postponed until this month. During that period the drugs companies would have sold $2.2 billion of drugs, made a profit of $560 million. By the end of the week 5,000 sick South Africans would have died. 5,00 sick South Africans would have paid the price of corporate greed. [BVEJ newsletter #0010 March 2001]
The judge hearing the case has decided to allow Treatment Action Campaign to act as a friend of the court and provide evidence on behalf of Aids sufferers. The judge has also ordered the drug companies to provide details of their business structures and pricing policies.
The drug companies have been isolated by foreign governments. The US, the EU and the WHO say they do not oppose South Africa's right to implement the new legislation. Even the WTO has said that the law under contention does not infringe international patent protection.
In South Africa, a quarter of a million people died from Aids in 2000 and one in 10 of the population is HIV-positive.
A knock on effect of the case is that Kenya has decided to follow the example set by South Africa and not recognise the patents held by the pharmas for essential drugs. Kenya is under pressure to extend its 7 year patent protection inherited from Britain to WTO/TRIPs 20 years.
Antibiotic Ciprofloxican, considered an 'essential medicine', costs South Africa's public health sector 52p per pill and the country's private health care providers more than œ3 a tablet. If the new law is implemented, a generic of the drug could be imported from India for just 4p a pill.
Diflucan, Pfizer's anti-fungal drug, effectively treats severe forms of oral and oesophageal thrush, common illnesses in people with Aids, and frequently lead to painful death by dehydration, because of the difficulty of swallowing. Several pills must be taken every day, but at a cost of £3-12 per pill, most can't afford them. Effective generic versions, which cost less than 17p per pill, cannot be imported legally because Diflucan is under patent. Thus people die because of Pfizer's unflinching defence of market exclusivity for a drug that has sales of more than $1 billion per annum, almost all in developed countries.
Cipla, the Indian drugs company established under Indira Gandhi's policy of cheap generic drugs 30 years ago, is offering a three-drug anti-Aids cocktail of stavudrine, lamivudine and nevirapine for just $600 to governments and $350 to Medecins sans Frontieres. The drug cocktail sells for between $10,000 and $15,000 in the west. GlaxoSmithKline has warned Cipla off from selling its cheap copy of Combivir - a combination of AZT and 3TC (lamivudine) - in Ghana and Uganda, saying it has patent rights in these countries.
India exports vast quantities of cheap generic drugs to the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. Cipla now faces new patent legislation enforced under trade deals which threaten its export business.
In addition to the case in South Africa being brought by the pharmas, the US is taking Brazil to the WTO, and there is the threat of trade sanctions against more than 15 developing countries, including India, The Dominican Republic, and Thailand.
The world's drugs companies do occasionally provide cheap drugs to the Third World. These are drugs long superseded, drugs it is cheaper to dump on the Third World than to warehouse or dispose of.
Oxfam have produced an information pack on the operation of the major drugs companies in the Third World, and as part of their campaign against the major drugs companies a postcard (electronic version available on the Oxfam web site) to send to the head of GlaxoSmithKline demanding cheaper drugs for the Third World.
Read The Constant Gardener by John le Carre (Hodder & Stoughton, 2001).
In February Christian Aid launched a new campaign on global trade.
This month Christian Aid are due to launch a free ISP. Why use a crap service like freeserve when you can use a superior service and know that a portion of your line charges are going to help the world's poor and helping to safeguard the planet? Details and free CD: 0845 0782888
The Christian Aid ISP is run by Worldcom, as is their main site. Christian Aid have now made arrangements with Worldcom for reduced rate phone calls, plus 8% of your call charge goes to Christian Aid. Details from Danny Graymore 020 7523 2373.
Christian Aid Week runs from 13-19 May 2001.
Thames Water are running a web site where if they get sufficient hits they will donate œ100,000 to provide clean water for the poor.
Don't be fooled. œ100,000 is a drop in the ocean. Thames Water is part of the service sector pushing for GATS, pushing to open up the Third World to western private water companies. Let's see how keen Thames Water are to provide clean water to the poor at a price the poor can afford.
Thames Water owns Thames Waste Management who are pushing for the unwanted incinerator at Guildford.
Our intention is to make sure that the world is as peaceful as possible. -- President George W Bush
Turn your cameras to this boy and tell me if it is a military target. -- George Galloway MP at Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad
When Iraq invaded Kuwait the corrupt elite fled the country to engage in their usual pastimes of whoring, drinking, gambling and buggering young children, leaving ordinary Kuwaitis to defend the country. Ten years on the corrupt elite are back in charge, promises of democratic reform long forgotten. The entire Kuwaiti economy rides on the back of abused migrant workers.
Kuwait is an artefact of post-colonial rule. Historically it always was a part of Iraq. The Gulf War was triggered in part by the theft of Iraqi oil by the corrupt Kuwaitis.
Like their cousins in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait is a corrupt repressive regime, no different from other Middle East regimes such as Iraq and Turkey. Why therefore is Iraq singled out for special treatment? Because unlike the other repressive regimes the Iraqis no longer obey their western masters.
To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the end of the Gulf War Baghdad was bombed. A bombing that led to international outcry, a continuation of the bombing of Iraq that has taken place over the last ten years. Post Gulf War has seen a failure of US/UK Iraqi policy, a policy that was to replace Saddam Hussein with a more benign repressive regime, benign that is to the west, not to the Iraqi people.
Sanctions and bombings have killed tens of thousands of Iraqis, have driven Iraq back into the stone age, have made democratic reform less likely.
Kuwaiti money is being used to destroy Farnborough town centre, Saudi money to develop an unwanted business airport at Farnborough. Farnborough is paying the price of being a pawn in the international arms trade.
