The Other News From England.

26 March 2001.

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 playing Bert Jansch-style material. 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.

7th April meeting of many groups.

Southwark Social Investment Forum is on the 7th. April at Clubland, Walworth Rd., London SE17 - near the junction with Albany Road. Community groups of many kinds, including LETS, green, musical groups, Sinclair Music School, choirs, theatrical, and etc. A free stall is available for your organisation as long as it is some sort of a community thing.

Clubland is a huge place, so there can be an awful lot going on in there.

Not council sponsored, so it should be quite good fun.

Creative Rights Alliance.

(Held over from last week).

These people met for the first time this week at the National Film Theatre. They are an alliance of 'creatives' of many kinds (mostly freelancers), including (my own part in it) British Music Writer's Council and the Musicians' Union.

The problem we met to discuss was the way the large corporations who have control of such media as television and newspapers have started only to offer contracts to pay a few pounds for somebody's creative effort and expect to be given the copyright of it to use forever apparently without payment (in perpetuity). If the creator refuses the conditions, the company offers them the choice of either having the work on those terms or they (the company) will offer the job to somebody else. As the creator these days is nearly always just about on the breadline they are (as it were) bludgeoned into acceptance of a completely unfair and barely legal contract. Many would call this a cheapskate swindle of the first order, and the group met to decide on ways of working together as a group to counter this. It was noted that in the rest of Europe this question is dealt with in a much more civilised manner (but then they are neither British nor American in Europe), but there seemed to be little confidence that the government here would legislate in a like manner to ensure a basic fairness. An MP had been at the meeting to express sympathy and to seem to express the intention of doing something, apologising for the minister who should have been there, who had disappeared because of the foot and mouth problem (maybe to see the mass extermination of thousands of farm animals for failing to stay fit and well in the unnatural conditions we keep them in - righteous stuff, indeed).

The media were invited, but of course the last thing they would want to do would be to report on this meeting. The BBC, for instance, still have the public believing that they use the public money they get (from our taxes) to treat their employees and contractors honorably and justly, and this illusion would be destroyed within minutes if there was any proper coverage of the meeting.

Copy this article and put it on your website!

Joe Punter's Shakespeare.

King Henry the 6th. part 3.

ACT 3 .

Scene 1.

A chase in the north of England.

Enter 2 keepers, with cross-bows in their hands.

FIRST KEEPER:

We'll hide under this thick-grown brake, for through here in due course the deer will come. In this covert we will make our stand, culling the principal of all the deer.

SECOND KEEPER:

I'll stay above the hill, so that we may both shoot.

FIRST KEEPER:

That cannot be. The noise of your crossbow will scare the herd, and so my shot will be lost. We should both stand here, and aim at the best, and (so that the time shall not seem tedious) I will tell you what happened to me one day in this very same place where we mean to stand now.

SECOND KEEPER:

Here comes a man. Let us stay till he is past.

(Enter the king, with a prayer book.)

KING H.:

I've sneaked here from Scotland for love of my own land to sneak a wishful sight. No, Harry, Harry, it is no land of thine. Thy place is filled, and thy sceptre taken from thee. The balm with which thou were anointed has washed off. Nobody will bend the knee for thee now, nor citizens beg for rights. No, not a man comes for redress from thee. For how can I help them when I cannot help myself?

FIRST KEEPER:

Ay, here's a deer who's skin is worth a fat fee. This is the king that once was. Let's seize upon him.

KING H.:

Let me embrace adversity, for wise men say it is the best course.

SECOND KEEPER:

What are we waiting for? Let us lay hands upon him.

FIRST KEEPER:

Forbear a little. We'll hear a little more.

