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The power of radio
Those of you who watched BBC TV on Tuesday evening would see the programme regarding the first broadcasts by the pirate ship ‘ Radio Scotland ‘ way back in the ‘70s ?
They sailed their pirate radio ship out of Dunbar and set up just out of territorial waters and broadcast music, pop and otherwise on 242 metres.
One item I well remember was the teuchter music they played every evening at 6 30pm. At that time I was with SAI who had an egg grading station at Stirling.
One of the egg producers who supplied the packing station was Bill McNicol at Castleton Farm North Berwick.
He had complained about his seconds gradings which he thought recorded far too many small blood spots being found. He was using his own eggs to eat and did not have many blood spots in those he ate.
One evening on her way home from Eyemouth the other SAI poultry adviser looked in, at just before 6.30pm, to see how the birds were doing. Bill had piped radio into the laying house to mask any outside noises so as not to upset the layers. As the birds were being inspected the radio, tuned to the pirate channel Radio Scotland, started the Teuchter music. The birds hit the roof. Went berserk. They were Thornber 606, quite a flighty bird.
The radio was re-tuned to another station and after that 6.30pm was a normal quiet time and the blood spots disappeared.
The power of the Press
Many of us have recently complained regarding the reporting in the press and on TV /radio on the threat of avian influenza. If it had not been for the Press many of the public would be unconcerned at a few deaths from ‘flu away out in the Far East.
The Press and media today control our lives, our thinkings and even some of our ‘habits’
Many of us believe, without question, anything which is printed in our daily newspaper. I repeat they control our thinking, even our morals.
A statement was published, which some believed, some time ago as follows “ KFC restaurants no longer use the word 'chicken' to describe their product because they serve meat from genetically engineered animals that the government will no longer permit to be referred to as 'chickens.'
The statement went on “ First of all, has anybody noticed that just recently, the company has changed their name? Kentucky Fried Chicken has become KFC. Does anybody know why? We thought the real reason was because of the "FRIED" food issue. It's not. The reason why they call it KFC is because they cannot use the word chicken anymore. Why? KFC does not use real chickens. They actually use genetically manipulated organisms. These so called "chickens" are kept alive by tubes inserted into their bodies to pump blood and nutrients throughout their structure. They have no beaks, no feathers, and no feet. Their bone structure is dramatically shrunk to get more meat out of them. This is great for KFC because they do not have to pay so much for their production costs. There is no more plucking of the feathers or the removal of the beaks and feet. The government has told them to change all of their menus so they do not say chicken anywhere. If you look closely you will notice this. Listen to their commercials, I guarantee you will not see or hear the word chicken.
I find this matter to be very disturbing. I hope people will start to realize this and let other people know. Please forward this message to as many people as you can. Together we make KFC start using real chicken again. “
Like bird flu statements this one really hurt KFC but of course it has since been discredited as yet another urban myth propagated by the internet.
I guess it would be animal rights organisations that were behind this campaign - just the same as those who released the wild boars this week?
My concern, or part of my concern, is the fact that these statements appear as ‘official’ and are not challenged because it was ‘ printed in the Press ‘. Therefore it must be correct.
I, some 2 years back, received a statement showing the results of a survey carried out by the Department of Forensics of the University College London. The survey carried out in 2000 showed that the seats sampled on the London Underground carried myriads of germs, rat droppings, sweat and lots of other unmentionables. It was a disgusting report. It would put anyone off sitting on a London underground seat.
I now find that it was all a hoax. There is no such “Dept of Forensics”, though the London College is fact.
Yet so many of us believed this report. Everyone to whom I showed the report did ! I did !
Campaigns do have an effect if carried out in a manner which we the public believe and believe to be feasible ?
The media led by certain sections of public and organisations would appear to be running a campaign against supermarkets ?
The Times newspaper carried a headline on Monday.
The end of the corner shop is nigh as 10,000 go under in five years
They estimate that the corner shop will be extinct within the next 10 years. The article went on to say...
