RED RAGSKI Moscow's Only Newspaper Free Next Issue 26 Jan - 8 Feb Copy date 6 Feb Coordinator Paul (869157 Sat/Copy) Veronique (599995 Sun/Folding & Distribution) Distribution Pogle (599995) Going Out Mark (868488) Events Paul (481081) Moscow's Only Newspaper is produced fortnightly by a variable collective of K.G.B. agents. It is free and has been since Stalin died. It can be picked up at any of the outlets (listed elsewhere & bye bye Reading Wholefoods) or it can even be delivered to your door, if you leave a note in Box 79, Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, Reading. It is funded by the odd small ad (£7 per quarter page), comrades' donations and the occasional backhander from the Moscow Narodny Bank. This issue was coordinated and produced by the Reading Mens Anti-Sexist Collective, which is a cover organization for male Spetsnatz operatives, not allowed to camp at Greenham. Fraternal Greetings, Mikhail Heseltinski & Leonid Brittenovitch. Workers of All Countries, Unite! - - - I LOVE THE SOUND OF BREAKING GLASS Yesterday I kicked in the glass door of the DHSS in Market Place, in full view of the sublimely pleasant security guard and that nauseatingly cheerful old receptionist who had my name written down in front of her. From my side it was the most soul satisfying event of my fairly confused life to date, like making contact with an internal fire and releasing its fury. There was reason, responsibility, joy and power behind that boot. From their side I can only guess from the cryptic expresaions of horror as the glass developed into a beautiful cobweb like arrangement. I was an undisciplined yob; sigh, sigh, tut, tut, and off they scuttled. The reason for this spontaneous surge of new life in me?? Anyone who has had dealings with the DHSS must have one to hate the gross inhuman inertia that exists in that hole: the waiting, the smokey haze, the windows that don't open, the screaming kids, the ticket machine, the screens, the sheer impossibility of getting action; the place strains human conduct to such limits that you almost feel the piss dribbling down on you. And the dejection. You rarely talk to whoever you've been lucky enough to sit next to for the previous four/five/six hours because to talk, to socialise would be to trivialise the whole experience. After a whole day of very unhealthy and socially insecure frustration waiting for an interview (this was to get a replacement Giro for one lost in the post) I was not too happy. The usual would be to end up getting pretty depressed, go home at the end of it all and think I could shrug it off, meanwhile the pressurised bile in my tum would be merrily burning unwelcome holes. At about five to three I zipped round the corner to the library and came back to find the doors closed and my friend the security guard on the other side of it. After much haggling I was told to come back at nine o'clock in the morning - that's after six hours waiting with no explanation and hence the boot. The next morning I arrived at ten to nine, they opened the doors at ten past, no-one had bothered to put a new roll of numbers in the ticket machine. Two hours later I asked what was happening with my interview. The reply was that they couldn't find my file!!! Now I've resigned myself to going hungry till the next Giro and finding a more humane way of dealing with this twentieth century farce. I do not regret for one moment kicking in the door. It was a positive reaction against the injustice of a state inflicted poverty trap and being abused by a group of workers who have become desensitised to the feelings of those they deal with. I don't believe in unimaginative premeditated violence, that seems to me to be almost as bad as whatever/whoever you are attacking. What is important is to develop creative, personally enjoyable ways of getting through to people the way you feel. Love and contented toes Christopher Martwe 24/1/86 9p.m. Since this (see above) was written the 'victim' has been arrested and is at the time of writing being held at Reading police station. Chris was arrested this afternoon... He is likely to be charged with 'criminal damage'. It's a rotten shame the faces behind the D.H.S.S. aren't being charged with emotional damage... Chris de Burgh - - - WHY PUNKS CAN'T DRINK AT THE STAR Decisions have been taken on your behalf to give a property development company £2,000,000. Have you a right to know? At the end of January, one of alternative, (and non-alternative), Reading's best known shops - Rag Doll on London Street, just over Dukes bridge - will close. The shops on either side are already empty. This decline started a couple of years ago, when the Star pub, the other building in this block, was closed down. This may seem ordinary - shops close all the time. What is not ordinary is the proposed demolition of the entire block, and the "development" of two office buildings totalling 60250 square feet, plus 1130 feet of ancilliary space. In August 1985, County and District Properties Ltd asked for planning permission to "develop" the site. They have already bought The Star, and own No.l London Street, the completed office block next to the ex-pub. No.l has been finished but unlet for 2 years, part of the oversupply of new offices in the town. The "development" company want a three and a four storey block, both V shaped and pointing away from the Kennet. A feeder road will link the offices to the Queens Road. County and District (address: 46 Green St, London W1Y 3FJ), want to build a slab sided pair of mirror-glass covered profitmakers. Originally, there was to have been a ground floor computer showroom in the scheme, but C&D don't include that now. Four existing flats above the shops will be lost, not replaced. This is a 100 percent office "development". The Borough Council can't really help this, as they don't fill in the application for planning permission - that's up to the "developers". The proposal is in direct conflict with the Central Reading District Plan. This document provides a basis for the Borough Council to (supposedly) control land uses in the town. The Star site is specifically identified (Site 69: "3-11 London St and Queens Rd garage"), and the Council's proposal is for:- "restoration/redevelopment to provide mixed scheme for offices, with retail on the ground floor - net office floorspace gain allowed: 1500 square metres" Written Statement, Policy Schedule Off 1. Where's the "retail"? Where's the "restoration"? And is the net gain in office floorspace 