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Guardian prevented from reporting Parliamentary Question

Fuckin' chickens! Get it published!

Altho I did laugh when I read:

Today's published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found.

The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented – for the first time in memory – from reporting parliament. Legal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret.
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Just sounds funny :rolleyes:
 
agricola said:
A lot of that was in the latest Eye (1246). In short, Trafigura have paid out $30 million to the Ivory Coast after a sub-contractor for them dumped toxic waste in an incident that may have left 15 people dead and thousands injured. They did not admit liability. A great deal of the Eye reporting is because our international development fund (a privatized entity called CDC, which is an incredible scandal in itself) is investing, with Trafigura (via a third company called Anvil, which is accused of assisting in a massacre in the Congo) in a copper mine in Tanzania.
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Yeah, I had a subscription until recently. Although I haven't picked the latest edition up yet.

Btw, the infamous Pressdram case also gets a mention at Q60. :D
 
Maurice Picarda said:
I'm just suggesting that he should be representing Newcastle under Lyme, rather than doing the Grauniad's dirty work for them under the understanding that he can scuttle back to King's Place if he loses his seat.
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Sorry, yeah, I hadn't actually looked at who had tabled the questions and didn't make the connection. Oops. :o
 
They should run with the story that they've been gagged, but also announce that they will publish the story anyway in the next day's paper. That way ensuring they sell a shit load of papers to cover the amount they'll be getting sued by (unless they're getting sued by Sheff Utd, in which case, no paper on Earth will be able to sell enough editions to cover the amount of compensation claimed. Hmmm, maybe it IS Sheff Utd?!)
 
Maurice Picarda said:
I'm just suggesting that he should be representing Newcastle under Lyme, rather than doing the Grauniad's dirty work for them under the understanding that he can scuttle back to King's Place if he loses his seat.
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Yes. Asking questions about the abuse of legal procedure, especially in preventing the media covering embarrassing stories, is, of course, entirely contrary to the interests of his constituents. :rolleyes:
 
AnnO'Neemus said:
Yeah, I had a subscription until recently. Although I haven't picked the latest edition up yet.

Btw, the infamous Pressdram case also gets a mention at Q60. :D
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Thats not Arkell vs Pressdram.... but the memorable part of the legal correspondance relating to that case probably applies.

:D
 
The Guido one's not working, either. Maybe Staines has sabotaged his own server, horrified by the idea that he's driving traffic to the Graun.
 
Pickman's model said:
you may want to rethink that telegraph link
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Here is the text of it... its still searchable and clickable under the Google News bit (just go to News and search for "trafigura") though:

Trafigura targets Greenpeace over toxic allegations
Trafigura, the international oil trader, has accused Greenpeace of targeting it with a high-profile campaign of unsupported allegations over a toxic waste dump in Ivory Coast.


by Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Published: 7:00AM BST 19 Sep 2009

Greenpeace has petitioned a Dutch court to bring criminal charges against Trafigura executives after hundreds of tons of "slops" from a ship it had hired, the Probo Koala, to process petroleum products were allegedly dumped near Abidjan, the African country's commercial capital, by a subcontractor.

"It's an organised campaign by Greenpeace," said Eric de Turckheim, a director of the company. "We don't know why they are attacking us on this subject. We want to have a discussion with them on the scientific fundamentals but they have not wanted to co-operate."

Related Articles

*
Trafigura shows its caring side
*
'Toxic waste' victims demand proper clean-up
*
Oil firm to pay out over Ivory Coast toxic waste

Trafigura admits that there was "real toxicity" at the site but has commissioned a number of scientists who have concluded that the material could not have taken on a gaseous form.

At least 15 people died and thousands were sickened by toxic waste, according to a United Nations report released this week but its findings were also disputed by the company.

The petrochemical waste, described by Trafigura as residues from gasoline mixed with caustic washings, was allegedly left on open sites around Abidjan, the Ivory Coast's largest city by a contractor. "What happened with the discharge was illegal and shocked us as a company," Mr de Turckheim said. "Oil products like that should have a positive value and should have least have been burned but dumping it was just stupid."

Trafigura reached a settlement with the government of the Ivory Coast which provided for the clean up of the sites as well as the construction of a municipal waste incinerator to cope with the city's pollution problem. The company has also said it is prepared to settle a claim of 31,000 affected Ivory Coast residents for compensation for immediate medical problems.

Greenpeace campaigner Andre Van der Vlugt rejected Mr de Turckheim's suggestion that had disregarded scientific evidence to pursue a high-profile campaign against corporate involvement in the African economy.

"If they think we have no proof, why have they settled twice?" he said. "First in the Ivory Coast and then in claims case in London. We hope they will face that evidence.
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agricola said:
You appear to be bang on the money when you identified the question that has been injuncted. As for the story itself:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/sep/21/journalists-collaborate-trafigura-scoop

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...targets-Greenpeace-over-toxic-allegations.htm
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S'okay, I'm aware of the Ivory Coast toxic waste cover up story. ;)

Al Jazeera English did a story in their People & Power programme, in their corporations on trial strand:




p.s. People & Power is an excellent programme: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/
 
It's all over the blogosphere and twitter 'hash'trafigura feed is coming through thick and fast now. :D


(Sorry, I can't find the hash sign on my keyboard, it comes out as £.)
 
I would also like to inform you that all correspondence with the NRK can be published on our web pages at any time.
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That last line has to be the most subtle 'fuck off bastard' I've ever seen. :D
 
Maurice Picarda said:
I'm just suggesting that he should be representing Newcastle under Lyme, rather than doing the Grauniad's dirty work for them under the understanding that he can scuttle back to King's Place if he loses his seat.
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indeed, we'd all gain if MP's concentrated on purely parochial issues. They've no business involving themselves in stuff like who decides which judges hear cases or how whistleblowers are protected. They should leave that sort of thing to to the proper authorities.
 
newbie said:
indeed, we'd all gain if MP's concentrated on purely parochial issues. They've no business involving themselves in stuff like who decides which judges hear cases or how whistleblowers are protected. They should leave that sort of thing to to the proper authorities.
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You've missed the point, haven't you?
 
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