Ekow Getslaid!]!

Newspaper of the London School of Economics Students' Union
8th February 1988, Issue 277




Night of Vandalism Ends in Arrest
Wave of theft and damage worries School and Hall Wardens

By CALUM FORREST Reported by PATRICIA BURGESS
"Revellers smashed up LSE offices, wrecked toilets in Carr ^unders, and damaged parked cars after last Saturday night's Tequila Society party.
George Matic, a student at the LSE and resident of Passfield was witnessed by the Police trampling on the roof of a Jaguar automobile, parked on Percy Street Wl. Two police officers, parked a short distance away, watched Mr. Matic walk over the car from one end to the other. They then arrested him for cri-
minal damage to property. Mr. Matic was held at Tottenham Court Road Police Station for two hours and then released.
The owner of the car, the proprietor of a restaurant on Percy Street, has allegedly agreed not to press charges if the cost of the damage is met, which he estimated to be £600.
In an unrelated incident, an LSE student stomped over a parked Mercedes near Passfield Hall. Responding to a call by a local resident, the police were unable to locate the person responsible. According to Neil Gavin, a Sub-warden of Passfield Hall, a plain clothed police
officer questioned students in the Hall's lobby.
At Carr Saunders Vandals set fire to posters, tripped-off fire alarms and flooded the third floor toilets on Saturday night, according to a report from Warden, Ed Kuska. These incidents followed a false alarm and similar damage to second-floor toilets the previous night. Kuska and Flat Wardens, Leigh Roberts and Peter Urbach, expressed their concern in an open letter to residents and promised to bring in private security men if such actions continue.
At the LSE other acts of vandalism have been reported. The
police have been called into investigate:
*	A break in at the Robinson Room on Saturday night, where Mrs Thomas, the catering manageress, found food strewn all over the kitchen floor.
*	Damage to the Shaw Library, which was ransacked.
*	Doors ripped off their hinges in several other parts of the school.
*	Fire extinguishers let off in the corridors.
The Head Porter, Mr Churchill, described such behaviour as despicable, but emphasised that the damage may have been caused by individuals from out-
side the LSE. ¦^'CAL and!
It is also alleged d(atE^c!^^Dl offices at the LSE" X^etcbi uliew into and that cash has gone missing. Senior Treasurer of the SU, Justin Russell, reported the theft of a portable radio from his office in the East Building. The Acting Bursar of the school, Michael Coops, said that these thefts have yet to be investigated and may be unrelated to the damage done to the school. Mr. Coops estimated that the cost to repair the damage will run into several hundred pounds, but hesitated to offer a specific figure until he has received a complete report from the Porters.
The Last Days of
Saigon
The Occupation
LSE locks the doors to Connaught House ... as General Secretary Nick Randall rallies the troops. But it was all a false alarm.
That Never Was
by TOM PARKER
During last Wednesday's meeting of the newly resurrected United Student Front (USF) the School authorities took fright and dosed Connaught House to students, fearing that an occupation was imminent.
The main entrance to Con-naught House was locked and bolted limiting access to the building to the connecting passage on the second floor. There three porters stood guard, allowing only those with appointments with the Student Health Service into the building. The administration's suspicions were proved unjustified since no attempt was made to occupy the building by divestment campaigners.
It would appear that the school overreacted to what was rather a mundane meeting. It was opened by the General Secretary, Nick Randall, who briefed the seventy people present in the Quadrangle on the successes of the divestment campaign to date. He was followed by the chair of the meeting, Francis Cassidy, who initiated a discussion on the tactics that could be used to mobilise the student body. It was agreed to produce a broadsheet, "Divestment News", to keep students abreast of developments in the campaign and also to begin a petition of support,
which on its first day collected two hundred signatures. It was agreed that members of the academic staff should be approached for support and that if the campaign was successful then the NUS should be approached with proposals to pursue the issue on a national scale.
During the discussion members of the Socialist Workers Student Society (SWSS) suggested that the meeting consider an immediate 24 hour occupation as a display of resolve but this was overwhelmingly rejected by those present. It is most likely that it was this proposal which prompted the
School to act as they did; sources in Connaught House report that the administration held an emergency meeting to discuss the USF "threat" and that it was then that it was decided to close the building.
