From: "Russell Pearson" <r.pearson-AT-clara.net> Subject: M-TH: What the papers say Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 21:42:44 -0000 A delightfully boring British Sunday, but interesting things reported in the the press stir the old anarchist in me: Firstly we have the countryside march. Part of an unholy mix of 'country-folk' (as they like to be called), the ruralists are campaigning for the right to hunt, (asserting that this is their right to difference _and_ heritage); the right to stop poor townies trampling on their land with a right to ramble ('Get Orff My Land' is a cliched farmer chant, whilst said townies worry sheep with cries of 'Mint Sauce'); and to stop new houses being built in the 'green-belt (land supposedly set aside for pastoral usage and now threatened by the Labour Govt and that bete noir but land-owner, Earl Spencer). The Murdoch owned Sunday Times portrayed the march in London today (said to be attracting 250,000 and thus the largest protest since the Poll Tax debacles) as a backlash against Blair's nannyish authoritarianism: "The marchers are convinced that they have harnessed a new national mood of scepticism and defiance towards arbitrary legislation and the arrogance of authority." Fat chance I say, but I like the sentiment. Not quite celebrated in the Times is the Chris Patten affair. Patten was the last British Governor of the former colony of Hong Kong. His autobiography is reputed to be excellent, at least that's what one of Harper Collins' employees reckons. Harper Collins is owned by the Rupert Murdoch, who, as is well known, has extensive interests in China. When the BBC's World Service broadcast disparaging news of events in China, Murdoch promptly dropped the service from his Star satellite system. Thus with the hapless Patten: sent to Hong Kong after losing his seat in the commons by friends of M Thatcher, whom he opposed, his biog is to be 'sent East' too. His book is said to be less than kind towards the Chinese and Harper Collins decided to axe it, claiming it was sub-standard. Not so, cried an equally hapless Harper Collins employee, Stuart Proffitt- it's the best piece of political writing I've read in 15 years. The poor fellow was sacked for his crimes. The S Times now presents the whole event as a bitter and twisted attack against their owner in chief by an unholy alliance of anti-Murdochites. The Independent newsaper meanwhile cries 'liar'. And finally, London Greenpeace are back in the news. Their last claim to fame was in the McLibel case brought against them by McDonalds. Now they are taking on another multi-national: Anita Roddick's Body Shop. The apparent defender of inigeneous rights is to be accused of less than wholesome green practices, in an aptly entitled pamphlet called 'What's wrong with Body Shop'. Let's hope that the anarchist crusaders win this one. NB The S Times reports that the share price for Roddick's implausible emporia is at an all time low and the company is coming under what it calls 'increasing pressure'... Russ. --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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