The Other News From England.

2nd. October 2000.

A most extraordinary thing has happened this week. The current scene in King Henry the Sixth is so large that there is (technically) not enough computer file capacity to print any other articles along with it! This is all I can offer this week depsite having at least one other item.

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.

Bonnington Cafe and Bonnington Square.

This Saturday, Phil singing Bert Jansch and other songs. No charge for the entertainment, but the hat goes round, and as seating is limited it is only fair that you should order something to eat.

Bonnington cafe is a communally owned cafe in Vauxhall, Central London. The atmosphere is somewhat Bohemian, friendly, educated, and much wine (bought from the corner shop across the road) seems to get drunk. Good quality vegetarian. Cheap. The only lighting is usually candles stuck in wine bottles, and the furniture is a collection of odds and sods that people have thrown out. The overall result is relaxed and pleasing. People tend to spend the whole evening over their meal.

The cafe gets very full, but sometimes there is a list of telephone numbers of the people who cater there in case you should wish to try to make a booking. Most Saturdays are catered by Marguerite - but not all.

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

Gabriele Gad's workshop to help you cope with computer stress.

Gabriele's computer stress course may help. I have never tried it, but doing things with Gabriele can be fun. Details of this course may be found by clicking below:

Gabriele Gad's computer stress course this October.

Joe Punter's Shakespeare.

King Henry the 6th. part 2.

ACT 3.

SCENE 1.

The Abbey at Bury St. Edmund's.

Sound a sennet (a sennet is a musical figure of some sort). Enter king, queen, Cardinal Beaufort, Suffolk, York, Buckingham, Salisbury and Warwick (Shakespeare says 'to the parliament', but in Bury St. E?)

KING HENRY:

I find it rather extraordinary that Gloster hasn't come. He is a most reliable man. I wonder what keeps him.

QUEEN MARGARET:

Have you not noticed how pompous and proud he has become? He was once submissive and all the court admired him for his submissiveness, but now - he struts about like a king and behaves generally as though he is already in charge. You should note that he is near you in descent, that he has got the politicians all in his pocket, and that he stands to benefit considerably if you should die. Consider this. Now is the equivalent of spring in this matter, and if the garden is weeded now whilst the weeds are only shallow-rooted it will be considerably easier than having to weed when they are full grown. If you tolerate them they over-run the garden and choke everything else to death. It is out of love for you, Henry, that I am saying this, and you Suffolk Buckingham and York tell me now if you think I am wrong. If you cannot justly do so, then accept that I am right.

SUFFOLK:

Madam, you do seem rather to have seen through him. Either the duchess acted on his behalf or on her own in this recent devilry. If she did it of her own accord without his connivance both she and he stood to gain the throne by any success she might have. Still waters run deep. He is a great conniver.

CARD. BEAUFORT:

Did he not, contrary to the law, devise strange deaths for small offences?

YORK:

And did he not fiddle the populace by levying special taxes to pay for the army in France and then never send the money to them, causing a situation where the occupied towns revolted?

BUCKINGHAM:

These faults are nothing compared to those we shall in due course uncover in this smooth operator.

KING:

I must thank you all for your concern, but my cousin is as innocent of any deceipt or ambition for the throne as a lamb. He just isn't the type.

MARGARET:

You think he's innocent and mild? I think we shall shortly find him to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. The welfare of us all depends on cutting short his powers A-S-A-P if you ask me.

Enter Somerset.

SOMERSET:

Your good health, sir king!

KING:

Welcome, Somerset. What news from France?

SOMERSET:

I am afraid that all is lost there.

KING:

Bad news, that. But God's will be done.

YORK (aside):

Pretty bad news for me. I rather fancied France for myself - in fact as much as I fancied England. But no fear. I will turn things round again or die of trying.

Enter Gloster.

GLOSTER:

All happiness to the king. Sorry to have been so long coming.

SUFFOLK:

On the contrary, you have arrived too soon for your own good. I'm arresting you for high treason.

GLOSTER:

Well, well Suffolk, I am not particularly worried by this arrest. It is not easy to shake an innocent man. Who feels they have cause to accuse me? What exactly do they accuse me of?

YORK:

It is believed that you took bribes in France, that you witheld the soldiers' pay, and by so doing lost British control of France.

GLOSTER:

As a matter of fact it is quite the opposite. The nation kept me short of funds, and sometimes I had to pay the soldiers out of my own private money - and furthernore, I never asked to be re-imbursed. Everything I did, I did for England and the king.

CARD. BFT.:

It serves you well to say so much.

GLOSTER:

I'm only telling the truth, swelp me god.

YORK:

Did you, when you were protector, devise strange tortures for offenders that were against Englsih law?

GLOSTER:

You must know just as well as I do that what I was most criticised for was my pity. The slightest excuse, and then instead of hanging them I would put them up to ransom (if they weren't a bloody murderer or a felon who fleeced poor passengers. Murder I did indeed torture above the felons or any other crime.

SUFFOLK:

Well, you may be able to talk your way out of that one, but we have far greater charges against you not all of which you will be able to escape. I am arresting you in the king's name, and commit you to be kept by the lord cardinal here until your trial.

KING:

Gloster, I am sure you are innocent. It is my special hope that you will clear yourself.