If current trends are not reversed, MPs fear that the heart will be torn out
of local communities,” reports Sam Coates
They have been the backbone of communities for hundreds of years, dispensing gossip, local knowledge and groceries for millions of loyal customers. But the corner shop could become extinct within the next ten years as supermarket chains threaten to take away their customers and destroy their supply chains.
An all-party group of MPs will report this month that independent shops and newsagents have a "very, very bleak" future.
The end of independent local retailers will create "food deserts" across the country with devastating results for the elderly and infirm in need of essential supplies. The changing landscape of the British retail sector will also have an impact on the publishing industry, as smaller magazines could find themselves without an outlet, the MPs believe.
Supermarkets say that they are also providing convenience stores. This is a sector that chains were not even in a little more than five years ago and now they have more than 600 stores.
"The big supermarkets do not drag people off the streets into their stores. There is no doubting their reputation for value for money and good-quality produce. But it is a question of what the secondary effects of that are: is it sustainable over the long term when competition is being eradicated so ruthlessly?"
Tesco told the MPs that it hoped to
double the number of its small shops to 1,200 within the next ten years, he
said.
One side issue of this matter is the fact that smaller egg producers who have in the past supplied the now missing corner shops will be finally forced to give up. Only because of a lack of retail outlets ?
It is said that some egg producers could supply the main packers who in turn supply the supermarkets? All in all it does not bode for a good future. Small egg producers supplying their own families and possibly a few friends and neighbours will, perhaps, increase ? Certainly small hen house manufacturers are busy as are those suppliers of POL pullets.
But then the next move could be rules and regulations brought in regarding the keeping of small hen flocks in back gardens ?
The new EU Food ‘hygiene’ regulations as laid out in your report 23 December will also, I am sure, discourage some producers. On a re-read, I see that it states that the new rules apply “ from the producer’s premises until sale to the consumer”. This could mean that eggs purchased from a retailer and which later caused an illness could mean that your ‘ hygiene ‘ could be at fault ?
What about those eggs produced by you which had been handled by the shopkeeper and even a member of the public ?
How will you prove who was the culprit? Who left the bugs on the shell? The hen, the producer, a member of the public, the shop’s interior or the person who cooked the egg ?
It will be your stamp on the egg and I guess this will be used as evidence?
Avian Flu
Couldn’t close the first 2006 Report without mention of AI.
The Press and TV are full of news about the case of AI in Turkey in which three youngsters have died. It appears that they worked closely with poultry.
A report from Washington USA agrees with my long held opinion that if A I arrives in the UK it will be courtesy of a human on an aeroplane ? This theory is given more credence when I see that the FSA discovered in Northern Ireland an illegal consignment of chicken drumsticks and fillets which had incorrect health labels attached. They had come from China !
Fancy importing chicken from the one country that appears to be rife with A I. I guess there would be profit to be made by the buyer/seller ! That devil greed !
Washington 05/01/06 states that A I appears to more likely to wing its away round the globe by plane than by migrating birds.
Scientists have been unable to link the spread of the virus to migratatory patterns suggesting that the 1,000s of wild birds which have died are not primary transmitters of bird flu.
The USA are to start a testing programme to ensure that all chicken flocks are free of potentially hazardous forms of A I. They are to be tested for both H5 and H7types.
Only The Shell Can Tell
To end this report on a positive note I want to tell you a story about advertising.
I have constantly told you of the advantages that you have being the owners of the Scottish Identity number of every egg produced in Scotland --- the SCO on each and every egg laid in Scotland.
Roy Kerr at Dumfries has his delivery vans displaying the “ True Scot “ and pictures of the MacSepra hen complete with kilt etc. You all know what I mean.
Roy was driving back from a delivery of eggs when he saw a car stopped at the side of the road with hazard lights on. Whether it was the lights or the two young ladies in the car that made him stop I don’t know. But they could not change a punctured wheel and Roy after changing the wheel took them down to a tyre garage in Dumfries, and then went on his way.
Imagine his surprise when he received a letter from the two Glasgow girls thanking Roy for all his help. How did they know his address ? It was painted on the side of his van. But best of all the letter of thanks was addressed to the TRUE SCOT as per your OTSCT leaflets etc.
Just shows you the power of your advertising slogan?
Dennis Surgenor.
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