Magazine Issue 5&6 - Winter 1997
Babylonian Times

Blessed is Asda
They flocked to their catherdral of consumerism - Asda, Lower Earley, Reading for Harvest Festival on Sunday 28th September. The Salvation Army’s brass band belted out ‘We plough the fields and scatter’ from the grocery section, while the theme of the sermon “From Soil to Shelf”, was read by one of Asda’s directors of Fresh Produce.

During prayers, members of the congregation brought gifts to the altar (a converted jumper display stand). The Reverend Simon Howard of Trinity Church, in Lower Early, thanked God “for Farmers ploughing and digging”, two women trundled to the front with a pair of green wellies and a pitchfork. Prayers “for fishermen, miners and oilmen” bought forth coal and a white hard hat. A briefcase, sweatshirt, checkout overall and saucepan were offered as “symbols of our thanks-giving”. Prayers were also said for suppliers, pickers and shelf stackers. The question remains: did God create Trans-National Corporations? Could it be that the Vatican was the first Trans-National Corporation? -The Independent 29-9-97
UN lays new Eviction rules
Governments will feel the full force of the United Nations (Oooooh!) if they continue to carry out forced evictions. Worldwide, it is estimated that there are over ten million people threatened with eviction, often to make way for “developments” - The Ecologist, May/June 1997

Corporate TV from our favourite people at Burson-Marsteller
CTN is a joint venture between BM and ITN and produces quality greenwash for Europes leading companies including : BA, Barclays, ICI, IBM, Unilever, Sainsbury’s, Phillip Morris, the AA, BAA, British Gas, DoE, DoT, Dti, Glaxo-Welcome, Guinness, Zeneca, Merck, Motorola, Orange, Pharmacia, the RAC, RTZ, Shell, Vidal Sassoon and Volkswagen/Audi. Book your show Now: just call Stephen Hanscomb on 0171 430 4500, or fax him on 0171 430 4131, or visit them at 200 Gray’s Inn Road, London, WC1X 8XZ. If Stephen is too busy try the production manager, Sally Maxfield on her mobile: 0410 391226, or her pager: 01399 727994.

Viva leap into the headlines with Kangaroo and Ostrich meat. Ausralia’s kangaroos are under threat - four species are already extinct and last month’s new law allows hunters to kill younger kangaroos. A leading expert has stated that kangaroos could possily never recover from this. The UK is the target market. VIVA are asking everyone to call the two supermarket giants on their FREEPHONE numbers : TESCO : 0800 636262 and Sainsburys : 0800 505555.
Double standards: Trial of Green Anarchists Editors and former Angling Times Editor
Keith Higgingbottom, former editor of Angling Times had faced two charges of incitement under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act after the front page of the Angling Times (4th Dec, 1996) launched a campaign against cormorants with the front page banner headline: “These birds must be killed.” A photograph showed a masked man with a gun standing over four dead cormorants with the caption: “This is the picture everyone wants to see.” Cormorants are a protected species under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act but considered vermin by some Anglers.

