The Other News From England.

10 April 2000.

- It just happens to be 5 days late in arriving due to technical problems)

Index of earlier issues - click here.

(Those who like digging about will find that there are hundreds of articles on many subjects to be found on this site.)

Old issues.

There are some much earlier Other News on this site. Click below.

early Othernews - 1992, 93, 94.

The Bonnington Cafe.

Struggle now at least temporarily resolved .

This week there was a German team in there for a few hours one day making a video about LETS.

Bonnington Cafe, Vauxhall Grove, London SW8 UK. Near Vauxhall underground and mainline station, and many buses. Booking is difficult.

Education.

Summerhill has prevailed in court, and I imagine we may assume that it will now go on thinking there is no other form of school as good as Summerhill - maybe without even having considered the possibilities. It is, for instance, possible that Summerhill people might attain higher levels of social integrity, literacy, mathematical, design, etc. etc. skills than they already do without any compromise to the school's principles - it is even possible that they might, without really trying, do better in most areas than kids from other schools.

To make this happen (assuming it to be a desirable thing) might possibly require a new vision on the part of the staff - perhaps a fearless step forward of some kind into the unknown world of access to knowledge and assistance where requested rather than any kind of teaching, and a fear-free offer of styles of teaching and subjects that have not yet been tried. This, to me, seems to imply teaching by example - that is, for instance, showing that learning things is good fun, showing that spending days in the library reading has a purpose and is interesting to those who like it, and that reading effectively is worthwhile in it's own right in relation to our everyday lives. The same idea applies in all areas, and for kids in a free school it has far more use in that they will not find it either a threat or an imposition.

It is possible that this step further along the road A. S. Neill started travelling in the early nineteenth century may never happen if people don't keep an open mind, and it will be very easy to instead travel self-righteously down the path of thinking that we are already perfect or we would not have got through the courts like that. The time and effort that went into that case will, in my opinion, have been largely wasted if that happens.

Freemasons.

WELL, I DIDN'T get any emails to say people could not log in after last week's article. Freemasons featured prominently in the last two or three issues, and the site was unreliable during part of that time. If you want to see what was said, click 'index of earlier issues' above.

Joe Punter's Shakespeare.

King Henry the Sixth (part 1) continued.

Act 1 continued.

SCENE 3.

In front of the Tower of London (before Beefeaters and tourists).

DUKE OF GLOSTER:

I've come to look at the tower because there seems to be some connivance going on. Why won't they answer the door? Hey! Let me in. It's me.

(some unnamed persons knock on door for him!)

WARDER (within):

Who's that?

FIRST SERVANT:

I'm knocking on behalf of the Duke of Gloster.

SECOND WARDER (within):

He can't come in.

FIRST SERVANT:

Wankers! Who the hell do you think you are?

FIRST WARDER:

We are only following orders.

GLOSTER:

Who's orders? I'm in charge around here. (to unnamed persons) Break down the gates. I'll speak for you. I can't afford to be talked to like that.

They rush the gate, and a man called Woodville (a lieutenant) talks from wthin.

WOODVILLE:

What's the big noise? You are traitors.

GLOSTER:

Woodville! It's me. Let me in.

WOODVILLE:

Please wait. Normal service might be resumed as soon as possible. The Bishop of Winchester has ordered that nobody may enter this security area without his express permission (security pass, green overalls, badge,etc., or produce driving license, etc.).

GLOSTER:

But I am in charge here. Surely you don't prefer his orders to mine? You're no friend to anybody if you don't open up. If you don't, I'll shortly be chucking you out.

NAMELESS PERSONS:

Open up or we'll force the gates. Come out quickly.

B. Winchester appears accompanied by unnamed persons to reinforce him.

WINCHESTER:

What's all this?

GLOSTER:

Shovelled priest. You've told these men to shut me out.

BW (abbreviation for Bishop of Winchester hereafter):

I certainly did. You're trying to take over power.

GLOS (ditto):

Stand back insolent git! Conspirator! Encourager of whores! Want a good thumping?

BW:

Bollocks to that. Kill me if you will, but I'm not budging.

GLOS:

I won't kill you, but for certain I will drive you out of here.

BW:

You try it. I dare you.

GLOS:

Right lads, prepare yourselves. We'll see to this ponced-up cardinal. I fancy pulling his beard.

BW:

You'll have to answer for this to the pope.

GLOS:

Don't give us that old twaddle. Come on lads. Go for it.

There is a scuffle and the BW team are driven out. During the scuffle the Mayor of London and some of his nameless persons arrive.

MAYOR OF LONDON:

What the hell's going on? You should be ashamed of yourselves. You are supreme magistrates and are supposed to keep the peace.

GLOS:

It's 'im, sir, 'e started it. He's trying to cease power.

