The Other News From England.

5 March 2001.

A very small issue this week owing to pressure of gigs. Sorry.

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.

Bonnington Cafe is having a lull in live entertainment owing to various problems with licences and with people overstaying their time on the premises. The overstaying has given the council a reason to interfere when they previously did not have one. As it is communally owned, negotiators from the community will try to come to an agreement with the council, but some of the caterers tend to ignore the agreements, thus jeopardising negotiators' efforts.

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.

Economics 2.

Joe Punter's Shakespeare.

King Henry the 6th. part 3.

ACT 2 .

Scene 3.

A field of battle between Towton and Saxton, in Yorkshire

Alarm. Excursions. Enter Warwick.

WARWICK:

Completely exhausted, I lay myself down to breathe for a minute, for blows received and returned have robbed my strong-knit sinews of their strength, and, in spite of everything I must rest a while.

(Enter Edward, runnning).

EDWARD:

Smile gentle heaven, or strike ungentle death! For the world frowns, and my sun is clouded.

WARWICK:

How now, my lord! What happens? What hope of good?

(enter George.)

GEORGE:

Our lot is loss, and our hope just sad despair. Our ranks are broken, and ruin follows us: What do you advise? Where shall we run to?

EDWARD:

Running away would be useless. They follow us with wings. And we are weak and cannot shun pursuit.

(enter Richard)

RICHARD:

Ah, Warwick, why withdraw yourself? Your brother's blood the thirsty earth has drunk, broached with the steely point of Clifford's lance, and in the very pangs of death he cried 'Warwick! Revenge! Brother, revenge my death!' So saying, he gave up the ghost and died underneath the belly of their steeds.

WARWICK:

Then let the earth be drunken with our blood. I'll kill my horse because I will not fly. Why are we standing here like bunch of women mourning our losses whilst the foe rages? And look upon it as though it were played in jest by actors? Here on my knee I vow to God above I will never give up again till either death has closed my eyes or fortune has given me a measure of revenge.

EDWARD:

Oh Warwick, I do bend my knee with yours, and in this vow I chain my soul to yours. And before I rise from this position I throw my hands, my eyes, my heart to You, you setter-up and plucker-down of kings, and beseech You, if You will that I shall be the prey of my enemies, that the gates of heaven shall open and give sweet passage to my sinful soul! Now, lords, take leave until we meet again, wherever it be, in heaven or on earth.

RICHARD:

Brother, give me thy hand - and gentle Warwick, let me embrace you in my weary arms. I that never did weep now melt with woe that winter should cut off our spring-time so. (springtime = youth. Ed.)

WARWICK:

Away! Away! Once more, sweet lords, farewell.

GEORGE:

Yet let us all together to our troops and allow those to fly who will not stay, and call those who will stand with us pillars, and if we thrive, promise them such rewards as victors wear at Olympian games. This may plant courage in their quailing breasts, for there is yet hope of life and victory. Waste no further time. Let us go now.

(All exit)

More next week.

New social justice newsgroup.

(held over from last week)

The following came in a recent Goforth Social Justice Ezine (see many lines below for Goforth's address if you want to be mailed their stuff). It is not my cup of tea, but that is because I do not think of myself as being religious. On the other hand it may turn out to have virtually no religious content:

"NEW SOCIAL JUSTICE ONLINE DISCUSSION GROUP

A new discussion list for progressive/left politics from a Catholic perspective (social justice/civil rights/human rights/immigration, labor and environment, etc.) is starting and looking for participants. It will be U.S.-based site, but won't be limited to U.S. politics. International contributors welcome. To Sign-Up Send Blank E-Mail to:

cathgroup-subscribe@egroups.com.

NOTE: Not Affiliated with Social Justice E-Zine.

POLITICS.

(held over from last week).

The newspaper placard in Islington said "Benefits firm profits soar as tenants suffer". So it doesn't just happen in Southwark and Wandsworth.

I have told this story so many times in relation to Southwark that I shall do no more than oultine what is happening.

The housing benefit system is managed by "free enterprise" companies of the CSL type (in fact it may be CSL in Islington), who think it is clever to do the job with too few people and generally to work their employees to the bone whilst paying them too little. Little effort is made in the way of attempts to be more efficient or to boost employee morale, which would be far more effective. The result of all this is that the job does not get done, and tenants get threatened with eviction for non-payment of rent and have bailiffs calling round for council tax that is not due. The people who run the council don't give a stuff because they do not claim. They have nothing to lose, and are probably so demoralised by their job that they cannot be bothered to do anything about it.

After all, firms like CSL have a monopoly. There is no competitor once they've got the contract, and the less efficient they are the more easily they can make a profit - and dare I say? - the less easily any fiddles can be discovered.

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

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

Goforth's social justice e-zine.

This interesting email magazine comes at fairly regular intervals and is of interest to almost anybody who is interested in human rights and green issues. In November 2000 it was going out to about 10,000 addresses. Try it. It won't cost you anything, and you can reproduce the contents without paying. You can subscribe by writing to them at: sjzine@netscape.net, or visit: Goforth's site

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 (this may now have been provided, but please email if you might like to join in in some way - ed.)

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