Look at his ratings - how could such a destructive man be so popular with the American people? Not only is he poisoning our air and water by withdrawing his promise to enforce emission standards and arsenic regulations, but he's poisoning our political system as well. Bipartisanship only works if you can trust the other side. As we have learned in the past weeks, we cannot trust George W Bush. -- Barbra Streisand
We have a president who stole the presidency through family ties, arrogance and intimidation ... We have a Congress passing laws to benefit corporations and the privileged few at the expense of the working men and women of this country. -- Barbra Streisand
Bowing to big business paymasters George W Bush has reneged on an election pledge to reduce CO2 emissions. George W Bush has also said the US will not comply with Kyoto. An illegitimate president is putting the world at risk. Bush is facing growing domestic and international condemnation over his position. The French environment minister has described Bush's actions as 'scandalous, provocative and irresponsible'. Please e-mail Bush with your views. president@whitehouse.gov
Of the countries now criticising Bush, not a single one has ratified Kyoto.
US vice-president Dick Cheney has said the US will solve the greenhouse problem by building environment friendly nuclear power stations.
Bush's environmental record since taking office has been to appoint Gale Norton as Interior Secretary (makes even Clare Short look green), open up the Arctic to oil exploration, blocked a ban on new roads in national forests, revoked measures to reduce arsenic in drinking water, is attempting to reverse a 30% mandatory cut in power consumption of domestic air conditioners. And that's only the first 7 weeks. The Bush legacy in Texas has been to leave behind the most polluted state in the union.
Payback time for big business which bankrolled the illegitimate president.
There is now a weekly protest vigil against US obstruction of international efforts to curb Climate Change outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square (Bond Street Stn) every Saturday afternoon 1-4pm. philthornhill@yahoo.com or ruth@jarman101.freeserve.co.uk
We are calling for a boycott of US oil companies and for this to be expanded to all US products if Bush does not ratify Kyoto.
Part of Rising Tide's ongoing climate change campaign is to take a trip to the seaside and only pay 10% of the fare. As part of their Climate Chaos Roadshow touring the UK during May and early June Rising Tide are coming to Farnborough to make the link between aviation and global warming - street theatre in the day, more events in the evening. It was hoped BVFoE would make available their Community Centre booking for the evening but they refused to cooperate. We are hoping to have a celebrity speaker. Date: Tuesday 8 May 2001, venue and more details later. Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases. climatechaos@yahoo.com
Rising Tide are running a training session in Oxford for speakers on global warming (9 June 2001). If you want to participate you will be expected in return to speak at a minimum of three venues. Jo 01865 241097 info@risingtide.org.uk
Don't forget the Beyond Parody AGM (London 19 April 2001). An opportunity to protest at climate change, Chinese occupation of Tibet, drilling in the Arctic and last but not least corporate greed. Could this be why BP are pressurising the government to change company law to remove the need to hold AGMs?
Following on from dyke building in the Hague, BVFoE are planning direct action at the Bonn Climate talks in July (BVFoE Xmas 2000 newsletter). Turn up at the Climate Chaos Roadshow (Farnborough 8 May 2001) to find out more or contact Julie 01252 510424 julie@bvfoe.freeserve.co.uk
Tony Blair has declared himself to be green, the second time in as many months (BVEJ newsletter #0006 November 2000). Could there be an election on the horizon? Before the last election New Labour declared themselves to be green, since coming to office not a single green policy. Within the last few months Blair has given two green speeches, the only green speeches since coming into office.
Blair gave £100 million for development of renewable energy resources. A drop in the ocean. The emphasis was on electricity generation. The focus should have been on energy use, how we match supply to demand and reduce demand. [see soft energy paths BVEJ newsletter #0005 October 2000]
Blair spoke of sustainable development. If there was a genuine commitment to sustainable development Blair would not be minded to support the Ilisu Dam (BVEJ newsletters passim), expansion of flying at Farnborough would be halted (BVEJ newsletters passim), only a few weeks back the Fat Engine Controller announced a huge increase in the roads budget (BVEJ newsletter #0009 February 2001), an expansion of GM trials is planned. If Blair was interested in sustainable development he would move away from globalisation, not support GATS and instead refocus on fair trade not neo-liberal free trade (BVEJ newsletters passim).
What we saw from Blair was the not a new green image but the same old hypocrisy.
Less than four weeks after Blair promised Britain would 'lead the world' in protecting the environment, Clair Short (mouthpiece for World Bank and IMF, proponent of the 'benefits' of globalisation) announced that she was cutting a measly £500,000 that had been earmarked for wildlife and biodiversity schemes in six of the UK's poorest overseas dependencies. What next, they will be be expecting gold elephants. Clair Short is also threatening India with a cut in the aid budgets if India doesn't knuckle under to Imperial pressure and sign up to TRIPs.
Clair Short was pied at Bangor. Eye witness accounts are that Short suffered a severe loss of humour and tried to prevent a journalist from videoing the trickle down effect. Agent Cwstard commented: 'Clair Short's banana policies are flying in the face of ministerial promises to help the world's poor and protect the environment. Our alternative flan of action involves policies which stick, while distributing the fruits of the global economy to those who are most deserving.'
A load of pap. -- Sophie, Countess of Wessex
Gordon (skinflint) Brown claimed to be interested in helping the poorest sectors of society. If this were the case he would not be fiddling with tax bands he would be introducing a Citizens Income to ensure the poorest sectors of society had a guaranteed income and were not caught in a poverty trap if they tried to earn more. [BVEJ newsletter #0008 January 2001]
Brown gave œ1.5 billion to the private transport sector (cf œ100 million announced by Blair for renewable energy), equivalent to a free tank of fuel for every motorist. This encouragement to increase motoring came one day after Blair tried to claim his government was green.
