Issue 13 - Yuletide 1998
As West Sussex bans dodgy GM foods, the message from the public is clear:
DON'T MESS WITH NATURE!
GENETICALLY Modified food has been banned from
schools, children's homes and old people's homes across West Sussex. The move
follows a letter from The Pork-Bolter written in October
questioning the council's position on GM. We never got a reply but actions
speak louder than words!
The Government, hand-in-hand with greed-crazed American producers, has
tried to whitewash this major health scandal, pretending there is nothing to
worry about. But the proof of the mutant pudding is in the eating and it has
not gone unnoticed that GM food is banned from the catering menu at the House
of Commons! It is also extremely telling that even true blue West Sussex
County Council is well aware of the potential risks. The big question now is
whether parents whose children are protected from GM food at school will
continue to risk their future by feeding them dangerous GM ingredients at
home. And will irresponsible stores continue to sell GM stuff? A report in the
West Sussex County Times on November 27 said the council were
told the public "had considerable reservations over the foods, with 77% in a
recent survey coming down against the commercial growing of GM crops.
Potential risks included unforeseen side effects due to allergy and toxicity.
In 1989, 37 people were killed and 1,500 left permanently disabled
after eating a genetically modified supplement." A growing rejection
of the GM experiment has also been noted by Monsanto, the notorious US
multinational behind many of the products. Its spokesperson Ann Foster
admitted to The Guardian on November 25 that its own report
"shows that there has been ongoing collapse of support for biotechnology and
GM foods. And it also reveals that, post the BSE crisis, consumers lack
confidence in scientists and regulatory bodies. Indeed, the report found
the British public to be the most sceptical in Europe about scientific
progress." Will anyone really be surprised at this? Ever since the
days of the original Luddites we have had in this country a healthy tradition
of seeing through the big lie that is technological progress. Genetic
engineering is the worst of the lot (so far!), tampering with the very
essence of life itself. We are always being told these foul experiments are
all for our benefit, but with the Israelis now developing genetic weapons that
kill Arabs but not Jews (Hitler would have loved the concept), they are
now looking increasingly likely to result in the complete destruction of the
human race. That's why they call it the Appliance of Science!
HOW TO ENJOY A GM FREE CHRISTMAS
- Of the big High Street chains, only Iceland has so far taken the
GM threat seriously, ensuring none of its own-brands are contaminated.
- At present, any food labelled organic must be GM-free. But the GM
industry is trying to change the rules so that the term can be applied to
mutant veg.
- A good way of getting organic products is through a veggie box
scheme. There are several of these around and we will happily publicise
them if suppliers contact us. One scheme operating in Worthing involves a
weekly £6.50 box full of mixed organic veg. Contact Mark c/o us.
- If you get together with friends, family or colleagues you can order in
bulk (minimum delivery order £100) from the excellent Infinity
Foods at Portslade. Phone 01273-424060 for a catalogue of guaranteed
GM-free foods. Or join the up-and-running scheme to bulk-buy and share the
food and the costs - contact Worthing Friends of the Earth (see contact
details above).
- While we're at it, we can also point you to a supply of free-range
eggs, another scheme organised by Worthing FOE, contact as above.
POLICE STATE STITCHES UP FANS ...
EVERYONE is innocent under law until
proven guilty. That's the way it is in this country, isn't it? No. Not any
more it isn't. The Government has announced further proposals to enable it to
take draconian measures against people it doesn't like without even having to
prove they have done anything wrong. The immediate target is football
supporters (always 'hooligans' in state-speak), presumably because nice
liberals also think they're all the scum of the earth and aren't going to
cause a stink about their basic rights being stolen from them. But you can bet
your life that it won't stop there and once the precedent has been set, the
law will be quietly extended to cover anyone else the state fancies. Reported
The Guardian on November 28: "Under the proposals, courts could
issue international banning orders for up to 10 years against those who have
been arrested for football violence." It added that unconvicted troublemakers
could be subject to banning orders on the basis of "information presented to
the police". What?! Even more absurdly, "the period of time during
which committed offences are considered football related should also be
extended, from less than five hours to 72 hours either side of a match."
Mathematicians will have worked out that 72 hours is three days. Three days
either side of a match? With games on Sundays and Mondays nowadays, as well as
Saturdays and Wednesdays, that's the whole porkin' week nicely stitched up!
... AND FOOTIE TAKES TO THE STREETS!
NO sooner had we heard about Big
Brother's new war on football fans, than we received a defiant leaflet from a
bunch of Worthing football fans. This kicks off with the delicately-phrased
plea: "Can we have our football back please mistah? It seems to be
wedged firmly up your fat corporate arse!" and continues in the same
vein, contrasting the commercialisation of the modern game with its origins.
