Re.d... ......... a g The Big Local Paper for all the family A practical guide to liberating Britain from oppression and misery, by paralysing the military-industrial complex of the fascistic Thatcher state - without special tools, and minimum personal risk for the freedom fighter. Free Fortnightly Since 1979 22 December 1985 Next issue: copy date: 9th Jan co-ordinator: Paul 667085 events: Paul 481081 distribution: Pogle 599995 going out: Mark 868488 paid ads: £7 per 1/4 page Red Rag: Box 79, Acorn Books, 17 Chatham St. Red Rag is a free newspaper, produced every two weeks. It has very few links with the Kremlin & is funded by voluntary contributions, a small number of paid adverts, proceeds from staged events & standing orders. None of us are involved in a so called organisation which does not even exist and is just a paper for the furthering of the ideas of people sympathetic to the "Red Rag Tendency". If you feel that you would like to give some of your roubles (sorry I mean shillings really) then there is a standing order form on this page. Alternatively if you are of a 'casual' orientation then there are collection boxes at many of the outlets which we distribute to. I hope you enjoy reading this issue because it took a lot of hard work to put it together. (Derek Hatton & the rest of the Red Rag collective) - - - REDRAG MONEY Twenty odd people contribute money to Red Rag by standing order. Are you an odd person? If so there's a form below. Please fill it in --- it gives us some much-needed regular income. Many of us are on the dole and still pay £l a month, so you can probably afford it. Standing Order Mandate To (your bank's name and address) .............................. ................................................................ Please pay to the account of RED RAG, Co-operative Bank, Reading (08-90-16), a/c no. 50148637, the sum of ..................................(words), £............(figs) on ..................................(date), and on the same date every month / 3 months until further notice. Signed ....................................... Date............. Your name........................................................ Address.......................................................... Your a/c number................................................. Please send this form to Red Rag, c/o Box 79, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham Street, Reading. NOT to your bank. - - - RED RAG CROSSWORD All the clues (I think) contain part definition and are partly cryptic. There are quite a lot of anagrams. To start you off - one across has 2 clues! Down 1. Anger a mixed-up dangerous loony. (6) 2. Starts off sounding lefty, and altogether looks educational, but its unfortunately Tory, so there we all are! (7) 3. Except for a cruise, no man com' here (GM) - strange! (8, 6) 4. German? Yes. Sick lose student at Her Majesty's Pleasure-House. (4) 5. Material made from hemp sounds like a way of getting votes! (6) 6. Curious with one inside:- thanks to local traffic (5) 8 and 13 across. Locally, vine is peculiar indication of the areas high-tec industry (7, 6) 10. Animal king follows Eastern money. (3) 11. Allow student in front of extra-terrestrial. (3) 14. Bird of peace and local revelry. (4) 16. Mix-up hops like Hooray Henriest (4) 18. Britain and Northern Ireland in North East destroyer. (4) 20. Queen in Women's Institute Party. Strange person! (6) 21. Sounds more revolting but benefit cuts are part of the norm. (6) 23. Disapproving noise greets Social Security Leaders. (4) 24. Measurement in small church. (4) 25. Tease feminist spare. (3) 27. Berkshires ruling Junta sort, ie peculiar. (6) 30. Worn-out railway follows us. (5) 32. Separate culture behind reverse sound system. (5) 33. General Assembly initially appears half senile. (1, 1) 37. Lied! Oddly inactive. (4) 38. Act muddled, Leo! (3) 39. Parent of 7 across (2) Across 1. Are drag-artists the town's only source of true information? ... or Take the town you're in, R in, in out and turn it all about and this is what you get! (3,3) 4. Religious fervour follows Jay up the place where some "20 dawns" live, and others get buried. (8) 7. Apple-pie and baseball mess up male lair. Can 1 down be this? (3-8) 9. Lives confused, but cover her face. (5) 12. Do it! Particle follows the doing. (6) 13. See 8 down. 15. A little play tiks over. (4) 16. Backward 7 across soldier quietly finds copper beast. (3) 17. Company within a Royal Navy? No, its the only bookshop, without whom you wouldn't have a clue! (5) 19. Like 12 across - make it happen at the bottom or top of the scale. (2) 20. Flow backwards to keep this beast from the door. (4) 22. Stick here confused or go up without a paddle! (9) 26. Fashionable not to be out. (2) 27. Hint strangely narrow. (4) 28. Ring one expression of annoyance. (2) 29. You sound very wooly. (3) 31. Local term of endearment? Receptacle follows floating slime. (7) 34. Hesitation queen! (2) 35. Reading Anarchists initially quiet go all spotty! (4) 36. Praised a strangely heavenly night-time haunt. (8) 38.Unconscious company with Master of Arts (4) 40. Stick (French) of gold inverted. (3) 41. No matter which contains part of the foot is something to do with 1 across? NB My dictionary mutters about chaos and political confusion - sounds familiar!