The Princess Royal has spoken out in favour of
genetically modified (GM) foods - putting
herself at odds with the views of the Prince of
Wales.
In an interview with The Grocer magazine, she
said those who were opposed to all GM foods
were guilty of a "huge simplification" and that
organic food production is not an "overall
answer".
Two weeks ago, Prince
Charles delivered a
fierce attack on the
dangers of unrestrained
scientific research,
arguing that a world
which ignores the
"essential unity" of the
living and spiritual
universes is doomed.
The Princess, who is
the President of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science, told the magazine:
"Man has been tinkering with food production
and plant development for such a long time
that it's a bit cheeky to suddenly get nervous
about doing it when fundamentally you are
doing much the same thing.
"Of course shoppers feel the speed of change
is too fast to understand what the dangers are
and where the weak points might be. And that
seems to me to be a perfectly valid argument.
'Life's not simple'
"But it is a huge oversimplification to say all
farming ought to be organic or there should be
no GM foods. I'm sorry - but life isn't that
simple.
"You can add value on the marginal farms
through organics. But I feel they're not an
overall answer.
"If you consider things in terms of overall
production and sheer weight of numbers, of
supporting a population which has so hugely
increased, then organics is not the whole
answer," said Princess Anne.
Her brother is a
long-standing advocate
of organic farming
techniques and, in a
Reith lecture broadcast
on BBC Radio 4 last
month, said that
"nature has come to be
regarded as a system
that can be engineered
for our own
convenience ... and in
which anything that
happens can be fixed
by technology and
human ingenuity".
He added: "If literally nothing is held sacred
any more - because it is considered
synonymous with superstition or in some other
way irrational - what is there to prevent us
treating our entire world as some great
laboratory of life, with potentially disastrous
long-term consequences?"
He welcomed a "precautionary approach" to
scientific advances and mocked those who
portray it as a sign of weakness or an attempt
to halt progress, saying: "I believe it to be a
sign of strength and wisdom."
He said: "In this technology-driven age, it is all
too easy for us to forget that mankind is part
of nature and not apart from it, and that this
is why we should seek to work with the grain
of nature in everything we do."
~*~
Queen and Camilla meet at Highgrove
lunch(Electronic Telegraph)
By Robert Hardman
THE QUEEN has finally acknowledged Camilla Parker Bowles as the
woman in the Prince of Wales's life following a historic meeting between the
two women yesterday afternoon in front of the Prince and his sons.
The Telegraph can disclose that Mrs Parker Bowles was introduced by
Prince Charles to the Queen at Highgrove as the monarch arrived at the
Prince's Gloucestershire home for a lunch party in honour of the 60th birthday
of King Constantine of Greece.
After a brief chat, each moved on among the other guests. But the significance
of the moment will be lost on no one. Until now, the Queen has refused to
meet Mrs Parker Bowles or to attend any events at which she might be
present, feeling that it would be inappropriate in the light of Mrs Parker
Bowles's part in the collapse of the royal marriage.
The Queen was well aware that Mrs Parker Bowles would be at yesterday's
lunch and had given the matter much thought before deciding to attend.
According to royal sources, she believed that the time had finally come to
accept Mrs Parker Bowles as part of her son's life and she discussed the
matter with the Prince during the week.
Their meeting yesterday was witnessed by both Prince William and Prince
Harry. Prince Philip was not present, since he had a prior carriage-driving
commitment and had already had a private dinner with King Constantine the
night before. But he is understood to support the Queen's decision to
recognise Mrs Parker Bowles.
At lunch, the Queen and Mrs Parker Bowles were at separate tables, the
former sitting next to King Constantine and the latter among friends. The
encounter will not lead to a sudden flood of Buckingham Palace invitations for
Mrs Parker Bowles. "It was not a big deal," said one courtier. "The Queen
knows Tino [King Constantine] very well and wanted to go."
Nor does it herald the start of any sort of public role for Mrs Parker Bowles.
The Prince's long-established official position remains the same: he still has "no
intention" of remarrying. However, it marks a seismic shift in the Queen's
attitude towards her eldest son's private life and will have been a gesture that
both delighted and relieved the Prince and Mrs Parker Bowles.
