Media
Monday 23 October 2023
Radio 4, 10 part series (Podcast) ‘THE COWS ARE MAD’
If you care about the food you eat, the politicians you vote for and the scientists in whom you place your trust. Please listen to my story on BBC podcast,’ The Cows are Mad’, a ten part series for Radio 4, beginning, Monday October 23rd 1.45pm. All episodes available BBC sounds.
The Cows are Mad, Producer Lucy Proctor
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001ryb4
[ditty_news_ticker id=”2147″]
Christine’s major documentary cows cash and cover-ups?
see trailer below and 5 ***** UK Film review. April 2019
UK Film Review reviewed Cows, Cash & Cover-ups
https://www.ukfilmreview.co.uk/blog/cows-cash-cover-ups-investigating-vcjd-film-review
‘this film is a hard watch but a necessary one and it asks some serious questions about what goes in our food,
how much we know about this (and for that matter…anything), the international aspects of meat management and the reprehensible ethics of those running the show’
‘This is not so much a film as a sounding of the alarm and it is a vital, urgent and frightening raising of an issue that we should all make it our duty to know about.
This documentary should be televised on the grandest scale and its story shared with as wide an audience as possible’
Friday 5th April 2019
UK Film 5*****review of major documentary Cows, cash and cover-ups? investigating vcjd. Christine Lord Associate Producer
UK Film Review reviewed Cows, Cash & Cover-ups
‘this film is a hard watch but a necessary one and it asks some serious questions about what goes in our food,
how much we know about this (and for that matter…anything), the international aspects of meat management and the reprehensible ethics of those running the show’
‘This is not so much a film as a sounding of the alarm and it is a vital, urgent and frightening raising of an issue that we should all make it our duty to know about.
This documentary should be televised on the grandest scale and its story shared with as wide an audience as possible’
Saturday 20th October 2018
Peoples vote for second referendum BREXIT
Justice for andy reperensented with bannners warning of lowering of food and safety standards due to leaving EU. BSE Mad Cow Disease runs amok?
August 16th 2018
DAILY MAIL FEATURE
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6064007/Friends-cross-road-avoid-youve-lost-child.html
JUNE 22nd 2018
BBC Radio4 World at One, my interview with Mark Mardell as part of a 12 part series,
Brexit: a love story? The full interview is now available on BBC podcast in which I discuss the impact of BSE
on Andrew and my family, and the UK. What will the de-regulation of food standards/safety measures mean once the UK has left the EU?
Listen to my interview click on link below.
APRIL 27th 2018
BBC RADIO INTERVIEW
April 27th 2018
Christine featured on BBC Radio Solent 27th April 2018 at 7:10am talking about her article
Bereaved Parents silenced!
Read full article below.
Lost For Words? The Silencing of Bereaved Parents
Lost For Words? The Silencing of Bereaved Parents
Portsmouth journalist and campaigner for justice for victims of vCJD (the human variant of ‘Mad Cows Disease’) Christine Lord recounts her experiences of losing a child and asks why society still struggles to acknowledge and address grieving parents.
Stage and TV actor Kim Cattrall – known for her role in ‘Sex in the City’ – told Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour in 2015 that she objected to terms like ‘childless’ to refer to women who have not had children.
“It’s the ‘less’ that is offensive: childless – it sounds like you’re less because you haven’t had a child,” she said.
Her objection got me thinking about my own situation and how language and wider society treat people like me. Like Kim, I don’t feel represented in the lexicon of parenthood because there are no words, titles or labels in the English language to describe my circumstances.
I am the mother of a dead child.
There. I have written those dreaded words. The worst nightmare of every loving parent/guardian, or caregiver. Stark prose from which most adults recoil, whether they are ‘child free’ or a parent.
My son Andrew was killed aged 24 years old in 2007. His sister Emma was just 17 when she lost her only sibling.
Yet Emma remains Andrew’s sister and I remain a mother of two.
