Free 13-27 May RED Reading's Only RAG Newspaper Next copydate: Thurs 24th May Send news, letters, etc to Red Rag, Box 79, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St. News 666324, 666681 Events 666681 Going Out 61361 Distribution 665676 - - - BEATING TIME ... is a free music festival. Its aim is to get people making music and having fun over a period of a week. Both beginners and non-beginners are welcome. If you have a instrument (bass guitar / penny whistle) whatever it is, bring it along. If you don't, come along anyway - there'll be something for you to have a go on! Full programme below. - - - CITIZEN CAIN Reading Inc. Sometime last year a Labour Councillor spoke of the close ties between members of the Conservative Group and property and financial interests in the town. A particularly prominent property interest is that of Roger Smee, head of the Rockfort group of companies and doomed to be described by the 'Evening Post' for all time as the man who responded to their 'Save Our Soccer' campaign to keep "our" football club out of the hands of former Labour M.P. and would-be press baron Robert Maxwell. It was therefore to Smee that the Tories turned for help when their Ice Rink project had collapsed and they had finished blaming one another for committing themselves to a £100 company owned by a Maidenhead "entrepreneur". And at their last press conference before the election they proudly announced that their refutable friend Roger Smee had agreed to build an Ice Rink oh the Whitley Recreation Ground and sat back waiting for the 'post' to splash their triumph. They're pretty bitter that the 'Post' contacted Labour Leisure spokesman Dave Absolom (who is also a local Councillor) who strongly opposed the Whitley Rec. site and suggested instead that Smee move his saved football club out to Smallmead and build an Ice Rink there. The Liberals agreed and not having total confidence in his Tory friends Smee backed off and said he'd build an Ice Rink wherever the political parties wanted him to. Result: a 'Post' story emphasising the site row and depriving the Tories of a much-needed election boost. Whether Reading gets an Ice Rink out of all this fracas remains to be seen (the Oxford Rink being built by a Labour Council is well advanced), but Rockfort will no doubt go on rebuilding the town. The Trade Union Club in Minster Street and the Britania pubs down Caversham Road are among the sites Mr Smee is blessing with offices and Reading F.C.will surely be off to Smallmead, with or without an Ice Rink, as soon as he has put together a development package for Elm Park. For Smee is nothing if not a long-term planner: he even has a man on the Governors of Reading College of Technology to make sure building apprentices come along at the right rate. He may run with the Tory hares but will be quite happy to make profits with the Labour hounds. Builder's Record Talking of builders, some months ago Reading Labour Party reported Wates to the Advertising Standards Authority for trying to sell houses on their professional record, that record having been somewhat tarnished by the defects found in their system houses in Reading and elsewhere. The ASA however believes that general assertions by advertisers do "not constitute a reason... for objecting to such claims being made provided there is no likelihood, as a result, that the consumer will be mislead about any aspect of a product which is capable of being objectively assessed in the light of generally accepted standards of judgement" and that Wates have no prima facie case to answer. Let the buyer beware... Casual(tor)ies Ice Rink or no Ice Rink, the Tories on May 3rd lost their Whip, Martin Lower (who had together with his mates arrogantly left his "safe" seat in Redlands to work for his particular friend "Amazing Grace" Wray in Church); their prize backbencher Simon Oliver (the only one they allowed actually to speak at Council meetings) in Park; and their old Caversham embarrassment, George Robinson, whose habits failed to endear themselves to the people of Battle. The Labour wards they had targeted, Katesgrove and Church, returned the sitting Labour Councillors with increased majorities and only against Liberal Leader Jim Day in Tilehurst did they make any progress and then not nearly enough to threaten what is now the only Liberal seat in town. They're already finding coping with a majority of one a strain : for one thing it has put paid to any idea that Brian Fowles ("Brian is a problem for he doesn't do what he's told. He believes in planning principles." - R.Jewitt) might be moved from the Chairmanship of the Environment Committee: his vote is needed if Ron is to be Mayor and the Tories in control. Scooped One Tory who will be happy to be out of Jewittville will be Reading West Tory Agent Chris Poole, who will be moving to the calmer vistas of Hertfordshire after the Euro-elections next month. Already banished from the Tory shop in Erleigh Road to an unlabelled office in an inconspicuous part of Pangbourne, he has been finding the antics of some Tory Councillors difficult to support. Dayplight All was not exactly sweetness and light in the Liberal camp either, with both last year's Liberal stand-in Leader Basil Dunning and his Deputy Toni Heydeman publicly blaming Jim Day for the loss of Kentwood Ward and the restriction of the Liberals to their original Reading base in Tilehurst. Having been moved out of Tilehurst to make way for Big Jim and having failed to be selected for Norcot and then to win Kentwood Heydeman is particularly bitter. Which will make the competition between Jim and Paddy Day, Heydeman and Liberal Social Services spokesman Norman Edwards (Jin's fellow Morcot County Councillor) for the Tilehurst nomination in the County elections next year somewhat acrimonious. And Basil's lament may be the reason that John Freeman and not Dunning emerged from the five-strong Liberal caucus as Jim's Deputy. An honour apparently not withdrawn when he then announced he was going