Red Rag Next issu co-ordinater Merk 868488 - folding Jan 66907. Please tipe to 8cm single space. Includ a contact phone no./adres & sign the artical in som way. Editoreal meting Thur. 29 May, phone Mark for place... - - - THE UGGLEY TRUTH... WOT HAV HAPENED SO FAR. Council tenants in Reading should be alarmed to find that the security of tenure they gained through the 1980 Housing Act is soon to be taken from them as a result of the Housing & Planning Bill 1986. A successful passage of this Bill will give local authorities like Reading Borough Council the legal right to sell entire estates to private developers & evict all tenants who refuse to move. The view of many would be that we can expect nothing more from a Conservative government who are hell bent on the privatisation of rented accommodation to benefit speculative developers. What may alarm others though is the lack of resistance from 'Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition'. Jeff Rooker (Labour's front bench housing spokesperson) is reluctant to oppose the Bill & has been defending his inaction by saying things like "We don't take the centralist approach. We believe in local democracy. If a local authority wants to dispose of its properties - so long as the tenants aren't kicked out of their homes - it's got to be left to local councillors, because they know best." Jeff Rooker's view is sadly typical of people in politics - consultation is fine so long as we leave the final decision to those with party loyalty. For people who think Jeff Rooker is retarded spare a thought for Tower Hamlets Council. They are in the process of selling the Warterloo estate, Bethnal Green, to Barratts. It was decided that consultation with the occupants was not needed because it was a matter of "housing management". The tenants took Tower Hamlets to court to defend their right to rent public housing & have control over the estate but lost the case at the Court of Appeal. After the May elections not only had the tenants lost control of their estate, but the Labour Party had lost control of the council. If Reading's Labour Group is to learn anything from these events it will be that councils don't know best (tenants collectively know better) & decisions are best taken by the people affected even if you are a 'trendy street level community wise' councillor. John H. - - - SKOOL DINNERS Veggie diners please note for the next one only your meal is on a Saturday. Everything else is just about as usual. 8 pm start; Reading centre for the Unemployed, 4-6 East St. Live music. A three course vegan meal by candlelight. Both music and food will have a Caribbean flavour. This Veggie Dining is supporting 'Fringe Festival 86' so there's an extra 50p on the ticket price - £3 (waged) £2:50 (unwaged) - available in advance from Acorn Bookshop. Cooks Wanted - If anyone would like to help cook please contact Alan on Reading 55124 or just come along to a cook's meeting at the Centre for the Unemployed on Monday May 19th at 8:00 p.m. - - - DFFEND GAYS THE WORD I'm sure a lot of readers will be aware of the state campaign against Gay's the Word bookshop in London which resulted in a large number of books being seized by customs officials. The outcome of this is charges against the bookshop and its 9 directors of conspiracy to import "indecent or obscene" material, maximum sentence 2 years imprisonment and/or unlimited fines. The start of the trial has been set for 6th October at the Old Bailey, and is expected to last for about 6 weeks. This case is going to be one of the most important test cases against literary censorship ever seen in this country. A campaign has been set up and working hard for many months now, they need money though. Following another seizure in February MPs and Euro MPs have become involved in the campaign, the goverment's action may well be contravening several Euro laws and rulings on justice and trade within the EEC. This has been cobbled together from the latest update from the campaign which is on the wall in Acorn as is a collecting tin for all those pennies and pounds the campaign needs to stop the goverment taking away