7. The Goldsmith Klan.

7.1. The Goldsmith Family.

The goldsmith klan consists of:

* edward goldsmith (hereinafter referred to as egoldsmith) who has devoted over 30 years of his life to green politics;

* edward’s younger brother, james goldsmith (hereinafter referred to as jgoldsmith) who had a short and torrid dalliance with environmentalism;

* edward’s son alexander (hereinafter referred to as agoldsmith) who is editor of ‘green futures’; and

* james goldsmith’s son zak (hereinafter referred to as zgoldsmith) who was recently appointed as editor of ‘the ecologist’.

The goldsmith klan could be regarded as brutland’s leading family of greens - since there are only one and a half greens in the windsor family. What makes the goldsmith klan even more remarkable is that the first generation of greens have managed to pass on their green values to their offspring. Many of the people who became interested in environmental politics when it emerged in the early 1960s belonged to the first post world war two generation (although egoldsmith was a member of the earlier, inter-war generation). This first generation of greens does not seem to have been very successful in passing on their interest in environmentalism to their offspring. [1]

The following sections will take a short look at the origins of the goldsmith family. This provides some background for understanding their political views and helps to establish the goldsmith family’s credentials as green aristocrats. In many ways they could even be regarded as the country’s leading family of green aristocrats.

7.1.1: The Stratospherically Rich.

Family Roots.

The goldsmiths are an old jewish family, “Through his father, jimmy (goldsmith) could trace his jewish origins back to the frankfurt ghetto of the 16thc, when the goldschmidts - as they then were - lived along side the rothschilds and the salomons and other jewish banking families who made it big in the 19thc.” [2] Frank goldsmith, father of edward and james, was educated at oxford; became a tory member of parliament; owned “48 of the finest hotels in france”; [3] and was acquainted with members of the aristocracy and royalty in both brutland and france. His family could be described as upper middle class. As a boy, jgoldsmith enjoyed a life of privileges, “His infancy was spent in the grandest suites of europe’s finest hotels as his father travelled from city to city, using private rail carriages for long journeys and his chauffeur driven rolls royce for shorter ones.” [4] The social status of the goldsmith family was clearly revealed in 1954 at the funeral of jgoldsmith’s first wife which was attended by .. “one princess, five duchesses, two marquesses and two counts .. ambassadors from most of the countries of south america and a smattering of rothschilds.” [5] Frank goldsmith’s family lived in the realm where royalty, aristocracy, titles, lineage, mansions, town houses/holiday homes, private schools, privilege, debutantes, playboys, casinos, balls, country sports, etc, were the norm. This is also the realm of society in the sense of the film by the same name, “They were all divorced and married to one another and yet they all gave the impression of living happily together. They didn’t seem to mind too much whose mother slept with whose father and what they produced.” [6]

Aristocrats as Concubines.

Jgoldsmith had a succession of affairs with heiresses and members of various national aristocracies - not forgetting the services of large numbers of prostitutes. [7] His first wife was the daughter of a mega wealthy bolivian who had married .. “the daughter of the duke of durchal, a relative of king alphonso xiii of spain.” [8] Only his first mistress (who became his second wife) could be described as being below the usual class status of the women with whom he had relationships. His second mistress (who became his third wife) was annabel birley, the daughter of the 8th marquess of londonderry .. “Her family, the londonderry’s were well-established aristocrats.” [9] ; “In taking the former annabel birley as his mistress he acquired one of the most aristocratic women in britain.” [10] His third, and last, mistress (whom he never married) was a french aristocrat, laure boulay de la meurthe .. “a niece of the comte de paris, the pretender to the french throne.” [11] Jgoldsmith used aristocratic women as concubines to build his dynasty.

The jgoldsmith family has significant social connections with large parts of the blood sport loving, brutish, and french, aristocracies. Jgoldsmith’s first daughter, who was not averse to wearing fur coats [12] had many ‘admirers’ including .. “guy greville, heir to the earl of warwick; and lord mancroft, the fox-hunting baronet, who works for drug-rehabilitation charities.” [13] They also have significant connections with the brutish monarchy. Jgoldsmith’s third wife, annabel, is friends with camilla parker bollox. At eton, benjamin goldsmith boarded with william windsor and argued the toss over attacking defenceless Animals. Jgoldsmith gave parties attended by the shands, “Also in attendance was mark shand, the brother of camilla parker bowles.” [14] There are also sexual and marital connections. Mark shand .. “had met clio (goldsmith) some time before but had been turned down when he asked her out to dinner. This time it was different. ‘We just clicked’, said shand later. They married in 1990 and went to live quietly in .. bath with their daughter ayesha. Today they live in kew, not far from teddy’s home in richmond. The clio goldsmith-mark shand union is typical of the circular nature of the relationships that make up the extended goldsmith family. Not only is shand’s sister camilla a friend of lady annabel goldsmith but he was imran khan’s best man at his wedding to jemima.” [15] For the goldsmiths, Fox hunting is not an issue about Animal rights which can be assessed by purely moral considerations but is tied up with personal, social, and familial, relationships and class loyalties.

The Stratospherically Wealthy.

It would be inadequate to describe jgoldsmith’s upwardly mobile dynasty as upper middle class or even aristocratic. They seem to belong to what could be described as the stratospheric elite. Admittedly, many of the stratospherically wealthy seek social inclusion by marrying into whatever aristocracy they can find in europe or south america, but their wealth puts them far beyond the petty tens of millions of pounds owned by run of the mill aristocratic families. Multi-millionaire aristocrats are paupers in comparison to the stratospheric elite.

The phenomenal wealth of the jgoldsmith family enabled them to mingle with other members of the stratospheric elite. [16] Jgoldsmith’s first daughter, isabel, married baron arnaud de rosnay who .. “came from an aristocratic french family which had owned sugar plantations in mauritius since the french revolution.” [17] Egoldsmith’s daughter, clio, married .. “carlo puri, the heir to the pirelli tyre fortune ..” [18] Zac goldsmith married .. “sheherazade bentley, daughter of asset stripper john bentley and socialite vivianne ventura.” [19] It is almost as if the stratospherically wealthy are attempting to consolidate their wealth and power by marrying a smattering of european and south american aristocrats to forge a new stratospheric elite. Marx predicted that ruthless free market competition would end up creating gigantic multi-national, monopolies but with the goldsmiths we see the inklings of a global stratospheric elite for whom the Earth is one big back garden.

The European Kennedys?

After the second world war the jgoldsmith family almost became the kennedy family not only of brutland but of western europe. Jgoldsmith created a huge media feeding frenzy after he eloped with the woman who became his first wife. Thereafter the european press shadowed him wherever he went. Virtually everything the family did was reported in the newspapers and the media in one way or another whether as a news item or in the gossip columns. There was huge publicity surrounding jgoldsmith’s marriages; his high profile business activities; his court case against ‘private eye’; jemima goldsmith’s marriage to imran kahn; imran kahn’s court case against ian botham, etc. The jgoldsmith family was a soap opera for nearly four decades - although these days it has been eclipsed as one of the nation’s leading soap families by soaps themselves. [20]

The Jewish Predators: Goldsmith, Clore, Wolfson, Joseph, Bentley & Maxwell.