BW:

It's him. He overcharges everyone with taxes and then spends it on wars, when we could have peace if he wouldn't. He also wishes to drive out the church. I am trying to protect the nation from him.

GLOS:

How dare you sir! I'll give you a black eye!

A new skirmish ensues.

MAYOR (to a nameless person):

Make a proclamation.

NAMELESS PERSON (very loud):

Please stop fighting, clear the streets and return to your homes.

GLOS:

I don't want to break the law. But we shall meet again - then we shall see.

BW:

And when we do I'll have your guts for garters over this.

MAYOR:

If you don't go away I'll get some nameless persons with cudgels to drive you away. That cardinal's a right uppity prat!

GLOS:

Goodbye Mayor. You're only doing your duty.

BW:

Be bloody careful how you go Gloster. I intend to have your head.

They all leave, except the Mayor and his unnamed assistants.

MAYOR:

Good god what a bunch of hooligans. Always fighting. Myself I haven't fought in the last forty years.

All exit.

SCENE 4.

France. In front of Orleans. On the walls enter the master gunner and his boy.

MASTER-GUNNER OF ORLEANS:

You know sir, they haven't a chance. The English have them by the short and curlies.

BOY:

I know, Dad. I've tried to shoot 'em but keep missing.

MG of O:

Keep an eye on that tower, because that is where they are hiding, and they are able to work out what to do next from their observations.

Exits

BOY:

Don't worry Dad. I won't bother you if you let me spy on them.

Exits

Enter Salisbury and Talbot on the turrets, with Sir Wm. Gadsdale, Sir Thos. Cargrave and others.

SALISBURY:

Glad to see you Talbot. How did you get out?

LORD TALBOT:

They swapped me for some prat called Lord Ponton de Santrailles. I'd tear Falstofe limb from limb if I could get my hands on him.

SALISBURY:

How did they treat you?

TALBOT:

They took me to the marketplace in a cart and displayed me to the populace, who jeered and said I was a weed, so I escaped and started throwing stones at them. They all ran away, but eventually they managed to overpower me and thereafter kept a constant guard on me. God I was tough - far too tough for the French.

Enter the boy with a linstock.

SALISBURY:

God what torment! Still, now we are in Orleans. It is supper-time. Let's look through this grate to see what to do next. Sir Thos. Gargrave and Sir Wm. Glansdale, where do you think we should attack from next?

GARGRAVE:

There are some lords by the north gate. Start there.

GLANSDALE:

I'll stick to the bulwark of the bridge.

TALBOT:

God! They must be either famished or knackered.

They shoot. Salisbury and Gargrave fall down.

(voices off: 'I hit you. You're not allowed to get up again', 'no you didn't', etc)

SALISBURY:

Lord have mercy on our souls.

GARGRAVE:

Same here.

TALBOT:

Are you alive Salisbury? Surely not dead after all these years of being a fighter? I hope you will rest in heaven well.

Are you alive Gargrave? Speak to me! I'll give those French a right trouncing.

(Sudden thunder and lightning with no apparent reason). Continues, looking at sky:

Where the hell did all that come from?

Enter nameless messenger.

MESSENGER:

Dear Sir, I hope you are well. The French have suddenly become formidable, with Joan La Pucelle leading them. They intend to raise the siege (I think this means they intend to fight back and win).

Salisbury suddenly decides he is not yet dead (voices off: that's not fair, I shot you, etc.), and starts to groan.

TALBOT:

I've got to do something about these French. Carry Salisbury to his tent. Try what they will, they won't succeed.

To be continued.

Lawyers.

We'll turn a blind eye this week.

MUSIC.

Al Lamb's musical version of The Wind In The Willows is on in Stroud Gloucestershire this week. I find the script is by Christoph Greatorex, and the music by Al Lamb. The group have a new theatre, called the Stroud Performing Arts Centre, in Lansdown. The town's information centre will be able to help you both with tickets and directions.

There have been full houses each night since it opened, and I suspect this may be justified from what I have seen of the show. The profits, by the way, are to be donated to the Performing Arts Centre funds.

Politics.

POLITICIANS HAVE already started to campaign for the next lot of elections, which may well be in two year's time, and are being just as pathetic as they always were. Having made it all but impossible for anybody independent or of modest means (who might well wish to get into politics to change things, even if they do end up discovering change to be an impossibility the way our system is designed) to stand for election, they now have to make only a minimal effort, and we are getting the usual twaddle about it being the other one's fault.

They have barely an idea between the lot of them that is anything other than a very minor adjustment that they have all agreed upon, so that it is more a question of who's presentation you like best (if you can be bothered to vote), and who you imagine to be least into feathering their own nest.

There are not a few people who believe that it is purely a struggle for a well-paid job with a great many perks (both ethical and non-ethical) between one lot of freemasons and another lot.

Southwark.