GLOSTER:

Sir, it is easy enough to see what goes on here. These ambitious gits have put their heads together to from a plot against me for reasons of their own, and I suspect they may succeed in being rid of me. This will be a mere prologue to what happens next. Beaufort's red and sparkling eyes reveal his malicious intentions and Suffolk's cloudy brow his hatred. Buckingham is happy to find someone else to attack to divert attention from himself, and York, who reaches for the moon, and whose power I have in my time curtailed, now falsely accuses me -

and you, madam, you are no better than the rest, trumping up charges against me and trying to cause the king to distrust me. There will be no shortage of false witnesses. The proverb that a staff is always to found with which to beat a dog will be well and truly demonstrated here.

CARD. BFT:

Sire, I do not recommend your allowing him to go on like this. If we can be slanged like this for acting to protect you then there will be no law. He should be silenced.

SUFFOLK:

Has he not just insulted the queen, even if what he said was so eloquently put? He suggested that she is plotting against you, sir.

MARGARET:

See if I care!

GLOSTER:

A surprisingly appropriate thing for you to say. Heads you win, and tails I lose, but it seems only just that a loser may have his say....

BUCKINGHAM:

He'll just ramble on and on, and keep us here all day if we let him. Lord cardinal, he is your prisoner.

CARD. BFT.:

Gentlemen, take away the duke and guard him well.

GLOSTER:

And thus king Henry throws away his crutch before he is tough enough to cope on his own! I'm sorry, good king, for I think there is nobody left now to look after you. I fear you may shortly be dead.

(exit Gloster, guarded)

KING:

My lords, what's the best thing to do now?

MARGARET:

Will you leave the parliament?

KING:

This is bloody awful! He is the most trustworthy man I know, has served me better than anyone, and yet I cannot stop this business. All I can do is look on passively and sadly, knowing he is wrongly charged. He is no traitor.

(King exits)

MARGARET:

Good lords, Henry is too full of pity to be any use in this matter, and Gloster's show too transparent to protect him. Even I can see that he has to go. He is far too threatening to us.

CARD. BFT:

It's politic that he should die, but we do need to have a proper case against him.

SUFFOLK:

That may not be the best approach. The king will try hard to protect him, and the Commons will happily follow suit. We have virtually no real case against him.

YORK:

So now you're saying he shouldn't die.

SUFFOLK:

Nobody is keener that he should.

YORK (aside):

It's actually me who has the most reason for wanting his death -

It was a bit foolhardy to put duke Humphrey in the position of protector, I think. You might as well leave a hungry dog to guard the chickens against foxes.

MARGARET:

So the chickens die either way.

SUFFOLK:

That's true madam, but since he is such a crafty fox we need to be rid of him whether it is justified or not. He is by nature an enemy of the flock. He must die somehow.

MARGARET:

Resolutely said.

SUFFOLK:

Not so very resolute if it doesn't actually happen. So often people state intentions they do not fulfill. Just give me the word and I will see to the matter myself because he is an enemy of the king.

CARD. BFT.:

I would like to see him dead soonest. I am so keen on the safety of my king that I would provide the executioner myself.

SUFFOLK:

Here is my hand. It is a deed worth doing.

MARGARET:

Hear, hear.

YORK:

Me too. And now we are agreed, it doesn't matter much who does the deed.

Enter a post (!)

(it speaks too!):

POST:

I've come from Ireland with news that the peasants are in revolt and need putting down before too much damage is done. There is plenty of chance of saving the day yet.

CARD. BFT.:

That's something that needs swift action. What do you suggest?

YORK:

That Somerset should be sent to Ireland as regent. He might have as much luck there as he had in France.

SOMERSET:

If York had tried the same thing he would definitely not have survived so long.

YORK:

I would sooner have lost my life than do what you did with the job. If you were able to show me a couple of battle scars I might be a little more convinced. People with fine skin rarely win battles.

MARGARET:

Come on you two. This is something that will grow to a raging inferno if you let it, and it will get us nowhere.York, had you taken the job it might have turned out worse for all you know.

YORK:

What? Worse than nothing? I would indeed be shamed.

SOMERSET:

Indeed.

CARD. BFT.:

York, whilst you two argue the Irish are killing off Englishmen. Take arms and fight them off whilst you can.

YORK:

I will indeed, if it pleases the king.

SUFFOLK:

Why, our authority is his consent. Whatever we do he confirms, so, York, take on the job.

YORK:

Right. Get me some soldiers together whilst I put my affairs at home in order.

SUFFOLK:

That shall be put in hand. Meanwhile, we have not yet resolved the problem of Duke Humphrey.

CARD. BFT.:

Forget him. I will deal with him. He will be no more trouble to us. Break off because the day is shortly over. Lord Suffolk, you and |I must talk about the event.

YORK:

I'll expect my soldiers at Bristol within fourteen days. From there I will ship them to Ireland.

SUFFOLK:

I'll see it well and truly done sir.

(exit all except York)

YORK:

Now I must get my thoughts together. It was for political reasons I was sent to France, but by doing what they did they have given me an army of men, which is the very thing I needed. In Ireland I will build my army into a force to be reckoned with, which in England will win me the throne. I know the very man to help me whilst I am away in Ireland - one John Cade of Ashford, who will stir up trouble under the name of John Mortimer, who is now dead but whom he resembles. This can be done whilst I am away, and will prepare the ground for me. With Henry out of the way as a result of the Kentish activities and Duke Humphrey dead as sure as eggs he will be, I can return with my army from Ireland and take over - I will be rightful heir to the throne.

(exit.)

More next week.

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

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

Biotechnology

Click here for an email that arrived in January 2000 concerning a proposed reasoned approach to this tricky subject

This website is about accounting investigations and fiddles. If you like to look at financial scandals (both hidden and public) this might be worth a look. I have not been there myself, but the books produced by these people, although difficult to follow, cover a lot of mysterious ground.

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