1500m (16140 square feet)?? County and District want 5600m of new offices (that's 60250 square feet). Less 110m (1180 square feet) of old offices to be knocked down, that's a net gain of 5490m / 59070 square feet. Three and a half times that permitted. All this can be checked by going to the Borough Council Planning Dept and asking to see application 85/TP/675. Everyone has the right to look at the register of all applications, and at any individual applications. That's how I wrote this article. C&D's application for outline planning permission, received by the Council on 13/8/85,was turned down by them on 25/10/85, probably because the scheme was completely at odds with attempts to control office epidemics. It's a shame that the Council officers and members of the planning committee took more than 8 weeks to decide this; this being the legal time limit. As a result, County and District have been able to appeal against the refusal. The appeal is to be heard by the Secretary of State for the Environment, because allowing so much office space on the site would really screw up current planning policies. For example, Site 69 is only included in the District Plan as an office site, on the presumption that the "developers" would give community facilities, road / environmental improvements etc, in return for planning permission. Where are they in C&D's scheme??? Such "community gains" cost the "developer" money. It doesn't come out of their calculated profit (see valuation), but is included as another building cost and so reduces the amount available for land buying (the residual sum at the bottom of the page). To be able to bid "competitively" for the land, C&D would demand even more offices to cover the increased costs, to give them the same £2,000,000 to spend on the land. Do the Council realise they are trying to play capitalist with the pros? That identifying office sites on the basis of community gain assumes they understand the costs and profits of office "development", and that they accept the capitalist profit motive. All land use planning at the moment just tinkers with the property market. It's reformist, (ideologically unsound etc), but are there any other ways of tinkering? Any ideas?? Mark R. - - - THIS ISSUE OF READING'S ONLY NEWSPAPER LOOKS AT TWO OF ITS LESSER KNOWN RIVALS... Reading Evening Pist Anarchy Horror Riddle by Andrew Hawkwind An anarchist cartoon in a local anarchist publication anarchist anarchist describes how to anarchist make an anarchist petrol anarchist bomb. (That's enough anarchists Andy. Ed.) Our investigations have uncovered the fact that the explosive substance 'petrol' mentioned in the cartoon is in fact an oil product widely produced in many Arab countries. Libyans are Arabs and this exposes the clear link between Red Rag and the Libyan dictator Colonel Qadafi. We are making this our front page headline story in today's Pist because it is of vital interest to the people of Reading, but also because the only other stuff we have today is a story about three puppy dogs, some clapped out ex-pop star who nobody remembers has gone into hospital and a New Years honours list full of time-servers and Tory arselickers. Basil Ohms Viewpint There comes a time in the publication of a newspaper when it is necessary for the editor to make a difficult decision. When an editor wants to get the knife into some particular group, but doesn't have the bottle to write a really strong editorial himself, he turns to the 'elder statesmen' of the journalistic world. Editors can always find some cantankerous old buffer who will be glad of a few quid to knock out a few columns of right-wing drivel. Why do they do it? What do they gain? What do I really look like? How many years has this paper run the same picture of me? We should be told. Rimbaud II Rambo is a fun film about a revenge obsessed mass killer. Violent death occurs in this film at the average rate of one death every 55 seconds. The Reading Evening Pist is now running a competition and we are looking for 8-12 year old Rambo lookalikes. Dress your boys up as psychopathic killers and win free tickets to see this uplifting film! From the girls we are looking for a Madonna lookalike - so come on all you little eight-year-old girls, put on that make-up and those sexy, sexy clothes and shake it about a bit! Next Monday: Special Evening Pist Report on the horrors of child porn - don't miss it!. Reading Chronic Fury! Fury!! by Joe Dumb and Claire Voyant Local residents lashed out today at Reading Anarchists plan to hold another Free Festival. Newspaper editor Gavin Nazi said, "This is the third Free Festival these Anarchists have held and unfortunately each time it has been well run and successful. Heaven knows we've tried to incite the police to kick the shit out of these people... it's not a good story for me if there isn't some blood." Superintendent Ronald Kray of the Thames Valley Police said today, "You go rushing in to one of these Anarchist squats with the riot shield down on the van and these bloody silly combat jumpers on, and what do you find? A crowd of ordinary people standing around, listening to music, talking and enjoying themselves. You feel like a right bunch of wallies. I don't think that people should expect the police to suffer this kind of embarrassment." Fart On Friday These Anarchists. What can you say? It seems to me, and heaven knows I'm as liberal as the next man, that what everyone is thinking, if I'm any judge, and I hope I am, that it wasn't like this when I was a youngster. It was different then. We had trams and trolleybuses for a start. 