New Labour, same old hypocrisy.
Two thirds of grapes tested last summer contained pesticide residues. The level of some residues were high enough to give a toddler an upset stomach. One of the residues, chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate pesticide, was severely restricted in the US last year to protect the health of young children. One sample of white seedless grapes from Israel, sold in Somerfield, contained chlorpyrifos at illegal levels. A total of 28 different pesticides were found in grapes, with almost a third containing multiple residues. Some individual samples had 5 different pesticides.
A quarter of apple juice samples contained the fungicide carbendazim. This pesticide has been found to effect the production of sperm and damage testicular development, as well as causing birth defects in rats. Carbendazim now appears on a European Commission list of substances which are suspected of being hormone disrupters. Although this pesticide was only found in low levels in all the samples, hormone disrupters can effect the body at low levels so this is no guarantee of safety. Apple juice brands which contained carbendazim include Copella, and supermarkets own brands from Safeway, Sainsbury's and Tesco.
Rice samples were found to have residues of methyl bromide due to fumigation for storage and transport.
Ask your supermarket what they are doing to eliminate pesticide residues.
In Tenerife traditional farmers plant and tend their crops according to lunar cycles handed down from one generation to another. Nothing abnormal, it is practised in traditional farming across the world, many organic farmers use the same techniques.
Gardeners Question Time is now carrying out an experiment with broccoli seeds in which you can all join in. Two rows of broccoli seed are planted on different days, the number of seeds in each row counted. In the summer the rows are to be dug up and weighed.
Gardeners are a very strange breed. Working close to the soil one would expect them to have some empathy with nature but this is rarely the case as they spray biocides on anything out of place, rape and pillage peat bogs, light nasty smelly bonfires, fail to make compost heaps and dump their waste at landfill.
Peat bogs are one of our most valuable but threatened habitats. Gardeners' demand peat for the garden (they could use compost made from garden and household waste). Main suppliers are the Scotts Company based in Ohio - the world's largest garden supply company, supplying 26% of the needs of the non-self-sufficient gardener. Brands include (a hint of what to boycott, though we question external inputs being necessary for the good gardener): Fisons, Levington, Miracle-Gro and RoseClear.
Scotts Company are trying to block English Nature from designating three lowland peat bogs of international importance in Cumbria and Yorkshire. Scotts Company claim they are too degraded (we wonder why) to class as a Special Area of Conservation (EU top designation). Scotts Company are threatening a judicial review, which if successful would once again set back conservation. As an aside, we wonder why BVFoE did not do the same with English Nature over the MoD/TAG heathland destruction to the west of Farnborough Airport - a potential SPA, one SSSI destroyed, several threatened, many rare and endangered species put at risk (BVEJ newsletter #0010 March 2001).
94% of Britain's lowland bogs have been destroyed since the Second World War. Levington and Miracle-Gro peat is extracted from Thorne Moor and Hatfield Moor in South Yorkshire and Wedholme Flow in Cumbria, covering a total of 4,100 hectares.
The Peat Producers Association (industry lobby) is threatening compensation claims of œ40 million if peat extraction is banned. Whatever English Nature do, we can stop it by boycotting peat.
Easter is one of the most important times for gardeners, and hence garden centres, as gardeners wake up to the fact that the garden is growing and they have time on their hands.
BVFoE, as part of a national campaign, will be targeting Scotts Company at Redfields Garden Centre, Church Crookham, over Easter.
Coming soon ... , the BVEJ guide on how to build a compost heap.
Once again we are faced with a crisis in the farming industry. Globalisation, the free-market, increased trade and unsustainable food production methods have caused problems like this to be far more widespread than they should be. Agriculture is now organised in a way that makes transmission of the disease very easy now that we have a global food distribution system. -- Caroline Lucas MEP
We have in the past had outbreaks of foot and mouth disease but it has been possible to cordon off the outbreak and isolate the problem. This time it is different.
The problem is made worse by the industrialisation of agriculture and the globalisation of the food industry.
Modern farming methods are a disgrace, greed driven with not a thought for the impact upon the countryside, welfare of animals or the health of consumers.
The widespread closure of small locally based abattoirs has forced the unnecessary and cruel transport of livestock over large distances, at the same time hastening the spread of disease. Cheap fuel makes it cheaper and more viable. It has to be questioned why meat is being supplied across the country let alone across countries. Each region should be self sufficient.
The cost of compensation will far exceed the pitiful amount of money that has been made available for organic farm conversion.
The reaction of the government to dealing with foot and mouth has been extremely tardy. Animals have been left to rot in fields, funeral pyres are dubious at best as minimum temperatures cannot be guaranteed (Holland made the point they would not be following Britain's medieval example). All sporting events should have been cancelled. Ireland set an example we should have followed. Both Ireland and France had more stringent measures in place as precautionary measures than the UK had in place two weeks into a major foot and mouth epidemic. Four weeks into the UK's worst ever foot and mouth outbreak and Britain was still importing meat from parts of the world rife with foot and mouth. It took four weeks for Tony Blair to recognise very late in the day that there was a serious problem.
As far back as last December there were known to be problems at the farm in the north east where foot and mouth is believed to have started. Once an outbreak was identified at the farm it was a further three days before all animal movements were halted.
Illegal imports of meat to a Chinese restaurant, which found there way into pigswill, which found there way to the farm where the outbreak started, is believed to be the root cause. Illegal food imports, not just meat, is a widespread problem. Checks at ports is down to a few hard pressed local authority officials with inadequate resources.