Lastly provisional plans were laid for a rally to be held on the evening of the 23rd February as the deadline for divestment expires. It is hoped that the Union will be able to arrange both outside speakers and bands to entertain students while they wait for a statement from the School's Standing Committee on Divestment. With luck this will be vic-
tory party - it not, a prelude to occupation. Both Nick Randall and Avinash Persaud expressed the hope that an occupation could be avoided, admitting in a Beaver interview that it could damage the Students' Union as much as the School. However they stressed that if necessary the Union would have to follow its conscience.
At present it does not look like an occupation is going to occur. Since Nick Randall delivered his ultimatum to the administration in the second week of term the number of companies whose shares have been sold has doubled from seven to a rumoured fifteen. This
led Randall to comment in last Thursday's UGM that the School was "selling shares by the day as if it was going out of fashion." A further two companies, Allied Colloids and Reed International, have also been removed from the list of unethical investments since they sold their stakes in South African companies. This reportedly leaves only three companies yet to be dealt with. With over two weeks before the 23rd and given that so much has already been accomplished it seems un-hkely that Sir Anthony Burney (Chair of the Investments Committee) will block their sale.
OPINION
Page 2
The Beaver, Monday 8th February 1988, Issue 277
Health Hijack
Dear Beaver,
Left-wingers at the last union meeting were accused of hijacking the health workers' day of action and getting involved where they shouldn't. In reality, the action needed no hijacking; health workers are justly angry at the way they are abused, by a government that only finds time to "care" for patients when threatened with strike action.It may have eluded the Right, but Tory attacks are not confined to the Health Service. Our education is also under attack, and if we accept the right of the government to make cuts in one sector, we will not be able to defend ourselves in any other.
What health workers do need is a strategy. The attitude adopted by many is that we must defend "our" NHS. But if saving the NHS is our objective, that will require privatisation of cleaning services and continued restrictions on nurses wages. Instead, we should be campaigning for decent wages, better conditions and a proper health service irrespective of the Tories ability to pay - their economic crisis isn't our responsibility! This is the only strategy for uniting health workers and making sure that their anger is turned into concrete gains. Nko MacDonald
Rev Comm. Students.
Again ...
Can you remember the last time? You swore it will never happen again.
Next time you'll give anything but your heart.
And suddenly it hits you.
Again the magic
that makes you feel balancing
on the border
between heaven, and hell
Again the storm
that pushes you around but also is all over caressing.
Again you find yourself in the middle of a hurricane that lifts you up,
and carries you away.
For a short moment you remember
the fear and the pain ... Yet, you
lost yourself
All over
Again.
D.
Dear Beaver,
First of all, Congratulations. You seem to be employing the sort of journalism that made "The Sun" Britain's soaraway no.l, I talk of the article on John Moore. Quote . . .
"Students at the LSE have . . . stuck two fingers at Health Minister John Moore."
This is what I like about our press, it's blunt and speaks its mind. I can get Andy Cornwell Mr Murdoch's number if he wants a job.
Secondly Mr van Hulten, wake up to the real world! Imogen's on your side. It's so bloody obvious! And surely you can't accuse us Tories of being Nazis. We don't repatriate our tenants. We don't bar Agatha Christie novels from library shelves for being too sexist. We applaud all those who believe in the freedom of speech! Talk of calling the pot a nice sort of colour that Linda Bellos thinks I should be shot for mentioning!
Please, Mr. Editor, employ some of that quality they call editorial judgement (obviously lacking in The Beaver at present), and insist that only true, valid and relevant articles will be published. Not some "I'm a trendy trot, and I know everyone in the Labour Club" claptrap that filled today's (1st Feb) Beaver.
Yours conservatively,
P.J. Mehmet
Left Out?
Dear Beaver,
As a left-oriented student, to whom politics was a crucial interest, I chose the LSE partly because of its reputation of left wing political activism. After a term of paper throwing, petty politics, I found myself apathetic and uninterested.
Even so, I cannot refrain from expressing my disgust at what I
THEBEffllEB
Executive Editor; Mark Mosher Managing Editor: Julian Mack News Editor: Tom Parker Features Editors: Ali Fassa, Tom Lloyd Arts Editors: Katherine Pena, Ekow Eshun Photographic Editor: Rebecca Dutton Sports Editor: Tony Ainsworth ^jocieties Editor: Stavros V. S. Makris Layout: Nico Macdonald, Kazuko Hirao
Staff: Alex Crawford, Jon Eastick, Ben Giibey, Ross Broadstock,
James Robertson, Andy Cornwell, Shan Mitra, Andy Blakeman,
Julian Flanagan, Kfir Yefet, Tom Elliot, Mark Wynne-Jones, Phillippe Papaphilipoii, Jeremy Jeffs, Paul Wood, Vanessa Brechling, Jennifer Clapp, Chris Phillipsborn and Sivan Lewin.