freedoms that were hard won in the first place. For further information contact Defend Gay's the Word Campaign 66 Marchmont Street London WC1N 1AB tel. 01 837 9456 - - - CREATIVE ABBILITTYES DA... Overall the day was quite a success although there was certainly room for a few more people to turn up! noticeably more people came in the afternoon than in the morning - Sat mornings being sacred I suppose. Nevertheless, the dance workshop, led by Sue Stalbow, and Julie Williams' fabric craft workshop during the morning session were enjoyed by at least thirteen people. A further six people in the vocal workshop made themselves heard above the dance rhythms with no problem at all! A tasty veggie lunch was provided by the inimitable Phil's Kitchen, and was the subject of much complimentary speech. After a performance of traditional dance put on by two young students of Mrs. Seth from Slough - (see what you missed!) - which led to several inquiries about ethnic dance workshops happening in Reading, the workshops continued throughout the afternoon. Fabric attracted more people as the day went on, whilst the drawing and painting group, amongst other things, attempted to draw some strange figures made out of coathangers and wire! (Giacomeshy) The drama and improvisation workshop was either very quiet or very loud at different times - and creative writing kept very quiet indeed... all that concentration or something. The music workshop was hugely enjoyable - no-one could fail to like Tim Hill's appreciation of improvised music, nor his command of the incredibly obscure but pertinently witty anecdote! The Italo Calvino passage was a masterstroke - (we interpreted on various instruments a descriptive passage whilst Tim read it aloud - and recorded it). As a starting point or 'taster' of various kinds of creative activity, the day was certainly a success. The message from those who filled out Questionnaires at the end of the day was - more workshops please! Hopefully this will be arranged - although most of the workshop tutor at Creative Activities Day are hoping to take it a step further and set up longer term projects in Reading. If you are interested in this kind of activity and wish to be put on the Reading Community Arts Forum (RCAF) contact list, write to RCAF, o/o Reading Centre For The Unemployed, 4-6 East St., Reading. Ta - Laura N-G. - - - FRIDGE WANTED to keep Rag co-ordinators Pimms cool please: 475909. - - - SUNday is Saturday June 14 (no, not in Wapping). The first gathering of Southern Unwaged Network, held at RCU on April 4th, generated a real feeling of collective energy and strength - pretty much exactly what was hoped for. Some 50 people from Centres and unemployed people's groups from as far afield as Portsmouth, Swindon and Oxford came to meet each other, talk and take part in workshops on training, campaigning, magazines and newsletters and networking. What we felt we needed at the end of the day was something definite in the fairly near future to keep things going and give us a chance to get to know each other better and talk in a less formal and structured setting: the suggestion of some sort of Activities Day in Reading on June 14th was taken up and a small working party met in Basingstoke on May 2 to take things from there. Meanwhile community arts workers from SAFCA (Southern Association for Community Arts) had taken part in a seminar organised by REPLAN at the Crest Hotel(!) in B'stoke and there was a feeling around that the Crest wasn't the best venue to address the creative neeis of unemployed people. Bringing the two things together, the SUN working Party has planned an all-day gathering, 'Arts for action', at Reading Centre for the Unemployed on June 14, with SAFCA's regular meeting taking place at the same time with arts for unemployed people as the main subject for consideration. With luck, most of that consideration will take place in a 'hands on' setting: the group planning the day for SUN are arranging workshops on banner making, print and probably posters, with opportunity for impromptu sessions of music and anything else anyone feels like sharing. A conference