to be on holiday for the Annual Meeting of the Council which elects the Mayor and decides the Party strength on the various committees, depriving the anti-Jewitt forces of a much-needed vote. Planning just ain't the Liberals' strong-point. Animal Lights Leaving Reading for the moment, ROAR may like to note that their friends in BUAV are targetting Dutney M.P. and Home Office Minister, David Mellor, who is responsible for animal experiments, and have distributed 40,000 leaflets to his constituents and held a well-attended public meeting. They do however note that Mr Mellor's party received £1/4M from three drug companies - Reckitt & Colman, Glaxo and Beechams - between 1979-82 and that Mr Mellor's Prime Minister has awarded one knighthood to each of them. So they're not too surprised that Mr Mellor's legislation is not too punitive! - - - JOBFREEDOM Figures derived from the Manpower Services Commission show registered unemployment in Reading borough at 9.13%. This compares with the 'official' figures for the Reading travel-to-work area of 7.4%. The national average is 13.2%. Of course these figures exclude those on government "training schemes" temporarily stopped, on short-time working, 'early retired', disabled, part-time workers... Then of course many are out of work & are not officially registered, especially married women (that's why in the table below, and in all such statistics female unemployment appears lower than male) and black people. The breakdown of the figures by wards makes interesting reading: Unemployment Rates - December 1983 (persons 18+) Ward % male % female % overall Abbey 26.51 16.88 22.85 Katesgrove 14.70 9.76 12.79 Whitley 15.07 8.27 12.50 Church 15.08 7.20 12.04 Redlands 14.88 7.73 11.78 Park 11.51 8.94 10.53 Battle 11.16 7.24 9.61 Minster 11.23 5.91 9.03 Norcot 8.98 5.58 7.65 Southcote 7.25 3.70 5.74 Kentwood 5.95 5.31 5.71 Tllehurst 6.18 3.69 5.19 Caversham 5.41 3.25 4.55 Peppard 5.08 3.26 4.38 Thames 4.11 3.70 3.95 (adapted from an article in "Centre Pages", the excellently-produced monthly paper of the Centre for the Unemployed) - - - ROCK OFF? The 1984 Reading Rock Festival still hangs in the balance and may have a chance of appearing for one final time. The organisers - National Jazz Federation / Marquee Presentations - have recently declared that they have been unable to secure an alternative site at a suitable time. The Richfield Ave site is due to be developed but work cannot begin until at least October, which leaves the possibility of a festival still open and dependent on the Council. Labour seems likely to support one of the few things that Reading is famous for, apart from the gaol, and of course developers. Clive - - - STUDENTS ACT! On Thursday 10th of May, Bulmershe College students union passed a motion saying "this S.U., led by the executive committee will express its opposition tc government proposals by occupying certain areas of the Bridges building from 5 this afternoon till 9 tomorrow a.m.". Government proposals to introduce a flat rate travel grant would mean 1/3 of students would be worse off than under the present system. (This is all we know as of now- more information later(?)) - - - FLY UP THE WALL Dear Red. Rag, Talk about fascists! I mean what is the point in putting posters up to advertise a benefit (last Saturdays Here & Now gig being the case in question) when people like "The Boys from Brazil", "The Hexagon", national record companies, to name a few, slap posters on top of 'em - before the bleedin' concert has even been put on?! Oooh, it makes me puke! I mean it's bad enough with the council threatening to put 'Cancelled' stickers on posters, without other flyposterers doing you in as well. C'mon people, be reasonable. Yours, Bill Stickers and Paste Pot Pete On a general note, why not write to the council and ask 'em where these promised official hoardings are. Ask 'em how they can call people who put 'Cancelled' stickers on last years circus and military fair posters 'mindless vandals', and then threaten to do the same. S'justice innit, eh? - - - USAFun Dear Red Rag A small group of people have got together to plan a weekend festival and peace camp at Boscombe Down USAF/RAF base near Salisbury, Wiltshire. This is intended to draw attention to the base, where we believe Cruise Missiles could be deployed, and to publicise its role within NATO war planning. This festival is intended to be a weekend of fun colour, music and general social relaxation. We feel we would like to make it an enjoyable holiday for tired and jaded campaigners, and that we will involve more local people if there are no actions likely to lead to arrests. We are looking for bands, street theatre groups, individual acts, folk singers, duets, orchestras, pied (eyed?) pipers, artists - anyone at all who would like to join in embracing the base. I am co-ordinating the entertainment and so I'd like to know whether you and anyone you know can come. Please contact me as soon as you can - I would welcome suggestions as to who else to invite. Caroline Lanyon Salisbury 21865 - - - THE FAMOUS GOING OUT GUIDE Sunday 13 Watermill Theatre, Bagnor nr Newbury (0635 46044) Sunday Celebrity Concert: George Melly and John Chiltern's Feetwarmers £4-£7.50. Part of Newbury Spring Festival - details and booking forms available from Civic Centre. SHP Wilde Theatre: Cosi Fan Tutte 7.30pm Warsaw Opera £6-£10 SHP Film: "Scarface" with Al Pacino 7.45pm Readifolk: Caversham Bridge Hotel 8.15pm The Butler, Chatham St: free jazz Hexagon: Berkshire Young Musicians; young musicians from the Central Berkshire Music Centre. Tickets £2.50 and £2 (50p off for students. OAPs, under 16s and UB40s). Angies, Wokingham: Killerherz St Mary's Church, Kintbury: Chilingirian (?) String Quartet play Schubert (Quartet in C minor, D703, Quartet in A minor, D804, and Quintet in C, D456). 