Many thanks to Alexia, Terry, Angelique and Dorothee for typing and to Andy, who incidentally won the chair racing this week, and Ben for production and staying up late.
Typeset by Clerkenwell Graphics, 13 Vandy Street EC2 Printed by Eastway Offset
Published by LSE Students' Union, East Building, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. Tel 01-405 7686 ext 2870
have just witnessed in the Thursday 1 o'clock Comedy Session. Realising the threat to its supremacy from a division of left- wing voters, now blessed with the new, creative and refreshing alternative of Green Politics, the Labour Machine systematically and pitilessly proceeded to destroy Overseas Officer Fabian Borcke.
I do ^ot question the dodginess of the Green Forum budget. But the Justin-Nick-Imogen-Richard clique went beyond all nece.ssary (and acceptable) measures. The English right-wing, in virtue of being English, does not know whether Fabian did represent us (foreigners) or not, which is fair enough. It should, however, have realised its own ignorance and refrained from the screaming session of "Resign, resign!"
Labour, on the other hand, should follow the national lead and pause to reflect. It has become institutionalised and it lacks all planning sense of mission, all visions of Utopias, the inherent components of a successful and meaningful left-wing. It is but the reverse of the Tory coin and its national failure to defeat something as incontrovertably as bad as Thatcher should offer food for thought.
If here at the LSE, thanks to the votes of people like me, it still lingers, it is not due to merit of the aforementioned clique. LSE Labour, I've sadly come to realise, is not creative, not revolutionary and it does not have a mission. It is involved in petty politicking and ugly examples of personal derogation as the one I've just witnessed.
Thank God for that breath of fresh air, the Greens. Labour does not seriously pause to reconsider its raisons d'etre and gain some meaning and vitality. What LSE politics needs is exactly more pluralism in the Left. The fact that Labour is dying does not mean that the causes it should imaginatively defend are dead.
Yours sincerely,
Francisco Ferrera
Greens Branch Out
Dear Beaver,
At today's UGM a number of people voted to change the status of the Green Forum to an Associate Society. This means that groups such as Greenpeace, Ox-fam, CND, Survival International and Friends of the Earth (all charities) now have a voice at LSE only through the financial commitment of individuals at the school.
It is unfair to personify the Green Forum. Fabian Borcke does not equal Green Forum. All of the work done this year by the Green Forum is ignored by assuming that he does.
We have been involved in projects in such areas as cycle-way campaigns, Austrahan Aborigine concerns and rainforest campaigns. We have had debates, a video discussion, slide shows and two receptions which the whole school has been welcome to attend. We still plan to have speakers on these and other issues.
The Green Forum is not a political grouping in that it does not endorse any political party's views. It is political insofar as is any group which seeks to spread an awareness about what is really happening in the world, and to influence it.
The silencing of groups such as those mentioned is all that Thursday's meeting might achieve. Hopefully it won't even achieve that. Justin Russell (Senior Treasurer) can be proud of his textbook interpretation of lessons being taught elsewhere - stop any new or dissenting voices before what they have to say might make us confront our most cherished of attitudes. I am saddened.
Yours faithfully,
Michael Townsend
(A Green Forum member)
Beyond All Taste
Dear Beaver,
Tom Parker's column "Beyond These Walls" of 25 January had one unusual headline, namely: "Over sexed, over-paid and over here?" The brief story that followed dealt with the number of foreign students, their total and graduate student distribution in Britain's university system, foreign student tuition, and lastly a note on some of our place of origin.
The writer appears to have made a rather stupid joke. But it goes further than that. The headline represents the kind of xenophobia that I thought was limited to some of London's tawdrier tabloids. In a school as cosmopolitan as the LSE this kind of journalism can only lead to more friction and misunderstanding and a growing "us" versus "them" mentality.
Yours sincerely,
Adrian Havas
Directional Diffs
Dear Beaver,
I want to set the record straight about the NHS demonstration last Wednesday and Francis von Habsburg's shameful piece of distortion in the UGM. How typical that he should blindly follow the arguments of The Sun "newspaper" when he couldn't be bothered to turn up himself.
I was on the demonstration and witnessed what were essentially minor scuffles. The very first person arrested was a nurse, not a member of SWSS. In fact when the majority of arrests occured SWSS ¦ was not even present - they were still at the top of Whitehall while the rest of the march had moved on.