At oxford university, edward goldsmith, john aspinall, and ian maxwell scott, met frequently for lengthy gambling sessions. After giving up on eton, jgoldsmith joined this group of gamblers. During the course of his business career, jgoldsmith became part of another group of gamblers - the financial predators who made huge profits closing down allegedly inefficient brutish industries and throwing out of work large numbers of people. This group of gamblers, which was far more devastating than the first, included charles clore, [21] isaac wolfson, [22] maxwell joseph, [23] john bentley, and robert maxwell. It has been stated that, “Clore and others, like sir isaac wolfson and maxwell joseph, had been demonized for terrorizing family companies and breaking down relationships between employers and workers that had been built up over generations. (Lord attlee) .. once memorably referred to the environment they created as a ‘jungle red in tooth and claw, and particularly clore.” [24] These jewish industrial predators ripped through brutish industry in the 1970s and 1980s and transformed it out of all recognition. It’s interesting then that keith joseph, another jew, was a leading advocate of free market competition and was a major influence on the ideas of margaret thatcher. What is surprising about this is that so few commentators in brutland appear to have noticed that these asset strippers were all jewish. The political left are clearly suffering from some sort of anti-racist myopia in pretending not to notice this state of affairs - perhaps it undermines their masochistic (public schoolboy) ideology that brutland is a highly racist society in which whites have condemned jews, blacks, and asians, to a life of poverty in grotty ghettos.

The Jewish Bankers: Hambro, Rothschild, Hanson.

Jgoldsmith was also part of another, more established, close knit, group of jews - bankers, merchant bankers, venture capitalists, etc which included charles hambro, victor rothschild, jacob rothschild, james hanson, etc. When the brutish government asked jgoldsmith to rescue the ailing slater walker company, the management board he picked .. “was packed with close associates, including his banker charles hambro, victor rothschild, a rothschild banker ivor kennington ...” [25] In another company take-over, jgoldsmith was joined by .. “James hanson and gordon white of hanson ...” [26] ; “Goldsmith had acquired his stake (in newmont mining) after striking a deal with his friend lord hanson whereby he and jacob rothschild swapped cavenham forest industries for hanson’s stake in newmont.” [27] Then there was, “Lord mcalpine, chairman of the goldsmith backed oil company, the trans-caucasus energy company ..” [28]

It is important to appreciate that virtually all of these jewish bankers ended up being appointed to the house of lords which still possesses an aristocratic veto over the democratic process. [29] So we now have lord hambro, lord rothschilds, [30] lord hanson, and gordon white (don’t know his title). [31]

7.1.2: The Gamblers.

The Goldsmith Brothers.

Both egoldsmith and jgoldsmith were keen gamblers, “(James) Goldsmith had been a gambler since he was a toddler ..” [32] He won a huge bet on a Horse race whilst at eton. At oxford university, egoldsmith, john aspinall, and ian maxwell scott, formed a gambling group playing cards, betting on Horses, etc. Aspinall reinforced his gambling image with some .. “cigar-chomping ..” [33] Jgoldsmith joined the group, “It was during a game of chemin de fer at his brother’s college room that he (james goldsmith) earned the respect of a friend of teddy’s, john aspinall.” [34] Gambling helped to forge a lifelong friendship between aspinall and the goldsmith brothers. [35]

After these gamblers finished their three year vacation at oxford university (and god help the poor neighbours who had to live next door to this rabble) quite a few of them used their gambling skills to create their own businesses. Aspinall became a professional gambler before opening a gambling casino .. “in the early 1960s gambling entrepreneur john aspinall took a 21 year lease on 44 berkeley square and opened the clermont.” [36] Jgoldsmith was one of aspinall’s investors and was a regular gambler at the club. [37] He too transferred his gambling skills into the business world with great effect. Gambling was a major characteristic of jgoldsmith’s business practices. Egoldsmith was the odd man out amongst this group in so much as he didn’t forge his own career using his gambling skills. On the contrary, he seemed to become something of a gambling victim. He continued to gamble heavily after he left university and needed to be bailed out by various members of his family - for which see later.

Lord Lucan.

It is not known when the relationship between lord lucan and the group of oxford undergraduate gamblers began - whether at eton, oxford, or the clermont. However, lucan was a paid up member of this brat pack by the time he murdered his domestic assistant and mysteriously disappeared into the history books. The last person to see him before he found international fame as a missing person was another member of the oxford gamblers group. Lucan .. “was last seen at the sussex home of fellow clermont member ian maxwell-scott, who had been in the card school (j)goldsmith had joined in oxford.” [38] A couple of days after his disappearance .. “Aspinall summoned those closest to lucan to his own house in belgravia. The guests included dominic elwes and charles benson.” [39] The police investigating lucan’s disappearance called them the eton mafia and one officer stated about them, “They have been born into a society that tells them from the day they are born that they should be rulers. They go to the same weddings, funerals, prep schools, public schools, universities and merchant banks. And they never squeal or snitch on their own.” [40] - seeming to forget that many of the country’s top policemen also went to the same schools and universities. [41] It was speculated that jgoldsmith or aspinall may have helped to smuggle lucan out of the country and establish a new identity for him. Aspinall died in the summer 2000. [42] The mirror, a tabloid daily newspaper, reported, “Millionaire zoo owner john aspinall died yesterday - taking the mystery of lord lucan to the grave.” [43]

John Aspinall.

The Clermont Club.

Aspinall founded the clermont club which became one of london’s major casinos and nightclubs. It was so popular amongst the rich and famous it even had an wider social impact, “Annabel’s and the clermont were later dubbed ‘the two symbols of extravagant 1960s hedonism’.” [44] Amongst the wealthy visitors were .. “the 7th earl of lucan .. and james goldsmith .. were both regulars at john aspinall’s clermont club and both keen gamblers ...” [45]

Wildliving and the Love of Wildlife.

Royalty throughout the ages have always enjoyed bouts of outrageous and excessive hedonism - a part of which are the odious pleasures of killing Wildlife. In an era when Wildlife is on the verge of extinction it is not surprising that many royal or wealthy hunters have turned gamekeepers. Stories of hunters turned conservationists - like the sinner recanting on his death bed - are commonplace. It is not known whether aspinall was originally a hunter or whether his gambling, thrill seeking, and exhibitionism, pushed him in the direction of getting thrills and excitement out of capturing, rearing, and playing with, Wild Animals. What is known is that he used the wealth acquired from his casino to set up howletts zoo and put Animals on display for the consumption of moronic, oomano-imperialist, bipeds, “Aspinall divided his time between his london gambling club and collecting animals for his zoo, howletts, near canterbury.” [46] .A couple of decades later, he established port lympne Wildlife park which, at 400 acres, is 6 times larger than howletts. It has black Rhinos, indian elephants, indian Deer and Antelope, Bison, barbary Lions, malayan Tapirs, red river Hogs, rare Monkeys, Tigers and rare Cats, Snow Leopards, maned Wolves, to name but a few.

The Rationale for Howletts Zoo and Port Lympne Wildlife Park.

Whatever his original reasons for establishing these zoos their current rationale seems highly seductive. They are marketed as rescue centres for battered, homeless, Wild Animals and as breeding centres for species under the threat of extinction. Their objective is to return Animals to the wild as soon as secure natural habitats can be found for them, “We believe that saving animals in captivity is not enough, and that we must never lose sight of the ultimate objective of preserving or restoring wild populations.” [47] It is claimed these zoos are doing invaluable work in rescuing Animals forced out of their natural habitat and in breeding endangered Animals so there will be enough of them to survive when they’re eventually returned to the wild. There are hints that they have prevented species from going extinct.

There are suspicions, however, as to what they are really up to. Perhaps there is a role for rescue centres although quite why they have to be in a country thousands of miles from Animals’ original habitats makes it seem somewhat suspicious - especially when travelling such distances puts a considerable degree of stress on many Animals. Perhaps there’s a role for state sponsored Wildlife rescue centres but when this is done by wealthy private individuals there’s always going to be the problem of making compromises to obtain the resources to look after the Animals. Because of the costs involved in running such places, zoos are always on the look out for income and one of the most obvious sources of income is putting Animals on display, especially teaching them tricks to entertain the morons.

