The Other News From England.

6th. November 2000.

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.

Saturday before last, Gabriele Gad was great, Hugh Harris was crap. Played out of tune, kept stopping to try new reeds, adjust his saxophone, all to no avail. Close inspection on sunday revealed one loose screw in the mechanism - enough to ruin the whole act! Back this Saturday 11th. November as part of LETSwing, who play quiet old-fashioned jazz and pop with harmonised vocals, elaborate solos and some banter. 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, international, friendly, educated, and much wine (bought from the corner shop across the road) gets 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, and engage in discussion with those on other tables, the caterer, the band, passers through......

Bonnington Cafe, Vauxhall Grove, London SW8 UK. Near Vauxhall underground and mainline station, buses 185, 36, 2, 88, 322 and others. Booking is difficult.

Economics and social justice.

Last week we had this:

"Going to the cash till the other evening I found the road blocked off, an ambulance just leaving, policemen all over the place, a security van and it's crew looking shocked, and traffic diverted. I happened to be going by car, so it was not too difficult to go the the next branch of the bank, but it would have been inconvenient if I had been on foot.

"It appeared that the security van crew had been attacked by a gang who wished to relieve them of their charge - presumably the day's cash takings - and I thought about the folly of all this. People get hurt, or even killed, for cash. They commit crimes for it. And then it dawned upon me (as it has done before, although I have never written about it) that crime is a necessary part of our economy. The economy would begin to lose credibility if money was not so valued (why?) that people tried to steal it, fiddled books for it, worked themselves to death for it, adjusted Auntie's will for it, and all the other countless criminal possibilities. If you could leave money lying about on the street and nobody bothered to pick it up it would be 'worthless'. The theft of it increases it's value!

"It keeps us all making fools of ourselves for as long as we take any notice of it.

Along with the email that arrived when we connected to upload the Other News there came a Goforth Newsletter with the usual selection of struggles in it, and the last article was this:

AMERICAN E-ZINE PUBLISHER ASSASSINATED

James Edwin Richards, age 55, was shot to death on October 19th while walking near his Venice Beach home, Los Angeles police reported.

Mr. Edwards was the editor of the Neighborhood News e-zine which focussed upon crime and corruption in the Venice Beach community.

According to the police, there were no witnesses to the shooting and no motive has been established.

County Councilperson Ruth Galanter called the shooting an assassination.

"He made a lot of enemies in the course of doing this and it was a kind of morbid joke that Jim had better be careful or he was going to get shot," Galanter said.

"And unfortunately, it seems to have happened."

In case you don't see the connection, I will tell you the connection I see. Crime, in the main, is about chasing money (like we all foolishly do). Presumably therefore most of the crime Mr. Richards wrote about was either directly or indirectly about money.

I daresay we will see more of these criminal activities connected with internet revelations in years to come, and of course the police will become wiser with experience. Any person who is willing to have their say (and we must if we are to pursue the elusive goal of democracy) on the internet takes some risk. If you are a risktaker, consider this: if you do get knocked off, it will make great publicity for your cause, which may well result in the rest of your team publishing even more than they or you originally intended, and to a far greater audience!

If you want to receive Goforth's regular email newsletters, you can contact the Goforths by writing to goforth86@home.com They are an interesting read. Another that might interest you is the Alternet News, whose address is given below (below "the stuff that doesn't often get changed")

Joe Punter's Shakespeare.

King Henry the 6th. part 2.

ACT 4 .

Scene 2.

Blackheath.

Enter George Bevis and John Holland.

GEORGE BEVIS:

Come on, get a sword - even if only a useless one. They have been up these last two days.

JOHN HOLLAND:

They are more in need of sleep, then.

GEORGE B.:

I'm telling you, Jack Cade the clothier intends to dress the commonwealth anew.

JOHN H.:

So he damn well should, too. It's pretty threadbare at the present. England hasn't been a happy place to be since gentlemen came on the scene.

GEORGE B.:

It is a miserable age. Nobody appreciates skills any more.

JOHN H.:

The nobility scorn those of us who wear aprons.

GEORGE B.:

Worse than that. The king's council are no good at their job.

JOHN H.:

True. Yet they do say that magistrates ought to be proper working men. So we should be magistrates.

GEORGE B.:

There you have it! There's no better sign of a sound thinker than one who is stern.

JOHN H.:

Here they come! There's Best's son, that tanner from Wingham -

GEORGE B.

He'll be able to have the skins of our enemies to make dog's-leather of.

JOHN H.

And Dick the butcher -

GEORGE B.

He knows how to slaughter things. He will soon strike these sinners down.

JOHN H.:

And Smith the weaver -

Their thread of life is spun.

JOHN H.

Come on. Let's fall in with them.

Drum. Enter Jack Cade, Dick the butcher, Smith the weaver, a sawyer and large numbers of other people.

JACK CADE:

We, John Cade, so termed of our supposed father -

DICK (aside):

More like of stealing a cade of herrings.

JACK CADE:

- for our enemies will fall before us, we who are inspired with the idea of putting down kings and princes - command silence.

DICK:

Silence!

JACK CADE:

My father was a Mortimer -

DICK (aside):

He was an honest man, and a good bricklayer.