The police behaviour was disgusting and I saw several nurses reduced to tears. The police were feady to use horses to keep them away from the sacred territory of Whitehall.
I hope if von Habsburg is ever knocked down in Kingsway there will be an ambulance available and a hospital still open to save his life. A private one won't be able to deal with emergencies. He should have been with us on the demonstration not repeating Tory lies. The march wasn't "hijacked". We followed the lead of the nurses and will continue to do so until the government gives them proper pay and the NHS gets proper funding. Yours from a "red thug"
Andrew Cornwell
Dear Beaver
Today's debate on the Stalker Affair/Birmingham 6 issue confirmed one thmg in everyone's mind. The conservative Government does not care about providing justice for the Nationalist Community in Northern Ireland. Their response to a debate about two clearly unjust case issues in Northern Ireland was to wage a tirade agaist the IRA. All the speakers on the motion were careful not to back the IRA if Aiken & Co. can't think of a decent opposition to a motion they should clearly keep quiet. The real issue is that the Nationalist Community is caught between terrorist gangsters and a negligent, uncaring government. Solution seems distant, the future constantly bleaker.
Yours,
Francis Cassidy
The Beaver Goes Public
*Starting Thursday 4th Feb, the Beaver will be accepting personals
:|c ^ ^ :ic pf:
*If you have something to say - be it political, personal, propoganda or plainly preposterous - let it be known.
**Place all personals (no more than twenty words) in boxes located in the library, the Cafe, and, of course, the Tuns.
in Hii Tfa
NEWS
The Beaver, Monday 8th February 1988, Issue 277
LSE on the March

f
Picket line slogan - but who is listening? by ANDREW CORNWELL
Over 100 LSE students joined health workers demonstrating in central London for better pay and conditions last Wednesday. Nurses, junior doctors and ambulancemen from many London hospitals conversed on Trafalgar Square for a rally to coincide with a national day of protest in the NHS. Earlier, some students had joined picket lines outside LSE's main local hospital University College.
The rally was not officially organised and speakers there called on their trade union leaders to take a tougher stance "to save the National Health Service". It was stressed that the problems of the NHS concerned not just health workers but everyone who has to use public services. There was loud applause from the roughly 3000 people present when some speakers called for a TUC-backed one day general strike on March 25 (Budget Day) to persuade the government to spend money earmarked for tax cuts on investment in the National Health Service.
But the spontaneity of the demonstration led to problems when the march tried to advance on Downing Street. Police barred the entrance to Whitehall with vans and horses, and a nurse was arrested in the pushing and shoving that followed. Then a second unplanned march arrived from New Cross hospital and the entire protest moved off at a run towards
the Embankment, hoping to get through to the Prime Minister by another route. Violent scuffles followed outside the Ministry of Defence as police were caught unprepared.
Many nurses were visibly upset by the violence. Some blamed members of extreme left wing groups (the LSE SWSS banner was at the forefront of the Whitehall impasse) for activities out of step with the spirit of the protest. But others were furious that the police had not let them march to Number Ten, saying they had earUer been given permission to do so. One student nurse from University College Hospital broke down in tears on seeing a colleague arrested and screamed abuse at both the police and the television crews present. She was upset at seeing her friend punched in the face by police.
Although the police cordons meant a frustrating end to the protest for the health workers and their supporters, they were encouraged by the reaction of the public who applauded the demonstration from the pavements and tooted carhorns to show their support. The reaction of the Health minister John Moore was to condemn the strikes and protests as "deplorable". But the anger felt at the grassroots may force him and the leaderships of the TUC and Labour^party to rethink their attitudes.
by TOM PARKER
The Rising Sun Cry Freedom
From Durham this week comes the news that the university is about to lease part of its campus to a privately funded Japanese College. The Teikyo University of Tokyo intends to use the site to erect teaching and accommodation blocks for around one hundred Japanese students which officials hope could be completed in time for the next academic session. Durham was selected by Teikyo for this project because of its proximity to a large number of Japanese companies located in the North and because of the excellent reputation enjoyed by the university's Department of Oriental Studies. To paraphrase one source, the Japanese need the credibility Durham can offer while Durham is desperate for their cash.
The Buck Stops Here
The American Council on Education (ACE) has recently published their 22nd national survey on the aspirations of American college students and it makes fascinating reading. More than 209,000 freshmen at 390 colleges participated, of these 75 percent considered financial security a main goal in life and 71 percent admitted that they had decided to attend college to earn a better income. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of ACE's report is that no-one seems too surprised by it, an attitude summed up by Tech junior Christine Scuderi prevails, "We're not going to college with questioning minds. (We're) just trying to get good grades, get out of school and get a job." I can't help but wonder just how many people in our own beloved LSE feel exactly the same way.