We belong to a growing club whose membership runs into the tens of thousands in the UK. According to the Office of National Statistics, between 2010-16, between 8,600 and 9,800 young people under the age of 30 died annually in the UK (an average of 9,000 per year). This means tens of thousands of newly bereaved mothers and fathers every year. Hundreds of thousands across Europe and millions across the globe.
As a bereaved mother, qualified counsellor and journalist, I wanted to write about how it feels to be a parent of a dead child: how people’s sympathy often comes with an expiry date, and how we have a problem in our society if we cannot acknowledge and understand grief.
Bereaved parents are expected to neatly package our grief: to give it a clear beginning, middle and a final, accepting end, tears no longer shed, pain ceased and the dead child deleted as quickly as an unwanted email. At the same time, the catastrophic event of losing a child creates divisions within relationships – from close friends to work colleagues. In the media, parents of dead children are often written about as tragic humans, broken by tragedy.
How we treat grieving parents is important because it shows us how as a society we deal with – or hide from – our deepest fears, and the isolation this causes to those of us who have lived through those fears becoming real.
I buried my only son just a few days before Christmas on 21st December 2007. In the last week of his life Andrew asked me, ‘Will you remember me?’ I sobbed and assured him that I would always be so proud of him and would talk about him and his achievements until the day I died. Why wouldn’t I?
But in the months and years that followed, I learned that our society would often find my attempts to keep that promise difficult, embarassing, and off-putting. I still, proudly, declare that I am a mother of two children. In my experience, what to me is a simple fact has for others the power to perplex and shock.
I have discovered that many people view the death of a child as ‘taboo’; a subject that shouldn’t be talked about too often once the funeral has taken place. Part of this seems to be based on a perception that there is – or should be – a time limit on grief.
I’ve met many people who believe that after one year, or two has passed, a bereaved parent should be able to ‘move forward’, to ‘forget’,or to find some form of ‘closure’. All these terms have come to make me shudder, and to understand that our society does not like to address what life is like when you lose a child.
Contrary to this common expectation, the grief of bereaved parents is more likely to expand with the passing years, with each birthday, each Christmas and holiday. The life that should have been lived is ever present for us. Blinded by disbelief, we try and make sense of this unknown landscape, where we continue to live when our children are dead.
I still want to keep Andrew and his memory alive in my ongoing relationships. I want to talk about his job, his smile, his funny jokes. I don’t chatter on needlessly about Andrew, but when others talk about their children or parenting, I want to share stories about both of mine, too. This is not maudlin but a celebration. Andrew existed and he contributed to so many people’s lives and experiences. He will always be a part of my family, and a part of me.
In the early days after Andrew had died, I witnessed an array of responses. Sympathy, practical help and listening ears were welcome. But as time passed, people became dismissive, less able to engage.
‘He’s in a better place,’ I was told by a mum with three healthy kids and six grandchildren.
A neighbour suggested I ‘get a dog.’
Countless times I was told, ‘time heals.’
I’m not saying people mean to cause distress, I understand how difficult it is to know what to say in the face of tragedy and profound grief. But at the same time, to hear these remarks feels at worst, cruel, at best, thoughtless.
I spoke to John and Nicholas, two fathers who have also lost a child, and found similar experiences to my own.
John is 54, from Wimbledon, and a father of five. His youngest daughter, Felicity, died aged 21 after a car accident during a gap year holiday. He told me how he has to adjust his conversation in everyday life, so that he doesn’t upset other people.
‘After Felicity’s accident, I was totally numb for many years. I worked non-stop to try and ease the depression and shock. Meeting clients was and still is difficult.’
‘I am confident, articulate, I like socialising. But I found after Felicity’s death, if I mentioned my daughter even in passing, the atmosphere changed and became stilted and odd. Customers and even friends at social events would get embarrassed and didn’t know how to react. I then feel guilty that somehow I had upset them, ruined their day or evening.’
John put his head in his hands as he told me, ‘I don’t talk about Felicity at work anymore. I tell new clients I only have four kids, it made it easier. I even took down a family photo of us all from my office wall. It became just too awkward. It’s as if Felicity never existed, as if she has been wiped out.’