8pm £3 Monday 14 Hexagon (+15th) Opera East present Carmen. Tickets £3-£5 7.30pm SHP Bracknell film "Scarface" Reading Centre for the Unemployed (RCU) Beating Time Festival - Vocal Day St Nicholas Parish Church, Newbury: Paul Tortelier and Maria de la Pau - Beethoven Sonate no 3 in A minor, Op 69, Faure Nocturne no 6 in D flat, op 63, Grieg Sonata in A op 36 for cello and piano £3 - £6.50 8pm Tuesday 15 SHP Bracknell Wilde Theatre:- Official Opening by Princess Anne!! There must be something that can be done to make it interesting! SHP Bracknell - film "Scarface" SHP: South Hill Park Swing Band 8pm 75p SHP: Poetry - Vernon Scannel with Peter Pegnall 8pm 50p The Mill, Sonning: A comedy "My Fat Friend" by Charles Laurence. Box office tel Rdg 698000 Woodley Drama Festival 15th - 19th, details ring 62546 RCU: Beating Time Festival: Folk Day St Mary the Virgin, Chieveley: Tudor Singers of London. 5 centuries of English music 8pm £3. Apparently given the generous support of "The Sapient Pig" restaurant. Tudor Arms: Gay Disco, free. Wednesday 16 Hermit Club, Upper Deck, Duke St. 8pm St Nicholas Parish Church, Newbury 8pm. City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra: Schubert, Dvorak, Framck £3.50 - £7 RFT. "Querelle" Fassbinder 1982. Brad Davies, Jeanne Moreau. Adaptation of Genet's "Querelle de Brest" and Not To Be Missed, methinks. RCU: Beating Time Festival: Jazz & Blues Day Hex: Freddie Starr 6.45pm and 9.15pm. According to the leaflet it's "not suitable for children", nor anybody else I would say. Tickets £5 - £7 Thursday 17 Reading Folk Club: Horse and Barge Cav. Sportsman, Shinfield Rd - free music Target - Separate Energy Central Club - Black Music Worldwide presents the Soul Incorporated Roadshow (jazz/funk, soul and Lovers Rock) and Countryman Sound (from High Wycombe). 8pm-2am members £2, non members £2.50 RFT: Fuzi Qing (Father and Son) grooving up in Hong Kong. 8pm St Nicholas Parish Church, Newbury - Piano recital by John Lill, Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, Liszt 8pm £2.50-£6 RCU Beating Time: Cultural Day Angies, W'ham - the Websters Friday 18 Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke: Bournemouth Sinfonia Handel, Haydn, Telemann 7.30pm £3.20 concessions available - tel Basingstoke 23073 Hurst Festival - St Nicholas Church, Hurst Twyford (tel Twyford 340017) Guitar recital by Neil Smith, works by Praetorius, Sor, Villa-Lobos, Albeniz £1-£2 Target - Doghouse Tudor Arms: Gay Disco, free Purley Memorial Hall Glebe Road, Purley "Princess Ida" by Gilbert and Sullivan. With the Thames Valley Singers 8pm £1.50 concs (NUS) £1 ring Rdg 26999. On tomorrow too. Paradise Club (aka Carribbean) Serious Drinking (it's the name of the band as well) 9pm - 2am RCU Beating Time Festival - Electric Day. Angies W'ham T.34 Hexagon - 2 concerts for schools by Berkshire Sinfonietta. Roger Durston conductor. Includes Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev. 10.30am, 2pm. Children £1, teachers free. SHP film "Exposed" Gerard Depardieu, Natashia Kinski 7.45pm SHP film "Let's Spend the Night Together" The Rolling Stones on Tour 1981 11pm Saturday 19 Target Burn Essence Angies The Reactors Theale Green School: Celebrity Concert as part of the 21st birthday celebrations; Richard Baker with Raphael Terroni on piano - "a miscellany of piano duets, solos, light hearted songs, poetry, prose, anecdotes and works for narrator and piano". All good clean fun. Phone Mrs Nikerson on 302471 for tickets, info. Til the 25th "Macbeth" presented by Bradfield College in the Greek Theatre. Tickets £2 from the Play Secretary, Bradfield College, Bradfield, Reading. 19th, 22nd, 23rd, 25th @8pm 24th @3pm. Not sure about 20th, 21st. RCU Beating Time Festival - Procession Day St Nicholas Parish Church, Newbury. The Kings Singers 8pm £3.50-£7 Hexagon Espionage (jazz-rock) 12.15pm free Hexagon Reading Festival Chorus with John Lill (piano) Brahms Piano Concerto no 1 D minor; Brahms, a German requiem and Capriol orchestra of London. Tickets £4-£7 concs £1 off full prices. 7.30pm Paradise Club, Zenith Jazz Band & Disco 9pm - 2am £2 SHP film "Exposed" as 18th, also 20th SHP film "Let's Spend the Night Together" as 18th Sunday 20 The Butler, Chatham St: free jazz Angies W'ham - Zenith Readifolk Caversham Bridge Hotel 8.15pm Hexagon - The Cannon and Ball show, nuff said. Monday 21 SHP film "Ziggy Stardust" David Bowie in concert in 1973 7.45pm (also 22nd, 22rd, 25th, 26th) SHP Wilde Theatre - Opera Factory London Sinfonietta: Cavalli's "La Calisto" 7.30pm £4 - £6 also 26th Hexagon - Wrestling Spectacular 7.30pm £2 - £2.50 Tuesday 22 Tudor Arms: Gay Disco, free University FoL Theatre. English & Music Depts present "The Beggars Opera" by John Gray 7.30pm Tickets 80p from Dept of Music, 35 Upper Redlands Rd, tel 860293 and from Hickies, Friar St. On til 25th SHP Beryl Bainbridge - selection of work with Peter Pegnall 8pm 50p SHP Opera factory London Sinfonietta "The Knot Garden" by Michael Tippett £4 - £6. Wednesday 23 RFT "Anthony and Cleopatra" film of BBCTV production. Jane Lapotaire and Colin Blakely 7.30pm Hermit Club, Upper Deck, Duke St. 8pm Hexagon Peggy Lee and the Peggy Lee Orchestra "famous for a string of hits including 'Mr Wonderful', 'Fever', 'Til there was you'. If you say so. 8pm £7/£8 Thursday 24 Target - Truffle Sportsman, Shinfield Rd, free music Angies Geep. RFT "Coup de Foudre" (At first sight) 8pm St Georges Hall, St Georges Rd. "Wish You Were Here" presented by St Lawrence Players "an evening of mixed entertainment to put you in the holiday mood" £1 Tel 51501 til 26th Reading Folk Club, Horse and Barge Caversham Central Club Thursday special ring for details Hexagon Juan Martin (not sure what he does but he's a "versatile musician") 8pm £3 - £5 SHP Opera factory London Sinfonietta - as 22nd (also 25th) SHP Channel 4 (video) free Friday 25 Central Club Eek-a-Mouse first date on UK tour. Tickets from Central Club £5 in advance, £6 on door. Tudor Arms: Gay Disco, free Target - "Angel Witch" - we've been told they're very, very good Wyvern Theatre Swindon, English Chamber Orchestra £5/£6 Angies The John Spencer Band Hexagon Reading Community Carnival committee