At Sussex, where they place , as^ high a premium on "international awareness" as they do at the LSE, a concerted effort is being made to expand the university's Mandela Scholarship^ At the moment this fund finances two black South African students, but Sussex students and Governors alike would like to see this increased to three, i.e one student in each year. A charity premier of Richard Atten-borough's latest epic, "Cry Freedom", on January 8th succeeded in raising £3,000 but a further £20,000 is needed. A fundraising drive is now underway and Glenys Kinnock, First Lady of the Labour Party and never one to shun the chance of free publicity, is offering her services to help make up the difference.
Knight Errant
The President of the Liverpool Students' Guild, JilL Harris, is currently recuperating from a "deep wound" she received when she interrupted the annual revue put on by Liverpool Medical students to harangue the assembled dignitaries on the positions they had taken over the Alton Bill. The clearest description of the evening's events comes from the statement made afterwards by the medical students' President, Andy Pickersgill: "Jill Harris was waving her finger right in front of Dr Zsigmund for a considerable time. He asked her to stop and she ignored him. I understand that he said, "If you don't take your finger away from my face I will bite it." She then put her finger into his open mouth and he bit it." Apparently afterwards Sir Andrew Zsigmund required dental treatment and also insisted on taking an AIDS test. Why should a man with rabies be so worried about AIDS?
To Russia with Lovk.
On Thursday February 11th, students at _LSE will be sending Valentines cards to Eduard Besprozvany, a Soviet Jewish refusenik. Eduard, an economics student, has been refused an exit visa since 1974, and may be offered a place at LSE for October 1988 through the Court of Governors.
The event will be part of a national day of action which marks the beginning of a campaign which includes a student hunger strike on International Women's Day, March 8th, a speaker tour by an ex-refusenik and a religious ceremony in student unions during the Jewish festival of Passover.
On behalf of the Student and Academic Campaign for Soviet Jews (SACSJ).

Page 3
i
Not what the LSE said.
Unofficial Revolutionary Communist banner at the "Troops Out" march. About ten LSE students attended the "Bloody Sunday" commemoration in Islington. Ireland remains a sensitive issue as last Thursday's UGM voted to continue support for the Birmingham Six, but pointedly omitted any mention of "Troops Out" or the IRA.
fifth
COLUMN
GOES TO CHURCH
(With the Very Rev. Andrew Cornwell)
The lesson this week is taken from the umpteenth chapter of the Book of Challis.
And it came to pass on the second day of the second month of the year of the prophet Randall that a mighty tumult was raised by the Unionites. For they looked at apartheid and LSE's investments and they saw that they were wrong. And thereupon they did arrange a meeting to plan to assemble a great army, so that they might eventually occupy the lands of Patel.
And the followers of Challis did greatly panick and they did look the doors of the Temple of Connaught House and did bloody nearly throw away the key. And they called the porters unto them and did command them to guard the doors of the temple. And lo and behold some Unionites who wanted to go to the doctor were told, "Thou shalt not pass without an appointment."
But then as the followers of Patel were meeting in secret conclave a great light shone down from heaven and an information officer cameth amongst them, bearing a notebook.
And he spaketh unto them this "Hearken, O foolish ones, for I have attended last Thursdays Union meeting where they did decide not to attack until the twenty-third day. Verily you have ma'' a monumental cock-up, for a false alarm."
And so ChaUis and her men were mightily chastised, and did order the doors of the Holy House to be reopened. And the Unionites did end their meeting and did retire unto the print room to produce a leaflet about the iniquities of the sinful Botha. And the porters did go even as far as the Three Tuns, where they did chuckle into their pints.
And later a great miracle was witnessed in the Students Union, for the hand of God did even unite Cicutti of the Swissites and Persaud of the tribe of Labour in their derision for the children of Patel.
And later still the prophet Randall was borne in triumph to the next Union meeting, and there he did make bold unto the masses the following prophecy:
"For as it is written in the book of Tutu "Thou shalt honour the case for sanctions' so shall the wrath of students be visited on those who resist the call of the Lord Mandela. And they that receiveth not this message, and taketh it not unto their hearts, shall sit in their offices and great will be their discomfort. And they will speak even of the last days of the revelation of Saigon."
And the people did receive the prophet with rapture, and sabbatical glory shone around his disciples.
