Trafigura scum win libel case against BBC

Despite being ultimately responsible for the dumping of a load of toxic rubbish which cause injury and probably death in the Ivory Coast in 2006, the amoral vermin Trafigura and their vile shysters Carter-Ruck have scored one over the BBC.

After negotiations with Trafigura director Eric de Turckheim the BBC broadcaster agreed to apologise for a Newsnight programme, pay £25,000 to charity, and withdraw any allegation that Trafigura's toxic waste dumped in Africa had caused deaths
That said BBC issued a statement, pointing out that the dumping of Trafigura's hazardous waste had led to the British-based oil trader being forced to pay out £30m in compensation to victims.

"The BBC has played a leading role in bringing to the public's attention the actions of Trafigura in the illegal dumping of 500 tons of hazardous waste" the statement said. "The dumping caused a public health emergency with tens of thousands of people seeking treatment."

Trafigura had only brought the libel action against a single aspect of Newsnight's reporting, the BBC statement went on: "Experts in the [compensation] case were not able to establish a link between the waste and serious long-term consequences, including deaths."

BBC sources said one factor in the management decision to settle was the fear that Carter-Ruck, Trafigura's libel lawyers, could run up potential bills of as much as £3m if the issue came to a full trial, particularly in the uncertain climate of British libel law. A hearing would have to be conducted before controversial libel judge Mr Justice Eady.

De Turckheim issued his own statement this morning, repeating the contentious claim that "The slops were... dumped illegally by an independent company called Compagnie Tommy – a deplorable action which Trafigura did not and could not have foreseen."
This is despite internal emails published by the Guardian show that Trafigura executives were indeed aware of the hazardous nature of their waste, and the need for specialist expensive disposal.

Once again it is clear that Trafigura are a greedy and avaricious company that does not care about the consequences of its actions. There is no way that they did not realise that offering a contract on the cheap in the Third World would not have consequences. Couple these examples of human detritus to another amoral rabble in the form of Carter-Ruck and a risible libel law and you get travesties like this.

Something I learned today - The Chinese in Britain

Earlier on today I picked up a copy of the new BBC History magazine. Apart from marking down a few books for reading in the near future (Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign, the Hamburg firestorming, Cromwell as a military commander and the story of Eddie Chapman, a thief, turned double agent) I was particularly taken by an item on a forthcoming BBC radio series.

Radio 4 starts a series of programmes about the history of the Chinese community in Britain. Apparently the first known Chinese man to come to Britain was a young Jesuit convert from Nanking called Shen Fu Tsong who arrived at the court of James II in 1686, James II was so taken with him he had his portrait painted and hung in his bed chamber. Shen was the first person to catalogue the Chinese collection in the Bodleian Library, showing the librarian which way up to hold Chinese books as well as what they contained.

One of the first Chinese women to settle in Britain did so at the start of the 20^th Century, Song Ling Whang, made the journey from China to Britain, on foot with a group of other young people. They followed the route of the trans-Siberian railway line, performing acrobatics and making paper flowers to earn their way. What must have made things particularly difficult for her was that she had bound feet.

I’ll have to try and catch this series (via the net as it is on while I am at work). One thing for sure I don’t think I’ll complain about sore feet any time soon....