'Come off it', I say. What will they think of next? I ask you. It stands to reason. And what about these Social Workers? They're another lot. Not like the first lot, but another lot just the same. What's it all leading to? Damned if I know, (Is this enough? F.) with Frank Fartarse N.B. The two newspapers above should not be confused with two other newspapers with similar titles. The Reading Evening Post is an evening newspaper owned by the International Thomson Organisation - a Canadian based multinational with wide interests in the oil and forestry business, publishing and advertising (Yellow Pages) and package holidays (Thomson Holidays and Lunn Poly). It owns four publishing houses in South Africa and banks at Barclays. The Reading Chronicle is a subsidiary of the British Electric Traction Co PLC which is a gigantic British-based multinational. Its varied interests include television (Associated Rediffusion), newspapers, transport and 'household' names like Advance Laundries. It owns forty-three South African subsidiaries including Cabora Bassa Transport and Greyhound Bus Lines. Naturally it also banks with apartheid's best friend. But for all of this, both of these newspapers are local newspapers. They are every bit as local as, say, the local branch of McDonalds. Zed Feecher - - - MANSION MADNESS Giving it all away......that's Reading Borough Council, bowing to the business interest and wasting away invaluable open space - hell bent on destroying the town's best park. What better way to bring you up-to-date about proposed development of Prospect Park than the following extract from a telephone conversation between a leading tory councillor and the property developer involved in the scheme. "... For one thing people play in the park, this is not something we can approve of, therefore it seems logical to reduce the amount of space available. If you can make the biggest office in Reading and surround it with car parks and a fence, we'll let you have it all for only a million! A bargain, I'm sure you'll agree, in the town centre it would cost you at least ten million for 20,000 square feet. Just think how prestigious will be, situated in the park. On! we only ask you to provide money for changing accommodation. We've designed the building, not so unlike a barracks to look at. It's all yours after that 125 years, who knows what else you can do in the future. Although we say there is not to be further development, we do know council business inside out (we do it to suit ourselves, of course). From our standpoint we can use the money to show what an efficient council we are, doing our bit for the ratepayers. We look forward to working for you, as we understand your language very well indeed". At that point the future of the Mansion House and Prospect Park looked bleak, but the disenchanted public began to revolt - shaking their handbags, placards and banners in the direction of the councillor quoted above at the Policy Committee meeting of the council on Wednesday, February 5th, 1986... there you are advance notice if you have a protest to make about the commercialization of Prospect Park that's a good time to do it. It's an early start at 5:30 p.m. See you there. Prospectus Mansionus. P.S. Any resemblance of characters referred to above to persons now living is purely fictional. - - - DIGGERS WALK In l649 Gerard Winstanley and his followers the "Diggers" occupied the common land at St Georges Hill in order to cultivate it. Their intent, they made it clear, was that the earth should be made "a common treasury for all". Their peaceful action was aimed at building a time when the land would be shared by all people and not exploited by a privileged few at the expense of the many. In Eritrea the exploitation of land by the few is one of the causes of poverty of the many. The exploitation is fed by the arms race. On Thurs 20th March 1986, Ploughshares groups will leave St Georges Hill for the Diggers walk - carrying tools to dig the land at Molesworth, to show that it too could be made a treasury for all. We hope in the walk to carry our message to people we meet on the way and to prepare for the action of civil resistance at Molesworth. People who wish to join the Diggers walk should get in touch with their nearest Ploughshares contact. People who live on the routr or think they could help should contact: Pete Brown, 23 Victoria Park, Bristol BS16 2HJ. - - - LATE NEWS from your roving Red Rag reporter in the Butts. Shiny spanking new black Rolls Royce and Jaguar had a paint job when a tin of white paint happened to fall and splattered all over aforementioned Roller. Tee hee. - - - IS YOUR HOME covered in right on posters yet still lacking something? Do you yearn for a little friend at work? Then worry no further. Red Rag is giving away with every issue a free cat. Cute and lovable the cat will be your companion for life. No longer will your home feel empty or your work place lonely! How to get your free cat: i) Glue a piece of card to the back of this bit of paper. ii) Cut along the dotted lines. (Next week: Free molotov cocktails) - - - MOLESWORTH, TOOLS FOR ERITREA MARCH You will remember that the massive CND demonstration at Molesworth last Easter had as its theme "Wheat for the Starving", to draw attention to the waste of good farmland to make a cruise missile base, in a world where people don't have enough food. A token amount of wheat had actually been grown by direct actionists on the base itself, and thousands of people brought bags of wheat to the base on Easter Monday. As a result more than 150 tons of wheat, both food and seed for planting, was sent direct to Eritrea from Molesworth. This Easter the same theme is to be taken a step further - Molesworth Tools for Eritrea. Agricultural hand tools - spades, shovels, hoes - which have been asked for by the Eritrean Relief Association, are being collected by groups all over Britain. These will be carried on a march to Molesworth from St. Georges Hill, Weybridge, beginning on March 20th and ending on Easter Monday at the base. CND groups along the route will be supporting the march in various ways e.g. joining it for a while, presenting tools and so on and tool refurbishing workshops and NVDA training sessions are to take place along the route in order to "nourish the spirit of the march". When the walkers arrive at Molesworth on Easter Monday it is planned to enter the base and use the tools in a token digging of MOD land, until the authorities intervene and take them away from us. The final twist is that since the tools will each be inscribed "The property of the Eritrean People" the police will be legally obliged to return them, if not to us, to them. If they seem reluctant to do so, the ensuing legal battle can only draw even more attention to our theme - that the use of huge resources by the military is perpetuating world economic stagnation and starvation. For further details, offers of transport or other help, write quickly to: Tools Tor Eritrea Walk, Old School House Clopton Northants NN14 3DZ tel reading 483416 your old garden tools could save lives collection point 44 gosbrook road caversham - - - CRIME? Internation law... decrees the indiscriminate mass extermination of people to be a crime At Molesworth (Cambs)... the US plan to site 64 Cruise Missiles - equal to 1,000 Hiroshimas British law... requires anyone knowing of a threatened crime to acto to prevent it CND Feb 