KING H.:

My queen and son have gone to France for aid - and as I understand it Warwick has also gone to France to ask for the king's sister's hand in marriage for Edward. If this is true, poor wife and son your efforts are lost, for Warwick is a subtle speaker and Louis a prince easily won by moving words. By this account, then, Margaret may win him, for she is a woman to be pitied much. Her feminine approach to things may well win his heart. The tiger will be mild whilst she mourns, and Nero be tainted with remorse on seeing her tears and hearing her complaints. But she's come to beg, and Warwick to give. She, on his left, craving help for Henry, and he on his right asking for a wife for Edward. She weeps, and says her Henry is deposed, whilst he smiles and says his Edward is installed. She, poor wretch, is so grieved she can speak no more, whilst Warwick states his title and smooths the wrong, infers arguments of mighty strength, and in conclusion wins the king from her, complete with a promise of his sister, and what else too, to strengthen and support King Edward's place. Oh, Margaret, that's how it will be, and you, poor soul, are then forsaken, forlorn.

SECOND KEEPER:

Say, what art thou that talkest of kings and queens?

KING H.

More than I seem and less than I was born to. I am at least a man, and men may talk of things, and why not I too?

SECOND KEEPER:

Aye, but you talked as though you were a king.

KING H:

Why, so I am in my mind - and that is enough.

SECOND KEEPER:

But if you're a king, where is your crown?

KING H.:

My crown is in my heart, not on my head, not decked with diamonds and Indian stones - and neither can you see it. My crown is called contentment - a crown that kings seldom enjoy.

SECOND KEEPER:

Well, if you be a king crowned with contentment, your crown content and you must be content to go along with us, for, as we think, you are the king that king Edward has deposed, and we, as his subjects sworn in all allegiance, will apprehend you as his enemy.

KING H:

But did you never swear, and break an oath?

SECOND KEEPER:

No. Never such an oath as that, and nor will I now.

KING H:

Where did you dwell when I was king of England?

SECOND KEEPER:

Here in this country, where we are now.

KING H:

I was anointed king at nine months old. My father and grandfather were kings, and you were sworn true subjects to me. Tell me, then, have you not broken your oaths?

FIRST KEEPER:

No. For we were subjects only whilst you were king.

KING H:

Why, am I dead? Am I not breathing? Ah, simple men! You know not what you swear. Look, as I blow this feather from my face, and as the air blows it back to me again, obeying my wind when I blow and another when it blows, commanded always by the greatest gust. Such is the lightness of you common men. But do not break your oaths, for of that sin my mild entreaty shall not make you guilty. Go where you will, the king shall be commanded. And be kings. Command, and I'll obey.

FIRST KEEPER:

We are true subjects to the king, king Edward.

KING H.

And so would you be again to Henry if he were seated where Edward is.

FIRST KEEPER:

We charge you, in God's name and the king's, to go with us to the officers.

KING H:

In God's name, lead. Your king's name be obeyed. And what god wishes, let your king perform. And what he wishes, I humbly yield to.

(All exit)

More next week.

POLITICS.

THOSE who have been following the antics of the various yobbish characters in King Henry the Sixth may well not have been surprised to find last week that the house of York, having prevailed in battle against the king and therefore assuming themselves to be in power, almost immediately decide hypocritically to do that for which they have been criticising Henry's side for doing many years before - importing a French queen. They decide to go straight to France to procure for the new monarch a French queen, hoping to thereby defuse further animosity between the two countries.

The reason I mention this is that it may well have been typical of politicians in the middle ages just like it is now, the only difference being that they may well be even more transparent these days, and the issues even less important to the general populace.

All the populace seem to want is a bit of peace and a civilised society - which may be something too difficult to achieve with the politicians we have.

Politics 2.

AND WHILST on the subject of Hypocrisy.....

This week I noticed posters showing pictures of desperate-looking hospital patients queued up and waiting for emergency treatment (there is no way of telling, in reality, if these are patients in this country or some other country, and neither is there a way of telling if they are National Health Service or 'private sector' patients).

The caption to go with this sorry sight is:

"Do you want to wait another 4 years?"

One might be forgiven for believing that it is a poster issued by 'New Labour' hoping to influence you to believe that to vote Conservative would be to further prolongue the waiting lists they created when they were in office, and which have never disappeared.

But I am now beginning to suspect that they are put out by the Conservative party hoping to shift the responsibility for the waiting-lists onto the 'New Labour' party.

Either way, you get a whole lot of hypocrisy in politics, don't you?

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

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