Here endeth the first lesson. Who knoweth what the second shalt be?
COLLEGE SCENE
Page 4
The Beaver, Monday 8th February 1988, Issue 277
by JAMES ROBERTSON
It is not with little excitement that we seem to be heading back to the '70s - serious industrial unrest, serious rock music, serious fun (?) - so it was perhaps appropriate that the star of this week's show should be the nearest that the UGM could provide to an old hippy coming off a bad trip C.1974. Enter stage left (or it might have been right) Fabian Borcke, Greenback and the previously inconspicuous Overseas Student Officer who came under the spotlight early on and stayed there when most of other souls would have taken another tab.
First up, however, was a happier man. Nick Randall was low-key, laid back, at peace with the world, man, as he recounted to a hushed and respectful audience, how the School was "wriggling" over divestment. Under the threat of occupation, the atmosphere in Connaught House was compared to "the last days of Saigon". The Director, we were assured, was selling shares "like it was going out of fashion".
By comparison, Justin, usually
the straight man, seemed to have little to offer. But news about the building committee ("the most iboring committee in the world") and the catering committee (which opposed the price increase on the Beaver's as a "fundamental infringement on civil liberties") led to the question of "New Societies".
"This is complicated" warned Justin. This was akin to saying that Chelsea are having a bit of a ,bad patch. Understatement has never been in our man's reper-itoire.
' Five minutes later, some garbled information about Independent Greens and the Green Forum, about Societies and Associate Societies, had most people completely confused. Fortunately, the admirabe Richard Ford, increasingly becoming the kind of boy you could take home to mother, explained the situation fairly well; the Green Forum because of its links with the party-political Independent Greens was to have its status reduced to that of the other party political groupings - Associate Society - who receive no Union funding.
Unfortunately, this could not be done without waking the sleeping hippy. The issue concerned Fabian's tenure of a Finance Committee post while being treasurer of a society (against the rules). To loud and prolonged cries of "Resign!", reminiscent only of the days of Malcolm Lowe, Fabian rushed to defend his head. "I always stood as an Independent Green ... I never stood as a Green." This was a bit too subtle for the masses, as was the reference to Cheese and Wine expenditure.
Imogen now tried to suggest that "the matter in hand" had been dealt with. But this was an issue
0
HIP
*



Von Habsburg and 'The Sun' tell it like it isn't
that was not going away. Fabian briefly gave way to various other reports, including an outside speaker, Dave Jones of the CPSA talking about the proposed work-fare Scheme in the upcoming Employment Bill (lobby of Parliament 15th Feb.), before seeking the vehicle of the Overseas officer's Report in order to fight back.
"This is not an excuse for loud, unruly behaviour" said Imogen as the cries of "Resign!" once again rang throughout the theatre. Fabian vented his "disgust" at the "backdoor" banning of the Green Forum, and the "anti-Green propaganda" raining down on all sides. His attempt to include a section having the Forum reinstated was ruled "unconstitutional" by Imogen, unnecessarily as it turned out: the report was not ratified.
The cries of "Resign!" were only briefly interrupted by the Report of the Academic Affairs Officer, von Habsburg. After his previous feeble efforts, I thought our prince charming had resigned, or rather, been sacked. It must have been wishful thinking. After breaking yet another Union mandate (to go on the NHS demo the previous day), however, and his gratuitously offensive comments on the Nurses, it is an option that the Union might once again wish to seriously consider.
Reports gave way to questions, which quickly addressed the role of the Overseas Student Officer. Instead of finding a good place to hide, Fabian once again took all the arrows in the chest, and looked for more. As they kept coming, the sense of persecution grew. The "smear campaign" was attributed to "Labour . . . and the Conservatives . . . and the Liberals
It seemed more humane to vote for a move to next business, but the move fell. As Fabian's ranting became increasingly incoherent, Imogen stepped in: "I think we understand your position on all these questions" she ventured, meaning, of course the opposite. The last word went to the calm and reflective Avinash Persaud, who suggested that the Overseas Student Office "could have tried a bit harder" to organise a Christmas party for overseas students. If Fabian was as good at that as he was at being the Union's whipping boy, there would be no problem.
Finally, the beating had to stop. One man could only take so much. He had to be stopped for his own good. Time for a fresh bout.
Ten to two and Emergency Motion no.l, on "the Stalker cover-up and the Birmingham Six". The question of reasserting our links with the Six Campaign in the face of last week's "travesty of justice" (Randall), and of addressing the issue of the Stalker- Samson report, was met by the usual apoplexy of the usual bunch of Conservative boys doing their impersonation of Pavlov's dog.