presents a "Carnival Queen Dance" ho hum 8pm £4/£5 SHP film "Zelig" Woody Allen & Mia Farrow 7.45pm (also 26th & 27th) Saturday 26 Target - Heretic Angies - Motley Crew Hexagon Folk Dance Festival - All dayer with children's folk dance in the afternoon. (2.30pm, 50p), ceilidh 8pm £3 and lunchtime music (presumably free) Sunday 27 Angies "Juvessence" Church of St Nicholas, Hurst concert by the New York State University Chorus 7.30pm £5 - £7 Exhibitions 26th May - 16th June "The Berlin '20s" Paintings etc by Zeigler. Museum and Art Gallery, Blagrave St 10am - 5.30pm free. - - - EVENTS Mon 14 National Cycle Week; commuter race. Three commuters, one in a bus, one in a car, one on a bike, will race from Sutton's Seeds roundabout to the town centre in the morning rush hour. The winner should arrive at the Civic Centre about 8.45. Police and the Pickets: soldiers in police uniforms? N.C.C.L. meeting. Yorks NUM speaker John Thompson puts the miners' case. 8pm, St May's Centre, Chain St. Gay soc party: 8pm, Council room, Students' Union Whiteknights campus. Non-students welcome. Caversham Anti-Nuclear Group: planning meeting. 8pm, 70 St Peter's Avenue. Pangbourne Peace Croup: meeting with topic for discussion "Peace and-Capitalism". 8pm, 1 Short St (off Horseshoe Rd) Sonning Common Peace Group: leafletting. Meet at 7.30 outside S.C- Village Hall. Tue 15 Reading Birth Centre: meeting 1pm at 20 Bulmershe Rd. Bring a contribution to lunch. National Cycle Week: articles in the (whisper it softly) Evening Post all week, by members of the Reading Cycle Campaign. 'Human World - Animal World': talk arranged by Reading Baha'i Faith. 121 Oxford Rd (AUEW), 8pm. Details: 590233. Wed 16 Womeh's Health Group: open meeting to organise a campaign for a Well Woman Clinic in Reading. 11am Centre for the Jobfree, East St. Talk: "The History of the Reading Hospitals", by A.M.Barr. Organised by U.K. Fed. of Business and Professional Women! 7.30, Civic Centre. Thu 17 History of Reading Society: "The Great Western Railway - calling at Reading along the line", by Matthew Turner. 7.30, Abbey Gateway. Fri 18 Henley Peace Group: film: 'Atomic Cafe'. S. Oxon Tech, Greys Road, Henley, 7.15. Talk: 'The Colnbrook Turnpike Trist and the Bath Rd', by K. Dumbleton. Organised by Berks Family History Society. 7.30, Friends' Meeting House, Church St (off London St) Sat 19 and Sun 20 May Tree Fair at Thorpe, nr Thetford, Norfolk. In Forestry Commission woods, 5m E of Thetford, where Peddars Way crosses A1066. "Music, dancing, players, craft, horses, food, ale, children's world, all manner of wonders." £2.50 a day (£1 UB40, OAP), camping £1. Proceeds to Green Deserts. Sat 19 Berks Organic Gardeners: plant sale. 2.30, 14 Copse Avenue, off Micklands Rd, off Henley Rd. (No 25 bus.) Samaritans: information day. Caravan outside Old Town Hall, Blagrave St, 8am - 5pm. Sun 20 Games Conspiracy: non-competitive games for all the non-nuclear family. 2pm outside the adventure playground, Palmer Park, London Road. Greenham Common: demonstration by older citizens. "All men and women over 60 are welcome." Slight Christian tone in the publicity. Details: Bristol (0272) 40833 (afternoons). Mon 21 - Sun 27 Week of Action against the Arms Trade. Details: C.A.A.T, 5 Caledonian Rd, London N1. 01-278-1976 Mon 21 South Reading CND: Berks Emergency Planning Officer Mr Whitaker talks about his work! 8pm, South Reading Community Centre, Northumberland Avenue. Tue 22 'Life without Dead Times' : Anarchist discussion with speaker. From the people who brought you May '68. 7.30, room G03, Palmer Building, Whiteknights campus. Thu 24 "Women's International Day for Disarmament"- nothing locally that we know of Red Rag: copydate and 'editorial meeting' to sort out who does what when for the next issue. If you would like to help, find out where the meeting is from Bridget on 37-4532. (8pm) 'Secrets of the Unborn Child': talk by psychotherapist Anthony Lunt. Organised by National Childbirth Trust. 8pm, 10 Gun St. 40p admission. Fri 25 Red Rag: the typing continues... Sat 26 Games conspiracy: 'new games' as Sun 20th. Red Rag: paste-up and printing... 'No nuclear weapons East or West': national CND demonstration, Coventry. Details: Steve 663177. Sun 27 Red Rag: Folding and labelling, from 11am. Help always much appreciated'. Ring Bridget 37-4532 to find out where. Distribution in the afternoon. Regular Events Photography: sessions every Tuesday (10-12, 1-3) at Centre for the Jobfree, East St Housing and Welfare Rights: Thursday evenings, Community House, Cumberland Rd. Reading Gay Switchboard: Tues & Fri, 8-10pm. 597269 Mini-market: Thurs 9-1, St Mary's House, Chain St Women's Centre: open Tues 10-2, Wed 10-2, Sat 11-3. All women and kids welcome. Pregnancy testing Tues 7-9, bring urine sample from first pee of the day Incest Survivors Group: meets regularly. Write c/o Rape Crisis Line, 17 Chatham St, for details. Anarchists: meet every Monday. Details via Box 19, Acorn Bookshop. Autonomists contact via the anarchists. Peace Pledge Union: meets monthly, always active. Contact 588459, 868384, or Box 10, Acorn. Ecology Party: meets 1st and 3rd Mon of month at 25 de Beauvoir Rd and 38 Long Barn Lane respectively. Contact Maria 663195. Socialist Workers' Party: meet every Weds, Red Lion, Southampton St, 8pm. Labour History Group: meets monthly at Red Lion. Contact Breda 584558 or Mike 665478 for details. Vegans: 1st Sun of month. 