Nicholas, 48, is an IT consultant on the south coast. He raised Will as his own from the time Will was a toddler. Will died from cancer, aged 28. He excelled at sports and had just got engaged when he was diagnosed.
Nicholas told me. ‘Will was the centre of my world and I miss him so much. I would probably be a grandfather now if he was still alive.’
‘One night after a work conference in Scotland. I got chatting to a stranger in a bar. We both started to talk about our sons. It was great to share, laugh and compare notes with this other father. Of course we talked of other things and topics, it was a lovely relaxed evening. At the end of the evening the stranger said, ‘I’d really like to meet your boy, he sounds a great young man.’
With tears in his eyes, Nicholas told me, ‘I drank my pint quickly and left as I couldn’t bear to tell the stranger that Will had died three years ago. Bereaved parents are not supposed to laugh and chat away about their late children.’
I know exactly what John and Nicholas were talking about, it’s other people’s attitudes to our loss that can be shockingly painful.
It has been over ten years since Andrew was killed and no, the pain is not as raw as it was, but my heart is broken. It will remain shattered. There will never be a quick fix. Because my son is never coming home.
Losing a child is horrendous and terrifying, but it’s also something that as a society, we should try to learn from.
If a person has lost a husband or wife, the terms widow or widower lend a sense of dignity and significance. Would giving bereaved parents a definitive title offer the same respect and empathy?
In the decade since my Andrew died I still ache with longing, still get angry, still shed a tear. Yet people ask, astonished, ‘aren’t you over it yet?’ or tell me, ‘you need to move on’ as if I have failed in some way, or have just mis-laid a favourite handbag on a train.
Talking about my son has been essential for my mental health. All of us will suffer loss, death is an inevitable part of life. So the next time a bereaved mother, father, guardian, care giver talks about their lost child, please don’t walk away from difficult emotions and leave them alone with their grief.
Instead, be brave. Listen, comment, share, laugh and reminisce with them. It will be good for your mental health too.
Christine Lord’s book Who Killed My Son? is available from Amazon, with profits from the paperback/kindle versions going to her campaignwww.justice4andy.com, supporting families affected by BSE.
Her latest documentary about the food industry, Cows, Cash and Cover-ups? will be broadcast this year, and you can view the trailer below.
February 2018
Star and Crescent online newspaper: Christine Lord, Portsmouth journalist asks ‘Do we know whats in our food?’
New Documentary Featuring Portsmouth Journalist Asks: Do We Know What’s in our Food?
NOVEMBER 16th 2017
TalkEurope radio, Christine’s live interview on ‘Lets Talk’, with Presenter Sean Bolger.
Christine discussed the UK and global public health risk of UK government refusing to validate blood screening for vcjd Human BSE for blood donors. Blood donors UK and globally are not individually screened for human mad cow disease up to 60,000 people in the UK could be carrying or incubating lethal human mad cow disease/ prion disease/ human BSE.
The interview was broadcast across Spain and parts of Europe.
April 28th 2017
BBC Radio Solent/ Croydon Radio.
Christine interview with BBC Radio and Croydon Radio,
ITV top soap Emmerdale fail to broadcast apology regarding characters talking about ‘mad cow disease’ in a non factual and disrespectful manner.
February 27th 2017
Christine extended interview with presenter Pippa Jone, on TALK Radio Europe, which broadcast across Spain.
Talking about my current investigations into the connections of dementia with human BSE and also my new documentary ‘Cash’ Cows and Cover-ups’ see the trailer below. The completed one hour documentary to be streamed and broadcast later this year.