The mass slaughter programme is flawed. It may have worked in the 1960s when an incident could be isolated and a sanitised zone created. When animals are being transported across the country, many miles beyond the zone, it becomes slaughter for slaughter's sake. A mass cull of MAFF should take place as MAFF has been a post-WWII disaster that has destroyed British farming.
Animals have been left for days from detection to slaughter, weeks from slaughter to disposal, dead animal are being carried around the countryside, in one case the drivers got lost and dumped their infected carcasses in a field full of sheep. MAFF funeral pyres were delayed until night to get the most dramatic TV coverage. Computer modelling shows that detection to slaughter in excess of 2 days leads to an uncontrolled outbreak, detection to slaughter of less than 24 hours (ideally within an hour) brings the outbreak under control.
Michael Meacher has been running around like a demented idiot telling people to go to the countryside at a time when large parts are closed and people wondering around the countryside is the last thing that is wanted if the disease is to be contained. Tony (I'm now in charge) Blair has repeated the Meacher message, has urged people to visit the countryside, adding that they should avoid farmland and livestock!
Let's visit the countryside, enjoy the country air, the stench of rotting carcasses, the smell of burning flesh.
In the first week that Blair took charge the number of diagnosed cases awaiting slaughter rose from 45,000 to 80,000, the time from diagnosis to slaughter increased. The exhortations to visit the countryside were more about creating an impression that there was no crisis than resolving the crisis itself. First rule of New Labour, if you find yourself in a hole, spin your way out.
Buffer zones should have been created, isolating the infected parts of the country from the rest of the country. Within the buffer zones mass vaccination. Zero movements of livestock across the buffer zones to other parts of the country until disease free. This would put paid to animal export, but then every cloud has a silver lining.
A Dutch virologist who helped write the EU vaccination policy has described as crazy the UK failure to vaccinate. But even if the UK wanted to vaccinate it lacks sufficient vaccines and no plans have been made to manufacture more.
To vaccinate a single animal the UK has to seek permission from the EU.
Large amounts of disinfectant has been sloshed around the countryside. Phenol-based disinfectants will devastate water courses, contaminate drinking water. During the 1967 outbreak all farm-based research was stopped. GM crop trials have not been stopped. Construction work is carrying on regardless on the Birmingham Northern Relief Road, even though a large part of the route is within foot and mouth exclusion zones in Staffordshire.
One of the bitter ironies of the current outbreak is that those who will find it hardest to recover are those with organic livestock. Also at risk are herds of rare breeds with unique gene pools that cannot be replaced. On Dartmoor are cattle that have been built up by generations of farmers. In Cumbria, flocks of Herdwick sheep rescued by Beatrix Potter, hardy little beggars introduced by the Vikings.
One possible cause of the outbreak and why it has proved difficult to contain is the movement of 'black sheep' around the country. Farmers get headage payments which encourages overstocking. A system that begs fraudulent behaviour. Black sheep are moved around the country to make up the numbers.
Three years ago it was recommended that there be a ban on pigswill, thought to be the cause of the present outbreak. Greed ruled OK, animal welfare counts for nought. Nothing has been learnt from BSE.
Every cloud has a silver lining. The shock to the system of BSE, now followed by Foot and Mouth, may force a radical rethink of the post Second World War farming policy and the scrapping of the unsustainable EU CAP.
An Organic Food and Farming Targets Bill is to be introduced in the Scottish Parliament. The proposed bill would set a target of 20% conversion of Scottish farmland to organic status within 10 years along with targets for the production and marketing of organic produce in Scotland. The bill will also require an action plan for organic farming to be drawn up by the Scottish Executive. No such Bill is being introduced at Westminster.
Since the 1980s Sweden has had a policy of sustainable agriculture. Anyone who has travelled in Sweden will have noticed the unspoilt countryside, especially compared with the industrialised landscape of England. In Sweden supermarkets buy from local farms, animal welfare standards mean healthy animals, antibiotics are prohibited from feed. Sweden has had no reported cases of foot and mouth or BSE, poultry is not infected with salmonella. Following recent BSE scandals in Germany and the meltdown of beef farming, Germany has appointed an environmentalist as Agriculture Minister. She has set an ambitious target of 20% organic by 2010.
Globalisation of agriculture is a race to the bottom, the lowest production standards prevail, farmers are reduced to tractor driving serfdom enslaved to multinational companies. Under WTO rules one country cannot bar the imports of another on the grounds of production methods. This puts Sweden's sustainable agriculture at risk as by banning the import of food that is not in accordance with its own strict rules it could be seen as in breach of WTO rules on non-tariff barriers to trade.
Foot and mouth rarely spreads to humans but all this will change if xenotransplantation is given the go-ahead. Pigs will be used for human spare parts, humans will become part pig, the transfer of pig material includes viruses embedded in the pig DNA, the pigs themselves are being genetically modified to make them more humanlike.
Post-crisis Nick Brown is to set up a task force to look at where we go from here. He should start by talking to the many NGOs who for years have been arguing against the industrialisation of agriculture, the globalisation of agriculture and the arm lock the supermarkets have on farmers.
The crisis in the countryside has not been caused by foot and mouth, it has ben caused by the bungling way the government has handled foot and mouth.
As Britain suffers in the middle of a foot and mouth crisis, the WTO is meeting in Geneva to discuss the further liberalisation of agriculture.
Excellent analysis of the worldwide crisis in agriculture and ways forward:
Helena Norberg-Hodge, Todd Merrifield & Steven Gorelick, Bringing the Food Economy Home: The social, ecological and economic benefits of local food, International Society for Ecology and Culture, October 2000
Caroline Lucas, Stopping the great food swap: Relocalising Europe's food supply, European Parliament Green Group, March 2001
Also:
Tom Compton, Eat This: Fresh Ideas on the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, RSPB
[see BVEJ newsletters passim for more on organic farming, BSE, WTO and globalisation, BVEJ newsletter #0006 November 2000 for a brief mention of xenotransplantation]
A most remarkable conservation experiment is taking place in Holland, areas of the countryside are being left to go wild.