David day’s opinions about zoos are worth reproducing, "For the most part, zoos are destroyers of wildlife. Even today, large national zoos are often willing to buy critically endangered species to enhance the prestige of their collections, even though they are well aware that such species can only be obtained illegally. Smaller, private zoos often have even less scruples, and in many cases have proved to be fronts for black-market animal-trafficking operations." [48]

In zoos there is a serious risk of oomans passing on their diseases to wild Animals or of Animals passing their diseases on to other Animals. One of the little known features of the bse epidemic was its terrible impact on the country’s captive Wildlife. [49] Many Wildlife species in zoos were fed on meat and bone meal just like the country’s Cattle herds and many succumbed to bse equivalent diseases. This feature of bse was rarely mentioned in the media. There were various reasons why neither politicians nor the pharmer loving media wanted to mention how many species had contracted the disease. Firstly, they didn’t want to upset the public about the virulence of the disease and, secondly, they didn’t want to embarrass richard southwood who’d suggested the disease would be confined to Cattle - but then what else could be expected from somebody who was put in charge of a committee to research into the threat posed by bse when his scientific expertise was in the common cold? The disease was still claiming victims when tory and labour politicians were going around the world claiming that brutland was free of the disease - by which they meant the country’s slave Animals were free from the disease. They could make such outrageous statements because the members of the corrupt ministry of agriculture, food, and fisheries, made sure nobody knew the real scale of the disease by deliberately wasting five years experimenting on Sheep brains - then admitting they were using Cattle brains. Ever since the start of the bse epidemic, successive governments and the pharming industry have used Animal experiments to prevent anyone discovering the scale of bse infection in the country’s Cattle and Sheep populations. [50]

Let’s all Live together as one Big Happy Family.

The mundi club doesn’t know enough about aspinall’s zoos to condemn them especially when his intention seems good (rescuing dislocated Animals) and his objective is beyond reproach (restoring Animals to their natural habitat). What is more, aspinall looked after his Animals far better than most other zoos and, as far as is known, no Animal was ever physically abused. Aspinall’s compassion towards Wildlife was beyond doubt. However, what is grossly objectionable is his attempt to allow oomans to socialize with Wildlife. This is a policy that no other zoo has ever tried to emulate. The official view of what aspinall’s zoos have been doing is that, “Howletts and port lympne differ from most zoos - in britain or anywhere else - in their policy of encouraging close social contact between the staff and the Animals in their care. Going in with animals of large and potentially dangerous species involves some risk; but it is our belief that the benefits far outweigh the dangers.” [51]

Aspinall wasn’t just content with offering sanctuary to displaced Wild Animals before returning them to the wild. He wasn’t just compassionate to defenceless Animals. He wanted to love Animals and he wanted them love him. As he says in the introduction to his zoos’ brochure, “By your support we are able to offset some of the great costs we incur by giving the wild animals in our care what they so richly deserve - space, security and above all affectionate care and compassion.” [52] Giving Wild Animals affection, and expecting to get affection back from them, is barmy. This is what adds more suspicion to his claim about saving Animals from extinction. Providing Wildlife with a sanctuary is one thing, but exploiting them whilst they’re in captivity to try out his belief that there could be relationships between oomans and Wildlife is quite a different proposition. Attempts at such relationships should be made only in the wild where the Animals are free to come and go as they please. The suspicion is that whilst these Animals were in captivity they were being unnaturally manipulated.

Aspinall’s version of this experiment of oomans “going in with animals of large and potentially dangerous species” is that, “The practice has now been going on for nearly 40 years at howletts and 25 years at port lympne; though there have been several tragedies in that time - something which no zoo can guarantee to avoid in all circumstances - only one keeper has died as a direct result of doing something which would not have been permitted at other zoos.” [53]

The reality is somewhat different. Firstly, aspinall wasn’t just allowing his zoo keepers to develop close relationships with the Animals they were caring for. He was encouraging his friends, girlfriends, relatives, and their children, to be friendly with these predators. Secondly, arguing that .. “only one keeper has died as a direct result of doing something which would not have been permitted at other zoos” is simply covering up the carnage that occurred during these experiments. Aspinall’s fantasies led to a succession of tragedies. Chris hutchins and dominic midgley recount one story, “It was aspinall’s habit to take selected visitors inside the tiger cage to mix with the Animals at close quarters. Robin (birley, jgoldsmith’s step-son) was stroking one of the beasts (sic) zorra, when it suddenly turned on him, pushed him over and closed its mouth over his head. Aspinall reacted by desperately pulling at the tiger’s jaws to prise them apart while his then wife min pulled her tail. Zorra then switched its attentions to her, knocking her over before being scared off by her screams. (Robin) had a gaping hole where his mouth was and his bottom jaw hung by a thread. However, the bones on one side of his face were so crushed that they would never develop and he grew to maturity with a lop-sided face ..” [54] James whitaker recounts other incidents - the entire quote is given to show that although whitaker does not agree with aspinall he has no animosity towards aspinall, “I quite admire john aspinall, a rich, well-bred, swash-buckling entrepreneur ... I’ve seen him at his gaming tables at the clermont in berkeley square. I brushed cudgels with him at the time of the disappearance of the earl of lucan (Aspers was not only this hopeless murderer’s boss, he was a close friend). His set are a tricky lot who don’t take kindly to the likes of me nosing around. They’re a million miles removed from your average joe blow. But, as we’ve seen time and again, people like aspers, with their strange ideals, can be trouble for ‘outsiders’. In the 30 odd years that aspinall has been running his two private wild animal parks (at huge expense to himself) there have been five deaths: the latest being this week when darren cockrill, 27, was crushed by an Elephant. In 1972 mr aspinall said that if he had to choose between saving a wildlife species from extinction or sacrificing his own daughter she would be the one to go. Apart from the deaths, a volunteer keeper had her thumb eaten and a two year old boy had his arm ripped off by the same chimp. Aspinall’s own daughter in law was bitten by a tigress and i well remember how beautiful model merilyn lamb was grievously hurt after being mauled by a tiger. Aspinall has repeatedly battled for the rights of his beloved animals above the safety of his keepers. In fact, all who work at his zoos seem to be mesmerised by this passion.” [55] The latest fatality occurred after aspinall’s death, “A zoo was ordered to pay £43,000 fines and costs yesterday over the death of an elephant keeper. Darren cockrill, 27, suffered horrific head injuries when an elephant attacked him at port lympne zoo, near hythe, kent, last year. Port lympne estates, which runs the park of the late millionaire john aspinall, pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching health and safety rules.” [56]

Taking small children into the cage of a ferocious predator was insane. But doing such a thing was probably even more insane than might at first be apparent. Firstly, many wild Animals descend into varying degrees of madness because of years of confinement - no matter how well treated or how well fed. Secondly, most wild Animals have an acute sense of smell so when aspinall takes strangers into Animals’ cages these predators are assailed by all sorts of smells whether soaps, perfumes, after shave, odours they might have picked up from petting other Animals in the zoo, and perhaps even odours coming from dirt on their shoes. Thirdly, Animals respond to other Animals’ posture. Oomans don’t know the full range of communications which Animals make through posture. Anyone could inadvertently make an innocent gesture or a movement which is interpreted as aggressive by an Animal. Fourthly, in all likelihood aspinall fed these charismatic predators on bse infected feed/meat. Is this really the sort of nutrition likely to encourage wild Animals to develop harmonious relationships with bite-sized children? Aspinall stuffs Wild Animals into tiny cages, thousands of miles from their original habitats; takes complete strangers with unusual smells, gestures, and noises, into their dens; feeds them with a brain rotting disease; and believes they’ll tolerate small children patting them on the head as if they were some contented domesticated Animal.