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/203115042
February 25th 2017
Croydon Radio London, featured a tribute to Andrew and my campaign and forthcoming documentary’
‘Cash, cows and cover-ups’. See link below podcast of the interview with Cheryl Fergus-Ferrell
http://www.croydonradio.com/podcast/show.php?HistoryID=70021a3f-9bf5-ed3e-8ed9-3e03dbb96665
February 6th 2017
Christine interview BBC1 Inside Out 7.30pm. The current and on-going risk of BSE and other zoonotic diseases to public. Investigation into government funding cuts to autopsy facilities for farm animals with suspected deadly diseases.
January 2017
IKON Gallery Birmingham. Turner nominated artist Roger Hirons art show included items from www.justice4andy.com campaign. Roger’s art includes many aspects of BSE its devastating toll on humans, animals and the environment. This follows his successful sell out show ‘History is Now’ at the Southbank, London. Which included sections of this website, Andrews photos and items from the campaign as part of Roger Hiorns installations With contributing art work from Daimen Hirst and Andy Warhol.
Christine and Roger at the Hayward Gallery, Southbank, London.
June 21st 2016
Home page British Red Cross website, listen Andrew’s story how the Red Cross was there for Andrew during his terminal ilness. The UK Department of Health and NHS turned away but the Red Cross supplied much needed equipment for Andrew when he was dying of the human form of mad cow disease.
http://webapps.redcross.org.uk/every-crisis-is-pe
‘EVERY CRISIS IS PERSONAL’ BRITISH RED CROSS
January 11th 2016‘
Two page feature written by Christine for Woman’s Own magazine, Page 33.
Womans Own feature Christine page1
Womans Own feature Christine page2
September 9th 2015
Christine is about to complete her fourth documentary, ‘Cash, cows and cover-ups’.
Wednesday March 25th 2015
PORTSMOUTH NEWS (two page feature)
‘I won’t give up in my quest for the truth…!
‘Andrew Blacks determined mum set about raising awareness of vCJD- the human form of mad cow disease and her eight year battle for justice.
LINK: http://bit.ly/1EFvqwI
STAR AND CRESCENT ONLINE ‘got away with murder…..!
http://www.starandcrescent.org.uk/mad-cows-disease-still-a-threat-to-all-of-us/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/06/britain-s-horrific-vip-pedophile-cover-up.html
HUFFINGTON POST
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/victoria-sadler/history-is-now-hayward_b_6652954.html
“This section on BSE moved me so much that on getting home, I promptly threw out the beef mince I had in the freezer. The exhibits made me feel sick, queasy and, given the recent horsemeat scandal, it was a direct challenge to us to question who we trust.”
Friday February 13th 2015
BBC RADIO SOLENT BREAKFAST
Friday February 13th 2015
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/victoria-sadler/history-is-now-hayward_b_6652954.html
“This section on BSE moved me so much that on getting home, I promptly threw out the beef mince I had in the freezer. The exhibits made me feel sick, queasy and, given the recent horsemeat scandal, it was a direct challenge to us to question who we trust.”
Friday 17th October 2014
BBC Radio Solent
Monday 13th October 2014 Portsmouth Hampshire Local News
Thursday 24th July 2014
BBC Radio Solent
Sunday January 5th 2014
SKY News TV
http://news.sky.com/story/1190378/cjd-call-for-widespread-test-to-detect-disease
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Friday 12th April 2013
THE NEWS PORTSMOUTH UK
Channel Four News January 13th 2012
ITV News – May 2011
Please click on the following link to watch the recent ITV news report:
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/screening-for-cjd83414/
Portsmouth Evening News – May 2011
Please click on the following links to view the recent press article:
BBC News – May 2011
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-13372323
Documentary from Australia titled ‘Kuru’ about cjd and the Fore Tribe – December 19th 2010
vCJD March in London – November 2010
Please click on the following links to view the recent TV & press articles:
www.demotix.com/news/506121/justice-cjd-victims-protesters-opposite-downing-street-london
www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Portsmouth-mum-joins-march-to.6623088.jp
Meat Trade News Daily – May 2010
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
http://www.meattradenewsdaily.co.uk/news/130510/uk___a_lot_of_bull_over_bse.aspx
Portsmouth News – May 2010
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
News – May 2010
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
www.demotix.com/news/321328/families-cjd-victims-take-protest-prime-minister
BBC News – March 2009
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/8577785.stm
The Portsmouth News – March 2010
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/39Ministers-need-to-come-clean.6167784.jp