It was noticed that an abandoned area that had been earmarked for industrial uses was being grazed by geese. The geese were keeping down and opening up the reed beds. Something that would normally require intensive intervention. It was then decided to graze the area with cattle, but cattle that were old breeds. Left to their own devices the cattle are in two herds of bulls and cows, roughly equal numbers of each. The cattle have turned the drier area into grassland with patches of open woodland.
Another area was heavily regulated to prevent flooding, but as the dikes got higher and higher it was recognised that the management was not sustainable. The area is now allowed to flood.
The experiment has much to teach others. In England, nature reserves, especially those under the management of local naturalist trusts, are too small and intensely managed, too many habitats are created and an artificial biodiversity created. An unsustainable situation. Flood plains are for flooding. Farmers should be paid for allowing their land to be flooded, not paid to drain it.
The experiment in Holland offers lessons for the 'heathland management', ie scorched earth policy, to the west of Farnborough Airport. If there was a genuine attempt to manage the heathland, with a move to more open heath and rather less open woodland, the area would be grazed.
True wine production comes from small vineyards where the producer knows his vines, his wines and his soil, like those found on Tenerife. It does not come from industrialised vineyards producing for a mass market and more often than not industrial alcohol. Things can only get worse. The EU is to allow GM vines, with no labelling of the wine.
Anti-genetic campaigners in Sussex are celebrating after plans for a farm scale trial of genetically modified oil seed rape were scrapped. After talking to locals, a demo in the nearby town of Hailsham, and visits to the farm, the farmer pulled out saying he was afraid of the spread of foot and mouth (even though there have been no cases in Sussex). Protesters believe it may be because he was none too popular in his village as at the parish council meeting only four out of sixty people voted in favour of the trial.
In the US the campaign against genetically modified crops is at last gaining momentum. Recently anti-GM pixies chopped down over 1,200 genetically engineered Poplar and Cottonwood trees at Oregon State University. An archive of anti-biotech direct actions can be found at:
Cremate Monsanto are still burning GM cotton in the fields in India. In Brazil landless peasants have occupied a Monsanto biotech plant and research centre. In Italy a Monsanto depot has been set on fire but there are dark hints that this may have been an inside job to destroy evidence of illegal import of GM seed.
The British government is funding the development of GM fish to the tune of £2.6 million, a further £457,000 has been provided by the EU. What is particularly disgusting is that the bulk of this funding has come from Clare Short's Department of Overseas Development (£2 million), the remainder from MAFF and DTI. As Alan Simpson, Labour MP for Nottingham South, has said: 'Ministers have failed to learn the lesson from BSE and foot and mouth.'
96 GM crop trials are planned for this spring. There will be NO safety zones around the GM sites. The aim is to see the effect of cross-contamination between the GM crops and the surrounding countryside, or in other words a deliberate attempt at genetic contamination. There are no plans to stop the GM trials even though the country is in the middle of the worst ever foot and mouth crisis.
More than 40 days into the foot and mouth crisis 28 GM maize trials were announced (nine of which are within foot and mouth exclusion zones), with four more sites sought to bring the number up to 32.
Our general, Emiliano Zapata taught us not to struggle for power, because power poisons the blood and clouds the mind. -- Subcommandante Marcos
We did not have another way out,the only way to make ourselves strong was to come out [of the jungle] to march. - Subcommandante Marcos
If the movement against globalisation started anywhere it was in Mexico in the Chiapas with the Zapatista uprising seven years ago (New Year Day 1994), an uprising that coincided with the formation of Nafta.
Nafta has proved to have been an unmitigated disaster for the average North American who has seen real wages fall for a longer working week and for Mexicans who have become a slave economy to supply their northern neighbours. The only beneficiaries are multinational companies.
Quebec City, Canada, has the dubious honour of hosting the Summit of the Americas this month (20-22 April 2001), bringing together 34 heads of state. The biggest binge since the WTO Seattle meeting, The Summit of the Americas will be a pre-packaged media spectacle in a controlled atmosphere of gala dinners, cocktail parties and photo opps, counterbalanced by mass demos and Canada's biggest security and police operation. The rational for this jamboree is to put the final touches to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) which aims to establish a free trade zone that would extend NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) to the tip of South America. As with Nafta, the purpose of this 'free trade area' is to enable corporations to profiteer by getting rid of what they see as barriers to trade, silly little things like environmental regulations, unionised workplaces, restrictions on child labour etc.
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) from the Mexican state of Chiapas, who have inspired the worldwide anti-capitalist movement, were on the march to Mexico City last month. Their aim, to persuade the new government to adopt the San Andres peace accords, which were agreed in 1996 but never implemented. En route they visited 36 towns on the way to the capital. In the capital they were greeted by 100,000 supporters. On 11 March there was a huge rally where they met with federal legislators. The 24 delegates were unarmed and included most of the key military commanders of the EZLN, including their charismatic media figure-head, Marcos. Supporters went wild at the appearance subcomadante Marcos.
The Zapatistas are unusual as rather than barking commands from a central committee, they take their orders directly from the civilian communities from which they get their support. Before the Zapatista uprising began every Zapatista community was consulted beforehand to see if they supported it and over 98% were in favour. These one and a half thousand communities which cover nearly a third of the area of Chiapas, still exist today, despite suffering continual harassment from over 90,000 troops from the Mexican army who are based there. They are divided into 35 autonomous municipalities that organise and operate collectively. The role of women in particular has changed dramatically, with women taking part in the decision-making process on an equal level with men, and a third of the EZLN made up of women.
