The Other News From England.

12 March 2001.

Sorry there is so little this week. LETSwing have been on tour, not allowing any time for idea-developing or news gathering.

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, either an act yet to be chosen or Gabriele Gad and Hugh Harris playing old-fashioned melodic jazz. HH plays saxophone, GG plays piano. Quite a popular act, and it gets very full in there. No charge, but the hat goes round.

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.

Community economics.

Latest news on the Hillingdon cafe project. Greetings from West Drayton,

The cafe is STILL not Internet connected. Not a computer problem but a woodworking one! We don't have enough space for the number of computers we should be using and I don't want to buy the new computers until I've got somewhere to put them.

Our 100th member joined last week. He was in the cafe for a computer course - on borrowed laptops entitled computers for the terrified. He also happened to be the oldest member at 86. (See attached picture with Raminder one of our volunteers)

The only new computer on site is one belonging to SSHC (Stress Self-Help Clinic) which offers a tailor made programme to help people start to tackle phobias. Nothing to do with computers for the terrified.

Hasbro, the toy company have their head office quite close by and have been really generous. We have one of their computer games for young children attached to one of our computers and it has been really popular. It is a little kitchen and both boys and girls queue up to play on it. It sits on the keyboard and as you handle the items in the kitchen the keys on the keyboard are pressed causing things to happen on screen. To be honest some of the adults have spent ages on it too. (see attached picture)

We are holding a charity football match on the kickabout pitch across the road. We've had over 30 people sign up to play and we will kick off at 4.15 pm on Friday March 16th. For those of you in the flow of things you will realise that this is Red Nose day and that is where the money will go. For anyone wanting to come and support I am attaching a map of how to get to the cafe from Heathrow Airport/M4 Motorway.

We are well and truly open to visitors and we now have a reputation for our BLT Baguette (Bacon, lettuce and tomato, as if you didn't know). Our menu is increasing almost daily and our jacket potatoes are going down a treat too.

The Health Visitors are on site every Tuesday afternoon (see attached picture) and last Tuesday was quite frantic with four mums and five babies in the cafe, (week old twins). One of our regular customers, a little girl of about 6 locked herself in the loo and thought the best way out was to attempt to kick the door down and scream her lungs out. I think she was right. The Health Visitor, Sue took it all in her stride and I was very impressed.

I will send more info later.

Remember to let me know if you don't want the updates.

All the best

Dave

Com.Cafe

Joe Punter's Shakespeare.

King Henry the 6th. part 3.

ACT 2 .

Scene 4.

Another part of the field (see last scene).

Excursions. Enter Richard and clifford.

RICHARD:

Now, Clifford, I have singled you out. Were this arm for York and this for Rutland, both are bound for revenge, even if you were surrounded by a brazen wall.

CLIFFORD:

Now, Richard, I am with thee here alone. This is the hand that stabbed thy father York and this the hand that slew thy brother Rutland, and here is the heart that triumphs in their deaths and cheers these hands on to do the same to you, and so have at thee! -

(they fight. Warwick comes. Clifford flies)

RICHARD:

Nay, Warwick, single out some other prey, for I myself will hunt this wolf to the death.

(All exit)

SCENE 5.

Another part of the field.

(Alarm. enter King Henry alone.)

KING:

this battle goes like a dawn that is not sure yet if it wants to be day, or a sea which tries to come up the land but is driven back by the mighty wind blowing upon it, both struggling to prevail but both perfectly balanced against each other - so is the equal poise of this horrible war.

I will sit here on this molehill. To whom God wills it - there will be the victory. For both Margaret my queen and Clifford have banned me from the battle, both swearing that they prosper better when I am not there. I wish I were dead! If only God would be so kind. For what's in this life other than grief and woe? Oh God, methinks it would be a happy life to be no better than a homely rustic and sit upon a molehill as I do now and just carve out dials point by point to see how the minutes run, how many makes a full hour, how many hours to make a day, and how many days a year, how many years a man might live, and then to divide the times into so many hours tending my flock, so many hours rest, so many hours contemplation, so many hours relaxation, so many days my ewes have had their young, how many weeks before the poor fools will wean, so many months before I sheear the fleece, so hours, days, months and years past over to the end they were created would bring white hairs to a quiet grave. How lovely! I'll wager the hawthorn bush gives more pleasure to shepherds looking upon their silly sheep more than the rich embroidered canopy does to kings who fear their subjects' treachery. Oh yes, it does - a thousandfold. And to conclude, the shepherd's homely curds, his cold thin drink out of a leather bottle, his sleep under a fresh tree's shade, all of which he can enjoy sweetly and securely, go far beyond a prince's delicate and elaborate vittles which he eats couched on a curious bed, when care, mistrust and treason waits upon him.