The court decided that there was no case to answer, and after the hearing the new Angling Times editor branded the prosecution a waste of public money. John Kelly said: “We are delighted with the decision, but the decision to bring the case at all has to be a serious challenge to journalistic independence and free speech.” Syliva Cundell prosecuting, said that the edition of the paper, contained descriptions of various ways of killing the birds, including the use of poison and baited lines and hooks, the type of gun and rifle effective in killing cormorants. -The Times 7-11-97
Rank Gonged for the Last Time
After a slow decline and being sold off to Carlton Communications, the Rank Film company has finally been put out of its misery. Carlton’s CEO, Michael Green, decided to get out of movies. “It would appear that the film industry was too terrifying for him.” said film writer Angus Finney. It is thought that Carlton was unable to find a chief executive for its films divisions. Perhaps someone will put down Rank’s Oasis Holiday Villages company some time soon. - Guardian 24-9-97
Journalism Slammed
A report released in July has found that British journalism is corrupting more valuable forms of communication and trivialising our culture. Professor Kenneth Minogue’s study, ‘The Silencing of Society’, argues that media amplifies the most trivial viewpoints at the expense of the more valuable. The result is a society obsessed with endless trivial change, unable to appreciate anything stable. However, nothing can be done about this according to Prof. Minogue who laments the devestation of Christian experience, the evisceration of moral understanding and [the] assault upon civil unity in Britain”. - FT 7-7-97
More Action Needed!
Arch-demonic greenwash merchants Tarmac have managed to turn a profit over the last financial year. The group turned a loss of £58.3m into a £38.6m profit. Perhaps some comfort can be taken from news that the upturn has been due in part to increasing work on railway maintenance making up for a reduction in road-building. Chief Exec Neville Simms still looks forward to an eventual recovery in the roads programme, however. - Guardian 24-9-97
Fatter Cats
A new report by Labour Research has found that top directors are still awarding themselves extraordinary pay rises despite calls for moderation by the Greenbury Committee on top pay. The average pay for top directors rose by 16% last year, five times the rate of inflation. The largest pay rise discovered by Labour Research went to Harvey Lipsith, chief exec of Allders, whose pay rose by 223% to £736,000. 123 directors, of UK companies, were found to be earning more than £1 million. Bernie Ecclestone of Formula One Promotions ‘earnt’ £6.6 million last year. - Guardian 2-9-97
Land of the Gullible?
Recent polling rates the British people’s trust in multinational companies as less than one sixth that of their GP. The research, carried out by the Henley Centre, for a report entitled “Planning for Social Change 1997”, found that 85% of respondents trusted their GP whilst only a misguided minority (13%) trusted TNCs. The police scored a worryingly high 62%, the judiciary, a more realistic 42%, and local councils only 24% (perhaps they did the polling in Oxford). The most highly trusted commercial organisations were Kelloggs and Marks & Spencer (83%), Heinz (81%), and Sainsbury (74%)! A straw poll in the Corporate Watch office found a unanimous lack of trust in all the above except GPs. - FT 13-10-97
BP Clones Forecourt Managers
BP was slammed for adopting direct management of petrol stations, in a new deal with forecourt managers called “Quantum” which is described as a “channel” not a “contract”. Ian Crawford, BP’s retail channel of trade manager: “We’re looking at getting consistency into our offer to the customer. We’ve just completed the ‘greening’ of the network that gives us an opportunity to introduce Quantum. At the moment the BP licence and the Mobil lease doesn’t really give us the framework to get that consistency, it’s very much a third party arrangement, and we can’t work together as an oil company with the operator to deliver the right kind of offer.”

“BP doesn’t want the people who made it what it is today, it wants clones - managers with no entrepreneurial or emotional investment in the sites they run” - Phil Richardson, one-time PRA (Petrol Retail Association) president. “Every licensee in the land should stand up and say: this isn’t fair!”

(no wonder anti-BP activists in one city were invited by staff to stand on the forecourt and give out petitions to customers against BP’s role in climate change) Article mysteriously ends with the words, “The future’s bright, the future’s green.”
“It is now official: you are purveyors of noxious substances which will be taxed heavily in the public interest.”- Forecourt Trader magazine, Aug. 1997
Advertisement in Forecourt Trader:
“McDonald’s wants to hear from anyone - whether they be operators of existing services or developers, who can introduce new opportunities in prominent locations throughout the UK ... If you can help McDonald’s hit the roadside contact Roadside Development Manager, Bryan Youlden on 0121 253 3533 or write with details to McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd, Golden Arches House, 6 Victoria Road, Sutton Coldfield...We now want to significantly expand this area of our operations catering for the needs of travellers as well as communities.”
Imbeciles Contaminate Irresponsibly
ICI Chemicals and Polymers is to be prosecuted by the Environment Agency over an alleged spill of chloroform into groundwater, air and a canal at its Runcorn Site, Cheshire. The charges follow a spill in April of nearly 150 tonnes of the suspected cancer-producing chloroform. Last year the company discharged into the canal and on a separate occasion ‘lost’ a quantity of ethylene dichloride from a tank on the site.

The Agency is expected publish a review of operating practices at the site. ‘The review followed other chemical spills and was carried out to assess whether environmental management systems at the site were adequate’ - Financial Times 23-8-97
Slough Estates
Two prohibition orders have been served on Slough Heat and Power in Berkshire, a subsidary of Slough Estates (see page 29). Between 15 and 20 tonnes of hydrochloric acid were split, some of which entered storm water drains. Prohibition orders are rare and used to close down parts of company until standards by the agency had been met. Slough Heat and Power: 01753 213200 - Ibid.