"The Shrove Tuesday game at Ashbourne near Derby has been dated back to 217AD,
at least. Football was a real riot in centuries past,
reclaiming the streets of medieval England. The authorities
didn't control it, so they tried to stop it. Let's get football back on the
streets, where it belongs! Stop the traffic and kick a ball around!" With all
this in mind, these fans are planning to hold an Olde Street
Football match in Worthing town centre. This was originally pencilled
in for December, but a seriously depleted squad, plus the seasonal risk of
frozen pitch/balls, has resulted in a sensible postponement. Meanwhile if
anyone wants to help plan this project we can pass on messages/ideas/contacts.
And watch this space for news of the re-arranged fixture. It'll be a crunch
match!
IT COULD NEVER HAPPEN HERE, COULD IT?
THERE must be times when all of
us imagine we are living in a nightmare world, a world where power and
corruption rule the roost, where the public are continually ripped off, lied
to and manipulated for other people's private gain and those who pretend to
protect them simply stand by and watch, with a wad of fresh banknotes
protruding from their back pocket. And then we wake up in our own bed, realise
where we are and say to ourselves "Thank God I live in Worthing!" Two
recent events brought this to mind. Firstly, there was the revelation in
The West Sussex Gazette on November 12 that Arundel's Town Clerk
James Dean has had his right to practise as a solicitor suspended by the Law
Society. Now we're great fans of Mr Dean's Hollywood career, mysteriously cut
short in its prime, and we have no idea whether or not the allegations of
dishonesty are true. But it is quite telling that such a suggestion has even
been made! Arundel is so close to Worthing geographically and yet morally the
atmosphere must be a thousand miles distant. We ask in all seriousness - could
anyone ever imagine that one of our fine public servants in Worthing, a
high-ranking member of the council for instance, could be in any way corrupt?
The thought is so absurd and hurtful that we frankly feel soiled and
guilt-ridden for even having raised it in print. The second recent
happening was all the hoo-ha over Judge Gee also accused of
dishonesty, but whose trial was dramatically abandoned when he declared
himself a broken man unable to go through with the proceedings. The likelihood
of a judge or magistrate here in Worthing behaving in the same way is
virtually nil, as surely is the likelihood of any of these fine characters
being members of some nasty, secretive Masonic Lodge (although we might have
been able to be more certain on this latter point had they ever answered the
letter on the subject we hand-delivered to Worthing courts on March 9 this
year).
PORKIE PIE'S TIP OF THE MONTH
How to be a Criminal and Get Away
With It!
- When you come up in court simply tell them you're a broken person and any
prosecution would be too distressing for you to go through. Then they'll let
you off!*
*Of course this does not apply if for some reason you are not a
judge.
CAFE THAT'S DRIVING 'EM TEAPOTTY!
THEY say a week is a long time in
politics, but a month represents several eras for Worthing's new community
cafe, The Anarchist Teapot. Since our last issue it has
been and gone from two premises in the town centre and we have no new address
to pass on at the time of writing, though we'll slip in a Stop Press if the
situation changes. The popular new game of Hunt the Teapot has provided hours
of fun for thirsty punters looking for their free cuppa and the most helpful
playing strategy we have heard so far is to sidle up to one of the Big Issue
vendors and ask them for a clue. Meanwhile, the Teapot Team asked us to say
that if anyone in Worthing has an empty shop, office, flat, shed, cardboard
box, etc. that they can use for a while, please get in touch with them - even
if it's only available for a month, that'll be twice as long as the last
tenure!
A MULTIPOX ON HOLLYWOOD
WORTHING council is determined to push on with
its plans for a lucrative development at Teville Gate, involving
a multiplex cinema. Two points to stress here. Firstly, multipox cinemas are
the silver screen version of digital TV - more channels and less choice, under
the iron thumb of Big Business. How about a guarantee that independent British
or European films will be shown on just one of the proposed nine screens,
instead of the usual cultural excreta of American coca-colonisation? Fat
chance. The other point concerns The Dome, Worthing's
inconvenient piece of cinematic heritage being left to rot by the same
apparently movie-mad council. As an astute letter in The Worthing
Guardian pointed out on December 3, any individual letting a listed
building fall to pieces would find the borough council descending on them like
a ton of expensive hand-made bricks. But who polices the police?
