Two hundred officers stood by to prevent protesters reaching the home of Professor Colin Blakemore, president elect of the British Society For the Advancement of Science and Waynflete Professor of Physiology at Oxford University.
The demonstration marked the culmination of a week of protest by animal rights supporters opposed to vivisection. Earlier, about 20 demonstrators had attacked a vivisection laboratory near Banbury.Professor Blakemore has been the subject of fierce criticism and violent attacks by animal rights supporters for 10 years. He was sent a parcel bomb containing explosives surrounded by nails and his secretary received a letter filled with razor blades.Professor Blakemore attracted the ire of the animal rights movement after being filmed sewing up the eye of a cat.He said: “In an ideal world we would not have to kill animals to eat or to carry out experiments. Experiments on live animals have been reduced by half since the 1970s. Although I have tried to encourage dialogue these people are not interested in it I’m afraid experiments are essential. There are millions of people out there dying from things like Aids and suffering from diseases like Alzheimer’s What should we do, ignore them?”.

Britain and France were last night locked in a diplomatic row over airline security. British Airways was furious that Air Algerie – a target for terrorists – had been allowed to set up a check-in desk right next to its own at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Worried about possible terrorist devices, BA switched its Charles de Gaulle flights which clashed with those of Air Algerie to Paris’s other main airport, Orly. It also limited passengers on its remaining Charles de Gaulle flights to hand luggageThe airline has asked Transport Secretary Sir George Young to contact his French counterpart to try to get the matter resolved.But the row is unlikely to be solved quickly, coming as it does as both countries prepare for general elections.Air Algerie stopped using Charles de Gaulle two years ago after its check- in was moved to a remote part of the airport, but resumed the flights yesterday. BA was upset that no special security arrangements were introduced for the airline’s reappearance at the airport.. One OF Britain’s leading film directors will unveil his latest work tomorrow – and it looks as if it could prove to be the most dramatic party political broadcast ever shown in Britain. Stephen Frears, director of the film hits, Dangerous Liaisons, Sammy And Rosie Get Laid, Prick Up Your Ears, and My Beautiful Laundrette, was commissioned by Labour to make its final offering for the election campaign. Mr Frears’ film, to be shown on Monday night, is a drama, starring Peter Postlethwaite, who appeared in the film In The Name Of The Father.
Shot in Watford, this film will feature 40 schoolchildren, all of whom have been vetted to check they come from Labour-supporting families.

The exact details of what happens and who says what to whom, are still a closely-guarded secret. But party officials are confident the enterprise will provide a riveting finale to their campaign.The idea is that after last week’s Blair: The Movie, from another heavyweight director, documentary-maker Molly Dineen – which was intended to be an intimate portrait of the party leader – this film will show the challenges ahead.Labour has staked much on using big names to make the films, believing they are the best way of reaching a wide audience. The Conservatives, by contrast, have not produced anything as radical since John Major’s tour down memory lane shown for the 1992 election.Ms Dineen, who made her reputation with a string of gritty, fly-on-the- wall documentaries for the BBC, said that party political broadcasts were unsatisfactory for directors like herself. The public was so cynical about politicians that too much material had to be left on the cutting room floor, she said.In making her film she shot Mr Blair talking about his deep-seated Christianity, but this was cut because it was felt viewers would think he was not being sincere. He spoke at length about the effect of the media on politicians, but, again, while this would have been fine for a documentary, it was not considered suitable for a party broadcast on the television.Similarly, Mr Blair’s point that his youthful experiences had shaped his politics, was also dropped. “You approach it as a documentary but you’re not making one,” said Ms Dineen. She added that she would not make a party election broadcast again.