UFO Info Week-End

The Pope is being requested that St Boniface become the patron saint of the whole of Europe so

The Pope is being requested that St Boniface become the patron saint of the whole of Europe so .. the export potential is huge … “I moved to Crediton three years ago,” he said, “and it was a dead and dying town that needed to be uplifted. The only thing it has to market itself with is St Boniface and I explained this to the town council in 1995 but it didn’t want to know, so I have done it myself. I do, however, agree that it is quite fitting to make him the patron saint of Europe … In my opinion, he had more influence in the life and politics of Europe than any other Englishman ever and it’s pretty below the belt for one man to try and corner him for himself.”But Mr Haigh insists that he is not after personal gain. But St Boniface, who is reputed to have thought up the Christmas tree, could become especially lucrative if plans to make him the patron saint of Europe are successful.Professor Henry Mayr-Harting, Regius Professor of ecclesiastical history at Oxford University and a particular fan of St Boniface, said: “The idea that Boniface should be patented for financial gain is dreadful … We are extremely concerned that if Mr Hague gets the application approved, it would mean St Boniface’s name could not be used in any tourist publication without his permission and, presumably, without paying.

So at a council meeting this week we have decided to put in our own trademark application to protect St Boniface, and, if we are successful, we will not be after any financial gain at all.”Saints have been trademarked in the past, the case of St Michael and Marks & Spencer being the most famous example. But now the churchman, who is also the patron saint of Germany and the Netherlands, has become embroiled in a battle between God and mammon. The storm erupted over a trademark application by Andrew Haigh, a businessman, to control the name of St Boniface. If successful, it means that any manufacturer or tourist body will have to seek his permission before they can use the saint’s name. The move has sparked fury among local residents and the town council.
Town councillor Sally Beament said: “St Boniface is the most famous figure to come out of Crediton and he is very important to the town.

Every year hundreds of tourists flock to the town to pay their respects to the Saxon monk who is believed to have lived there in the late 7th century. The presence of St Boniface can be felt all over the small rural town of Crediton, with statues, festivals and plaques set up in his honour and many of the town’s souvenirs bearing his name. Britain, which has a pounds 15bn share in the Eurofighter, has put strong pressure on Bonn stay in the project, despite demands in Germany for the project be scrapped in order to cut public spending and enable the country to meet the Maastricht criteria for the single European currency. “The coalition has agreed, it’s fully funded for five years, and it will be voted through as part of our 1998 budget in November,” he said before a meeting with the Secretary of State for Defence, George Robertson, in London last night “It’s in the bag,” Mr Ruhe said. “A solution to this conflict must come from the Algerians themselves,” the Foreign Office said last night. Or, as the Foreign Minister of France, Algeria’s former colonial power, recently said: “We cannot do nothing But what can we do ?”.

Volker Ruhe, the German defence minister, last night banished any remaining doubts over his country’s commitment to the pounds 40bn Eurofighter programme. But, despite calls for outside investigators be sent to find out what is really happening in Algeria, the international community watches, wrings its hands, and heeds President Zeroual’s warning not to interfere. Indeed, despite assurances from the government that the insurgency was all but stamped out, several massacres have taken place almost in earshot of nearby police and army barracks. Now there are increasing signs that, as part of a power struggle within the regime, factions of the security forces are colluding with the terrorists.Yesterday an FIS leader in Denmark accused the Algerian authorities of sponsoring the slaughter then blaming Islamic militants. Not only were these “fantasies spewed from reptillian brains” tolerated in the country “which invented human rights”, they were happening in the elite establishments.A few people have stepped forward to justify bizutage: they speak of creating a sense of adulthood; of esprit de corps. A university professor, Jean Berard, writing in Liberation, said bizutage was “one of the most scandalous problems of our society”.

One girl in Sarreguemines in Lorraine said she had been covered in flour and made to distribute pasta in the town centre.The government campaign has been greeted with relief by many former students. The pupils, including 11 girls, have admitted taking and distributing photographs of new girls in humiliating and partially undressed poses Other complaints have been less chilling. Following a complaint by a parent, two students at a lycee in Orleans have been ejected for organising the bizutage of new students wishing to join a judo class. Last year, male students had their genitals glued together; this year, there was an act of attempted sodomy with a fountain pen.Fourteen students at one of the top lycees in Marseilles have been suspended following another complaint to the ministry.