The Greenwash Awards
Business in the Environment is to publish its annual survey of FTSE 100 companies this month [November 1997]. Last year’s survey showed oil, chemicals and mining among the top performers, because ‘the nature of their business requires them to have sophisticated programmes to prevent environmental mishaps’. Business in the Environment looks particularly at companies’ environmental reports and donations to environmental charities - which companies feel the need to engage in such ‘environmental’ activities? Financial companies tend to come near the bottom, although Sir Anthoney Cleaver, its chairman said the activities of financial companies had a big impact because they could influence many other companies .... - FT August 11th 97
“ENVIRON-MENTAL”
The Royal Society-Esso Energy Award has been awarded to Magnox Electric which claims to have saved ‘13 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum’. Strange that Esso should find this so commendable when it doesn’t apparently believe in climate change. In October Lee Raymond, the chairman and chief executive of Exxon Corporation, owner of Esso, said: ‘The case for so-called global warming is far from air tight.’ Still, even odder is the fact that Magnox Electric has saved the carbon dioxide by keeping its ancient nuclear reactors going - despite cracking welds and embrittled reactor containment vessels - well beyond their 25 year life. The alternative, it is argued, would be to produce electricity from nasty carbon dioxide-producing fossil fuels ( a bit like the main product of, er, Esso). “Meanwhile Magnox is proving its green credentials by creating big piles of reprocessing waste at Sellafield. And no fewer than 15 governments have expressed urgent concern at the build-up of Magnox reprocessing discharges in lobsters in the Irish Sea. - Private Eye 14th Nov. 1997 page 9.
Fat Cat Turners Philanthropist
In an unexpected move media mogul, and full-time multi-billionaire, Ted Turner has pledged US$1 billion to the United Nations, over the next decade. Unlike his country’s government, Turner, the has a long-standing admiration for the UN. He aims to turn philanthropy into a trend amongst Americas wealthy. “The world is awash in money and nobody knows what to do with it.” Eradicating world poverty might be a good start Ted. - Guardian 23-9-97
Gummers Gaff?
Chairing a London Conference on Green House Gas Emissions, Conservative MP John Gummer, former Tory Secretary of State for the Environment, has praised John Battle, energy minister in the Labour Government for trying to brake the industries anti-environmental bias before attacking a “powerful group in the DTI determined never actually to deliver whats needed”. He said that despite the DTI’s powerful influence on green issues it always managed to “put in a last minute telephone call” to block badly needed initiatives. His outburst was intended to give strength to the “well meaning missionary body” struggling within the DTI to convert the natives. - Financial Times 13-11-97
Nike Sweatshops Get the Boot
Reeling from high profile campaigns exposing the appalling labour standards at many of its overseas subcontractors Nike has announced that it is to end contracts with four Indonesian firms. At the annual shareholders’ meeting in Portland, Oregon, the sports shoe manufacturer made the announcement but only identified one of the four companies, Seyon. They did however describe Seyon as “a good company”, adding that they might sign a new contract if wages at the factory were increased. - Guardian 23-9-97
Chairman’s Clean Conscience
In response to a challenge from Amnesty International, the chairman of Alvis [the defence and aerospace group] informed the public of the lack of a policy supplying armoured vehicles to Indonesia. He further justified himself by saying that was a government’s job, nothing to do with his own “unimportant” company!!! -The Financial Times 9/10/97
Dan the New roads man
Daniel Hodges, son of Labour’s Minister for Transport Glenda Jackson, has recently landed himself a new job as Press and Public Affairs manager for the Road Haulage Association. Does this mean he will be lobbying his own mother? “No,”he replied. “Glenda has no responsibility for roads. I’ll be lobbying Baroness Hayman. She’s the roads minister.” Oh, that’s all right then. - Camden New Journal, 31-7-97
Chevron Retreats Upstream
US oil giant, Chevron, recent recipients of a visit from Cardigan Bay Earth First! (p.33), have announced that they are to pull out of the downstream sector in the UK. About 450 of their Gulf petrol stations are to be sold off to Shell and its Waterston Refinery at Milford Haven is to be closed with the loss of 250 jobs. The company also intends to sell off its 50% stake in the Pembroke Cracking Company, a separate refinery facility at Milford Haven. A further 600 jobs are to go at Gulf’s HQ in Cheltenham. Chevron cited too small a market share as its reason for the withdrawal from retailing and refining. Good riddance! One less to deal with. - FT 21-8-97
Car Ads Banned
The Independent Television Commission came down hard on adverts for Volkswagen’s Passat and Ford’s Fiesta cars. According to the ITC’s guidelines television ads for cars must not glamorise speeding or aggressive driving. The Volkswagen and Ford commercials have thus been removed from the screen after record complaints from viewers. FT 4-8-97
Murdoch’s Misery
Poor old Rupert! Having taken the tried and trusted route of churning out mindless pulp movies with big breasts and explosions, his flagship company Twentieth Century Fox has turned in disappointing profits for this year. Further damaged by poor performance at publishers HarperCollins, News Corporation turned in only £470million in profits for the year. This truly disastrous performance has had business ‘analysts’ muttering dark things about the corporation’s performance and so they have had to buy back £625million worth of equity in order to prevent a slump in its share price. Ha ha ha...-Guardian 21-8-97