What is so objectionable about what aspinall was doing was that he wasn’t giving these Animals the respect they were due. Many wild Animals need to kill to survive. Trying to give these Animals affection when they need respect and admiration is sick. Madmen never learn from their mistakes. Aspinall’s delusions led to five fatalities and an unknown number of serious injuries. It is believed that aspinall was, for many years, the biggest multiple murderer in the green movement. He was, in other words, a grade one, premier league, crackpot. [57]

Aspinall wasn’t just hoping for an exchange of affection or communication with Wild Animals. Behind this idea there lay even more wacky, grandiose hopes. Like some naive schoolboy who’d spent too much time listening to john lennon’s ‘imagine’, aspinall got it into his tiny mind that oomans and Wildlife should live in harmony with each other - that ooman families should live in harmony with what most sensible parents would call ferocious predators and that herbivores should live in harmony with ferocious predators like oomans - even though the last time this happened a few millenia earlier oomans quickly used the opportunity to domesticate wild herbivores into slave Animals. Most people, especially parents with young children, who have the slightest residue of common sense, know that the idea of oomans living in harmony with Wolves, Bears, Lions, Tigers, Snakes, etc is pure lunacy. But not aspinall. Aspinall was an aristocrat who didn’t have to obey any laws whether legal or natural. Lord lucan a murderer? No, let’s try and help him out of his predicament - why should he be arrested and put on trial like normal people in the country? Aspinall spent a lot of time, money, and effort, trying to oomanize charismatic predators - as if this over-privileged git had a vast surplus of oomanity to pass on to other species.

The other tragedy is that aspinall’s madcap dreams seem to have infected large sections of the green movement. There are many green idealists who believe that oomans should live in harmony with Wildlife. There are those who believe that all carnivores should be genetically treated so they no longer need to kill. Others believe carnivores should be provided with vegetarian food so they don’t need to kill. [58] But there’s also a twist in this particular tale. Many greens promote the idea of the harmony between oomans and Wildlife not because they really believe that oomans can live in close proximity to ferocious predators but because they are actually oomano-imperialists who support the idea of oomans colonizing Wildlife sanctuaries. Such greens know that they could not possibly win public support for such colonization i.e. that they should be allowed to take over Wildlife sanctuaries and then slaughter its predators. So they argue they want to live in harmony with Wildlife - and then, once they’ve colonized such sanctuaries, get on with the job of exterminating the Animals posing a threat to them because by then it will be too late for the public to do anything to stop them.

Euroscepticemia.

Aspinall was not merely a zoo owner and a fantasist turned multiple-murderer. He was also a eurosceptic. He wanted english people to live with Lions and Tigers but he didn’t want them living with the french or germans. As a hugely wealthy man, he toured the world as if it was his local neighbourhood. He lived, worked, and played with aristocrats from around the world whether spanish, french, german, south american etc, and yet politically he remained an intense nationalist. How could such a person with an internationally famous casino, cosmopolitan lifestyle, stratospheric social milieux, and global outlook on life, even consider nationalism? It was as if, despite the luxuries and privileges of his life, he couldn’t get his mind out of the gutter. Perhaps nationalism was the last thread by which he retained any connection to his country of origin? But if aspinall’s jet setting, global, cosmopolitan, existence and his petty minded nationalism sounds in any way weird it is as nothing to what will be encountered when we look at the life and ideas of jgoldsmith.

Aspinall was a great supporter of jgoldsmith’s referendum party - one of the goals of this party was to free brutish pharmers from the yoke of europe’s ban on the export of brutish bseef which had been imposed to prevent the spread of a deadly disease around the world. It is believed that euroscepticemia is the mildest form of bse so he may have had a political motive in wanting to spread the disease around the world. When aspinall attended the referendum party’s conference, his bumpkin nationalism rose to the surface. Chris hutchins & dominic midgley describe his contribution, “On the evidence of the speeches, the conference was a gathering of rabid eurosceptics. John aspinall excelled himself, “We’ve been unconquered for 930 years” was his message to brussels. “Come back in another 1,000 and we’ll discuss it. He went on to eulogise ‘the five great tribes’ that made up england - angles, saxons, danes, jutes and normans - which would not only have marginalized the celts in the party, like lord tonypandy and, to an extent, his anglo-french-german-jewish best pal, goldsmith, but any afro-caribbean and indo pakistani supporters.” [59]

Stuart Wheeler.

Hutchins’s & midgley’s book on jgoldsmith does not mention stuart wheeler but he may well have been one of those who participated in the goldsmiths’ gambling club at oxford university. He too was educated at eton, oxford university, was a friend of lord lucan’s, became a professional gambler, and is also severely afflicted by euroscepticemia, “Until reaching 35, he was really a man of leisure with a few failed careers behind him. After eton, the welsh guards and christ church college, oxford, wheeler was admitted to the bar ..After leaving the law he went into the city, working for hill samuel .. “My father was a baronet and had never done a stroke of work in his life.”” [60] Like thousands of other people, he too played cards with lucan just before he disappeared, “He played poker against lord lucan, just two days before britain’s most famous fugitive went on the run following the murder of sandra rivett, the nanny of lucan’s children, in 1974.” [61] Like aspinall and jgoldsmith, he used his gambling skills to carve out a career for himself and became a professional gambler. During his gambling career he won many famous gambling scalps, “After beating omar sharif, ian fleming and james goldsmith he was asked to leave caesar’s palace, las vegas, at six in the morning for being too successful.” [62] He set up a company which engaged in spread betting. In 2000, wheeler became a multi millionaire when he floated his company on the stock exchange, “While his company, which also owns william hill index, is britain’s biggest, more than 95% of wheeler’s clients are professional men. When he floated IG Index on the stock market last year, it took his estimated personal wealth to beyond £100million.” [63]

At the start of 2001, wheeler promised to donate £5 million to william hague, leader of the conservative party, to ensure he stuck to his increasingly eurosceptic policies. Hague duly complied and the tory party suffered a second landslide general election defeat by the labour party, “A former gambling partner of lord lucan is giving the tories a £5 million donation, it was revealed last night. Stuart wheeler, chairman of the spread betting firm ig group has already handed £1 million to william hague’s party.” [64] Mr wheeler .. “65, an old etonian .. is already involved in a string of campaigns against the single currency, supported by tory bigwigs. (He) signed up to a strongly anti-euro-sceptic pamphlet, ‘The euro; Bad for Business’ in 1998.” [65] It has been stated that, “Stuart wheeler is an unlikely looking father christmas, but when last january he gave the conservative party £5 million, he told william hague he wanted nothing in return.” [66] He wanted nothing in return for paving the way for the party’s second successive, landslide, general election, defeat. [67] This was generous of him indeed. Wheeler he believed his views were wildly popular amongst all generations of society and that £5 million should have been enough to bring them all out to vote for the tory party and thus win an overwhelming majority at the 2001 general election. He hasn’t quite sussed out that his views are shared only by the diminishing number of people in his own generation.

7.2. James Goldsmith.

7.2.1: Introduction.

For the sake of simplicity, jgoldsmith’s adult life and career can be divided into two. The first half when he was in the business world trying to make his fortune by ruthlessly buying, selling, and dismembering, companies around the world. This was the period when he was an out and out capitalist predator. The second half began just before the stock exchange crash of 1987 when he cashed in most of his business interests and turned to politics. His first political concern was the environment but this was rapidly replaced by a severe bout of euroscepticemia which led him to fund the creation of the referendum party.

There are five main features of jgoldsmith’s life. Firstly, as has been noted above, he was one of a group of gamblers at oxford university and, like some of the others in the group, used his gambling skills when making money in the business world. Secondly, he was a self confessed predator. He was a predator in both the financial, and the sexual, sense. He preyed on companies, revalued them, and sold them off to make more money to go after bigger companies from which bigger re-evaluations could be made in order to make even bigger profits. Each company was stripped of its assets and those assets used to finance the purchase of the next company. Women too, like companies, were there to be conquered before he moved on to the next. Thirdly, he was a hedonist. He made money in order to spend it. He was a lavish spender not merely on himself but on others. He was .. “an habitué of the london club scene” [68] and frequently used prostitutes. Fourthly, he was a man of considerable charm but he could also bludgeon his way through relationships with others to get his way. Finally, he wanted to create a dynasty.