Whatever the issue, if the Irish question is involved the response is totally predictable; "blood thirsty murder"; "murdering IRA bastards" (Aiken); and, of course, the new touch- stone of the existing order "Enniskillen", a whole new concept in our politics. They were brought back to the issue by the rapturously received George Binnette, who pointed out a few historical facts, and the impassioned Francis Cassidy, who with rather more experience of these things than most, turned on those who "don't care . . . (who) just like making speeches."
Enough said. The motion was, of course, passed. That was that. Apart from the motion of censure on Fabian. What a downer man.
OlEnES
RNER
by STAVROS MAKRIS
The LSE Wine Society is pleased to announce that it is holding a tasting of fine Australian wines in S421 between 6:30- 8:00pm on Thursday 11th Febuary. Because of the extaordinary high quality of these wonderful wines this tasting will clock in at slightly more than usual, but it will be worth it. £3.00 for members and more for non-members. Unfortunately Robert Crisps was unable to find any 200 year old wines. (Shag a Sheep, Sheila)
The LSE Jewish Society invite all to try their luck at A day at the Races with cash prices for the lucky ones. All proceeds will go to Norwood Child Care. Free food and Baigels will be available in S221 on Tuesday 9th Febuary 5:00-6:00pm. Admission 50p.
The LSE Macintosh User Society is meeting Wednesday 10th Febuary at 2pm in E 197. The society will be ratifying its constitution. Member lists as well as software tutoring lists will be distributed. The Society will be considering affiliation to the National Macintosh User Groups. All members are urged to attend. New members welcome.
The LSE Conservative Society has organised the following two speaker meetings: Febuary 10th, Peter Morrison MP, Chairman of the Conservative Collegiate Forum at 1pm in S75: Febuary 15th, Leon Brittan QC MP, speaking on House Affairs at 1pm in C120.
TheLSE Amnesty International is holding a meeting about human rights in Chile. It will be addressed by U.S. Congressman Bruce Morrison, who is a frequent visitor to South America and an expert on the Pinochet Regime.
The LSE Haldane Society will be holding two meetings: 13th Febuary, a conference on Public Order Law. Vera Baird, barrister; Louise Christian, solicitor; and Peter Thornton, barrister and author of the leading textbook on the Public Order Act 1986 will be speaking on the subject while the BBC has been given permission to televise this conference for a forthcoming program on public order. 17th Febuary: Arthur Scargill, President of the NUM and Claire Short MP will be speaking on the Employment Bill. The meeting will be chaired by John Hendy QC.
The LSE Tennis Club is in
being reorganized. Members are urged to attend its next meeting on Wednesday 10th Febuary at Lincoln's Inn Fields. Selections for the School men and women will take place so all those eager to play and icpresent the school should be there.
Bastard Brass + the Jazzmon-gers will be making their debut appearance at the Tree Tuns on Thursday 11th Febuary. BB + J are on LSE Band described by those in the know as " ... so fabulous, it's wonderful!!!"
The LSE Guinness Appreciation Society will be holding its long awaited Mega Disco in the Three Tuns Bar on Saturday 13th Febuary. Plenty of the Black Stuff is expected to run through many a
vein. Be prompt for the Ultimate Party which will last only until midnight. Entrance is free to members, £1.50 to non-members. Half of the proceeds will go to Rag '88.
Even the lectures are getting excited about the Geog. ASS Ball to be held at Strand Palace Hotel, on Thursday 18th Febuary (tickets £13.00). This is an event organized jointly by KCL and LSE Geography Societies. Please dress formally and leave your wellies at home.
The Malaysian Singapore Society is back! This time for an Intercollegiate Chinese New Year Party. If you are lucky enough to find a ticket	, you too
can make it to the Imperial College Main Hall, Sheffield Building on 19th Febuary. The party starts at 7 pm and will not finish until 2:30 am the morning after.
The LSE Chinese Society presents the Variety Show '88 in the Old Theatre on 20th Febuary at 7:30 pm. Admission £1.00.
The LSE Karate Club works out in the Badminton Court, the Old Building on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 5pm and 7pm and on Saturdays between 12 and 2pm. The Chief Instructor is John Pitts BA, MA, 2nd Dan and all, including novices, are welcome.