It is understood that one factor which led the Queen to break the ice was the
success of the Prince's recent week in Scotland where Mrs Parker Bowles
attended a few events given by the Prince in his capacity as Lord High
Commissioner of the Church of Scotland. The Queen, who was staying in
Scotland for part of the week, is said to have been impressed by the way the
couple were received by the Church and the way the events were handled.
Despite her friendship with King Constantine, the Queen would previously
have turned down such an invitation, just as she declined an invitation to the
Prince's 50th birthday party at Highgrove because Mrs Parker Bowles was to
be there. But the passage of time and a growing sense of the absurdity of the
situation meant that things had to change.
Nor was yesterday the first occasion on which the Queen and Mrs Parker
Bowles had met. Before her marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles, the then
Camilla Shand met the monarch on several occasions through her early
friendship with the Prince.
The Queen met her again several times shortly after her marriage. There was,
however, no question of any contact once the Prince's marriage started to
suffer problems. It remains unlikely that Mrs Parker Bowles will attend the
celebrations in honour of the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Queen
Mother.
~*~ Palace bottom protest: four held(Evening Standard)
Four men have been arrested after a protest against the
monarchy outside Buckingham Palace.
Police said a group of about 10 protesters dropped their
trousers in the demonstration called The Moon Against the
Monarchy at Canada Gate, Green Park.
They are being held at Charing Cross police station.
The demonstration was organised by the Movement
Against the Monarchy which wants to abolish the Royal
family.
A spokeswoman calling herself Laura Norda said: "It is a
protest to highlight the absurdity of the monarchy. The
monarchy is the most expensive soap opera in history.
"We hope to galvanise support from people who are
against the monarchy and the British class system."
The area in front of Buckingham Palace including the
Queen Victoria Memorial was cordoned off by police
who maintained a heavy presence throughout the peaceful
and good-natured demonstration.
The protesters were greeted with a round of applause as
they bared their bottoms in front of puzzled tourists.
~*~
Superhero with a dark side (Yahoo: BBC)
Queen Elizabeth II has honoured a Star Wars veteran at a Buckingham Palace investiture.
Dave Prowse, 64, who played the arch-villain Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, collected
the MBE he received for services to charity and road safety in the New Year's honours list.
The 6ft 7in former Mr Universe donned the costume of the road safety hero, Green Cross Code Man,
from 1976 to 1990, encouraging children to stop, look, listen and think before crossing the road.
"Star Wars was just about to come out, and Superman was on the cards," says Mr Prowse, thinking back to his call-up as the
Green Cross Code Man.
"So (the campaign organisers) decided they wanted to have their own superhero to front the road safety ads."
When the government launched the Green Cross Code campaign in 1970, 616 child pedestrians were killed on roads in the
UK. By 1998, this figure had fallen to 115.
Earlier this year, he squeezed back into his green and white body costume for two weeks to promote reflective armbands and
safe night driving.
Bit parts
Between stints as Vader and Green Cross Code Man, Mr Prowse pursued his life-long devotion to physical fitness.
He opened the Star Gym in Southwark, south London, in 1969, where he trained Christopher Reeve to play Superman, Daniel
Day Lewis for Last of the Mohicans and Peter Davison for Dr Who.
His own film credits - for characters such as Man in Cinema and Creature - read like the listings for an incredibly strange film
festival.
In addition to sweeping about the Star Wars sets in flowing cloak and death mask, Mr Prowse appeared in several Hammer
horror flicks, a Carry On film and the James Bond spoof Casino Royale.
He also worked with the infamous purveyor of surreal soft-porn, Russ Myer, and appeared as a bodyguard in A Clockwork
Orange: "That's how I got Star Wars - George Lucas remembered me from Stanley Kubrick's film."
Mr Prowse was paid just £6,000 for Star Wars. Although his pay packet swelled for the next two films, he did not receive a
cut of the profits.
He hopes to reprise the role of Vader in the final instalment of the new Star Wars trilogy, set years before the original series.
"James Earl Jones, who provided the voice, did an interview on US TV recently, and said he had seven minutes of overdubbing
the voice of Darth Vader in the final film.
"I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but they may decide that I'm too old now. But I think the fans who have grown up with Darth
Vader would like me to do it."