without words seems to be idealogically unsound, so there's an hour set aside for SAFCA to talk SAFCA business while the rest of us kick around ideas of what SUN ought to be and what it ought to be about, and decide on a subject of theme for our next regional get-together - the Basingstoke meeting liked the idea of making it about campaigning, which seemed like a logical way to put some of the ideas from Arts for Action into action. The day will start at 10am with coffee and chat and getting acquainted: workshops (open plan, take your pick and move around) from 11 with food available from 12ish. The talking-shop slot (SAFCA and SUN separately) has been put from 2 to 3, with workshops going on till around 4.30 and a final summing up and see-you-in-Portsmouth (?? - are you listening, Steve?) with a winding up at 5 or thereabouts. This is a day of activity by unemployed people - not something laid on for them by dispensation from on high - an all unwaged people are welcome. We have a small mob of 'facilitators' and donkey-workers but we can use help with all kinds of things: workshops, food, catering and general housekeeping. If you can help, see Dave, Liz Kean or Julie at the Centre. Dave. - - - FROM NOTICEBOARD Reading Campaign Against Benefit Cuts formed to fight the Fowler proposals for social security, are hoping to hold a seminar later in the year, and would like your ideas. The seminar, which is planned for mid-September, is for evaluating various issues and formulating a policy for reform of the system as an alternative to Fowler's proposals. For more details please contact GJ Bunting 4 Anstey Road, Reading... - - - HELP WANTED Apart from the SUN arts for action day, on June 14, Artcart/ Box Office has things in the pipeline that could use extra hearts & minds also hands as available. There is an extra-hush-hush shipbuilding project (non-military, does the government know). On spring bank holiday weekend not unconnected with Reading carnival parade. Sat 31 May, Reading community festivals big kids picnic and jamboree in Prospect Park (enjoy it before the developers turn it into an office car park), will have papercraft cut and paste and other creative/messy things on offer. Also (hopefully) a wind and kite festival later on, mid juneish, ideas? Ring Dave on 55292 love artcart - - - SMALL ADS * Still Wanted... home for (about) six people... 868488. * Lesbian Mothers Group just starting for lesbian mothers and lovers of; lesbians co-parenting and lesbians considering motherhood. Meeting 5th June. Contact via Reading's Gay, Acorn Books, 17 Chatham Street, Rdg. - - - Note to our sponsors: RED RAG after this issue will be about £70 in debt... - - - THE TENSHUN MOUNT AS MOLESWORTH 2 PLA FAIRY BELLS - BASH ON THE WINE GUMS! WHAT TO DO AFTER PREP Monday 19 May: Rdg. Centre for Unemployed, 4-6 East St = video workshop, 11am-12.30, free, creche. Make your own entertainment! RCU - video screening, 7.30-9.30 by Real Time Collective: "Unemployment & Housing", "Workers or Shirkers" (work & dole, made by unemployed people), & "No pace like home" & "A place of my own" (homelessness). Free! Get along! Paradise - anti apartheid meeting, 7.30. Kennet Arms, Pell St - Irish Ceilie, 9ish, free. There'll always be a place in my heart... Jazz at Univ Students Union, 9ish. Crap. Thatchers, Fairwater Drive, Woodley - period funk/soul in period thatched elegance. Forget it. Rock night at Silks, Thatcha,. Cardboard stratocasters and smart dress. Bull, Nettlebed - folk - Curate's Egg, 8ish free. Hex - Election Special - Wretling at 7.30 with Big Daddy Fuad & Martin "Kung Fu" Salter. Univ London Rd, Great Hall - Ballads & piano from Victorian times. 7.30, £4/£2 UB40. SHP "Clockwise" (PG) 7.45 £2:50. John Cleese as time-fixated teacher. Tuesday 20 May: Paradise - The Mayhem Quartet & 4 Corners Sax Group (funky dance music) & video installation by Real Time Collective. Tapes: Prisoners (about 1984), Network (Bracknell!), Switch (DIY music video), Romford Calling (excellent entertainment!!) & local pop/art promos & performances. 