Support for the Zapatistas is worldwide. There was a follow-up Peoples Global Action European meeting in Milan, Italy, 24-25 March, Leoncavallo Social Centre.
Read:
Lori Wallach & Robert Naiman, NAFTA: Four and a Half Years Later, The Ecologist, May/June 1998
The Zapatistas: A rough guide, ChiapasLink, PO Box 79, 82 Colston Street, Bristol BS1 5BB chiapaslink@yahoo.com
John Ross, Mexican Wave, The Ecologist, April 2000
International Day of Action on Dams was celebrated in the UK with action against Balfour Beatty for their involvement with the Ilisu Dam.
Don't forget the forthcoming Balfour Beatty AGM, 2 May 2001.
Keith Vaz is once again under attack, this time for lying to the International Development Select Committee, rudeness and evasive answers and lack of cooperation. He was accused by the committee of being 'vague, unconvincing and on occasions, desperate'. {... more next month}
In India 8000 protesters have occupied the site of the Narmada dam.
In Spain the Spanish government stands accused of eco-terrorism for their plans to transfer water 600 miles from the freshwater wetlands of the Ebro in the north of Spain to Murcia, Valencia and Almeria in the south-east. The project would require the construction of 110 dams.
If you missed the fun of MayDay 2000 in Parliament Square last year you can celebrate MayDay this year by playing real life Monopoly - Disown It All Monopoly. You can get involved by organising your own autonomous actions, choose a Monopoly theme: housing, debt, railways, privatised utilities, prisons, etc.
There will be a carnival-style celebration of the day in Oxford Street at 4pm. Bring white overalls, padding, helmets, inflatable toys and a sense of fun and adventure. 07989 451096
There will also be two Critical Mass bike rides on the day. Meet outside Marylebone Station for West End Tour, or Liverpool St for a City Tour. Both start 7.30 am, and will meet up for a follow up game of Disown It All Monopoly.
A pamphlet about MayDay is available: send 41p SAE to BM Mayday, London, WC1N 3XX.
An aide abruptly appeared with papers he held out to the governor. 'It's the death warrants to sign, governor. There are two executions scheduled for tonight.'
Absentmindedly, the Governor took the offered pen. But in mid-signature he lifted his hand. He looked hard at his aide.
'They're not white, are they?'
The aide flashed a nervous smile. 'Governor,' he asked, 'would we do that to you?'
'It's not a woman either, is it? I'm not executing any more damn women. That last one - I was getting telegrams from as far away as Bolivia. What the damn Bolivians or anyone else in Europe know about law and order in Texas I can't imagine.'
The aide reassured him. 'Both prisoners are male, Governor. One's black and one's Hispanic. Nothing out of the ordinary.'
Pacified, Bush nodded. 'That's OK then,' he said. In an instant the aide retrieved the signed warrants and was gone.
[The Plough Reader Winter 2001]
For first hand accounts of death row and how votes ride on the back of dead blacks:
Mumia Abu-Jamal, Live From Death Row, Avon Paperbacks, 1996
Mumia Abu-Jamal, Death Blossoms: Reflections of a Prisoner of Conscience, Plough Publishing House, 1997
Mumia Abu-Jamal, All Things Censored, Prison Radio Project, 1998 {16 censored radio commentaries, 74 min CD}
New Labour seems to have forgotten the first rule of the market. There is no such thing as a free lunch. -- Charles Secrett, FoE
I see my job as creating a climate in which the industry can do well. -- Nick Raynsford, DETR planning minister
Tony Blair should fire Keith 'sleazeball' Vaz. If Blair fails to act then Labour grassroot activists should act to remove this stain on the Labour Party. Failing that, the people of Leicester should take the opportunity offered by the forthcoming election to kick out Sleazeball.
Sleazeball has abused his position as Europe Minister to promote the pariah state of Turkey. Sleazeball was guest of honour at a pro-Turkey lunch at the House of Lords organised by Musiad-UK, which promotes Turkish business in the UK. Another nail in the coffin of New Labour's 'ethical foreign policy'. [Private Eye 1023]
Sleazeball is not the only Labour Minister with Turkish links. Nick Raynsford has recently returned from a business trip to Turkey to promote the construction industry. Lead company was Balfour Beatty. Raynsford is applying pressure on behalf of Balfour Beatty for the go-ahead on the Ilisu Dam. [George Monbiot, The Guardian 15 March 2001]
Raynsford has two conflicting roles. As an environment minister with responsibility for planning he should be safeguarding the environment from development pressure. But, he is also acting to promote the construction industry. Raynsford helped the aggregates industry to lobby his own department against a tax on aggregates and quarrying, argued against a tax on out-of-town supermarket car parks, promised the British Council of Shopping Centres he would speed up the planning process, watered down the proposals on housing energy efficiency on the grounds 'an undue burden on builders'. Raynsford is wanting to skew the planning process still further in favour of developers and against local communities. No doubt Raynsford will find a few lucrative directorships on offer on leaving office.
Wafiq Said, Middle East arms dealer and fixer, is destroying a listed building in Oxford for the Said Business School. Downing Street applied pressure to obtain planning permission. Wafiq Said has links with two other Middle East fixers and arms dealers, Akhram Ojjeh and Mansour Ojjeh of TAG. What pressure was applied to force through TAG's planning application? Wafiq Said was the main fixer of the Al-Yamamah multibillion Saudi arms deal for BAe, and an associate of the corrupt Jonathan Aitken.