Jgoldsmith was a gambler, predator, hedonist, charmer, and family man. It is striking the way he interwove these seemingly distinct attributes. He was a gambler and a major part of his predatory business activities required gambling skills. Taking calculated risks in the financial world was just like playing in a vast global poker game. It seemed as if he was a predator not only in business but with women. Here was a combination of predation and hedonism. He could use his charm to flatter both women and business colleagues but if this didn’t succeed he could be bombastic and forceful. His generosity often seemed like a predatory ploy to seduce women.

Jgoldsmith was a predator but he was not a plunderer who went out into the world and destroyed what he couldn’t own. He was not possessed by acquisitiveness, the desire to accumulate more and more money, because he was too much of a hedonist who enjoyed spending money, and too much of a family man providing money for his growing dynasty. Nor was he an industrial emperor or a megalomaniac accumulating power, because although he built up two enormous business empires he cashed in both of them. His was predation for a purpose not an end in itself.

7.2.2: Taking the Business World by Storm.

7.2.2.1: A Right Wing Predator.

During his highly eventful, and very colourful, life jgoldsmith built up two huge retailing empires. The first empire was cashed in to finance his greater business ambitions. In 1979 .. “goldsmith .. broke up cavenham in a matter of months and emigrated to the u.s. with the proceeds to become one of the most feared corporate raiders of the 1980s. The dismantling of cavenham must count as one of the speediest corporate break-ups in business history.” [69]

He took his fortune to america to finance corporate raids on various american companies. He made an even greater fortune but, in 1987, he once again cashed in his empire, “The scale of goldsmith’s liquidation .. was like a giant closing down sale: everything had to go. Not just corporate share holdings but his stake in aspinall’s london casino .. In july (presumably 1987) he sold all but 5% of his holdings in general occidentale for $500 million ... The forestry interests were later sold for £1.6 billion and made goldsmith a sterling billionaire.” [70] He dismantled his second empire not because he had even grander financial ambitions but because he had suddenly grown extremely cautious about the world.

7.2.2.2: Early Political Views.

Politically Conventional.

During the business phase of his life jgoldsmith’s was a right winger - which is hardly surprising for someone who had been brought up to a life of luxury and privilege and had been educated at eton and oxford. He was a self confessed predator who believed in the survival of the fittest and ruthless competitiveness. And socially he was also a right winger although whilst he might have seen himself as a ‘law and order’ person, others found this a little difficult to accept considering his neglect for the law in his business dealings, his serial adulteries, and whoremongering. His views were mainly politically conventional but, even at this time, some bore the imprint of his brother’s influence.

Global Capitalist who supported Protectionism.

Although jgoldsmith was a global capitalist who scoured businesses around the Earth for profit, he supported protectionism, “On trade policy, however, his position .. was protectionist. Global free trade is a recipe for wholesale unemployment in the west as less developed countries with low-paid work forces undercut european producers ..” [71] This plainly shows his brother’s influence.

7.2.2.3: Philanthropy during the First Half of his Life.

Funding the Ecologist.

Jgoldsmith’s financial help to the ecologist has been invaluable throughout the magazine’s life, “It was in 1970 that teddy was elevated from obscure, self taught intellectual to radical seer through the establishment of the Ecologist magazine, backed with £4,500 of his brother’s money.” [72] It has to be speculated that the biggest beneficiary of jgoldsmith’s charitable donations has been ‘the ecologist’.

Nuclear Power.

In the mid 1970s, doubtlessly at the behest of his brother, jgoldsmith funded friends of the Earth’s participation in the public enquiry into british nuclear fuels’ thorp reprocessing plant at windscale. Given his brother’s opposition to nuclear power, he may have entertained serious doubts about the industry. However, according to hutchins & midgley, jgoldsmith was talked around to a more pro-nuclear view by a french minister. A journalist working on jgoldsmith’s newspaper in france opposed nuclear power and expected his support but was rebuffed. [73]

Europe.

During the capitalist phase of his life jgoldsmith was pro-european and gave .. “£100,000 out of his own pocket to promote the european cause.” [74] It was only much later on in his life that he changed his views and spent £20 million supporting euroscepticism - which is basically a front organization for pharmers’ seeking the right to sell a deadly disease around the world.

7.2.3: Jgoldsmith’s Move into Politics.

7.2.3.1: The Concern for Green Politics.

In the mid 1980s egoldsmith’s arguments about the dire state of the global environment seem to have started getting through to his brother. In the first half of 1987 jgoldsmith became convinced the world was heading for some sort of disaster so he cashed in his business empire and started making moves into politics. His first political interest was environmentalism. In october 1987 stock exchanges around the world suffered a severe, albeit temporary, crash.

7.2.3.2: Ecological Philanthropy.

The following is a list of jgoldsmith’s contributions to the green movement.

The Ecological Foundation.

.. “jgoldsmith’s philanthropy was largely restricted to the ‘ecological foundation’, whose charitable expenditure stood at £88,000 by 1992 ..” [75]

The Goldsmith Foundation.

“In october 1990 jgoldsmith set up the ‘goldsmith foundation’ which supports a wide range of environmentalist causes. In a letter to the guardian in may 1994 teddy claimed that the foundation handed out ‘several million pounds a year’. Its beneficiaries have included the ecologist, which received £50,000 to fund a campaign to discredit the nuclear power industry’s claim to be the solution to the greenhouse effect and Safe, the sustainable agriculture Food and Environment which was launched with almost £100,000 of goldsmith money in 1992.” [76]

7.2.3.3: Jgoldsmith turned his back on Green Issues.

The damage that jgoldsmith inflicted on the Earth’s life support system was considerable. But, when he started taking an interest in environmentalism, he never became so committed that he tried to repair the damage he’d caused. He never became so committed to green issues that he splashed out large sums of money on green organizations so that they could rectify such damage on his behalf. It is ironic that his biggest contribution, besides those made to the ecologist, was funding foE’s opposition to the thorp reprocessing plant which happened when he was still in his capitalist predator stage. [77] The priority he gave to green issues was short lived. At times he believed, like his brother, in a global catastrophe and yet he didn’t seem to do much to avert it. What he learnt from the green movement was that there could be a breakdown in the Earth’s environment and that this might lead to a crash in the world’s stock markets. So, in a way, when he cashed in his chips and saved his fortune prior to the stock market crash of 1987, he had much to thank the green movement for. But he didn’t show the green movement much gratitude. His contribution to the green movement was nothing in comparison to the help it gave him saving his wealth and it was insignificant in terms of the financial aid he later poured into the absurd referendum party which had virtually nothing to do with green politics.

There were many reasons why jgoldsmith could never have fitted into the green movement. Firstly, he didn’t have the intellectual capability for understanding much beyond the financial and the conventional. He was so politically conventional that few new ideas could get through to him - the fact that he lost interest in green issues and drifted off to euroscepticemia being a prime example of his conventionality. Secondly, his character was so predatory he couldn’t stay interested in one issue for more than a short period of time. Thirdly, it would have meant a change in his lifestyle which would have been inconceivable e.g. giving up the boeing 747. Turning up to a green party conference in a boeing 757 would have done nothing to have endeared him to many greens - although doubtlessly there are green party spin doctors who would have rolled out the red carpet for him and organized a macdonald’s stall in the foyer of their party conference. Finally, he would have created lilliputian type incongruities. Jgoldsmith had a gigantic personality which would have made mixing with the teeny-weenies in the green movement utterly preposterous - especially so since they would also have exposed his gross ignorance and stupidity about the state of the Earth’s life support system.