9.30-1: £1:50 UB40 / £2. A Conspiracy evening. Town walk around Reading waterways (what's left of em after the developers have done their bit). Library 6.30pm Farley Hall, Farley Hill. 8th Century costume concert. £12 incl wine & food. Odds boddkins, that's steep... Tudor Arms - gay disco, mainly men, 8pm BJ Moons, travelling troubadour Keith James & Gee-tar, 8ish, free. Turks Head, London Rd - Pete James jazz band (brisk) free 9ish. Studio Bistro, London Rd - folk, 9ish, free. Hex - Sydney Bucket (New mayor? no - a magician). Lunchtime. Free. Hex - Machael Baryymore "holder of the make rear of the year competition" i.e. a real arsehole. 6 / 8.45pm. SHP Jazz - Bobby Wellins, Jim Mullen Quartet, 8pm, £3/£2 conc. Jazz/blues. SHP "Clockwise"(PG) as yesterday. Wednesday 21 May All quiet on the western front... Hex - military bands, 8pm. Our brave boys... Civic offices - 4-woman sax group 12.45-1.30 free. Palmer Park - kids (& others) funday: puppets, steel band, funbus: 10-2.15pm. Walk round Reading Abbey, 6.30-7.45pm. Free. Meet @ Forbury Gardens. Univ Letters faculty - opera / song evening 7.30, £2/£1. SHP - "Clockwise" as 19th. Poetry reading @ SHP - Fred D'Agular 7.30pm, £2 - Guyanese poet. RFT - "Witness" (15) 8pm - Harrison Ford - swoon! Progress Theatre, The Mount, Christchurch Rd - Come & Go, End Game, Human Wishes - 3 by Beckett: 7.45pm, tel 476156. Thursday 22 May: RFT - "Witness" as yesterday but with UB40 discount. Leighton Park School, Pepper Lane - "Victorian Reading" presented by Thames Wind (any relation to Thames Water?) 7.30 £2/£1. Victoriana seems to be "in", doesn't it? Hex - Reading schoolkids & "learning through action" recreate Victorian life in a Berks village. See what I mean... Roast fish & corn bread, I say... 10am, noon & 2pm. Free. Blood Hell! Reading School, Earleigh Rd - lecture about a Victorian architect!! Angies, Wokingham - Nashville Teens. Far out! SHP - Cellar Bar local bands £1:50/75p 8pm. Rose, King St, Maidenhead - folk, 8ish, free. Dire jazz at Univ Students Union, 9ish. SHP - video workshop, free @7.45 - montage. SHP - Robin Inglis as "Orwell" (Bernard Crack) 7.30pm £3. Victorian Country & Western @ Sportsman... Progress Theatre - 3 Beckett plays as 21st. Friday 23 May, Happy Birthday Veronique. "<> it 'pon dem riverbank... who feels it know it, yeah" High Wycombe - Unity Hipower Sound System & Young Lovers. If ribs gets beyond his golden <> record box, it'll be hot! Central (36/42 London St) Hurricane Force & Lads Contraction £3:50. RCU - Spring disco, 8-late, free food (spring onions? spring chicken??) £1:20. Hex - Carnival Queen dance: 7:30-1:30, with steel bands etc. Youth will be elsewhere (if there is anything else). Old Town Hall - organ recital. Council Chamber, Civic Offices: tablas & sitar, lunchtime, free. Bye bye Pebble Mill at One. At long bloody last... Progress - Beckett as 21st. Paradise - Larry Miller (groan) & the Sugar Casters (groaannn!!) all bloody evening. Real man is rock. Angies - Juvessance - bluesy. Tudor Arms - gay disco, mainly men, 8pm & free. Lamb @ Eversley - folk. UB40 discount on matinees at the Odeon, Cheapside. RFT - "When father was away on business" (he was in fact in a labour camp). 50s Yugoslavia. Sounds nice., 8pm, UB40s discount. Ramada Hotel - wow! Dallas!! Ceilie & folk concert w/ Slim Anatella & The Virginians, incl Hilary Jones & Simon Mayor & Chris Newman (Ricky Scaggs style) & Whitakers Patent Remedy. 7.30-midnight. £3. 'Nuff style seen? SHP - tribute to Phillip Larkin 7.30 £3. Miserable bugger... SHP - "Re-animator" (18) 7.45/10.30 £2:50. Scientist & serum to bring the dead to life, parliamentary socialism? Well, isn't Friday a busy old day then... Saturday 24 May: Goring Heath Fere, 2.30, Whitchurch Hill rec. Dog & owner lookalike contest, it says 'ere!! Emmer Green yoofklub - Namoza (bit like Talking Heads). Hex - 100 years of Dixieland jazz 8pm. Angies - Little Sister (Rycodder-ish). Paradise - Panache & Finesse, 9-1: slick funk/soul night. SHP - Life Guards Band do gig for Dr Barnado's with champagne reception 7.15pm £10. Isn't capitalism just wunnerful? Arts open day at the Keep, Oxford Rd - 10am-6pm, free. Progress - Beckett x3 as 21st. We've got to live some life / And before we're cold... well, at least the Heptons had the right idea. X1 to Wapping. Bring missile if you feel that way inclined. Police and Thieves in the Street / Frighten the nation with their / Arms and Ammunition... SHP - adaptation of DM Thomas "The White Hotel", itself influenced by Sig. Freud, a very dirty old man. SHP folk - Dave Whetstone & Jean Pierrerasle 8pm £1:80. SHP "Re-animator" (18) 7.45/10.30 £2:50. Walk round Waterhouse Buildings in Reading (the architect listed on 22nd). Town Hall, Blagrave St, 2pm, £2:00. RCU - Veggie Dining - 3 course vegan mean at 8pm. £2/£2:50 (I think) from Acorn. Bring drink. Fringe Festival special. Sunday 25 May Open day at Reading police station. Tel 585111... use your imagination! RCU - workshop on women using video £1/50p UB40, 11-4pm. A Real Time event. Women only. An intro to women's video workshops, Weds, starting on the 28th. Soul fire / And we ain't got no water... Angies - Tinzeltown. Rock. SHP "Re-animator" 7.45. SHP - Garaldine MacEwan as Jane Austen in "2 Inches of Ivory" 7.30, £3:60. Folk at Caversham Park Village Social Club, Northbrook Rd - Jazz Faculty, 8.30. Folk at Caversham Bridge Hotel & The George (Broad St.) Ceilie / Old time at Kennet Arms, Pell St. Butler, Chatham St - rockin' blue & jazz music, 7.30, free. War inna Babylon, Here it goes... Monday 26 May: Happy Birthday Simon! Carnival Day - procession leaves Gt. Knollys St at noon, -> Richfield Avenue for 3.30pm. Details form 868755. Central Club, 36/42 London St - dance in the evening. Paradise - Panache, Finesse & Hot Tempa. (See Hot Tempa tomorrow!) Kennet Arms, Pell St - Irish Eyes are smiling into draught Guinness - usual excellent ceilie, 9ish, free. SHP - "Peter Pan" (U) 2pm (£1:25) & 7.45pm (£2:50). That'll do. Tuesday 27 May: Happy Birthday to Mo!! Paradise - Beat & The Devil (funk) & Hot Tempa (ex Hot Steel) do a benefit for Start Community Arts Magazine. 9.30-1, £1:50, first band 10pm so come early. Majestic, Caversham Rd - Belouis Some (Top 10 pop singer, evidently) & someone else, £4:00. Gay disco at Sloppy Joe's, Station Hill, 9pm-2am, £1:50 with Switchboard / Helpline card. SHP - Peter Pan as yesterday. Hex - civic function. That means that us citizen aren't allowed in? Turks Head, London Rd - Pete James jazz band, free: then pop round the corner to the Paradise!! Studio Bistro, London Rd - folk, 8, free. YMCA playscheme, Parkside Rd: 55746. Bible knockout quiz final. Yes, really! Salvation Army, Oxford Rd. Police safety exhibition, Battle Library, Oxford Rd, 9-5pm, free. Tudor Arms - gay disco - mainly men, free. BJ Moons, Kings Rd. Keith James, 8pm. Hmmmm... Wednesday 28 May RCU - Women's video course, 10-1pm, women only, free, creche: a Real Time do. Good fun!! Paradise - Sometime Sartre (postcard pop), the Dead Lemmings (5 piece string ensemble) & Warhol's Babys (something even more wired). 9.30-1.30 only £2:00!! YMCA playscheme, Parkside Rd: 55746 SHP - "Peter Pan" (U) as 26th. SHP - Lenny the Lion Show starring Andrew "kill 'em all" MacKay, MP for Bracknell area. 1.30 / 3.45, £2. RFT - "A Private Function" (15) 8pm: a naive chiropodist (Michael Palin) kidnaps a pig destined to die for the royal wedding. Not Fergie & Bugs Bunny, the one in the 40s. A picture of quality. Lamb, Eversley - folk with Whippersnapper (incl Dave Swarbrick). Anyone offering lifts please tel 867955. Thursday 29 May YMCA playscheme tel 55746 RFT "A Private Function" (15) 8pm UB40 discount night. Undercover Club, SHP - local bands SHP - video workshop at 7.45pm, free. "Work in progress". SHP - "Peter Pan" as 26th. Thames Valley Police exhibition at Battle Library, Oxford Rd 9-5. Shitbag of the week - Roy Brown at the Hex. Worse than Bernard Manning. What the hell are the Hex playing at? I very nearly didn't include this. Rose, Maidenhead - folk, 8pm. Red Rag Editorial - get to it!! Friday 30 May Well, what a bloody shower... Hex - clairvoyant evening. Paradise - Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction (semi-spacy, heavy music & dodgy Nazi regalia). Angies - Recators (pop). Odeon, Cheapside - UB40 discount (pm). SHP - Peter Pan as 26th SHP - Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" 7.30pm £3:50-£5:50. Tudor Arms - gay disco, 8pm, free Lamb, Eversley - folk, 8pm, free Battle Library - TVP exhibition again, 9-5, free. Reading FC, Elm Park - free football coaching for boys and girls, 2.30-4pm. YMC Parkside Rd: 7-11 yrs disco, 6-9pm Red Rag typing. Saturday 31 May Paradise - Lion Roots (Reading sound) & guests. Haven't played out much lately. Angies - Ruthless Blues (blues) Nuff niceness, seen? (the tape is better than going out)... Propspect Park - charity fete with forces display & band. 2pm free. SHP - Peter Pan as 26th - Madame Buterfly as 30th - folk: Jones & co, 8pm, £1:80 Hex - Jazz Faculty, 12.15, free Hex - Les Dennis & Roy Walker show, 6pm/8.45pm (who?) Bloody Hexagon. Roger Edwards' idea of entertainment is sick... Red Rag pasteup - come & help - from 11ish onwards. Tel no on cover. X1 to Wapping (Tower Hill) Sunday 1 June Stonehenge Mobile Festival leaves London for Stonehenge. Red Rag folding at Acorn - "come & join us" (tambourine solo!). Phone no. on cover... Palmer Park - heaving post beautiful Berks Funday, to help Reading Soc for Mentally Handicapped Children. US football, beer & army display. The essence of Thames Valley life, & only £1. Butler, Chatham St - jazz/blues music, 7.30, free. Folk at Caversham Bridge Hotel & The George (Broad St), 8ish, free Kennet Arms, Pell St - Ceilie / Oldtime at 9ish, free. SHP - Peter Pan still. George - Broad St - folk w/ good ol' sexist Jake Thackray, 8ish. Fringe festival do. Monday 2 June RCU - video screenings, 7.30-9.30 free: <> (Molesworth demo) & Shadow Project (Hiroshima Day in Reading 1985), Nightshift (London Gay Switchboard) & Defend Molesworth. Free!! Paradise - an evening with Robyn Hitchcock (ex Soft Boys) & Namoza (Talkin' Heads) 9.30-1. Benefit for (A) Radio... £3/£2 advance from Acorn. Conspiracy!! Key Paradise: Paradise Club, 112 London St, Reading - tel 576847 Hex - Hexagon, Queens Walk: 591591 RCU - Reading Centre for Ye Unemployed, 4-6 East St; 596639. SHP - South Hill Park Bracknell: tel 0344 484123. Angies, Milton Rd, Wokingham. Info to Mark on 868488 please. Sorry to be so dry & deadpan this week. Take care. love Mark xx - - - EVENTS Monday 19th May: RCU - as last week i.e. Video Workshop for the unemployed £1-12.30; video screenings 7.30-9.30; sign language 1.00-3.00; screen printing 2.00-4.00. University - gay & lesbian youth group. 8.30 Students Union. Tuesday 20th: Palmer Park Library - storytime for under-fives 2.30pm. Reading Birthcentre lunch 12-2.30pm, very informal gathering. Bring food to share. Phone 581491 for venue. Reading TUC meeting 7.30pm, RCU. RCU - Art & Design Workshop 1-4; Key English 10-12 for help and improvement in reading and writing. Greenham support group 8pm Womens' Centre. Wednesday 21st: 'International Year of Peace' Review at St Mary's Centre, Chain St. 7.30pm all concerned, interested in making something happen come along. RCU - Fabric & yarn craft 10-3pm, a fresh and informal course on craftwork in fabrics; Carpentry 1.30-3.30 at Wilson Road. BANC Business meeting, all welcome at Friends Meeting House off London St. 8pm. Thursday 22nd: Pre & Post natal yoga and relaxation classes 1-2.30pm Abbey Room, Reading Central Library £2.50 per class, bookable creche. Phone 584191 or 61330. RCU - Improve your communication skills 1-3pm; B&W Photography 1-3pm Friday 23rd: RCU - Colour Photography 1-3pm Sunday 25th: RCU - Womens' Video Course. A day of screenings and video workshops to introduce video. How women are using it and its possibilities 11-4pm. Berks Conservation Volunteers, stream clearance at California Country Park, phone Pete Edge W'ham 781041 evening. Monday 26th: RCU - as last week. Tuesday 27th: Storytime for the under-fives 2.30 at Palmer Park Library. RCU - as last week Wednesday 28th: RCU - An opportunity for women to work together on a project to plan, film and edit a video 10-1pm Fabric & yarn and carpentry as last week. Thursday 29th: Red Rag Editorial Stonehenge lobby of Parliament 2pm House of commons RCU - as last week. Pre & post natal yoga and relaxation as last week. Friday 30th: Amnesty International's 25th anniversary Gala, Leighton Park School, Shinfield Rd 7.30pm tickets £3/£1:50 from Bob Brown, 12 Chelwood Rd Earley (SAE) Stonehenge benefit at the Clarendon, London (H'smith Bdwy) Magic Mushroom Band & Ozric Tentacles. RCU - as last week. Saturday 31st: Cooperative games: an At-One-ment Workshop, all welcome, children, young people, parents, pensioners - bring some lunch. 