6 Sit down in the name of the law Blockade Molesworth Act now to stop crime - - - GOING OUTOVITCh Monday 27 January Hexagon - wrestling, 7.30. "A really entertaining evening out." SHP - "Two Daughters" (U) 7.45 £2:50 - based on 2 short stories by Indian author Rabindrath Tagore. More tomorrow - park of the Park's "Asian Arts Season". Unlike Slough's recent Asian & Afro Caribbean Festival, it's not organised by Asian people, as far as I know. Still... Bull, High St, Nettlebed - folk club, 8.15, free: "Crows". Univ Union - jazz, 9pm, free. Silks, Bath Rd, Thatcham - rock night. Paradise Club, London St - Anti-apartheid meeting, 8pm. Kennet Arms (Pell St / Elgar Rd) - Irish music, 8ish free. Albion Hotel, Oxford Rd - Pete james Original Jazz Band, 8ish free & hectic. Thatchers, Fairwater Drive, Woodley - soul / funk'n'soul Spivs, 8-11, free. Australia Day. Tuesday 28 January Paradise Club - Red Rag benefit with Sometimes Sartre, Lifecan & a very nifty blues band (incl Washboard!). £1:50 flat rate entry, 9.30-1.30. We're skint, so come along!! Do you support the Rag? Univ - Palmer Building G10, "The Perception & Use of the Physical Environment in Peasant Societies." 5pm. A lecture. Free. Tudor Arms, Greyfriars Rd - gay disco, 8pm, free. Mainly men. Univ - Palmer Building - another one!! "The peerless potato", 8pm. A lecture by someone from the Agriculture Dept. Coming soon - "the class-conscious cabbage"? "the anti-sexist aubergine"?? Hex - "Wonky Wizard" 12.30-1.30, free for kids. Hex - Cookery extravaganza £1:50 7.30. Marketing evening for latest consumables, mainly microwaves. Only for the resolute and those with strong stomachs/ BJ Moons, Kings Rd - Keith James, 8ish, free. SHP - jazz - The Clarke-Kane Quintet, 8pm, £2:50. Be Bop. SHP - "Manimara" (U) 7.45pm, £2:50 - 3rd film of the work of the Indian poet Tagore - a ghost story. Bulmershe College Film Society - "Mommie Dearest." 7.30pm start? I dunno. I think this one's about a film star like Joan Crawford(?) & how she treated her family. Wednesday 29 January Sloppy Joes, Station Hill - gay disco, 9-2am, £1:50. RCU - Women's Video Screening, 1.30-3pm. Women only. Reading Film Theatre - "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (PG) 8pm. Woody Allen directs. Set in the depression of 30s, a "housewife" has a "chaotic live affair" with the star of a film she goes to see. Hex - RSPB film show 7.30. SHP - "Try It": Indian cookery. 1.15-2.45pm, 80p. SHP - "The Adversary" (PG) 7.45pm £2:50. Another film directed by Satyajit Ray, a leading Indian director - the adversary being life itself. But the creaking bureaucracy of Indian administration goes on, it says 'ere. SHP - British Asian Theatre Company, 7.45, £2:50: group of young Asian people from the East End - aiming to bridge the gap between cultures. Bulmershe College - Gay Sweatshop present "Raising the Wreck" at 7.30pm, in Bridges Hall. £3 / £2. Thursday 30 January RFT - as last night, plus UB40 discount. RCU - Veggie Dining, 8pm. Reading Anti-Sexist Men's Collective take their turn at cooking a 3 course veggie meal for 40-50. £2 UB40 / £2:50 waged from Acorn. Bring you own drink. Paradise - rock night: One Way Street / Spookie / Burnin' Tears. £1:50 / £2/ SHP - Cellar Bar: surf-punk with the Beach Bums & support. No bar extension. £1:50 / 50p UB40 I think. The Rose, King St, Maidenhead: folk with Bread & Roses, 8pm, free. Free Country & Western: Cross Keys (nr Butts) & Sportsman (Shinfield). Univ Union - jazz, 9pm, free. Boar's Head Friar St - live music midst the casuals, video jukebox & "popular bar characters." Hex - Reading symphony orchestra: Beethoven & Hadyn, 7.30pm. SHP - free video screening, 7.45pm, Indian connection of some type. Victoria Arms, Easthapstead Rd, Wokingham - All That Jazz, 8ish, free. Friday January 31 Happy birthday Naptali!! Central Club, London St - reggae star Maxi Friest & The Caution Band. Y'safe! Plus blues at East St Centre afterwards? Dingwalls, Camden Lock - Here & Now's last gig. Women's Centre, Basement, Abbey St - pot luck supper: bring food & drink to share, plus cutlery etc. 8pm start. Paradise - a rockin' party with Red Hot & Blue (London) & The Teenagers from Outer Space (rockabilly / trash blues - love it!!) & Cat Burglars + RHR Blues Inc. £2 UB40 / NUS , £3 waged. 9.30 tart. RFT - "The Seventh Seal" (18) 8pm - brutaly realistic in places, a medieval saga of a returning Crusader's search for God, which involves playing Chess with Death (stakes: humanity). Directed by Ingmar Bergman. UB40 discounts apply. Hex - Friday night is music night. Sure it is, but not at the Hex. Southcote Library Hall, Southcote Lane. A bit out of the way for right-on Reading, but there's a talk by someone from the Thames Valley Police's underwater search unit at 8pm. SHP - "The Home & the World" (U) 7.45 & 10.30 pm, £2:50 - set in India in 1908, the story of a westernised liberal, & his wife, who falls in love with his friend. SHP - Wilde Theatre - Indian Community Dance Gala with dancers from Reading, Cambridge, Basildon & London. 7.30pm, £1:50 /75p UB40: should be a wide variety of styles! Lamb, Eversley - folk club, 8pm: "not finger in the ear!!" Tudor Arms, Greyfriars Rd - gay disco, 8pm, free. Mainly men. Univ - union disco, bar til 1am., Need a union card / someone to sign you in. Don't wait til closing time either - it gets busy. Odeon Cinema, Cheapside - discount afternoon matinees for UB40s?? Cap & Gown, Kings Rd - live music. Saturday 1 February SHP folk, Cellar Bar, 8pm £1:80 - agricultural theme night. Paradise - Marks & Sparks private function keeps us out of the Hex. SHP - "The Home & the World" (U) 7.45 £2:50 as last night. SHP - "Indian Music & Songs" presented by the Art Asia Music Group - 7.30, £1:50. Plus free entry to late night session of their music in the Wilde Theatre bar, at 10pm. SHP - Recital Room, 3pm: demonstration of traditional Indian musical instruments, 50p. Sunday 2 February Readifolk - Caversham Bridge Hotel, 8.15 free. Quick, before it closes in March to allow for the Cross Town Route. The Butler, Chatham St - Clam Adelman's mod. jazz, 9ish, free. Studio Bistro, London Rd - 20s / 30s Suck Serenades, evening. Victoria Arms, Easthapstead Rd, Wokingham - Graham Hewitt's High Society Jazz Band, 8ish(?) free. SHP - "The Home & the World" again, as yesterday. SHP - tea dance ("senior citizens" special?) 