(Alarm. Enter a son who has killed his father, bringing in the dead body.)

SON:

It's an ill wind that profits nobody. This man, whom I slew in hand-to-hand fighting, may have some cash upon him, and I, who happily take them from him now, may before nightfall be dead and yielding them to somebody else as this dead man does to me. Who's this? Oh god, 'tis my father's face whom I have killed unaware in this conflict. Oh, heavy times, for such things to happen. I was pressed from London by the king, and my father, being the Earl of Warwick's man, was fighting on behalf of York having been pressed by him. And I, who received my life through my father's actions, have killed him. Pardon me, God, for I did not know what I did! And pardon, Father, for I did not know thee! My tears shall wipe away these bloody marks, and I shall say no more till they have flowed their fill.

KING:

Oh piteous spectacle! Bloody times! Whilst lions battle for their dens, lambs suffer their enmity. Weep, wretched man, and I will weep with you tear for tear. And let our hearts and eyes be blinded with tears and overcharged with grief.

(enter father, bearing his son)

FATHER:

You who have so stoutly resisted me give me your gold if you have any, for I have bought it with a hundred blows. But let me see - is this our enemy's face? Ah no, no, no, it is my only son! Ah, boy, if any life is left in you throw up your eyes and see what tears are in my eyes and fall upon the wound that kill my eye and heart! Oh pity, God, this miserable age. What actions, how destructive, how butcherly, erroneous, mutinous and unnatural this deadly quarrel gets! Oh, Boy, your father gave you life too soon and has bereft you of it too late!

KING:

Woe greater than woe! grief more than common grief! If only my death copuld stop these regrettable deeds. Pity, gentle heaven, pity! The red rose and the white are upon his face, the fatal colours of our battling houses. The one resembles his purple blood, and the other, his pale cheeks, I think, represents the white. Whither one rose, for if you both contend a thousand lives must whither.

SON:

My mother will never let me forget it, she will never be satisfied.

FATHER:

How my wife for the slaughter of my son will shed seas of tears and never be satisfied!

KING:

How the country will dislike and misunderstand the king for these woes, and not be satisfied!

SON:

Was a son ever so regretful about a father's death?

FATHER:

Was a son ever so bemoaned of his son?

KING:

Was a king ever so grieved for his subject's woe? Your sorrow is great, mine ten times greater.

SON:

I'll carry you hence, where I may weep my fill.

(Exit eith body).

FATHER:

These arms of mine shall be your winding-sheet, my heart your sepulchre, for from my heart your image shall never go, my sighing breast shall be your funeral bell, and I shall be so obsequious for the loss of you as Priam was for his valiant sons. I'll bear thee hence, and let those who will fight, for I have murdered where I should not kill.

(exit with body)

KING:

sad-hearted men over-run with care, here sits a king more woeful than you are.

(alarms. Excursions. Enter the queen, the prince and Exeter.)

PR. WALES:

Fly Father! For all your friends have parted and Warwick rages like a mad thing! Away! For we are pursued by death.

QUEEN:

Mount, my lord, and towards Berwick as fast as possible. Edward and Richard pursue us like a pair of greyhounds having caught the scent of blood, with their bloody steel grasped in their hands. We must hurry.

EXETER:

Away! for vengeance comes along with them. Don't stop to argue. Make speed. Or else come after. I'll go now.

KING:

Nay. Take me with you, good sweet Exeter. Not that I fear to stay. But I love to go where the queen intends. Forward! Away!

More next week.

POLITICS.

there may have been something worth noting, but I don't recall it if there was.

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

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