Day 131 - 06 Jun 95 - Page 23

     
     1        well-known aphorism in safety is that "you cannot manage
     2        what you cannot measure".  By measuring, you have some idea
     3        of whether a store is performing well, whether it is
     4        improving, whether in any way it is exceptional to those of
     5        its fellows.
     6
     7   Q.   Can I just take an example -- and it is only an example,
     8        and I am certainly not going to go through the whole
     9        thing -- if you look at the third page, and I do not think
    10        the pages are numbered, but it is probably headed "Part B".
    11
    12   MR. MORRIS:  Can I just make a possible legal point?  If a
    13        document is dated since the case started, which is
    14        October 1994, the document has the date inside it, what
    15        really can we -- I mean, for all we know, it was invented
    16        purely for the case.
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not think it is for me to answer that.
    19        Mr. Rampton may choose to say three lines so that you
    20        understand what the particular relevance of matters are,
         where there have been changes since 1990.  I am sure you
    22        have it in mind that -- as your cross-examination
    23        progressed, if it appeared you were not dealing with it,
    24        I was going to suggest that you take just a little time in
    25        cross-examination to seek, if you wish, Mr. Purslow's view
    26        of the system as it prevailed at the time that it is
    27        alleged that you participated in the publication of the
    28        leaflet, or immediately before that.
    29
    30   MR. MORRIS:  This particular document is dated since the actual
    31        trial started, so that is even more -----
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That may be an afortiori point.  It is up to
    34        you, Mr. Rampton.  I think I know, but I think it would be
    35        wrong for me to volunteer an answer to Mr. Morris'
    36        question.
    37
    38   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, there are two answers to Mr. Morris'
    39        question, if he wants to hear it.  The first is that the
    40        Defendants habitually try to have their cake and eat it;
         when matters suit them which have happened since 1989,
    42        1990, they grasp them eagerly.  When they did not suit
    43        them, they say, "Oh, no, we are not interested in anything
    44        after 1989/1990."
    45
    46        More substantially, my Lord, is this point: like all good
    47        organisations, McDonald's -- and this would be our
    48        submission to your Lordship -- evolves and improves as time
    49        passes.  This is an example.  Whether it is formalisation
    50        of what happened before or whether it is a new idea perhaps 
    51        does not matter very much. 
    52 
    53        I was actually directing Mr. Purslow's attention to it for
    54        rather a different reason at this particular point, but
    55        that will emerge in a moment.  But one of the things your
    56        Lordship may have noticed during the course of this case is
    57        that at different points in time, sometimes during 1980s,
    58        sometimes even the late 1970s, sometimes during the 1990s,
    59        changes have happened within McDonald's, very often --
    60        I would say almost invariably -- for the better.  That