3-5pm, £1:50. SHP - Maria Isabel Siewers, classical guitarist: masterclass at 2pm, recital (£2:50) at 7.30pm. Monday 3 February Bull, High St, Nettlebed - folk with Chronicle, 8pm, free. Silks, Thatchers, Albion Hotel, Kennet Arms, Univ Students Union - entries al as last Monday. Hex - The Importance of Being Earnest, 8pm, Oxford Playhouse Co. SHP - "The Assam Garden" (U) 7.45pm £2:50: English woman in India leaves privileged position to come to jolly of Blighty & tend Husband's garden - and is offered help by a local Indian woman. SHP Wilde Theatre - "TVS Questions" 7.30pm - audience tickets available from the Box Office. Tuesday 4 February Majestic, Caversham Rd - Alien Sex Fiend & Them Horrors. Univ Union - Erasure (Vince Clarice, ex Yazoo & Depeche Mode). Tudor Arms, Greyfriars Rd - gay disco, 8pm, free. Mainly men. B.J. Moons, Kings Rd - Keith James, free, 8ish. Hex - The Importance of Being Earnest, 8pm. SHP - Jazz w/ Chris Barber, 8pm, £4:50. SHP - "The Assam Garden" (U) 7.45pm £2:50 as yesterday. Bulmershe College, Filmsoc: To Kill a Mockingbird: 7.30pm? - try 663387. Wednesday 5 February RCU - Women's video screenings, 1.30-3pm, free. Women only. Hex - The Importance of Being Earnest: 2pm & 8pm. SHP - "The Assam Garden" (U) - as yesterday. SHP - comedian(?) Clifford Henry, 2pm. SHP - "Try it" workshop - fabric painting & glass decorating, 1.15-2.45pm, 80p. RFT - "Falling in Love" (PG). De Niro vs Streep in "Brief Encounter" lookalike. Fair enough! 8pm. Thursday 6 February RFT - "Under the Volcano" (15) 8pm - Mexico, 1939: the last day in the life of a drink sodden Englishman - the celebrated day of the dead. Hmm!! UB40 discount. Hex- The Importance of Being Earnest, 8pm. SHP Cellar Bar - Magic Mushroom Band & support, til 11. £1:50 / 50p. The Rose, King St, Maidenhead - folk with Bob & Gill Berry, 8ish free. Univ Union, Cross Keys, Boar's Head & Sportsman - all as last week. Victoria Arms, Easthapstead Rd, Wokingham - jazz with Bas Loddon's trad jazz band, 8ish, free. SHP - video screening, 7.45, free. Tel B. 484123 for details. SHP Theatre - Adultz only: "Steaming" (Nell Dunn) - "an earthly & highly entertaining play", set in a ladies Turkish baths. Lots of nudity (nudge nudge). Art or Voyeurism? 7.30pm. Red Rag editorial - everyone welcome. Phone the number on the cover for details. Friday 7 February Lamb, Eversley, folk w/ a difference: Jacko Lantern, 8, free. Paradise - soul: Rapattack & Soul Show? Hex - Travesties - Tom Stoppard has Lenin, Joyce & a Dadaist doing "The Importance of Being Earnest" in Zurich. 8pm, 2pm matinee. Tudor Arms - gay disco, 8pm, free. Mainly men. Cap & Gown, Kings Rd, live music. Cheap matinee at Odeon for UB40s?? SHP - Theatre - "Steaming" as last night. SHP - "A nightmare on Elm St." (18) 7.45pm £2:50: razor fingered bogeyman terrorises 4 American kids. SHP - Recital Room - Lamorona Quartet: Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn. 8pm & £3:00. Saturday 8 February SHP Folk - The Oyster Band - folk, 8pm, £1:50. Paradise Red Rag pasteup & printing - phone coordinator for details. Hex - Travesties at 8pm: see yesterday. SHP - Steaming (see above) SHP - "Nightmare on Elm St" (18) 7.45 & 10.30pm (see above). Sunday 9 February Red Rag folding / distribution, 11am Acorn. We need lots of hands / transport - volunteer to the number on the front cover. Usual fare at the Butler, Studio Bistro, the Caversham Bridge Hotel, Victoria Arms (Wokingham). SHP - "Nightmare on Elm St" (18) 7.45. SHP - Bournemouth Sinfonietta 7.30pm. Advance warning 3 Johns Reading Univ Tues 11 Feb Red Rag benefit "open door" Escapists & mystery guests 17 Feb Key Paradise = the Russian Proletariat's glorious revolution, also at 112 London St Reading Hex = the Bolshoi Ballet, Hexagon Theatre, Queens Walk. Tel. 591591 SHP = State peoples centre for the arts, South Hill Park, Bracknell. Tel B. 484123. RFT = Russian Film Theatre, Lenin State University, Palmer Building. RCU = There is no unemployment in Russia but if there was you could go to 4-6 East St. Details to Mark 868488 - - - OFFICIAL LEAKS FROM THE RECENT CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETING (1) Advertising to be taken over by Pogle and Posties by Veronique. (2) Money: Not much as usual; the Kremlin gold shipment has not arrived yet. (3) Possibility discussed of cooperation between the Rag and the Womens Newsletter to reduce distribution work. (4) Red Rag to do a Veggie Dining benefit. Anyone interested in helping watch the Rag for details. (5) Red Rag to take a stall at Mayday. - - - HELP LISTING: Legal Aid 585111 Release 01 603 8654 Alcoholics Anonymous 597494 Citizens Advice 598059 Unemployed Centre 596639 Samaritans 54845 Nightline 872268 No.5 Counselling 585858 Reading Council for Racial Equality 868755 Age Concern 598097 Parents Anonymous 587154 DHSS 581261 Unemployment Benefit Office 594433 Housing Aid 55911 Squatters advice 01 359 8814 REAP Homeless Night shelter 54020 NSPCC 479547 Rape Crisis 55577 Gay & Lesbian Helpline (also AIDS Helpline) 597269 Florey Unit (VD clinic) 863355 (appts) 875111 x299 (info) Womens Aid 01 837 9316 (24hrs) Anorexic Aid (High Wycombe) HW 21431 - - - EVENTSKI Mon:27 RCU - Prepare for self employment. If you have been thinking about self employment recently, why not go down and sound out your ideas? 12.30-2.30. - Sign language. Develop your communication skills. 1-3. "Fighting Apartheid". Public meeting at the Paradise Club. Speakers from ANC etc., 8pm. Details from - 61783 or 664976. Tues:28 RCU - East St. Art and design workshop. Experiment with different forms of artwork. 1-3. - Key English. Help &/or improvement for basic reading & writing. 10-12. Tasty cooking on a low budget: prepare food with a minimum of equipment for all sort of cooking: vegetarian, foreign, bedsit cooking etc. 1-3. Cookery room, Kensington Rd. Tel. 55575. Storytime for under fives - Palmer Park library. 2.30pm. Reading Trades Union AGM. RCU at 7.30pm. Red Rag benefit! Paradise Club - 8-late. (A must!) £1:50 adm. for all. Weds:29 RCU - Women's day: women's self expression: take part in acting, singing, mime, dance and have a lot of fun! 10-12.30. - Video screenings: this week's topic is... "Our images of ourselves." Videos by women on subjects concerning women. 1.30-3.30. - Fabric & Yarn crafts. Wool and natural dyeing. 10-3. Thurs:30 RCU - Women's dance group. Central Club, 36-42 London St. (Creche facilities at RCU.) 10.15-11.45. Active good fun! - Creative Writing workshop: Don't worry if you haven't written before... the focus is on sharing thoughts & feelings. 1-3. - Wildlife garden project: get away from the busy streets and into nature. 