POLICE MAG? LET'S HAVE A PROPER GANDER
AN outraged Worthing-ite wrote
to us after receiving through his door the latest edition of
Patrol, the Sussex Police newspaper, and discovering some
nauseating prose in praise of police surveillance of the population in what he
describes as "this other porcine publication", including the boast that "live
pictures from 218 cameras in 20 town and village centres are being monitored
24 hours a day from Sussex Police stations ... The cameras don't just deter
criminals, they help to keep you safe." This issue has apparently gone out to
every home in Sussex. How nice of us all to chip in to pay for this KGB-style
police state propaganda!
PORK SCRATCHINGS
RESISTANCE is growing to the proliferation of
mobile phone masts around West Sussex. While they have long been
considered an eyesore, and we have exposed their role as state surveillance
device (see Issue 4), the health hazard caused by
microwave signals from both phones and masts has been publicised of late (they
cause tumours) and prompted new anger, with planned masts at Lancing Business
Park and Wisborough Green currently being furiously opposed by locals. Trouble
is though that the government has fixed the rules so councils can't stop the
masts going up. Is direct action once again the only option left?
* * *
SO poor old Northbrook College have been stopped by the
government from turning their Broadwater campus into a retail park. As they
rack their brains over what on earth to do with the site we have a helpful and
novel suggestion - why not build a decent college?
* * *
HOW lovely to hear of Worthing's favourite air polluters,
Daewoo, driving round and round the M25 to raise money for
Children in Need. Maybe next time they could skip the driving bit and just
hand over the cash to a good cause - preferably to help asthma sufferers.
* * *
AN INVITATION is going out to all artists (writers, painters,
film-makers) to form an Activists Arts Collective for stunts on
our streets! Contact James c/o The Pork-bolter porkbolter@eco-action.org. Meanwhile,
winter trespasses on the South Downs are being staged on January
17, February 28 and March 21, meet Brighton station at 10am. No dogs please!
* * *
HOT news from the hunting scene concerns Rob Curson, master of the
Chiddingfold, Leconfield and Cowdray Hunt. He fell from his horse and appeared
to sustain back injuries. Hunt sabs were happily on hand to administer first
aid (or was that last rites?), but Mr Curson had to be air-lifted to hospital
in a police helicopter. Still, it's all part of the traditional fun, what? For
details of future activities including Boxing Day and New Year's Day outings,
hunt opponents can contact Worthing Wildlife Protection c/o PO
Box 4144, Worthing, BN14 7NZ. Or email The Pork-Bolter and we'll pass your
message on. For more information on hunt sabbing see the Hunt Sabs
Association website.
* * *
SO Newbury Bypass opened in the end, even if they had
to carry out the ceremony in secret in the middle of the night. But the
protests continue on Sunday January 10 with The End of the Road
Reunion. More information on the Third Battle of Newbury
website. Transport is planned from Worthing. To find out more and book your
place contact us or schnews@brighton.co.uk. Closer to home,
rumours continue to circulate that the road-builders still intend desecrating
the South Downs at Cissbury Ring. Can anyone tell us why else
Highways Agency bigwig Laurie Haynes was recently driven along the A27 from
Chichester to Brighton in his chauffeured car?
* * *
IT'S hard enough being homeless in the best of circumstances, but why
are the guests of Worthing's Byron Road Hostel breathalised
every night and chucked out on the streets again if they have had so much as a
drop of ale? The spirit of those fun lovin' Puritans evidently lives on in our
town ...
* * *
LOVERS of pagan tradition note: a torchlight procession and apple
tree wassailing will be staged in Tarring High Street on Tuesday
5 January at 8pm with drinks and musical merriment in The Vine pub afterwards.
* * *
P_P_P_PICK UP A PORK-BOLTER! If you want to make sure of getting a
copy of Issue 14 simply send us a stamped addressed envelope. To get the next
six issues send a donation of at least £2 to cover costs. Any extras
always needed and gratefully received. Copies of back issues are still
available. Cheques/postal orders made payable to The Pork-Bolter. email
subscriptions also available. Drop us a line: porkbolter@eco-action.org or PO Box
4144, Worthing, West Sussex, BN14 7NZ. website: http://www.eco-action.org/porkbolter
* * *
OFFICIAL HM GOVERNMENT WARNING: Members of the public may have gained
the impression from various unauthorised sources of late that their health and
well-being is under threat from the development of GM foods, microwave
radiation from mobile phones, pollution from motor traffic, disturbed weather
caused by global warming, BSE from beef, etc ... etc ... Do not worry. While
the Government has been advised by its legal department not to state
categorically that there is no foundation in these allegations, at the same
time it must be stressed that our primary duty is to serve the needs of our
sponsors in the Business Community and, as usual, we intend taking no notice
of anything you plebs have to say. Merry Christmas!
and finally ... MAKE 1999 THE YEAR YOU FINALLY STAND UP TO THEM!