1 Orrin Close, Tilehurst at 2pm. Contact Liz and Steve Shiner 21651 Women's Peace Group: 1st Mon of month at Women's Centre. Contact Rheinhild 662873. Amnesty: 2nd Thurs of month. St Mary's Centre, Chain St. Contact Jean 472598. History of Reading Soc: 3rd Tues of month, Abbey Gateway Berks Humanists: meet 2nd Fri of month Oct-May at 8pm. Friends' Meeting House, Church St. Details Crowthorne 774871. Cyclists Touring Club; outings Sun 9.15 from Caversham Bridge or Henley. Richard 50949 Wednesday is Women's Day at Centre for the Jobfree, East St. Coffee, advice, courses, etc, from 10-30. Silkscreen Workshops; at Newtown Community House, 117 Cumberland Rd. Details Clive 666324. Practical Paradise Club; Women's Centre, Abbey St. Workshops, self-defence, keep fit... and fun. Suns, 2-6 Reading Recreation Art Centres: Painting for Pleasure at Town Hall. Mon 7-9, Tues 10-12. Details 55911 or 861289. Cruelty-free toiletries: market stall every Sat behind Tescos, Butts Centre. National Council for Civil Liberties: 2nd Mon of month. St Mary's Centre, Chain St. Contact Paul 861582. Reading Cycle Campaign; meets monthly at the Rising Sun, 1st Mon of month. For details ring 483181 or 64667. Reading Birth Centre; 3rd Tues of month for food and chat. Ring 61330 for venue. Reading Organisation for Animal Rights (ROAR): 1st Tues of month at The Crown, Crown St. Contact Alan 477790. Men's Group: meets weekly, currently open to all interested men. Contact Box 28. Acorn for dates and venues. Gay soc: meets Mondays in University terms, 8pm, Council room, Students' Union, Whiteknights. Non-students welcome. - - - BEATING TIME A free music festival at the Reading centre for the unemployed. May 14-19 / lpm-10pm. Every day for a week, workshops / performances / open rehearsals / street procession. Come and join in the fun..! Free to the unwaged / £1 a day to wage earners... Reading Centre for the Unemployed, 4-6 East St, Reading, 596639. Programme Vocal day Monday 14 May: 1pm-3pm Vocal Workshop / 3-5 Percussion Workshop with Paul Burwell / 6-7 One Hour Wonders (open rehearsals) / 7-9 Percussion Workshops Performance by Paul Purwell. Folk day Tuesday 15 May: 1-5 Busking Workshop Part 1 / 3-5 Flamenco Guitar with Pete Hall / 7-10 Folk Workshop, open session with Paul Hancock & Roger Bloomfield with Fiddler Dave / 7-8 One Hour Wonders. Jazz & Blues day Wednesday 16 May: 1-5 Blues Guitar Workshop/ 2-4 Blues Harmonica Workshop / 4-5.30 Busking Workshop Part 2 / 8-10 Performance by Jazz Faculty. Cultural day Thursday 17th May: 1-3 Vocal Workshop / 3-4 One Hour Wonders / Reggae Bass and Reggae Drumming with Dave Brewster and Slick / 5-6.30 Performance and Workshop by the West Indian Womens Circle Steel Band / 7-8 Performance and Workshop by the Katesgrove Steel Band / 8-10 Nathanial Poetry Reading. Electric day Friday 18th May: 1-5 Improvisation Guitar Workshop / 1-5 Amplified and Electronic Music Improvisation with Fraser / Song Writing with John Delahunty / 4-5 Talking Static Silent Movie / 6 Construction of an Environment / 7-10 Open Performance Session Beat the Street Saturday 19th May: 10 Procession Practice / 12 Street Procession leaves Centre for the Unemployed / 5 Arrival Back / 7 Celebration. Sponsored by Southern Arts - - - BEATING TIME VEGGIE DINING May 18 - 7pm Reading Centre for the Unwaged 4-6 East St £1.50 waged, £1 unwaged (meal ticket only - day admission £1 if waged) - - - RED RAG still needs a regular events-person. Job involves trying to bully organisers into phoning you (to save £££ppp), checking out the library and other event information sources. Ring 666681 or 666324. You could be the first in the street to know what's really happening. - - - RED RAG OUTLETS You may have picked this copy up from any of: Acorn Bookshop, under Chatham St car park Listen Records, Butts shopping centre Harvest Wholefoods, Harris Arcade (off Friar St) Centre for the Unemployed. East St UB Cycles, 56 London Street Central Club, bottom of London St Rag Doll, Duke St Elephant Off-licence. Derby St Fine Food Stores, 168 Oxford Rd Fairview Community Centre, bottom of George St Harrison's Newsagent, Caversham Road Kan's Kitchen. London Road Jelly's Stores, Whitley Street Number Sixty, Christchurch Green Ken's Shop, Students' Union, Whiteknights Tech College lib & students' common room, King's Rcl Pop Records. 172 King's Road Rib 'n' Roast, Cemetery Junction Mace shop, Crown Colonnade, Cemetery Junction Continental Stores. Cemetery Junction The Sugar Bowl. 26 Wokingham Road Ling's Chinese Fiah Bar, Wokingham Road Sutherlands. 55 Erleigh Rond - - - LAUGHING MATTERS Hey! Any of you people out there got problems? Just answer these ten simple questions. Are you lonely? Insecure? Guilty about your parents? Pestered by sand-kickers? Your conversation not up to scratch? In the wrong party? Never get invited to parties? Don't cut the mustard on the dance floor? Can't kiss with confidence? Still secretly worried about your performance? Score yes on five or more and you can join the world's least exclusive club. Free life membership is guaranteed at birth, and automatically expires at death. About eighty members had a therapy session at the Upper Deck a couple of weeks ago. We want out. And it works: tests show that laughing is good for you. Real laughing, that is: not half-smiles, curled lips, snickering or tee-heeing. I mean the hard-core stuff - in public, heaving, retching, the laughter that hurts. The cause of all this commotion was three people who go under the name 'Alternative Cabaret'. They were doing a Right to Read benefit for Acorn Books. (You remember: the Fat Controller and the Association of Chief Police Officers have decided that we're reading things that might be bad for us, might even make us want to leave the club. So they're trying to force 'alternative' bookshops out of business by raids and seizures under the Obscene Publications Act. Books seized from Acorn include Hunter S. Thompson's 'Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, published by Granada, and Tom Wolfe's 'Electric kool-aid acid text', published by Corgi.) Alternative cabaret, as an idea and a thing to do, isn't really new (though the name is). People have been doing it for ages, in pubs and clubs and music-hall and on the streets: Wilson, Kepple, and Betty; Frank Randle; Max Miller ('the cheeky chappie'). And, over the water, people like Lenny Bruce. But most of the names we don't remember, or never knew. They weren't TV stars. A few made it to the big time, then somehow lost their bite. Mainly, they played live, were disreputable, frowned upon, and got moved on. Some