Writing my BMMG LAN proposal for PICOM and taking relevant interviews as well as making a funds transfer electronically from my new Homelink Prestel account, a novelty now soon to become commonplace, as the NUM receiver ends up empty handed in Dublin and the Bhopal death toll reaches 2,000 with 50,000 being treated for blindness. 30 years later, we can hear something of the true extent of the tragedy
A few adventures with Diana in the night made me somewhat tired this morning and, when tea was brought, I drank it and buried myself back under the covers again. I listened to the radio news in anticipation of the ministerial statement in the House this afternoon by Sir Keith Joseph. Eventually, to The Financial Times, from which I learn that in India, the death toll of the gas leak has reached 2000 dead and as many as 50,000 people treated after the disaster could go blind. Both the Union Carbide Plant and the one in the US have been closed down. but then to a breakfast of melon, toast, honey and apple juice and then back to bed to finish the paper. A hair wash plus the normal ablutions and then out to feed the doves and ducks as normal. A morning coffee with Diana and then over to the office for two hours work. Di joined me and we used our new Homelink Prestel account to pay the phone bill by electronic funds transfer. This is a novelty and will soon become the normal way. Then I try to get down to the authorship of a new paper on an Industry Policy for Information Technology, which I aim to publicise at next week’s PITCOM meeting.
Interrupted by a call from Computer Talk and interview on the BMMG LAN proposal and I find it very difficult to generate written work when not under the habitual pressures. I was always the same during school and college holidays – I would always wait until the last days before doing the preparation. At 12.30pm home to lunch, but (Diana not being ready) I scan the lunchtime teletext for business and other news. A lunch of cheese omelette on toast and fruit trifle to follow, then back to the office when at last I managed to get into the swing of things. Engrossed until 4.00pm and dusk, and only just enough light to feed the doves and ducks and settle them down for the night. Time to play with a boisterous Debbie before lighting another log fire and we welcome home Daniel and his friend Jonathan Bloom for tea. Another micro freak, he is in ideal company with Daniel and we hear that his father is with Trivector – a company I know. Then early evening to tend the fire, catch up on my journal and scan the evening’s news. The headlines are of Keith Joseph changing his mind on the student grants issue and abandoning contributions towards the course fees. £10M extra is to be spent by the government in place of parents’ contributions and the rest of the £21M will come from cuts in an already lean research budget. The NUM Receiver, Herbert Brewer, has again ended up empty handed at the hands of the Dublin bank. The court has also ruled that he cannot use union funds for his expenses, which is an additional humiliation.The Belgrano enquiry has had Sir John Nott admitting that he may have misled the House. In the city the stock market and BT shares lost a little ground, but gilts were up and the pound stayed steady. The weather today mild but changing from some sunshine to rain and then back to a clear night again.
Footnote: November 2014: It took many years for Union Carbide and the Indian government to disclose what had happened and even now, 30 years later, the consequences are still being felt. The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was considered the world's worst industrial disaster.It occurred on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals. The toxic substance made its way in and around the shanty towns located near the plant. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. The government of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. Others estimate 8,000 died within two weeks and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases. A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. The cause of the disaster remains under debate. The Indian government and local activists argue slack management and deferred maintenance created a situation where routine pipe maintenance caused a backflow of water into a MIC tank triggering the disaster. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) contends water entered the tank through an act of sabotage. The owner of the factory, UCIL, was majority owned by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), with Indian Government-controlled banks and the Indian public holding a 49.1 percent stake. In 1989, UCC paid $470m ($907m in 2014 dollars) to settle litigation stemming from the disaster. In 1994, UCC sold its stake in UCIL to Eveready Industries India Limited (EIIL), which subsequently merged with McLeod Russel (India) Ltd. Eveready Industries India, Limited, ended clean-up on the site in 1998, when it terminated its 99-year lease and turned over control of the site to the state government of Madhya Pradesh. Dow Chemical Company purchased UCC in 2001, seventeen years after the disaster. Civil and criminal cases were filed in the District Court of Bhopal, India, involving UCC and Warren Anderson, UCC CEO at the time of the disaster. In June 2010, seven ex-employees, including the former UCIL chairman, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by Indian law. An eighth former employee was also convicted, but died before the judgement was passed.