(7) 42. To sit on ones heels is a good way of not paying rent. (5) 43. Red Rag's leader follows buzzer. From 14 down? (4) - - - DHSS WON'T STARVE US BACK * Bumper Red Rag Soaraway Prize Draw! * Financial resources stretched by being unable to dodge the Yuletide draft? Bought too many Red Rag crimble cards? Well, here's the opportunity to earn Pounds yes Pounds for just a few minutes work:- If you're on weekly supplementary benefit (including the housing benefit supplement "top up"), and have less than £500, this could be your Big Chance to touch the DHSS for a Bedding Single Payment. Successful applicants will have written to the SS asking for a relevant form, and said they need: 3 blankets, 3 sheets, 2 pillow slips and a pillow. It's up to them to decide whether to display initiative and claim when they already have enough bedding. The DHSS may arrange a time to visit / check potential Big Bonus Prizewinners - in which case, individuals can once again prove their initiative and entrepreneurial flair. Often, lucky competitors just get a cheque for £70 after a couple of weeks. Remember, offer limited to one per person per DHSS office. Previous prizewinners need not apply. Next Month: essay competition!! Up to 5000 (all less than 2 syllables) on "Social Security": an unworkable bureaucracy staffed by undertrained and overworked comrades - Discuss." 5 first prizes of one year's instant and unchallenged eligibility to a state benefit of your choice. Draw made personally by Normal Fouler. Send off today - delay doesn't pay! - - - N212 / May 81 MONEY OFF GOODS Christmas looting on a low income Leaflet N212 issued by the Department of Health and Social Security. - - - RED RAG CALENDAR 1986 This calendar is not very good because it's not on pretty coloured paper and it's very small and you can't hang it up on the loo wall and you can't write little notes on it. However, the Rag's 86 date sheet is no out and for £1:50 you get size, colour, a piece of string and little boxes for each day. On sale now in Acorn, proceeds to Red Rag and the Women's Centre. No home is complete without it. - - - (paid ad - £7 per quarter page / £12 per half page) THE BEST SOUNDS IN ALL THE WORLD!! at Reading Centre, 4-6 East St. Boxing Day: 26th Dec: Special request to the Babysham posse, seen? Unity Hi-Power cool operator ribs + Raiders Hi-Tec + Imt Immortal Monday 30th December Chant Doen Babylon Dance Jah Shaka + King Nazarite + guests Everybody welcome! Both all night sessions One Love - - - READING DIRECT ACTION MOVEMENT The twentieth anniversary of Reading Anarchists was celebrated this year in classic 'alternative' style, with a free festival which lasted three days. Fair enough, one may think, but what else happened? If, like me, you are going back to work on Monday morning, after your weekend of freedom, such things tend to be a little unsatisfying. Well, the answer is nothing else happened. Apparently to be an anarchist around here means you have to live it, as if the degradation of the dole queue is any better than the degradation of work. So, after 20 years, all we have to show, apart from the festival, is this paper, which, let's face it, most people probably read for the going-out-guide. Hardly bringing the system to its knees are we comrades? Anarchism, in spite of what the Trots may say, is relevant to wider struggles, indeed it is relevant to anyone who has had to kiss his or her bosses arse, whether it's the foreman or the DHSS, but only if we get ourselves organised. In this connection, some of us will be setting up an anarcho-syndicalist group, a local branch of the Direct Action Movement. The DAM was set up a few years ago, and is still very small, but is growing at a healthy rate. It is not a bureaucratic or centralized organisation, in spite of what some may say-all the locals are independent in actions and publications, but federated together can support wider initiatives and avoid the isolation which can easily demoralize an isolated group. It should be pointed out that you don't have to be working to join the DAM, anarcho-syndicalism aims to break down the false divide between the working and jobless, in any case unemployed members can be more effective as they have more time for political activity. We plan to hold a first meeting somewhere in town early in the new year, and hopefully hold some public meetings later on. Anyone who is interested can contact us at: Box DAM, 17 Chatham street, Reading. - - - RED RAG "NAME THAT TUNE" GAME: (Simplified rules for the lads at Reading Police Station) Our Boys Will Shine Tonight Answers to Box 79 Acorn Bookshop. 