The Mother Magazine – November 2009
Please click on the following link to view the recent magazine article:
www.themothermagazine.co.uk back issues
The Portsmouth News – October 2009
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Campaigning-mother39s-blood-screen-demand.5764990.jp
The Portsmouth News – August 2009
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Anguish-of-mum39s-fight-to.5569347.jp
The Portsmouth News – August 2009
A Small Selection of News Articles – August 2009
BBC Radio 4 Today Programme
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8208000/8208824.stm
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8207034.stm
Independent Newspaper
Medical News Today
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/161140.php
Portsmouth News
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Coroners-urged-to-help-track.5566657.jp
The Portsmouth News – March 2009
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
The Portsmouth News – August 2009
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Anguish-of-mum39s-fight-to.5569347.jp
BBC Northern Ireland – February 2009
Please click on the following link to view the recent BBC website article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7907140.stm
The Portsmouth News – February 2009
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Sinn-Fein-MP-gives-support.5010392.jp
The Belfast Telegraph – January 2009
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/mum-wants-justice-after-cjd-cover-up-14136640.html
MBC Korea – 2008
Please click on the following Youtube link to view the MBC Korean documentary ‘my lost boy’ (5 parts)
http://www.youtube.com/user/JusticeForAndy2008
The Independent – December 2008
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
The Portsmouth News – December 2008
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/Mother39s-plea-for-more-Government.4806691.jp
BBC Newsnight – December 2008
Christine was interviewed by BBC Newsnight (broadcast on 17/12/08) – please click on the following link to watch again:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7789903.stm
The Portsmouth News – November 2008
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/39Those-responsible-for-my-son39sdeath.4659107.jp
The Portsmouth News – September 2008
Please click on the following link to view the recent press article:
www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/Mum-pays-tribute-to-son.4453345.jp
BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour – July 2008
Christine was interviewed by Jenni Murray on Woman’s Hour (broadcast on 24/07/08) – please click on the following link to listen again:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/01/2008_30_thu.shtml
BBC South Today – July 2008
Christine was interviewed by Roger Finn for BBC South Today (broadcast on 15/07/08) – please click on the following link to watch again:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7508501.stm
EDM – July 2008
The EDM (Early Day Motion) presented by Mike Hancock CBE MP can be seen using the parliamentary data base link below.
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=36365&SESSION=891
The Portsmouth News – July 2008
Please click on the ollowing link to view the recent press article:
www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/Mum39s-battle-for-mad-cow.4260209.jp
The Portsmouth News – May 2008
Please click on the following links to view the recent press articles:
www.portsmouth.co.uk/portsmouth/Mum-vows-justice-on-CJD.4043747.jp
www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/My-son-died-of-CJD.4041334.jp
The Daily Mail – May 2008
The Daily Mail – Please click on the following link to read the double page feature about Andrew and the campaign which was published on May 13th 2008:
www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1019256/One-mother-CJD-nightmare-back.html
BBC 1 Breakfast – Thursday 15th May 2008
Christine was Interviewed by Bill Turnbill and Sian Williams, with clips from the Inside Out (South) documentary “Who killed my son?” Christine told Sian and Bill and millions of BBC Breakfast viewers:
“My sons death was totally avoidable. The men and women I am exposing knew BSE had severe implications for human health at the earliest states…they hold the smoking gun that killed my son.” she continued “I want these men and women publicly and legally accountable for his avoidable death.”
Further details on the interview can be found using the following link (scroll down to 15th May)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast/7385454.stm
BBC1 Insideout Documentary – Who Killed My Son? – May 2008
Please click on the link below to watch the documentary
Please click on the link below for information about the documentary
www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/content/articles/2008/05/01/south_west_vcjd_main_s13_w10_feature.shtml