Michael Craven, a crony of the Fat Engine Controller, has acted as lobbyist for Metro-Net (one of the contenders for the Tube part privatisation). The Metro-Net consortium includes Balfour Beatty. Craven also lobbied for Serco during the Nats privatisation, and has acted for biotech company Novartis. Craven is to work for Prescott during the election.
Stephen Hardwick, lobbyist for BAA on Heathrow Terminal 5, is to work for New Labour during the election campaign.
Read:
George Monbiot, Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain, Macmillan, 2000
Gerald James, In the Public Interest, Warner Books, 1996
I am standing very much with Gerald on the airfield issue. There are excellent facilities available here (at Farnborough), and I feel it is important to make the most of those facilities. It is also of the highest importance to the local economy, because the economy here needs a successful aerodrome. -- William Hague, Leader of the Conservative Party
The Conservatives have remained unequivocal on this debate from top to bottom, from local councillors through to myself as MP, and now through to the party leader. -- Gerald Howarth, Member for Aldershot
As we go to press we may be having elections in May, June .....
Whenever the elections come how green are the candidates?
Pat Devereux (Cons) is standing for election for Hampshire County Council. She has done nothing to oppose the airport, even though she has been kept fully informed of the facts. Kick her out.
Gerald Howarth (Cons) is standing for election to parliament for the safe Tory seat of Aldershot. He has fallen over backwards to promote TAG and airfield expansion. He has failed to act in the interest of the local community. Howarth has also accepted largess from Imperial Tobacco: clay pigeon shooting at Highclere Castle and Ladies Day at Ascot. Kick him out.
Adam Stacey is standing as a Green Party candidate for Aldershot, King Arthur, a veteran of Newbury, may also be standing.
In addition, what is the position on organic farming and pesticide residues, globalisation, deep cuts of at least 60% in CO2 emissions, 70% minimum waste recycling target, exploitation of animals, ban on live animal exports, localisation, corporate manslaughter, total ban on GM crops, GM imports and GM animal feed?
My colleagues and I are totally committed to a business strategy that generates profits while contributing to the well-being of the planet and its people. We see no alternative. -- Mark Moody-Stewart, Shell chairman
Kirthar National Park is where Shell are raping the local environment in Pakistan. Local campaigners have called for international help. A web site now exists. [BVEJ newsletter #0010 March 2001]
The US Supreme Court has upheld a ruling by a lower court that Nigerian activists can sue Shell in New York for human rights violations in Nigeria.
And just in case it may seem we are singling out Shell for special treatment we could draw attention to Premier Oil in Burma and issue a reminder not to forget the Beyond Parody AGM (London 19 April 2001) - an opportunity to protest at climate change, Chinese occupation of Tibet, drilling in the Arctic and last but not least corporate greed.
Having rejected one mast application nearby Farnborough Station (300 letters of objection, Rushmoor for once acting on behalf of the local community) an application has been submitted for three masts for the same site. The Vodaphone mast in North Camp has still not been removed. Vodaphone have reneged on a promise given a year ago.
Local residents in North Camp and around Farnborough Station are teaming up and plan to have a demo from Farnborough Station to North Camp every Sunday in protest.
Mobile phone companies are to force up the price of Pay As You Go phones to force users onto rip-off contract phones.
EU is considering a bail out of indebted mobile phone companies.
At an exhibition on the town centre, a number of visitors, including several retailers and at least one Rushmoor councillor, tried to raise with Simon (couldn't organise a monkey's tea party if he tried) Rutter, mouthpiece for the Arab owners, the parlous state of the town. Rutter refused to enter into any discussion on the grounds that he wasn't there to conduct business. As he is not available at any time during the rest of the year what was he there for?
If you missed the exhibition on what the Arabs have planned for Farnborough we are not surprised. The exhibition was only open for two days with no advance publicity. Although if you expected details of what is planned for the town centre you'd have been in for a disappointment, all that was on show was the unwanted multiplex cinema and associated bars and restaurants.
Ructions in the town hall. Several councillors have attacked the chief executive Andrew Lloyd for the lack of consultation over the town centre destruction. A case of the pot calling the kettle black as apart from Patrick Kirby not a single councillor has taken the trouble to talk to either traders or the public about the town centre development. There has still been no consultation.
The Arabs have put in their plans for part of the town centre. These have changed yet again, and once again no prior consultation with the town's retailers. The earlier submitted plans for a cinema complex are meeting strong local opposition. Do we really want a night-time economy floating on booze and violence as has now afflicted too many other town centres?
The cinema complex will involve work to the roundabout on the A325 containing the multilevel car park. Traffic will feed directly off the A325 (main Farnborough Road) into the car park causing massive traffic chaos. In an attempt to alleviate the chaos traffic will feed into the roundabout on three lanes and be controlled by traffic lights. Work has already commenced, pre-judging the planning application. Who is paying for the work? The Police have objected to these plans, they won't be able to get out of the police station. The gridlock will make a nonsense of Blackwater Valley Bus Route 1, a priority bus route through Farnborough. It is claimed widespread consultation has taken place. Not true, even the traders in Queensmead/Kingsmead have not been consulted.
Part of the piecemeal development are plans to build on the corner now occupied by Book Boyz. Plans have been submitted, Book Boyz have not been consulted. Although not yet before the planning committee, work has already started on the pilings for the building work.
Rather than submit piecewise, the Arabs should be told to go away and submit their plans for the whole of the town centre in one go.
Private tenants living above the shops in Kingsmead have been given six months notice to vacate their homes to make way for redevelopment. The eviction notices are not worth the paper they are written on. Many of the tenants are long term tenants. The tenants should sit tight and seek legal advice.