1st prize: year's subscription to "Police Gazette." Next week: "Tottenham, Tottenham". - - - Last & Most Chaotic of 85... GOING OUT meets the D.I.Y. Dead with the help of... Haul & Paul Folk Bull at Nettlebed, Mondays, 8pm, free. 23rd: Xmas party with mummers etc too. 6th: Portway Peddlars 13th: Life & Times Band Readifolk: Caversham Bridge Hotel, Sundays, 8.15 free. The Lamb Eversley, Fridays, 8pm "Definitely not finger in the ear!" South Hill Park, Bracknell - Saturdays (tel 91 484123), 8ish, £1:80. (& free harp workshops, Sunday lunchtime: 5th Jan). Stag & Hounds, Pinkeys Green, Maidenhead Thursdays 8pm, free. Redfens 2nd January. Watlington House, Watlington St: New Year's Eve Dance: US supper 8.15-12.20am. £1:25 ticket: 415578. New Year's Day Party: Meadway School Tilehurst: 8-10pm, bring a bottle. Sexist requirement that "ladies" (sic) bring food (domestic); mean "bring a bottle" (penis envy). Bracknell Music South Hill Park: Thursdays - local bands Fridays - dance music Saturdays - folk 28th Dec: Killing Joke / Prunes / Velvets / Sisters etc. Party: Langly Hall, nr Station. Til 4. £1:50. Jazz Sundays: Clem Adelman (modern) in The Butler, Chatham St, 8pm, free. Mondays: Pete James Band (hectic), The Albion Hotel, Oxford Rd, 8pm, free. Fridays: Dixie - The Lord Raglan, Wokingham. 5th Jan - Pete Allen J.B.: The Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, Newbury: tel N. 46044. See also Angies & South Hill Park Others: Cap & Gown, Kings Rd: Fridays, live bands, free. 2nd Emotion (rock) New Yrs Eve 10th "No-one" (a band) Country on Thursdays at the Sportsman (Shinfield) & Cross Keys (near the Butts). Silks, Thatcham have rock nights on Mondays. Soul / funk in the Tatchers, Fairwater Drive, Woodley: Mondays 8-11pm, free. Theatre Pantomime at the Hexagon til the 17th Jan, tel 591591 for details. Shinfield Players Theatre, Whitley Wood Lane, Shinfield: Jan 10/11, 17/18, 24/25: Aladdin: Fridays 7.45, Sat 2.30 & 6.30. Tel 883315. Wokingham Theatre - Pantomime til Jan 5th - tel 785363. Progress Theatre, The Mount, Christchurch Rd - "Cinderella" Jan 9-18: a "fairy burlesque extravaganza" 7.45: tel 477594. Also: South Hill Park. Particularly for Gay People. Tudor Arms, Greyfriars Rd: supposedly Reading's Gay pub but more accurately one of the town's more mysogynist ones. Landlord bans people who criticise his taste in "girlie" beermats. Discos on Tuesday and Friday nights, men dominated. Horse & Barge, Duke St - gay & lesbian celebration, 28th Dec. 80p raffle ticket. Gay disco at Smokey Joes, Station Hill, 23rd Dec, 9-2am, £1:50, drinks well pricey. More info: Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St. Reading's Gay newsletter. Soul & Reggae Nuff niceness, Seen? Reading Centre for Unemployed, 4-6 East St, Reading (just off Queens Rd): 24th: Diamonds Sound (London), Master Jammers (Wymcombe). 26th: Unity HiPower Sound (London) with Cool Operator man like Executive Ribs. Plus local raiders Hi-Tec & IMT Immortal. Al night. Strongly recommended for good music. 30th: Ja Shak (roots & culture / dub) plus Roots Sounds. All night. Again, very good sound. Central Club, 36-42 London St. 24th: Killamanjaro Sound (or members of it, from Jamaica) & Sir Coxsone (legendary!) & Lion Roots £5 but it lasts all night. 27th: David Rodigan & Tim Westwood (Radio London soul) & Lion Roots. 28th: Lion Roots (Reading A1 sound) & Raiders Hi Power & Sir Graphics: local sound clash. £3. 31st: Unity HiPower again. Worth checking but you get more time at the East St Centre the day before. Paradise Club, 112 London Street, Reading 28th: Hurricane Force Steel Band & disco, 8-2. 31st: Witch Doctor & The Spirit & Motown disco £3/£3:50. 2nd: Diatribe & The gathering (both energetic & guitar based) 3rd: soul & reggae of some kind Rest of the week not yet finalised so watch out for posters or phone 576847. Happy gigging, ligging & DIYing in 1986. - - - READING HOUSING LAW PROBE - SHOCK EXCLUSIVE Housing (Homeless Persons) Oct. 1977. Since homelessness is on the increase all over the country, it seems sensible to make people aware of the most important legislative protection designed to ensure that local authorities take varying levels of responsibility for homeless people. Most people know that it takes years for the Council to house people who are on the waiting list. However, for some people who have made a claim under the Homeless Persons Act the Council must do more than just accept a waiting list application. The council should take steps to ensure that you do not end up without a roof over your head if you are: (1) Homeless or in imminent danger of becoming homeless (2) Unintentionally in this position (3) In priority need (4) Have a local connection Either you or someone it is reasonable for you to live with must satisfy the first three of these conditions and possibly the fourth to qualify for the total protection which the Act affords, though some help should be available to you even if you are not entitled to be housed. The true legal meaning of some of the words in the above conditions are complex to understand, but a simplified definition of some of them could be as follows; 'Homeless' If you or the people you normally live with have no accommodation available to you which you are entitled to live in. or you are entitled to live there but can't go back because of illegal eviction / domestic violence. 