BIG MAC is getting decidedly cheesed off with the marathon libel trial it is fighting in the High Court against two unemployed environmental campaigners. The latest manoeuvre from McDonald's is to threaten to withhold copies of the daily court transcripts from the defendants.
They, Dave Morris and Helen Steel, have no money to pay for immediate transcripts, which can cost £350 a day. Since they subsist on benefits, they may even be hard pushed to buy transcripts for £20 a day which they can do but only three weeks in arrears.
For immediate transcripts, which are often necessary to prepare for the next day's court action, they rely on McDonald's, which can afford to supply them.
But Big Mac has said it will stop passing on copies of the transcripts from Tuesday. Doubtless, it will do so with a smile and a "have a nice day".
Why is Big Mac taking such drastic action? Apparently because it wants to try to stop embarrassing details of the trial turning up in newspaper articles. Like this one.