Having brought the town centre to its knees, the Arabs are now desperate to sell it.
Hampshire plan to allow a concrete crushing plant near by North Camp Station. As with the Blackwater Valley Bus Route 1, there has been no consultation.
A public meeting in North Camp was the usual mix of too much hot air and nothing of substance. The only problem facing North Camp is the yobs on the streets at night. The proposed night club appears to have died a quiet death. Compared with run down Farnborough, North Camp is positively thriving.
John le Carre, The Constant Gardener, Hodder & Stoughton, 2001
As my journey through the pharmaceutical jungle progressed, I came to realise that, by comparison with the reality, my story was as tame as a holiday postcard. -- John le Carre
John le Carre made his name in the post-WWII Cold War era and created characters like George Smiley. With the fall of the Berlin Wall John le Carre had to move to pastures new. The threat to democracy today is not the Soviet Union, KGB or Communism but globalisation and global corporations who will destroy anyone and anything who stands in their way. With the skill of a master craftsman thriller writer le Care opens up the ruthless world of corporate business run by Mafioso thugs who don't hesitate to resort brutal killings and intimidation to protect their empires, never directly of course, friends of friends and unknown associates.
By one of those strange quirks of fate, life imitating art, the publication of The Constant Gardener coincided with the drugs industry taking South Africa to the Pretoria High Court to have a law providing cheap generic drugs struck down. The rationale wheeled out by the pharmaceutical industry for taking South Africa to court over its plans to provide low-cost drugs to combat Aids was that there would be no incentive to develop new cures without strong protection. For protection, patents read profit. As one of the characters in le Carre's book says: 'Don't talk to me about research and development costs. The pharmaceutical boys wrote them off 10 years ago and a lot of their money comes from governments in the first place, so they're talking crap. What we've got here is an amoral monopoly that costs human lives every day, OK.'
The Constant Gardener opens with the death of Tessa Quayle, young wife of middle-ranking diplomat and old Etonian Justin Quayle. Tessa is found in the Kenyan outback with her throat slit, her African driver beheaded, and a her friend, companion and guru, Arnold Bluhm, suspected of her death, nowhere to be found.
Stunningly vivacious and full of life when alive, in death Tessa is a bloated carcass (what do you expect after 48 hours in the heat of Kenya).
The story is a personal quest and pilgrimage for Justin Quayle as he tries to uncover his wife's life and death and at the same time discover his self.
Attention to detail is excellent, whether it be the description of the appalling squalor in African hospitals or the use of Tessa's laptop. Tessa's killers made off with her back-ups on floppy disk but Justin manages to retrieve her laptop. Completely computer illiterate he has no idea how to access the information that may be contained within. Eventually he is forced to seek the help of a sick Albanian schoolboy, one of the waifs and strays rescued by Tessa. Part of the laptop is password protected. We learn more of decent password generation than provided by most so-called experts on security. Justin eventually goes on-line to access Tessa's latest e-mails. The laptop is immediately attacked by a virus, as he later discovers was everyone who was working with Tessa, and rendered useless.
Characterisation is also good, no cardboard cut out thriller characters here. Anyone who has dealt with the pompous asses at the FO will immediately recognise the type. Anyone who has ever worked as an activist will immediately recognise the office of the pharma watch NGO and the people who work there. A place Justin visits on his voyage of discovery, but Tessa's only contact was via e-mail.
Tessa was not a conventional diplomat's wife and to safeguard Justin she kept most of what she did and learnt from him. Both Tessa and Justin were from privileged backgrounds, Tessa twenty years his junior. Feminist, lawyer and activist, Tessa was prepared to work in the field and did not like what she found. Massive corruption, drugs companies using Africans as guinea pigs for their untested drugs.
Early in the book we have Tessa haranguing the political head of the Nairobi High Commission. He sees the FO role as serving the interest of Her Majesty (whatever that may be), and looking after the interests of British business. If Africans suffer, if there is widespread corruption, this is not for us to comment, let alone act, upon.
Tessa hands a detailed dossier to the High Commission, the existence of which Justin is unaware, much to the disbelief of Scotland Yard detectives sent out to investigate her murder. The dossier is sent to London and immediately classified.
Following her death Tessa is dismissed as a loose cannon and deranged, anything to discredit her and anything she may have said or written. This is applied to Justin once it is seen that he is trying to uncover the truth and can no longer be relied upon as one of the old school.
Shades of manic Maxwell and Tiny Roland (Ted Heath's unacceptable face of capitalism) as the head of the British company marketing the wonder drug, and with fingers in many other African pies. Their posters depicting smiling healthy African families bring to mind Nestle and their Baby Milk promotions.
Like Dickens, le Carre writes from the heart. Le Carre takes us through the squalor of Africa, Moi's corruption, FO indifference and complicity, the greed and violence of big business. Tame scientists are two a penny, fund their projects and they will endorse your products, speak out and your career will be destroyed. The only person who comes out well apart from Tessa, Justin and their close friends and allies is MI6's resident spook who has his own agenda. Dickens brought to society's attention the scandals it would rather not know about and eventually led to reform. Can le Carre do the the same? We can only hope so.
Le Carre shows that he is writing of matters close to his heart as in the afterword he refers to BUKO Pharma-Kampagne a real world German pharma watch NGO that mirrors the fictional NGO which was working with Tessa Quayle and asks his readers to support their work.
The Constant Gardener is banned in Kenya.
With the death of Graham Greene, le Carre is our only remaining true novelist worthy of name. Eat your heart out Conrad.
Also recommended:
Iain Banks, The Business, Little, Brown and Company, 1999
Gerald James, In the Public Interest, Warner Books, 1996
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