'Threatened with homelessness' If you are likely to become homeless within 28 days (if you live in board and lodging accommodation your landlord is charging over the DHSS local limits) 'Intentionality' If you have deliberately made yourself homeless from accommodation which you could have lived in and it was reasonable for you to continue to live there. 'Priority Need' You are in priority need if you or someone who may be expected to live with you is either: a child, pregnant, vulnerable as a result of mental illness, mental handicap, physically disabled, at risk of sexual or financial exploitation, at risk of domestic violence or other special reason, homeless as a result of an emergency such as flood, fire or other disaster. You will not be viewed as vulnerable unless injury may occur to you in circumstances where a less vulnerable person could cope without harmful effects. 'Local Connection' You have a local connection if you have been resident in the area for at least 6 out of the last 12 months or you are employed in the area or you have had family living in the area for the past 5 years. or for any other special reason. To get the level of help you are entitled to you should ask to see the Duty Homelessness Officer the Borough Council offices. When you have had the interview the 'homelessness section' will look at your case and decide what level of help you are entitled to. This will range from none at all to ensuring that interim housing is made available for your occupation until a suitable secure housing option comes up from the private or public sector (either a council house/flat or housing association place or home ownership). The advantage of doing things this way is that you may be made a 'priority case' & avoid several years on the council waiting list. Sometimes the Homelessness Section will make a decision which you will not agree with. If this is the case then seek independent advice as soon as possible since it may be possible to challenge the decision which has been made or the way in which it was made. John H - - - RED RAG - a forum for ideas in Reading: so why haven't you written anything? - - - ALTERNATIVE COOKERY Trotskyist Alphabet Soup Re-arrange your favourite sect - Cook a Commie 1 lb fresh tomatoes 1 large onion 2 bits of celery 1oz marg 1 1/2 pints veg. stock salt, pepper, right-on herbs 1 packet alphabet noodles Chop toms, onion & celery, fry in marg a few minutes. Pour in stock, add seasonings, bring to boil. Cover & simmer 20 minutes. Sieve or liquidise if you don't want it too militant. Add noodles of your choice and cook another 5 minutes. Street Cred Stew Cheapo stew for hungry activists Go down the market and get what's cheap at the end of the day (parsnips, carrots, onions, poatoes etc etc). Find a big pan, & some oil. Chop all the veg into bite-sized pieces & chuck into the hot oil, onions first. Stir around, add hot water to cover them and simmer till edible. You can add lentils, barley, butter beans (pre-cooked if possible), red kidney beans and lots of flavour (salt, pepper, herbs). Enough to feed the whole squat! Post-revolutionary pakoris 4 tablespoon gram flour (chickpea flour) 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp chilli (at least!) 1/4 tsp garam masala green onion, chives, carrots, peas, whatever's left over Sieve all ingredients into a bowl and gradually stir in water till you get a creamy batter. Chop up veg into small bits and mix into batter. Drop spoonfuls into hot ghee and fry on both sides till golden. Eeeeeeasy! Gingerbread Persons 8oz flour 4oz marg 4oz brown sugar 2 tablespoons molasses 1 tsp ginger 2 tsp orange juice currants or nuts Sift flour and rub in the marg. Add sugar, ginger, molasses and juice to make a firm dough. Roll out on a floured boards and out into people shapes. You can use a cardboard person and cut round her/him. Put them on a floured baking sheet, adding currants for eyes and buttons and badges etc. Bake at 350F /Mark 4 gas for l0 mins. Cool and eat. - - - ANTI-SEXIST SOCIALISTS - Middle Class Sympathisers (for Capital) As a homosexual person disillusioned by the failure of the 'gay' movement to liberalise us from the not-so-inherent sexism that abounds, The RMA-S Collective reeks of and epitomizes the