The longest trial in England ever

Dear Mother,

I am sorry we did not take you to McDonalds for lunch. We know how much you enjoy it and it nice and simple and cheap for us too, but I am sure you will agree with our sentiments. It's like this, you see...........

The longest trial is also known as the McLibel case. The trial ran for two and half years with the defendants, a former postman and a gardener, being found guilty by a judge of some of the allegations they made of which they were accused. It all centred around a brochure accusing the McDonalds Corporation of various acts of  bad corporate citizenry.

Not content with McDonalds not enforcing payment of damages, the pair went on to the European Court of Human Rights which judged that their rights to freedom of expression and a fair trial had been breached.

From when the brochure was first composed to when the case concluded in ECHR was a period of 19 years.

It is hard to believe McDonalds survived the awful publicity the case engendered, but it did and amazingly seemed to learn little from the experience.

The Dandenong Ranges are a rather special place for Melburnians. You can see the range in the background of my header photo. It is place of national parks, farms, villages, damp winters and hot summers where there is always a fear the whole mountain could go up in a fierce blaze. The villages contain tea rooms, cafes, galleries, nurseries, public gardens and heaps of small businesses. Houses are sprinkled over much of the range and of course it is where the iconic Puffing Billy steam train runs.

On the edge of ranges and quite close to Melbourne is Tecoma, a non-descript little township, and it is where McDonalds is going against local wishes and building an outlet there. There are also many Victorians against the building of a McDonalds there. On one petition alone there are 61,000 signatures.

The locals have been passionately protesting against the development and extraordinarily McDonalds is suing eight local protesting residents for delaying the project, having taken out Supreme Court writs against them.

McDonalds has once again set it sails to a public relations disaster. Of course the company will recover, but I am doubtful about the Tecoma McDonalds store ever being profitable.

But then again, as our own Dame Nellie Melba said to Clara Butt about Australians, 'Sing 'em muck. It's all they can understand'.

Note: I don't use the phrase Scottish Restaurant when I want the post to turn up for google searches and various media monitors.