1-3. Pangbourne Peace Group. Meeting 8pm, 1, Short St. Fri:31 RCU - Jobsearch - 1-4. Twice weekly course for 3 weeks. Involving job-search skills, interviews, applications etc. Mondays & Fridays. Here & Now's last ever gig: The "people's band" (?) who started out in 76-77 playing free festivals, play their last tonight... Out of the ashes rose the phoenix... at Dingwalls, London. T/kts on door? price. Reading Single Parents group meeting. 1pm RCU. Sat:1 Feb. Anti-Apartheid campaign: picket Waitrose Woodley & Tilehurst shops. 10-noon. Women's Self Defence: 10.30-4.30 one day course in how to protect yourself RCU. Sun:2 RCABC meeting. 6.30pm. Check for venue. Berks. Conservation volunteers. Moor Copse. Reestablishment of Coppice Cycle Ride. Tel. 781041 (W/ham.) Cyclists Touring Club: meet at Caversham bridge - 9.15 for ride to the Isleys. Tel., 884301. Mon:3 RCU - Prepare for self employment. As last week. 12.30-2.30 - Sign language. 1-3. - Jobsearch 09.30-12.30. Tues:4 RCU - East St. Art & Design. 1-3. - Tasty cooking on a low budget, Cookery room, Kensington Rd. 55575 1-3. - Key English. 10-12. Storytime for under fives - Palmer Park library. 2.30pm. Woodley peace group meeting ?time ?venue. Wokingham Women's Studies Group. Video & a discussion on UN decade for women. 8.15pm phone 791355 for details. Women's conference meeting to prepare for 7th, 8th & 9th March, when the women's conference takes place. All women welcome - 7pm Women's Centre, Abbey St. (Will meet every Tues. until the conference.) Weds:5 RCU - Women's day: women's self expression. 10-12.30 - Video screenings: 1.30-3.30. - Fabric & Yarn craft: 10-3. Thurs:6 Central Club: Women's Dance Group. 10.15-11.45. RCU - Creative Writing Workshop. 1-3. - Wildlife garden project - 1-3. Molesworth blockade. CND national day of action ar Molesworth. Take the day off and join a mass demonstration: 6am onwards. Details via BANC or 667025 or <>. All welcome. Red Rag editorial: phone co-ordinator. Fri:7 RCU - Jobsearch - 1-4. Reading Single Parents group. 1pm. Reading Christian Socialist movement: Public meeting at St. Giles Church Hall, Southampton St. 8pm. Speaker - Peter Hudson on "Post revolutionary Nicaragua." All welcome. Men's Group collective meeting 6pm. Flat 6, 107 Castle Hill. Phone 595605. Sat:8 Red Rag paste-up. Phone co-ordinator. Sun:9 Red Rag folding & distribution. Cyclists Touring Club: ride to Stratfield Saye. 10.30am. Meet at Caversham bridge. Regular Events Reading Cycle Campaign: meet 2nd Mon. of month. 8pm at the Sun, Castle St. ROAR 1st Tues of month. 7.30 Chain St. St. Marys Centre. Ecology Party book & record sale: 1st & last Saturday of month. Gay & lesbian social youth group: upstairs above students union. Mondays - 8.30. Greenham Support. (Women only.) Women's Centre, Abbey St. Tuesdays, 8pm. Shelter: 1st Tuesday of month - RCU, 8pm. Ecology party meet 1st Mon of month at 8, College Rd., 8pm and on 3rd Mon of month at 252 Tilehurst Rd. 8pm. Labour party young: Weds, Fairview Community Centre. 8pm. SWP Thursdays. Wellington Arms, Whitley St. 8pm. BANC - 2nd Tues of month. 8pm. Friends Meeting House, Church St. (But check BANCnotes!) Please, please keep events coming in. (Next issue of BANCnotes needed!) After all, it's free publicity for your events! Take care, Luv'n'hugs, Paul -x- - - - CROSS TOWN ROUTE The Cross Town Route (CTR) proposal is a blatant cooption of Reading Council by interests of capital. The transparent and contradictory claims of the Council no longer conceal the conflict that we, the Thames residents and Business Association (TRABA), face through the questions we are posing. We have been alarmed into action by the way in which proposals affecting/destroying our every-day life have been imposed on us. We call on the people of Reading to reveal these insidious forces so as to be able to discuss and choose the way we want to live. The CTR: Conditional on the granting of planning permission for 1 1/3 million feet of development, the CTR will carve its way through our community in the Thames area of Reading. As the map illustrates, it would connect the A329M from the east with the A329 at the Junction of Oxford Road and Portman Road in the west. Some Details - * The CTR is a profit-seeking-developer-led highway: The road would cost £30 million which the County Council could only afford with the anticipated (£20m) pay-offs from the developers of the 6 high tech sites (l 1/2m sq ft) along the CTR. The developer pressure behind the CTK is demonstrated by looking at the £10m contribution proposed by Speyhawk in context: 'Their' site (Sutton Seeds) of l.lm sq ft represents a capitalised rental value of £150m. Deducting building costs (£40m), land costs (£20m) and the contribution for the CTR (£10m) Speyhawk are left with a profit of £80m!!! Plenty to line the pockets of a Chief Officer or the editor of a local evening paper... The CTR would not solve the traffic problems of Reading: - It would attract more vehicles and as the town centre expanded to the Thames the feasibility of public transport as an alternative would diminish. - The elements of the 1983 District Plan concerned with small business and tourism would be contradicted, exacerbating the moves towards a mono-employment (very skilled) town. - Suburban land would be developed for the migrants to live in, perpetuating the cyclical pressure for the creation of new highways. The proposals have not been publicly discussed. They are disasterous for the people of Reading, particularly those of us living along the Vastern/Caversham Roads of the CTR. Our jobs would be displaced, community destroyed and another 'living history' of Reading destroyed, for ever. Action We are taking the Council to court as being ultra vires for their grant of planning permission to demolish the Caversham Hotel. We are devising alternative strategies to alleviate our traffic problem and to use land already available for high tech use which would preserve Reading's character. We need to find out which organisations and firms are buying up the private rented accommodation all along the proposed route (the logic of the proposals would lead to offices along the banks of the river - what huge rents the views would command, how convenient the new access to the station would be...) so we know who it is we are really fighting. The Planners are but pawns in the landowners; developers' and multinationals' game. They bicker and scheme with Sadian delight over the rape of Reading. Together, we can stop them. For a copy of our newsletter, get in touch with George <>, Corner