Conversely, putting aside the fact that he made them look like teenie weenies, the green movement could never accept him. Firstly, because he’d caused so much ecological damage in the past. Secondly, because he never seemed to have any intention of refuting his past activities. Thirdly, because he continued causing ecological damage. A green movement with members flying around the planet in a boeing 757 would have turned it into a global laughing stock. And, finally, if jgoldsmith had tried to use his money to fund green organizations this would have raised issues about where the money had come from e.g. whether it had come from the take-over of companies that led to the sacking of workers, or from companies exploiting Animals or the environment. In the end, there was little he could do for the green movement and there was little it could do for him. [78]

There are highly intelligent and good natured environmentalists e.g. jeremy leggett, who believe that saving the Earth is just a question of persuading the world’s biggest Earth rapists into becoming cuddly, Earth lovers. The big problem has always seemed to be the difficulty of getting access to such people to present the environmentalists’ case in detail so that they might realize the errors of their ways. But the case of jgoldsmith proves what a lot of twaddle this is. Egoldsmith has been a leading environmentalist for decades with an unparalleled knowledge of environmental conditions around the world. There were few people around the world who knew as much about the global environment, or who understood the increasing number of threats to the environment, as he did. Egoldsmith not only had considerable access to his brother to give him the facts and try to persuade him about such issues, he also had the stature to do so which most other greens lacked. And yet even he failed. He might have won some arguments with his brother which led to some of the environmental donations highlighted above but he wasn’t able to convert him to green politics.

Jgoldsmith shagged the planet for a couple of billion quid and yet he gave the environmental movement only loose change. This is as good a measure of his concern for the environment as any other. He was worried about an ecological catastrophe and yet he he did little to avert this danger.

7.2.3.4: The Aristocratic Nature of the Referendum Party.

Having cut most of his links to the business world and with no prospect of being able to make another even bigger fortune, and having realized the green movement was a dead end, jgoldsmith seemed to be left with nothing to do. In 1994 he became a member of the european parliament for a french constituency. In 1996, the gigantic predator decided to create his own political party in order to play with his chums from his own social class on the periphery of mainstream politics, “Having made his pile, goldsmith turned his energies .. to change the world as an environmental activist but, rebuffed by elements of the green establishment, he decided to concentrate on another cause .. he founded political movements on both sides of the english channel.” [79]

The social composition of jgoldsmith’s referendum party showed that he wasn’t the only rich person who lived globally and thought jingoistically, “The man picked to run the party organization was malcolm glenn, a former goldsmith employee .. (and) charles filmer, director of stanhope administration, the company that handled the goldsmith family finances .. These two aside, however, much of the administration of the party was in the hands of relatively young and inexperienced people, often with social links to the goldsmiths.” [80] Members of the referendum party included lord mcalpine, edward fox, geoffrey boycott. Sympathisers included lady carla powell (wife of charles powell). At a pro-referendum party, “There were aristos; the marquis of worcester, countess maya schonburg and lady cosima somerset. There were celebs: edward fox, maya even, sir alan walters ...” [81]

7.2.3.5: Euroscepticemia.

During the hey-day of his business life, jgoldsmith promoted the european cause. What could be more natural? After all he spent much of his time in europe, he was probably multi-lingual, he had many european friends, many european businesses, many european lovers, many european homes, and probably many european passports. And yet, after 1987, he turned his back against a united europe. The question that cannot be avoided is why does a stratospherically wealthy, globe-trotting, multi-lingual, cosmopolitan, global capitalist, with homes dotted around the world, and multiple nationalities, take up the cause of piddling little englanders and piddling little frogs? Jgoldsmith spent a staggering £20 million setting up referendum parties in england and france which were fronts for eurosceptics and extreme right wing nationalists some of whom bordered on the fascist. What was he doing promoting base nationalism in europe after what the continent had been through earlier that century?

The most obvious reason for his support for euroscepticism was that many of his aristocratic friends supported protectionism. [82] The country’s aristocratic landowning elite wanted subsidies for their tenant pharmers. They opposed a european superstate because they believed that in sovereign parliament they could continue lavishing subsidies on themselves for their tenant pharmers. However, such an attitude doesn’t make much sense. Brutish aristocrats supported protectionism for the pharming industry (whilst demanding the full rigours of the free market for all other industries!) but this does not explain their opposition to europe because, if anything, european politicians are even more committed to subsidizing their pharmers than brutish politicians. Margaret thatcher came to power extolling the virtues of a free market which seemed to pose a considerable threat to the massive subsidies given to the pharming industry. John major also supported the global free market. After mcblair’s general election victory in 1997 he specifically appointed jack cunningham as secretary of state for agriculture to dismantle pharmers’ subsidies. In effect, politically, it would have been safer for the landowning (pharming) elite to have supported europe as a bulwark against the free market ideology of successive brutish governments. What is more, if brutland pulled out of the european community, how could it defend its interests at global fora discussing trade issues, when the rest of the world was merging into massive regional trading blocks which could trample over brutland’s political interests? Whether brutish people like it or not, brutland’s best interests lay in european integration to protect european interests against american, african, and asian trading blocks. [83]

It is foolish, however, trying to understand euroscepticemia as an intellectual issue when it is more of a political disease. It was a political response to political events. In the mid 1980s the overwhelming majority of tories regarded themselves as good europeans and saw the european trading block as a stepping stone towards the creation of a global free market. Eurosceptics like teresa gorman were about as popular as members of the militant tendency in the labour party. However, this changed to a slight degree when brutland was forced out of the european exchange mechanism and the economic deflation that followed forced the tory government to increase taxes. This made the government highly unpopular. The eurosceptics tried to win back popular support for the tory party by waving the patriotic flag and denigrating everything european. In the years after brutland’s erm humiliation the tory government became much more wary of the european community’s central institutions but basically most tory mps had a great deal of support for europe.

This changed dramatically, however, after march 1996 when the tory government announced the first 10 victims of bse-cjd and the european community, bravely and heroically, banned brutish pharmers from exporting their diseased bseef around the world. Pharmers and the country’s landowning elite joined the eurosceptics like a herd of stampeding bargain hunters and resistance to the european community exploded into life. Europe’s ban on bse-infected bseef triggered a civil war in the tory party and, for almost three years, the tories were so preoccupied by this internal war that it completely blotted out every other issue. After 17 years in power the tory government was running out of ideas, and was becoming increasingly bogged down by a succession of sleaze scandals, so many euro-sceptics believed its only means of winning back public support was by waving the flag and blaming europe for everything that was wrong with the country. Whilst previously the landowning elite may have accepted europe because of the subsidies it provided, europe’s ban on the export of brutish bseef was damaging to its material interests and this gave the aristocracy an economic incentive for opposing europe. Euroscepticism was transformed into a major political issue by the country’s landowning pharming aristocracy who were enraged about europe’s ban on the export of brutish bseef.

The referendum party was basically a front organization for pharmers’ seeking the right to export their, highly subsidized, bse-infected bseef around the world. It hoped to attract tories who enjoyed waving patriotic shrouds, and out and out right wing nationalists/fascists for whom civilization stopped at the english channel. Jgoldsmith supported his aristocratic chums’ opposition to europe. In other words, and this needs to be made absolutely clear, if jgoldsmith’s referendum party had succeeded in leading the country out of europe, his aristocratic chums and their tenant pharmers would have quickly regained the opportunity to sell bse-infected bseef around the world - and make no mistake about it, if this led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people, they wouldn’t have been in the slightest bit bothered. Millions of people around the world could now be affected by a deadly disease. There are some brutish people who don’t want anything to do with europe but the critical issue is that the rest of the world should look at this country as the source of two deadly diseases and should have been prepared to put it into quarantine. Banning the export of brutish bseef was the least they could have done. The safest thing would have been to quarantine the country and everyone in it until the spread of these diseases had been stopped.