10-4.30pm £2 waged £1 un., children and pensioners. Only 40 places so book early, phone 67401 ask for Chantelle Lennox or Anne. Venue - Haymill Centre, 112 Burnham Lane, Slough. Red Rag paste up. Sunday 1st June: Red Rag folding and Distribution. - - - SMALL ADS ARE FREE Recently formed women's consciousness raising group needs new members... Phone Maryon 65706 Wanted... two professional people to share a large terraced house in Alpine Street, £120/m0nth (inclusive) each. Please call Lee on Reading 580214, after 6.30pm weekdays or anytime weekends. - - - TEE-HEE FOR TV The next two video screenings at Reading centre for the unemployed (4-6 East st) organised by the Real Time video collective focus on Unemployment and housing (mon 19 may 7.30 p.m.) and personal freedom (2 June). Tapes on the 19 include two from Pimlico Arts & Media project and one from the Albany in Deptford. 2 June has two tapes about Molesworth one only very recently finished; a video about the Aug 6 shadow project hiroshima demo in Reading & Nightshift an excellent video about gay switchboard. If you want to plan & shoot your own video theres the monday video workshop course currently running at R.C.U. (11-12.30, free) and Sun 25 may sees the start of the womens video workshops (R.C.U. 11-4 pm £1 & 50p) followed on Weds (28 may -25 june) R.C.U. 10-1, free. Tues 20 may at the Paradise club, London st a multi-sereen video installation, live music and performance. As well as local pop & art videos there will be Prisoners & Romford Calling two of the best independent videos made in the country last year. clive for details tel. rdg 475909 - - - POCKET MONEY CUTS! The government has decided to extend the period for which people are not allowed to claim unemployment benefit if they have left a job. Currently, you don't get dole for up to 6 weeks if you left "without just cause and voluntarily". The proposal is that this is extended to 13 weeks. The same applies if you are sacked or refuse a job offer. This is clearly a further attempt to starve people back into work, and to make them put up with jobs they'd otherwise chuck at the first chance. A woman subjected to sexual harassment at work may think twice about walking out. Because if you do leave, you could lose 13 weeks dole, even though you maybe did have "just cause" to go. The dole office often don't accept your reasons for going and so refuse benefit; whilst you appeal, you still have no money coming in. The same goes for black people who get racist abuse at work. YTS schemes could be virtually compulsory if young people are threatened with 3 months of sweet FA as an alternative. People caught in the 13 week trap will also get very desperate for cash and so take part time, low paid, shitty jobs just to get money to eat. Trades Unions are more worried about employers having a continuous stream of (non union) unemployed people to chose from, weakening wages and training agreements. Surely the real victims of this policy are people on the dole? mark r. - - - (paid ad) REAL TIME COLLECTIVE Tuesday 20th May 1986 Live video scratching performance croups non stop dance music! Plus video screenings. £1:50 for UB40s, £2 if waged... Network: communication, media and distance in the wilds of Bracknell Romford Calling - the first video made in Romford mixes under Milk Wood, Road Movies and gentle humour. Not to be missed. Switch: an instant home-produced music video. Made in Reading. Prisoners is about 1984... ...see the surprise... Plus lots of local pop and art videos. Paradis Club London St. - - - CORESSPONDENCE Dear Cllr Dimmick, Thankyou for the lovely letter you sent me on the back of the last issue of Red Rag. Fortunately I was able to vote on May 8th. So you may rest assured that