Cafe, Vastern Rd. - - - RED RAG presents Life Can & Sometimes Sartre live at the Paradise Club London St 28th Jan 9-1.30 £1:50. - - - VICTIM OF IGNOREANCE The myth about Cannabis being a dangerous drug has claimed yet another victim. This time it has happened to a good friend of mine, Mark Winterbourne, better known around town as 'Biggles'. On Thursday 16th January this year he was forced to submit to the States twisted idea of justice, he was sentenced to four months imprisonment. It really is out of order that Mark gets treated like this when Breweries & Publicans get well paid for their part in creating a well known social disease called alcoholism without the slightest twinge of conscience, and the Tobacco industry literally gets away with murder, selling cancer by the packet. (Incidentally - now that the number of smokers has decreased in this country, the tobacco companies have turned their greedy attention to the third world. Smoking has increased by a factor of 3 in the last year.) Every unbiased medical & government report has stated that cannabis is not only less harmful than the above mentioned drugs but also has more beneficial effects. The next time you score or light up a joint have a thought for Mark (and the twenty thousand others who were busted last year) languishing in rotten Reading gaol just for spreading some peace & joy among his friends. Letters & postcards of support would be welcome and should be addressed to;- L56491. Mark Winterbourne. H.M.P Forbury Road, Reading. Thanks, Mark will appreciate being reminded that he is not alone. One Love! Mary Jane. - - - KOMRADES KORNER Dear Red Rag, It's a shame some people don't realise that one person putting in a 'bad' graphic (a couple of Red Rags back) does not represent the whole of the collective's viewpoint. Surely if one read or had seen an offensive article/graphic in an establishment (i.e: Commercial Money making controlled) newspaper one would not stop taking it. The thing to do is write and express one's feelings to change the style. After all Red Rag is an open collective and has no single editor. So to those who would stop taking Red Rag I would say don't bury your head in the sand - do something positive - write something to let people know, there is always room for another viewpoint. Red Rag will grow and change if everyone contributes. Right on. RiK Abiezer Coppe Dear Red Rag I thought a special thank you to Function at the Junction must be sent for their splendid set on Sunday night. It's a pity that only a handful of people saw it, also that the majority of the bands (bar 2 or 3) due to play on Sunday did not. A sad day was ended well. Thanks Phil RHK Hi all you ragged redders! Merry Xmas, Happy New Year an' every thing to y'all! First of all can I say that your rag is getting incredibly readable, wunnerful sense of humour (humous??) and neato cartoons... I tried a molotov cocktail but it tasted 'orrible ('specially when I lit a fag afterwards). Don't worry about people knocking your mag. You're committed to providing a free, un-biased newsheet, you go ahead and print what you bloody well want y'hear? If some people don't like it they can always turn the page. Over the past few fortnights I've watched your mag progress from a scribbly (but well intentioned) scrap of paper into a very together genuinely sincere magazine. It's so nice to read about real people rather than the plastic vegetarian "Time Out" readers, who think "Anarchy" is something you blow your nose with! I have firm beliefs in Vegetarianism, animal rights, human rights and CHAIRman of "C.F.F.Y.S." (campaign for fewer yellow sweets) Note the Political Subtlety (stop sniggerin' back there). How many Reds do you ses in a "Jelly Tots" packet? And have you ewer seen a black "smartie"?? Your mag is getting closer and closer to my favourite mags of yore "International Times" and "Oz" (still brings a lump to me throat) "Freedom to print the Truth" was what they espoused, these two were caught and suffocated you have the strength and commitment to survive... more power to yer elbows... Otchavisch Tovarisch! Dear Red Rag I am writing in support of the stand taken by Reading Wholefoods over the recent series of articles encouraging violence in the Rag. The article which prompted their response was that containing graphics showing how to produce a 'molotov cocktail'. I have only just seen this article, having been away over Christmas, and therefore have had the benefit of reading 'Red Fury' in Jan 12 - 26 Rag and knowing that the graphics originated from a CIA leaflet. The fact that the New Statesman was credited in the original article gives no legitimacy to displaying such graphics. An article condemning such action by the CIA and mentioning the existence of the leaflet and the date of the original New Statesman article would have been reasonable. However, I also think that the printing of such graphics is open to misinterpretation by not only the local press, whatever their motives, but also by regular readers of the Rag. The latest in the series of articles promoting violence has come in the form of 'Auntie Ana R Chists Corner', (Rag 12 -26) which sickened me. Anyone who writes articles suggesting that people should burn and poison others and then condemns the 'Arms dealing banks' is producing a massive contradiction as both support violent action be it governmental or civilian or by financial institutions. The view in 'Red Fury' that in 1986 we should be a little more positive and constructive I agree with. However though whoever wrote Red Fury, suspects the motives of the local press - mine and I am sure others are clear - violence presented by the national media of Red Rag should not in any way be joked about, and these latest series articles have appalling aftertaste of sick humour. If the series of articles and letters promoting violent action in recent Rags was intended to provoke a reaction, it has succeeded, however it will also, if it continues, to alienate many of the Rags supporters, and lead to unnecessary confrontation. Please please let 1986 be a year of positive and constructive peace making. Ruth B (Tel 588459 15 Stanley Grove) - - - THE ACCEPTABLE FACE OF CAPITALISM Badly wanted : a new treasurer for Red Rag. It's not very difficult. Please contact James on 595605 Wanted: room in shared house, preferably with garden. Phone chris 52347. Flat/room, needed desperately for Greenham woman & dog recovering from car accident. Under £35/week preferably near royal Berks. Hospital. Contact