further co-option of revolutionary ideas and hopes. If consciousness-raising is to be anything more than mutual mental masturbation we must look at the cause of sexism, not its manifestations. For generations our emotions have been manipulated by the profit motive of capital. The transition from the extended to the nuclear family was dictated by the needs of capital for a more suitable work-force and to raise the potential of the consumer to consume and su to raise profits. As possibilities for exploitation have become increasingly restricted the 'family' will once again be restructured to maximise the potential for accumulation... why have two individuals sharing one fridge when they could both own one? Sexism is so useful for capital in objectifying and deindividualising people. If anti-sexism is not to lead to self-interested emotional accommodation which the insidious male bonding of CR where miasculinity is confirmed (what is this 'non-sexist maleness?) perpetuates, it must be fought as the oppression and exploitation it is. It cannot be tolerated especially when we find a pleasant niche of veggie-dining and self-gloryfying pity. The repudiation of the concepts of masculinity and femininity is a start. The brave thought of parading outside cinemas is a step but it is not enough and as such leads in the wrong direction - that of co-option. It accepts that 'entertainment' should be commodified, it suggests that we can choose. The quaint liberal desire to stop them from shoving the macho barrel of Rambo's gun down our throat must see that there will always be another spectre of mind manipulation in its place. 'Direct action' can only start with the destruction of such places and lead relentlessly to the end of oppression, Peter. - - - Wanted - small flat or 2 rooms on Cemetery Junction if poss, willing to pay up to £60 a week. John 417270. Wanted! double mattress... cheap or free... will... contact Simon Reading 665447. Biz. into Hawkwind, ICU, Here & Now, etc. Contact Paul 788220 or Chris 782061. Space wanted in house or flat from mid January for male non-smoking pacifist teacher. Contact Paul Seed 01 981 6480. - - - DEAR RED RAG, As a long-time member of the Labour Party I am appalled at the way the Reading Party is going. Many of your readers will be interested to know of the nice little carve-up between Comrades Salter and Orton for the Reading East and West Parliamentary Candidates. This was fixed up months ago and the selections meetings held recently in November were a sham. Many of the delegates had been canvassed beforehand which is completely against Party rules. It seems only the Militant Tendency Break the rules. Here in this town it is called a Well-Oiled Party Machine. Due to the cock-up by these two we now have no chance of a Labour MP. If Orton had stood in Reading East there is a strong possibility that he would have won. For Labour to form the next Government they must win seats like Reading East. I, like many ordinary members are fed up with Councillors who seem to put themselves first and the Labour Party second. One day I hope to see real Socialist Policies implemented in Reading. Furthermore the Labour Party is still very sexist. No woman candidate has been selected to stand in Berkshire at the next General Election. After all they are a mere 50% of the population. Yours A Disgusted Genuine Socialist - - - * It seems customary, at this time of year to award awards to people who have no right to them at all, except that they have proved exemplary at supporting the system for longer than one would hope possible. * As an alleged member of "right on Reading" I offer my own suggestions below, hoping that anyone else will feel moved to make their own nominations on attached form. Just like General Elections, yes no? * lst Annual Black Stars on 45 / Bill Grundy "Must we fling this filth at our pop kids" Celebration Petrol Bomb to Class war, for leading the collective singing at a variety of social gatherings and demo's. * XXIIIth Julius Caesar armour plated codpiece and curling tongs to Martin Salter (Reading Centre for the Unemployed) for services to imperialism amongst the unwaged. * Umpteenth Roy Hattersley "remember Parliamentary Socialism " Commemerative Smirk to Martin Salter as parliamentary candidate brackets labour for a goodly chunk of Reading. 153rd Monthly Death Threat, Kneecaps and souvenir Crutches to (name your landlord)................................... for scum landlord of the month (december 1985) .....Nomination Form...................................... I nominate................................................ for....................................................... relationship (ex lover, constituent, blackmailer etc)..... return to Scumbags Corner, Red Rag, Box 79, Acorn Books, 17 Chatham Street, Reading. - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1985/1985-12-22.txt#4 $