Big Companies or Governments - Who's Running the Show?

On a cold October last year a group of twenty one people dashed across the grounds of an EDF owned gas-fired power station, scaled two of the chimneys and forced the company to turn the station off.  What for?  In protest that, after intense lobbying from big energy companies like EDF, the UK government now plans to build forty new gas-fired power stations.  According to their own committee on climate change, this would destroy our climate change targets and the rising price of gas would add around £600 to the average household's bills by 2020.   This 'Dash of Gas' would push millions into fuel poverty but do the big companies care about this?

Well EDF certainly don't seem to.  In response to the protest they planned to sue the protestors £5 million for 'significant knock-on costs by delaying its buildings work'.  I do believe that translates as 'they caused us a loss of profits'.  Thankfully the internet and social media resulted in a petition over 64,000 signatures long condemning EDF's actions, which resulted in EDF dropping their ridiculous law suit, which to my mind was nothing more than legal bullying.

However, EDF are not the only company who engage in this sort of behaviour.

Bayer, the company that manufactures the pesticide that resulted in the death of 35 million bees on a single farm in California, is now in the process of trying to sue the EU for loss of profits. The reason?  The greater majority of EU countries banned the use and production of said pesticide within their boarders.

So, in answer to my question of is it the big companies or the governments who run our world, I conclude that it is the governments but only when the big companies let them.

The only thing that gives me hope is that people power still counts for something.  A petition made EDF back off and there is a petition in the making on line to tell Bayer to do the same.  If you are interested then check out the website of pressure group Some of Us.  If they are not running the petition themselves then they have the links to find it.

But for one final sting from Bayer - Bayer is the only company that produce a treatment (Advocate) for lungworm in dogs so the only way to boycott their produce is to run the risk of your pet dying a hideous and agonizing death.  And here's me thinking that monopolies are illegal.