Lyn Barlow, 10 New Rd Reading or Greenham Support Group, Reading Women's Centre. Womens Conference The Reading Womens Conference will be on 7/6/9 of March so women keep your diaries free! Planning meetings are every Tuesday at 7:00 pm. at the Womens' Centre, Abbey Street. All women welcome to come along and get involved. We need volunteers for cooks and creche workers for the forthcoming women's conference. Anyone who is interested in helping please phone... Karen (day)596639 (evng) 669694 Ana (evng) 665332. Hello Joni! Welcome to the world - The fun has just begun... Pssst Love to you, Gary and Rebecca from P.H.P.s and friends everywhere. xxx (24/1/86) For Sale/Swop: Sofa and 2 mathimg chairs, tape recorder, portable b. and white T.V. Please phone: 667085. Donation to Rag. Unemployed man (23) urgently needs flat/room in shared house. Phone Giles 868896 Wanted: Large metal Pan or Billycan for short loan or cheap sale. Required for dyeing. Contact Dave 666774. Desperately needed: A copy of LP Hartleys "Facial Justice", please contact Dave 666774 if you can help. The Womens Centre desperately needs a fridge eg for pregnancy testing kit. Phone Karen 596639 (day) 669694 (eve) if you can help. Beautiful black cat (4 years old) wants a good home phone Chris or Sue on Rdg 582350. Calling all Here And Now 'fans' if you want to see the last gig by this long standing radical band need transport to Dingwalls in London on 31st Jan. and are willing to share the transport costs equally get in touch with Mark in the Acorn Bookshoppe by Wednesday 2Sth Jan at the late latest, should no problem getting in as long as we're there there by 6.00 p.m. Go for it see the last Here And Now gig. For Sale: One helicopter firm going cheap, or donation to Red Rag. Americans only need apply to Box 26, Acorn. Situations Wanted: Ex Cabinet Ministers require post with advisory function. Rubber stamping our speciality. Contact Box 259, Palace of Westminster. - - - DISCORDIANS The Discordian Society is a loose pre-situationist conspiracy, founded in 1958. Its main activities are to plot against almost everyone, including themselves, ("We discordians must stick apart" - Malaclypse the younger K.S.C.) based on the notion that the enemy of authority is absurdity. It claims also to be a religious body concerned with the doings and dontings of Eris, Greek goddess of chaos, confusion and discord. Q: Is it a joke disguised as a religion or a religion disguised as a joke? A: See form (ref ODD/5H-23) About a year ago, a local branch of this noble and fearless rabble was formed; and after many months of careless deliberation and sleep, we have decided that we ought to do something. At this point we would like to make it quite clear that although we have some of the anarchists of Reading as members; none of them has any connection with, sympathy for or knowledge of, Reading Anarchist Group, and indeed would probably like to hurl abuse and anything else to hand at them. You can easily tell us apart. They are the ones looking all mean and moody in black clothes, and providing a fair slice of the hair-gel industry's profits. To return to the libretto however. The Reading branch of the foul discordian conspiracy against nation , church and good taste has decided to leak its confidential analysis of and solution to all the world's ills:- "Pan-Pontification" According to the roman catholic church, the Pope (any pope) is infallible. In other words, not only can he make no mistakes; but every word he speaks is absolutely and incontravertably true, no matter how ridiculous. Big Magic - yes? The problem is that all of us lesser mortals are not infallible, and we keep making mistakes:- War, famine, plague, death, voting Tory, voting at all, burning the dinner - you know the sort of thing; and telling lies:- Hello post, hello chronicle, hello Leon, hello Martin Salter. Well the solution hardly needs to be said does it? We aim to make every man woman and child on earth infallible, and so eliminate all the aggravation. Simply cut out the box below, paste it onto a piece of card and sign it:- The Bearer of this Card is a Genuine & Authorised POPE So please treat them right. Signed ______________________ Kallisti! Congratulations, you are how an absolutely genuine, authorised and infallible pope; so off you go and have fun. You may and in fact are positively urged to reproduce and distribute this card as widely as possible. Around your local church or government building for example; or perhaps simply among your friends. Additional cards, for those of you too lazy to use a photocopier, are available along with more disinformation about the Sublime and Holy Truths of Discordianism, from The Discordian Society & Erisian Peoples Popular Front (Charles Dodgson Cabal) Box 23 Acorn Bookshop 17 Chatham St Reading. We are a non-prophet, irreligious, disorganization. (FNORD) - - - CASSETTE SERVICE This issue of Red Rag will be available on cassette for people with sight problems. Contact Guy on 669562. Interest in this from readers has been growing and it would be great to keep it going. Anyone who can spare their voice for half-an-hour a fortnight to help record the tape would be welcomed with open arms, also anyone with recording facilities, enthusiasm, bright ideas and enough staying power to act as regular co-ordinator. If you can offer any of the above please ring Guy 669562. - - - RED RAG OUTLETS Red Rag wished Rag Doll which is closing down every success in the future, you'll be sorely missed. You can pick up your next Rag from any of the following: Acorn Bookshop, under Chatham St car park Central Club, London St Centre for the Unemployed, East St Continental Stores, Cemetery Junction Elephant Groceries & Off-license, Derby St Eurofoods, Crown Colonade, Cemetery Junction Fairview Community Centre, George St Fine Food Stores, 168 Oxford Rd Harrison's Newsagent, Caversham Rd Harvest Wholefoods, Harris Arcade, Friar St Jelly's Stores, Whitley St Kan's Kitchen, London Rd Ken's Shop, SU Whiteknights Ling's Chinese Fish Bar, Wokingham Rd Listen Records, Butts Centre Mo's Place, London St Music Market, Union St Number Sixty, Christchurch Green Pop Records, 172 King's Rd Rag Doll, London St. Not: Reading Wholefoods, London Rd (running lentils of imperialism) Sanco Newsagents, Caversham Rd Sugar Bowl, Wokingham Rd Sutherlands, Erleigh Rd Tech College, King's Rd UB Cycles, London St - - - Progress Publishers, Moscow $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1986/1986-01-26.txt#3 $