Jgoldsmith spent £20 million promoting euroscepticism when the green movement desperately needed money for publicity to highlight green issues and counter the country’s perverse preoccupation with euroscepticemia. The fact that for five years or more brutland’s media and politicians became preoccupied with euroscepticemia shows the power of the landowning aristocracy to determine society’s political agenda whether in parliament or in the media. It shows their ability to persuade the livestock to believe in almost anything it wants them to - even when it is against their material interests since the jobs of many english people are dependent on trade with europe and most people in this country reap many rewards from closer ties with european people.

If jgoldsmith had really been interested in brutland’s loss of sovereignty, the passing of political power to unelected, undemocratic, officials then he would have used the referendum party to insist there should be a referendum not only on europe but on the house of lords and brutland’s membership of the world treaty organization for, as any objective observer would appreciate, brutland’s loss of sovereignty to the wto is greater than that to the european union. There was no way, however, that he would have acted against his aristocratic chums in the house of lords. In the end, jgoldsmith chose to devote his time to euroscepticemia rather than to opposing the house of lords or the wto because his loyalties lay with his aristocratic chums. At times it seems as if his only real interest in environmentalism was the fact that his aristo chums had an interest in green issues.

7.2.3.6: Later Philanthropy.

The Centre for Policy Studies.

“James goldsmith helped fund the radical right wing think tank, the centre for policy studies ..” [84]

7.2.4: Jgoldsmith’s Damage to the Environment.

Jgoldsmith was a global predator and the damage he caused to the Earth’s habitats came about firstly, through his ownership of Earth rapist companies; secondly, his overall economic impact on the timber industry; thirdly, the damage for which he was personally responsible; and, finally, the damage he caused through his domestic activities.

7.2.4.1: Damage Caused by Goldsmith’s Companies.

7.2.4.1.1: The Cattle Industry.

Jgoldsmith owned a number of companies in the Animal exploitation industry. Perhaps the most well known one in brutland was bovril. Bovril owned “ranches and abattoirs in argentina ..” [85] It also owned a dairy business. [86] Jgoldsmith also owned anders .. “a £40 million turnover producer of animal concentrates ..” [87]

7.2.4.1.2: Food Manufacturing and Retailing.

Jgoldsmith was involved in the food manufacturing industry. He also owned a vast chain of retailing outlets which gave him further influence over agriculture and food manufacturing. In 1976 he was ..”the proud proprietor of a company employing 60,000 people with sales of £1.6 billion. On the retailing side it dwarfed both sainsbury (turnover £535 million) and tesco (turnover £617 million) and on the manufacturing side it was the third biggest food company in europe, admittedly some way behind unilever and nestle.” [88] ; “The growth of grand union in the u.s. had helped turn cavenham into the third largest retailer in the world behind safeway and kroger with sales of £3 billion ...” [89]

7.2.4.1.3: Organic Food.

Jgoldsmith promoted organic foods in america .. “organic produce along the lines of free range eggs and beef from a ranch that used no hormones.” [90] The scale of this endeavour is not known.

7.2.4.1.4: Pharmaceuticals.

Jgoldsmith owned various pharmaceutical companies and sold a range of pharmaceutical products in his retail outlets e.g. “gustin-milical and other pharmaceutical companies in france ...” [91]

7.2.4.1.5: Oil Industry.

For a while, jgoldsmith also became an oil magnate, “He began in pharmaceuticals, switched to food and went on to run a huge financial services empire in slater walker. But perhaps his most impressive display was his move into the oil industry. (John park was an american oilman who) had discovered oil in a remote part of guatemala and had set up bri, a joint venture with the french oil giant elf. Park held 75% of the shares, elf 25% but he was still touting for funds to build a pipeline to the coast, 125 miles away. Goldsmith invested $5 million. Elf tried to force goldsmith out of the company but, as a result of a court settlement, “He received $130 million and the promise of royalties of 80c on every barrel; produced from the guatemalan oil field for the next 20 years.” [92] “Lord mcalpine, chairman of the goldsmith backed oil company, the trans-caucasus energy company ..” [93]

7.2.4.1.6: Coal Mining.

Jgoldsmith had a .. “41% share holding in newmont mining, a green bogeyman thanks to its strip mining of coal in north america.” [94]

7.2.4.1.7: Forestry - Logging.

In the early 1980s jgoldsmith made a remarkable discovery - perhaps triggered off by debates with his brother? He discovered that, in america, many timber companies were grossly undervaluing their Forests. Hutchins & midgley provide three examples:-

“The st regis corporation had 3.2 million acres of timberland (which) was grossly undervalued at $223 million.” [95]

The Continental group had .. “1.4 million acres of undervalued timberland.” [96]

Crown zellerback had .. “a tranche of undervalued timberland.” [97]

The fact that american (and brutish) Forests were undervalued does not sound like an important snippet of information. Most people would hardly give tuppence for this insight if stopped in the street and asked how much they would be willing to pay for it. But to jgoldsmith it was a goldmine, inside a diamond mine, inside a platinum mine. It turned him into a sterling billionaire. [98] He bought up companies with undervalued Forests, set his accountants loose on revaluing them, and resold them for vast profits. He took over the diamond corporation, “Its great attraction for goldsmith lurked in the balance sheet. The 1.6 million acres of forest that provided the raw material for many of the company’s products had not been revalued since 1900 and were listed as being worth $27 million when .. four years later they were to be valued at $723 million.” [99] ; “The diamond deal also turned goldsmith into a logger and he was now aware that if he could increase his timber holdings to ten million acres he could become one of the leading players in the raw material sector .. .” [100] Jgoldsmith extracted from crown zellerack .. “1.9 million acres for less than $100 an acre ...” [101] He went on to merge diamond and crown zellerback and, “The forestry interests were later sold for £1.6 billion and made goldsmith a sterling billionaire.” [102]

7.2.4.2: Provoking the Timber Industry into Earth-wrecking Activities.

The geophysiological damage caused by jgoldsmith was not so much that his logging companies chopped down Trees as that he forced the industry to calculate the true economic value of its Forests which necessitated that companies which bought Forests were forced to exploit them as thoroughly as possible. As the price of Forests rose, timber companies had to exploit the Forests as ruthlessly as possible in order to recoup their costs. The re-evaluation of Forests’ economic value didn’t just affect one company. It affected the entire industry which, correspondingly, led to widescale exploitation of american Forests. It is possible that jgoldsmith was ultimately responsible for the rash of conflicts in america between loggers and Earth First!ers from the mid 1980s onwards. [103]

7.2.4.3: Personal Earth-wrecking Activities.

It is not known how many cars jgoldsmith owned. However, it is known that he owned three planes - one of them a boeing 757, “Designed to carry 233 passengers in commercial service, his boeing had been converted into a palace in the air for the privileged few.” [104] None too surprisingly, “His green image was not helped by the fact that he used an airliner built to carry 233 passengers as his private plane, which burned two tonnes of fuel with every takeoff.” [105] The other two aircraft were .. “a gulf stream II g2v .. His fleet was completed by a twin engined otter ..” [106] This is the material basis behind the phrase used earlier ‘the stratospherically wealthy’. Since the second world war a person’s wealth could be measured roughly by the extent to which they live above sea level. The higher above ground that people spend their lives whether in aeroplanes, penthouses, or multi-story offices, the greater their energy consumption, and the wealthier they are likely to be. Having a personal boeing certainly put as much distance as possible between jgoldsmith and the rest of oomanity without him having to leave the planet entirely. [107]

7.2.4.4: Domestic Earth-wrecking Activities.