there was no "fooling around" & I made my mark "where it counts". Please will you let me know next year of the date on which I count again & also of any dates in between when I need "better consultation on council decisions which affect me". I am also having some difficulty in deciding which other parts of my life need to be run by small numbers of people on committees, so a few pointers in this direction could come in handy. Yours for more police on the streets, Norman Numbskull p.s. I think Labour's new policies offer so much more than revolution could ever hope to achieve don't you. - - - WOT WE DID IN THE HOLLIDAYS Following on from Eric's article in the last rag, here's a further impression of the April 19 London demos against the Libya bombing. The first few hours in Grosvenor sq. certainly gave the impression that this was once again a well controlled CND demo with the majority seeming to accept the police containment despite the deep anger, frustration and fear from the previous week still prevailing. In no way was this a symbolic blockade as many people milled around. There was a fair bit of shouting "Thatcher out, Reagan out, U.S. bases out of Britain". Despite being a believer in the power of silence, this all seemed so appropriate, one felt empowered by the noise! However the tone of a group of SWP people nearby seemed different. "Thatcher, Reagan murderers. How many children have you killed today?" Hatred in their voices; almost lynch mob behaviour. Nevertheless I applauded when they produced a U.S. flag & set it alight. A straight looking American appeared out of the blue with a couple of newsman, brushed his hair for the camera and gave the one-liner: "these people say they are against terrorism, but what are they doing about it?" They disappeared as quickly as they came. There were plenty of us there that could have answered that! We hung around a bit longer. Some attempt was made to breach the police barrier to the Embassy but without success. Time for change, we needed to be where the people were. Soon we were off, a spontaneous movement of people towards Oxford St. it wasn't long before all of us were sitting down bringing Oxford Street to a standstill along with Duke Street. The atmosphere amongst us was peaceful, powerful and determined, as someone put it: "One of those rare moments when we were in control". Two people removed the US flag from the top of Selfridges; shoppers were leafletted while those on buses were given vocal encouragement. "You can make a difference - get off the bus." It took the police a full 40 minutes to respond, and when they did they used great force in dragging people away, sometimes punching and kicking as they moved in. Another tactic was to commandeer buses in an attempt to drive though the crowds; they certainly seemed determined to reassert their control over the situation, obviously angry at being outwitted. Some terrorised people by chasing them down sidestreets, even when it was obvious that they were tired and ready to disperse. Looking back it had been a good day - inspiring. All sorts of people with a host of different political viewpoints had shown solidarity. A bond of humanity sick of state violence and the threat of war. There was general restraint shown under often great provocation from the Police. When tempers did flare, there were always people around willing to calm things down. It was good to hear of many similar actions that had taken place both here and in Europe. We need to build on this. Our non-violent struggle must continue. Chris. - - - (paid ad) The FUNK CONSPIRACY presents a benefit for stART Community Arts Magazine: Tuesday 27 May Beat & The Devil Hot Tempa Paradise Club, London St., Reading £1:50 on door - first band 10pm! - - - The EGYPTIAN CONSPIRACY presents An Evening With Robyn Hichcock & Namoza & Jazz Woodbines 2nd June at the Paradise Club, London St, Reading (A) Radio benefit Tickets: £3 on door, £2 in adv. from Acorn, Listen. - - - Whilst we aim to print artikles, we have to leve artikles out cos we're skint. Chiz chiz. - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1986/1986-05-18.txt#3 $