(Before any poiliticians start along this tack, I should point out that there is evidence that the Conservative boroughs pay worse than the Labour ones).

The fact that the housing benefit system has collapsed in Southwark may not necessarily be to do with the fact that they pay administrative staff so poorly that nobody wants to do the job (it leads to a situation where people who do not have their hearts in the work do it out of desperation). It might also be that the operation has been given to a firm of private contractors, whose main interest will necessarily be to see what is in it for the shareholders and directors.

The easiest way to make short-term extra profit from a business is to cut back on staff, even if in a year's time the result will be failure, because the books are made up on an annual basis. And if there's a failure, the chaos caused by that failure would normally be sufficient to cover up any unsavoury dealings within the firm, such as staff and directors fiddling.

And finally bankruptcy of the firm, if it is done skillfully, leaves all directors in the clear, and leaves the government to pick up the bill if they can be persuaded to.

Could it be that this is what we are seeing?

.......................................................................................................

The stuff that doesn`t often get changed now follows:

This website is about the destruction of countryside and agriculture. Worth a visit if you want to find out about how it is thought the British countryside will fair under the ongoing creep of the multinationals.

This website is one to do with monetary reform.The British Association for Monetary Reform. If you are interested in economics it is worth a look. http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~bamr1

This is a website about alternative currencies.Might be worth a look to those who have realised that you don't necessarily have to have money as such to be prosperous.

This is a website for something called The Green Guide. I know nothing about it, but am hoping it is something worthy. Please let me know if it is questionable.

This is a site concerned with one of the most unpopular planning decisions ever made in Greater London, the Crystal Palace Complex. It is so stunningly awful that only a handful of people who do not live near it appear to approve, whilst the rest are not entirely uninclined to mention such things as payola, freemasons....you name it! The site belongs to the London Borough of Bromley, but the aggro generated by it and the destruction of amenity caused by it will be almost entirely suffered by residents of adjoining boroughs and not the people of Bromley themselves.

This is a recycling site based in London, and offering materials to anybody. The organisation is a charity seeking to link suppliers of surplus materials with users. Especially good for the more ingenious designers amongst us.

The email of the people who run the above site is cs@london-recycling.demon.co.uk. They are called Creative Supplies. Look them up for more info.

Here's an interesting education site - particularly for those who have young children and are not quite sure what to do to avoid the worst of what`s on offer in the mainstream of education.They are called www.edrev.org.

early Othernews - 1992, 93, 94.

Early Other News essays.

There were a few essays that went out with the early Other News as a freestanding item. You can read these by clicking below.

Essays.

The Soup Designer`s Handbook.

The Soup Designer`s Handbook.

London Journey - a trip from Docklands through Beckenham and back to Docklands.

Friday Woodworkers.

(Friday Woodworkers are suffering a temporary break due to some of the episodes not having been fully edited at the time of writing. It may take some timne to fix this problem.

Episode 17.

(These articles were written in 1988, and were my first attempt at writing. Some people when shown these fell about laughing, some smiled faintly - and some yawned. I thought I was going to write a technical book, but it soon became apparent that I was much more interested in the people than the technology - and that is the main reason there are no drawings - although it might be rather good to do a couple of caricatures sometime.)

Index of Friday Woodorker articles (and a means of access).

Index of earlier issues.

Gabriele Gad on alternative therapy.

A READER COMPLAINED that it was not possible to go back more than 6 articles in Gabriele`s area. Regrettably this is because there is no index, and I have not the time to organise one yet. However, for those determined enough to find the early ones, they should be accessible by going to an early Other News and clicking through from it. This will not be fast, but I think will do the job. They started about November 1997 I think.

editor@othernews.co.uk

Cartoons and graphics.

drawings click here.

sheet music click here.

Consumers.

LEXMARK 3200 PRINTER.

In an earlier issue I told you about my feelings regarding Tempo retailers and the Lexmark 3200 printer I bought from them.

The Lexmark 3200 printer I got from Tempo must surely be the most uneconomical printer I could possibly have bought. The black cartridge only does about 250 pages of ordinary type - for £28! That makes each sheet cost 11.2 pence plus the cost of the paper and probably another 11.2 pence more if any colour is used! - ABOUT 22.4 PENCE A SHEET! Nearly a pound for every four sheets!

I wouldn`t recommend you to buy it - but also look at my earlier article for an idea of Tempo`s service.

Wanted

A person to help make up a subject index for the growing numbers of articles on The Other News From England. Email editor@othernews.co.uk

8- or more-track tape recorder. email pcj@gn.apc.org

All material on this site is copyright. Contact me if you want to use it. I am quite flexible. Educational non-profit use is free - but ask for permission and print an acknowledgement. If you can`t think what to print, put:

From The Other News From England. http://www.othernews.co.uk

Even better if you print the date of the article.

editor@othernews.co.uk

That`s all this week folks