As a stratospherically wealthy person, jgoldsmith was able to buy or build homes around the world. As regards the homes that had already been built, he could not be deemed responsible for the ecological damage that had been caused by their construction. He could be held responsible only for the continuing damage that his properties caused by the fact that they prevented the area from Reforesting itself. However, as regards the houses he built himself he was responsible for the ecological destruction they entailed.

Cuixmala, Mexico.

The home that jgoldsmith built which caused by far and way the most ecological damage was his paradise in mexico, “Goldsmith found his shangri-la on the pacific coast at cuixmala, 200 miles north of acapulco. It was 18,000 acres of almost virgin jungle when he began buying it from the hundreds of smallholders whom each had title to a part of his private wilderness. (It had) .. swampland, where pelicans, herons and other seabirds nested; a mature coconut plantation; and distant hills which were the home to pumas, jaguars and ocelots. (There was a fine white sand beach onto which) .. giant turtles crawled to lay their eggs ..” [108] So what did goldsmith do to this area? He built a white walled moorish castle covering 60,000 square feet; a main house; villas for guests dotted around the grounds; [109] stables for Horses; floodlit tennis courts; a support village for the large number of workers needed to service the buildings and its guests; a 4,000 ft airstrip; and a road from the main road to the house .. “which, at four miles, must be one of the longest driveways in the world ..” [110] It has been pointed out that, “More than 2,000 local workers were employed on the construction.” This is what greens would call “living in harmony with Wildlife.”

Las Hadas, Mexico.

“As far back as 1968, he was investing heavily in las hadas, a beachside development on the outskirts of the bustling port of manzanillo on mexico’s pacific coast ..” [111]

Hacienda San Antonio, Mexico.

.. “he also bought the hacienda san antonio in 1979.” [112] ; “An estimated 100 locals are employed on the estate’s (the hacienda san antonio) coffee plantation.” [113]

El jabali, Mexico.

(He bought) .. “a working cattle ranch of el jabali ...” [114] ; ..”el jabali, his 2,500 hectare ranch near the village of chamela ..” [115] He also bought the nearby lagoon of calabozo. And, “In addition to his 18,000 acres on the coast side of the road, goldsmith bought another 50,000 acres of mountainous forest on the other side and set up an ecological reserve staffed by five scientists from the national university of mexico.” [116]

Montjeu, France.

.. “the 17thc chateau of montjeu is set like a fortress on a hilltop, near the village of autun, burgundy. (It has an) .. 11 kilometre perimeter and ten foot high walls that enclose 700 hectares of woodland that teem with deer and wild boar. Goldsmith’s take-over ended centuries of local access to the grounds.” [117] Well done jgoldsmith.

A Spanish Estate.

.. “estate in southern spain ...” [118]

7.2.5: Jgoldsmith’s Contributions to Saving the Earth.

Having highlighted the damage jgoldsmith inflicted on the Earth’s life support system it is necessary to evaluate the contributions he made to protecting it - whether accidental or deliberate.

7.2.5.1: Ecological Preservation.

Jgoldsmith bought plots of land to preserve their ecological habitats. However, he didn’t do this with the intention of saving the world’s Flora and Fauna from extinction. The only ecologies he protected were those next to his homes in order to defend his peace, privacy, and security. The last thing he wanted was to be disturbed by property developments next to his own.

7.2.5.2: No Trespassing.

Whilst his brother believed in tribalism, jgoldsmith was busy privatizing the global commons. However, thankfully, this privatization was of enormous benefit to the local Wildlife so clearly he was not taken in by greens’ nonsense about oomans living in harmony with Wildlife, “For the locals there was a downside to goldsmith’s obsession with ecology. The meat from wild deer has always been an important part of the local diet but after goldsmith established his ecological zone, hunting was forbidden. Fishing was hit too.” [119] The same happened at his castle in france, .. “the 17thc chateau of montjeu is set like a fortress on a hilltop, near the village of autun, burgundy. (It has an) .. 11 kilometre perimeter and ten foot high walls that enclose 700 hectares of woodland that teem with deer and wild boar. Goldsmith’s take-over ended centuries of local access to the grounds.” [120]

In 1996 there was a dispute over access to jgoldsmith’s private beach at cuixmala in mexico, “The dispute ended in bloody confrontation. Manuel ornelas novoa, his wife and children and others were fired upon by a group of armed men (defending the beach). One of the women supporting ornelas was shot in the back and ornelas’s own van was riddled with bullet holes.” [121]

7.2.5.3: Support for Tribal/Indigenous People.

Hutchins & midgley allege .. “james goldsmith is on record as a passionate supporter of the rights of indigenous peoples.” [122] This may be true but it needs to be put into some context. Jgoldsmith owned mining interests in many areas around the world so the likelihood of him not having something to do with forcing tribals off their own land or desecrating sacred areas is small.

7.2.6: Conclusion: the Man who Shagged the Earth.

7.2.6.1: Creating a Dynasty.

It is suspected that what jgoldsmith regarded as the most important thing in his life was the creation of a family dynasty - like the rothschilds, “The creation of a dynasty is something very close to goldsmith’s heart.” [123] Indeed there is good reason for believing that all that mattered to him was his continually expanding dynasty. By the time of his death he owned few companies. All the money he had acquired had been put into a family trust, “In july (presumably 1987) he sold all but 5% of his holdings in general occidentale for $500 million and stashed the cash in lichtenstein. According to ‘time’, the money was placed in the brunneria foundation, a family-owned holding company that controlled another two companies in panama.” [124]

Quite staggeringly, jgoldsmith doesn’t seem to have left anything to posterity beyond his dynasty - no business empire, no prestigious college bearing his name, no medical research institutes for curing deadly diseases, no foundations achieving charitable objections, “There is no great charitable institution bearing his name.” [125] All that is left is his dynasty for which he provided so lavishly. It has been estimated that jgoldsmith left investments yielding an income of £100 million a year. Virtually all of this money goes to members of the goldsmith dynasty, “Instead a vast fortune lies tied up in a portfolio of investments around the world supporting the lifestyles of his inner circle of wives, lovers, and children ...” [126] It’s remarkable how little a person could have achieved with such stratospherically wealth.

7.2.6.2: A Mega Earth Rapist Shit.

O.k. let’s burn some more bridges just to make sure there’s no going back. No matter what his positive personal qualities may have been, jgoldsmith was an disgusting Earth rapist. He traversed the Earth like a wealthy predator who was incapable of understanding the damage he was causing. If some Carbonomics’ research was carried out to determine the world’s biggest Earth rapist then it is almost certain that his name would be nominated as a likely candidate for the title. It is possible to express this anger because the git is now thankfully in his grave. However, it is also necessary to express such anger in retribution because during his lifetime he would have done everything in his power to use the law as a weapon of oppression against anyone criticizing him about the damage he was causing around the world - as he did against private eye and as robert maxwell and jonathon aitken did against those who tried to tell the truth about them. He would have threatened truthtellers with a lengthy spell in her majesty’s dark and dingy courtrooms and saddled them with a lifetime of debt for trying to tell the truth. There is surely something grossly offensive about a judicial system which allows the law to be used as a weapon of intimidation by the rich thereby transforming courtrooms from places of justice into prison camps where poor truthtellers are imprisoned and tortured, financially and emotionally, whilst corrupt judges preside over the proceedings like prison governors and court officials act like prison officers ‘making sure the victim doesn’t have any marks after the beating.’ This is why, of course, meat eating, Fox hunting, eton/oxbridge judges sentence Animal rightists to 18 years in prison for rescuing Hamsters whilst allowing paedophiles to remain out on bail to commit more crimes before giving them another suspended sentence. [127]

Jgoldsmith’s political contradictions were considerable but, then again, he was not an intellectual so he had no interest in resolving such contradictions. He was far too busy shagging aristocrats, prostitutes, the brutish economy, and the Earth, to waste his mind on petty tasks like ironing out intellectual contradictions.