carried with them a whiff of subversion. Though it pains me to say so, this has to be said: some of them - more than I care to know - made jokes which were sexist. And racist. Maybe even supportive of oppressive religions. And it goes on today - you see it in the club comics translated onto TV, the ones who do paki jokes, bum jokes, queer jokes, striker jokes. Their scripts appear to be provided by the Daily Express. Not every joke is a little revolution. Well, that's one sort of difference between old and new variety. Another is that the new version is still a metropolitan form of fun; here in the provinces we just have to make do. But there's one thing they have in common: liveness. The infectious tension of a live show. Will it work? Will it be OK? Consider this: it's easy enough to ignore a bad musician. Not so when someone is standing up there trying to make you laugh, and failing. (Theatre folk still call it 'dying'. It's hard to ignore someone dying in front of you.) And, of course, some new variety acts do die. That's the risk when you go to cabaret: you can't switch it off when it gets bad (well, not if you're polite, like me). No such problems with this particular Alternative Cabaret: Sharon Landau, Roy Hutchins, and Tony Allen. They are cracking stuff. Roy Hutchins, who reckoned five minutes was about right to warm us up, was an enchantingly libertarian compere. He introduced Sharon Landau, who is an artful pianist and a wonderful singer-songwriter-raconteur. All her songs are good, some heartbreakingly so. She sang and talked about lurve, and smiling at all costs, and the roots of insecurity, and gods which failed. I want to hear again 'Palais de danse', and phrases from another song which just won't go away: 'the longing for love keeps our children in chains'. Something Kurt Vonnegut said seems relevant: 'I am suspicious of belly laughs as entirely happy experiences. The only way to get a belly laugh, I've found, is to undermine a surface joke with more unhappiness than most mortals can bear.' She takes the idiom of popular song and turns it inside-out. Her words are delivered with razor-edge timing. She has command of voice, accent, and inflexion. I heard someone mumble about Brecht, and Weill, and Lotte Lenya. [Who he? Ed.] She was a joy. Roy Hutchins came on again. Roy knows about the paranoia of everyday life. I ache for him. He aches for him: he itches with tension. And he uses that very physical tension, and with enviable control of body and voice acts out the bizarre dramas of everyday life. How to stay ahead, how to keep cool against all odds, how to survive the terror of meetings. He's a vocal synthesizer, producing sounds to order: the dire melodies which accompany getting-out-of-your-depth-in-conversation, drowning in words. Next please. A quick inspection of sexual neuroses? Certainly sir. Animal crackers? You bet. He broke us up with laughter. Whilst Sharon Landau and Roy Hutchins didn't talk politics, everything they did was political. Tony Allen talked politics, amongst other things. Just standing up there is a political act for Tony Allen. He has a hilariously anarchic physical presence: he noisily expands to fill the stage. He loves hecklers ('You'd better be good...'). Tony Allen stopped the City, stormed the Winter Palace, mused about multilateralism, socialism, and anarchism, became slightly sectarian, got considerably worked up about TV. The other things included a natural history drama-documentary on the sex life of orchids. But Tony Allen is a well-balanced person, and keeps things in perspective. Accepting that he is but the merest speck of cosmic dust in the immensity of the known universe, he wasn't going to worry about whether we thought him funny. The show was a delight. It has to be said, like it or not, that these three are professionals: they never forget that they are performing, and never let us forget it. They break the suspension of disbelief. Nothing is believable - the club rules least of all. Television won't be the same after Alternative Cabaret. Despite Channel 4's best efforts, and The Young Ones, and all the rest, it doesn't really work on TV: the liveness can't be captured. The screen can't contain this kind of laughter, and the unsettlement that goes with it isn't allowed into people's living rooms - it upsets them, makes them restless. In conventional terms, Tony Allen, Roy Hutchins, and Sharon Landau should become stars. But it seems the only way to be a star in their line of business is to be a TV star. So I hope, selfishly, that they never will. I think they got pleasure out of our pleasure. At the end, we applauded them, and they applauded us. Those gifts are priceless. [Postscript: Acorn raised about £38; Alternative Cabaret raised the roof, and did it for expenses only. If they ever come within catching distance of you, don't miss them.] Paul Straight - - - MRS BEETHOVENS HANDY HOUSEHOLD TIPS Most of the rubbish we throw away can be recycled - veg. composted, paper pulped to save trees, tins re-smelted and glass re-used. Plastic however is a pain in the arse - bottles can be doctored to make plant-pots, funnels (and napkin rings I), but what about those plastic shopping bags once the handles break or the holes get bigger than the contents? Why not cut or tear them into strips and use them as garden ties for plants and canes. Egg cartons when cut in half can be used as starter pots for seedlings (put a hole in each section first for drainage). Also, I'm told that milk cartons with the folded bit at the top cut off make excellent pots for household plants (again remember the drainage holes!) Any more ideas? - - - PPU The Reading Peace Pledge Union last met on Thursday 10th. May in Caversham. There was not a bad turn out, but it was rather male-dominated - come on all you women, come and have your say! Much of the meeting was taken up with discussion of actions in London on June 9th. We heard that CND are organising a march and rally, and also civil disobedience in Grosvenor Square (an encirclement of the U.S. Embassy). There is also to be direct action at Lancaster House, where world leaders including Reagan, Thatcher and Mitterande will be holding an 'Economic Summit'. Anyone interested in taking part in either of these should contact Bridge on 374532 or Paul 599995. We are hoping to go to the Boscombe Down Festival of Peace on June 17/18th. Leaflets and posters are available in Acorn Bookshop. We also discussed the possibility of running a peace education course in connection with WEA, but there are only ideas at the moment. The PPU Film Van will be visiting Reading again this year - June 18/19th - to show peace films in the town centre. Offers of help to David 373153. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 30th May 8pm at "Willows", Nursery Gardens, Purley - 374532 where we will be finalising plans for June 9th and planning for summer activities - see you there. - - - RAVE Just a line or two to say thanks to Progress Theatre for their amazingly slick, funny, stimulating, provocative production of "Accidental Death of an Anarchist". More please! L - - - Grand Opening of EUROFOODS / READING Crown Colonnade, London Road, Reading on Thursday 17th May "A new style supermarket" Delicatessen / Fresh Meat / Vegecatabes / Groceries 20" Colour TV to be won! - - - ANIMAL LIBERATION, AN ARGUMENT FOR MODERATION Animal liberation is currently attracting more and more support, and a consciousness of animal life should be a part of the often neutered and usually manipulated middle-class conscience. However, the rights and well-being of animals must be weighed against the rights and well-being of people. Some moderation of attitude and some examination of motive is necessary for some liberationists, similarly complacent scientists on their high pillars of intellectual snobbery need to step down. It is fanciful, to suggest that any animal on the surface of the earth can be free from the possibility of man's control; in this way all animals can be viewed as slaves, freedom to a certain extent can only be allowed to them. The decision is to what extent man's influence on animals should be limited. Many animals die as a result of man's activities, again the decision is how far should man's activities be curtailed to reduce the incidence of this. Of course against this must be balanced the needs, well-being and risks to us, a human, and also animal, population. An example of what I believe to be necessary to human well-being, but destructive to animals, is current research into vaccines and cheaper treatments for tropical disease. For many people afflicted by such disease there is no treatment, or a very expensive treatment which their country cannot afford. Research to alleviate this problem - their suffering - is directed to vaccine research and/or to easily administered (single dose) drugs with long term protection. The degree of solution of the problem is dependent on the developed countries of the world are prepared to allocate to it. These diseases include Bilharzia (1), Trypanosomrasis (l), Malaria (1) and Leprosy (2). Could you tell a person at risk from one of these diseases that because of a complete ban on animal experiments in your country that there are no vaccines available, or a sufferer that there is no cure you can afford to give him/her? Could you really tell them that there will be no effort to find a vaccine because the countries which have the monopoly of wealth & resources no longer permit animal experimentation. However, if the person wouldn't mind waiting for the inevitable, although probably not imminent, socialist revolution, then all the rich people in the world will go without a hi-fi system to pay for their treatment by contemporary methods. Of course you would also have to tell them that these current methods are protection by using drugs, ie: extremely unlikely to provide the same degree of protection as a vaccine, and - actually come to think of it - might not be available for their particular exotic disease. Furthermore, you will have to inform the animally liberated person that the causative organism will eventually develop resistance to that drug, thereby making its treatment by available techniques impossible. Unfortunately, not all tropical diseases appear preventable by vaccine, or even curable by therapy, for example parasitic worm, but some reduction in severity does remain feasible. 700,000,000 people are infected by just one species of worm Ascaaia lumbricordes (1). Over 200,000,000 people have disease caused by schistosonies (1) blood dwelling flukes. These diseases are not rare, just unpublicised - two diseases alone accounting for nearly a billion people. The irony is that chemicals which could be treatments have probably already been developed. Chemical firms have so many thousands of synthetic products that most are numbered not named, but the chemical industry rarely spend their money to test the application of these to treating disease where the return on their investment is likely to be minimal. A vast improvement in people's resistance to disease in poorer countries could be brought about by the relief of malnutrition, even where the hunger is only "mild" - but how likely is this? Disease enhances the effects of malnutrition which lowers resistance to disease, a very vicious circle. It is not so much a question of the west 'hogging' the grain, but rather the fertilizers, especially phosphate. Countries with hungry peoples have the land but not the fertilizer to raise crops. The problem is particularly acute in areas where animal dung is used as fuel. A cynic might say that disease is a useful population control in the "third world" countries, so why should animal experimentation be used to find cures to relieve the control. The view may be expanded to say that disease is a useful way to cull humans, eliminating the weak and old, although I suspect this view is only preferable as long as your loved ones are not at risk. Even in the medically