JACK CADE:

My mother a Plantagenet -

DICK (aside):

I remember. She was a midwife.

JACK CADE:

My wife was descended from the Lacies -

DICK (aside):

She was indeed - a pedlar's daughter who sold many laces.

SMITH (aside):

But recently, unable to travel with her furred pack, she washes skins here at home.

JACK C.:

Therefore I am of an honorable house (family. ed).

DICK (aside):

The field is honorable indeed, for he never had a house. His father was in the cage.

JACK C.:

I am valiant.

SMITH (aside):

He must be. It takes some nerve to go begging.

JACK C.:

I can endure a great deal.

DICK:

That one cannot deny. I've seen him many a time being whipped through the market.

JACK C.:

I'm frightened of nothing.

SMITH (aside):

Well, he certainly doesn't need to fear the sword, wearing an armoured coat like that.

DICK (aside):

But I rather think he should be frightened of fire, having been burnt in the hand for stealing sheep.

JACK C.:

So be brave, for I am brave and I seek reformation. Loaves of bread will be seven for a penny, there will be a ban on mild beer, everything will be owned in common and my little pony will graze in Cheapside. And when I am king - as king I will be -

ALL:

God save your majesty!

JACK C.:

Thank you good people - there will be no money, I shall feed everyone, everybody shall dress the same so that they can get on with each other properly, and they will worship me, their lord.

DICK:

Let's start by knocking off all the lawyers!

JACK C.:

Yes indeed. That I mean to do. The aggro they cause is on a scale entirely disproportionate to their role in the world. Christ, I once signed a piece of parchment for one and have been pursued ever since by some - Hello? Who's there?

Enter some people, bringing the clerk of Chatham.

SMITH:

The clerk of Chatham. He can read and write and do accounts.

JACK CADE:

Outrageous!

SMITH:

We caught him setting homework.

JACK C.:

He's a villain.

SMITH:

He has a book in his pocket with red letters in it.

JACK C.:

Then he's a conjurer.

DICK:

No. He can wite summonses and stuff, and write like a lawyer.

JACK C.:

What a shame. He is a proper man, at least. He won't die unless I find him guilty. Come here sir, I have to ask you some questions. What is your name?

CLERK OF CHATHAM:

Emmanuel.

DICK:

That's something they used to write at the top of letters. It cannot help your case.

JACK C.:

Tell me now, do you write your name, or do you have your own mark like honest folks do?

CLERK O C:

I am pleased to say I was so well brought up that I can write my name.

ALL: Take him away! He's confessed to being a villain and a traitor!

JACK C.:

Take him away. Hang him with his writing things hung round his neck.

Exit one person with the clerk.

Enter Michael.

MICHAEL:

Were's our general?

JACK C.:

I'm here.

MICHAEL:

Well start running. Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother are coming, with the king's forces to back them.

JACK C.

Stay where you are sir, or I'll fell you. He shall be confronted with a man as good as he is himself. All he is, is a knight, isn't it?

MICHAEL:

No.

This scene is too long to finish this week.

More next week.

Stairway To Heaven.

I went to see this show thinking "Ah. At last something that shows the reality of old people". It is a musical show about pensioners acted by pensioners - some members of the cast being in their nineties.

The show was done well, even if there were musical balance problems and some of the tunes were a bit limited, but it was the audience I took issue with.

First of all, at the beginning of the show - a very quiet bit - a middle-aged man who was late for the beginning walked in loudly talking to his friends who sat right in the middle of the audience. He completely ignored the show and those who would like to have heard what was going on - perhaps he thought a geriatric audience would all be deaf so it wouldn't make any difference, or that being just a bunch of oldies it was not important, without considering two facts: (a) if someone like he would go others of an equally unaware age would be likely to go, and (b) it is unlikely that a geriatric audience would all be deaf, and even if they were noise is painful to some types of deafness.

On the other hand, he was behaving as though he didn't give a stuff about anybody anyway.

He eventually settled, having proclaimed himself loudly to the rest of the audience. Obviously a very important person.

The audience in my part of the theatre (the cheap part) were nearly all young, and unfortunately I fear had come along either 'for a laugh' or to patronise, and both these things they did with great energy, clapping out of time and/or on the wrong beat to the music, cheering every time someone over 80 came on stage, and generally making complete fools of themselves - perhaps in the most unpleasant way. We older folk should be a little more generous to these young fools, but it didn't make me feel so.

There was also a late middle-aged to elderly audience. These people I like to think had come to see what one might do with one's rapidly approaching old age that did not involve sitting in front of the telly or gardening, and from the way they looked after the show they had come to the conclusion that being on the stage might be a good idea, but what about the audiences?..........

The young ones all left smiling. How charming and laughable old age is!

And the final question for me was what exactly the show was about. I can't even start to speculate. Hopefully it was just about having a bit of fun, with the audience being just the means of getting the money to pay for it.

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

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

Alternet News.

Alternet News might appeal to some readers as a regular list of goings-on in the human rights/green areas of life. You can receive it by email. I have put one copy on this site so that you get an idea of what it is about and how to subscribe.

For sample Alternet email click here.

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