advanced countries new diseases or varieties of old scourges occur with disturbing frequency. Some 20th century examples include Sleeping sickness (3)1916-1927, Laisa fever 1969, Ebola fever 1976 (4), Legianaires disease 1978 (5) and the ever changing influenza (5). Animal experiments are necessary to evaluate the danger from new diseases, to distinguish scare from danger. If your basic philosophy is that animals should under no circumstances die to benefit humankind then you will agree with little of this, nor like the style of its presentation, but do you have the right to martyr the rest of us to salve your own bleeding bourgeois conscience. If you disallow us use of animals then you will condemn some people somewhere to suffering and death. If you wish to relieve human suffering from disease then you will be responsible for killing animals. There is no midway. Computer modelling and cell culture techniques cannot substitute for animal models, for example in the study of malaria, schistosomaisis, AIDS or leprosy (using rats, rats, monkeys and 9 banded armadillos respectively). It is unlikely that comfortable cloistered western abolitionists will suffer the consequences of their actions - unless some new plague appears. Living in Britain, being young it is easy to be extreme at someone elses expense. The numbers in the text refer to these books: 1) Cox, F.E.G (1932) 'Modern Porizotolrgy' Blackwell scientific publications, London 2) Kazda, J.N (1981 ) International Journal of Leprosy vol49 pp345-346 3) Sacks O.W (1976) 'Awakenings' Pelican books 4) Westwood J.C.N. (1980) 'The Hazard from Dangerous Exotic diseases' Macmillan Press Ltd, London. 5) Davies B D & others (1980) 'Microbiology' 3rd edn Harper & Row Inc Available or Obtainable at Reading University Library. Paul Bardos. Research Student, Dept Soil Science, Reading University. (typist's comment: Animals are innocent, people are guilty!) - - - SMALL ADS Double Room available end of May in shared house in Purley (4 miles town centre) with 4 others - 1 woman & 3 men. Garden, garage and fresh air! Suit young couple preferably veggie. Phone Pangbourne 4532 after 6pm or Patrick on Rdg. 55911 ext. 2069 during the day. Rent is £17.50 each per week plus share of bills. Exhibition of local artist's work in Gun Street Gallery until mid-June. Worth a visit. Single room to let in shared house, off the Oxford Rd. near West Reading Bridge. £80 p.c.m. + bills. Phone 52004. Free: versatile shelving system: white sand-lined bricks and white wooden planks. Ring Chrissie on 666038. Kittens want good homes. Two tortoiseshell, 3 black. Ring Jo 67871 if interested. Honda 200 - R.Reg. 20,000 miles. Reasonable condition, good tyres, etc, crash bars - £150 O.N.O No MOT. Phone Sandy 690668 or daytime 860658. Room in shared house available pretty damn soon for a man, to share with one other man, two women, a cat and numerous neurotic houseplants. House, situated very close to Cemetary Junction, is mainly vegetarian, mainly non-smoking. For details, ring 666681. Free Herbs! - Many unwanted Feverfew plants, free to anyone who wants them. An old physic herb: use for headaches, fever and as an abortive. Ring 666681. Broken Toilets: the infamous tirade of nihilistic absurdity now only £1.00 at Acorn Bookshop. Buy while stocks last! Job Advert: Network Liaison Worker WEB is a voluntary network organisation working to promote development Education in Berkshire by means of a Mobile Teaching Centre on a converted double-decker bus. Funded by Christian Aid. Was £4000 part time, now may be up'd to £5000 for 23 hours & if anyone's interested could you contact Anne Yarwood on Ascot 21167 very quickly. - - - RED RAG The aim of Red Rag is to provide a decent alternative coverage of local news and issues from a radical, non-aligned position; to promote subversive and creative initiatives; to provide a forum for unorthodox views; and to allow for some sort of co-existence between a huge variety of interests. It is produced and printed by a nebulous collective and has no connection with any political party or line, nor with the University. A lot of the material here comes from people who have nothing to do with the production process. These pieces are almost always signed in some way. The collective, as a whole, does not originate them or stand by them: it is our policy to print anything provided it isn't sexist, racist, supportive of oppressive religions, or boring. Most decisions are made on the spot by the people doing the work, or at 'editorial meetings' two days before production. These meetings are open to anyone, as is the collective itself. Watch the Events page for meetings. Red Rag is free, read by about 4000 people, and can be picked up at any of the outlets listed inside. It is funded entirely by readers' donations, apart from the odd advert for which we charge £5 per 1/4 page. To donate some money either write a cheque to Red Rag and post it to Box 79, Acorn Bookshop, or leave money in the collecting tins in Acorn or Pop Records on Kings Road. Standing orders are even better - pick one up from Acorn or ring 374532. If you'd like to write something for the Rag, type it to 12 cm with single line spaces, and put it in the box at Acorn before the copy deadline (which appears on the front of each issue). Submitted copy won't be altered or edited without the writer's permission, so leave name and contact number or address in case. Money Money: you've got it, we need it! May Day raised nearly £50 - which is the majority of what we need for one issue. If everyone who read the Rag gave us 10p per issue we'd be rolling in it. As it is we live from hand to mouth... Red Rag is Reading's Only Newspaper. Why not send us a token of your appreciation? Give cash to the boxes in Acorn, Pop Records or the Mace Shop on Cemetery Junction. Send cheques payable to 'Red Rag', to us at Box 79, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, Reading. - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1984/1984-05-13.txt#3 $