TheLSE Graduate Committee was set up to help fund research activities of Post-Graduates in the form of decreasing grants. Students can apply for subsidisation of costs for conference fees and associated travel costs. There is a max. set rate of £50 per head. Applications for assistance accompanied by a covering letter from your Supervisor should be handed in to the Graduate Affairs Officer in room E298. Payment is retrospective and on the production of relevant receipts. The Committee itself meets on a fortnightly basis in A 344 (Graduate Common Room).
The LSE Cycling Campaign
recently contacted a survey on cycling matters at the LSE. The resultsd were rather surprising; more people than expected cycle in (despite the weather and dangerous drivers); thousands of pounds worth cycles have been stolen due to inadequate parking facilities. Cyclists surveyed suggested an increase of cycle-parking racks at the LSE; rooting over existing cycle-parking-racks; and campaigning for a cycle lane linking the School with High Holborn in the Roseberry Hall direction, l-'nday i2th F'ebuary will be Cycle Day at the .LSE. For more information on this Society and its activities get in touch with Tom at Green Forum or at home on 341 2192. The Society in co-operation with Rag '88 is planning a promotion over Valentine's weekend by delivering flowers by cycle to LSE love- dovies living in and around Halls of Residence. All interested should leave a note in the Green Forum's pigeon hole or contact Tom.
T U R>E S
Monday 8th February 1988
by MARK WYNNE-JONES
Twenty-one million children are born in developing countries each year and 90 out of every thousand die before they reach the age of one. Malnutrition and the resulting infections kill more than 15 million children each year. More than 3m children in Britain today live on or below the poverty line.
This year's principle charity for Rag is Save the Children, (SCF) and organisation which began because a young woman from Shropshire - Eglantyne Jebb -found it impossible to stand by and watch while children suffered. The year was 1919 and the children were Austrian, starving victims of the Allied blockade.
Eglantyne and her sister Dorothy Buxton launched their campaign to save these children with pamphlets and advertisements. The response was overwhelming: £400,000 had been raised by the end of the first year and relief work spread to America and the Baltic States. In 1921, Save the Children appealed for the children starving after the harvest failures in Russia, and were soon feeding 300,000 of them.
The organisation has been growing ever since, and money to finance the ever-increasing demands on SCF's resources has come largely from the public, through individual donations, collections at schools and workplaces, and most of all from the 800-plus voluntary branches throughout the country. Much UK work is grant-aided, while many overseas projects receive backing from Save the Children organisations in the Commonwealth.
During the 80s, SCF has been seeking to increase the impact of its work. Its aim is to benefit a greater number of children than it can reach through its own projects. To this end it shares experience with other professionals and uses its expertise to "influence those who shape the policies and make the decisions which determine the quality of childrens' lives."
The following principles form the basis of all Save the Children's work:
1)	The child must be protected beyond and above all considerations of race, nationality or creed.
2)	The child must be cared for with due respect for the family as an entity.
3)	The child must be given the means requisite for its normal development, materially, morally and spiritually.
4)	The child that is hungry must be fed, the child that is sick must be nursed, the child that is mentally or physically handicapped must be helped, the maladjusted child must be re- educated, the orphan and the waif must be sheltered and succoured.
5)	The child must be the first to receive relief in times of distress.
6)	The child must enjoy the full benefits provided by social welfare and social security schemes, must receive a training which will enable it, at the right time, to earn a livelihood, and must be protected against every form of exploitation. 7) The child must be brought up in the consciousness that its talents must be devoted to the service of its fellow men.
Rag Week 88 begins on Friday 12th with the Street Collection, taking place from 6-10am and 4-8pm outside Bank tube station. Valentine flowers will be available from the stall outside the Old Theatre from 10am to 4pm. The stall is open today for those wishing to send Valentine messages. The day ends with the Pass-field Hall Disco (Entry 50p).
Page 5
Sunday 14th sees the Hall Bowl between Carr Saunders and Pass-field in Regents Park, and in the evening Carr Saunders are staging the Valentine Disco (£1.00 Entry).
On Monday 15th a Record Auction will take place during the afternoon in the Quadrangle, and the same venue will be used for the Multicultural Evening, an event displaying the different cultures (including food) of the LSE's national societies. However STA -the original sponsors of the event, who were going to give away two free tickets for a weekend in Amsterdam - were at time of going to press contemplating a withdrawal of sponsorship funds. Furthermore, because the High Street banks have remained unwilling to contribute in any way, this event has yet to be confirmed.
The Beer Festival will be held in the Quad on Tuesday 16th, and David Coleman will be chairing the final of the A Question of Sport competition, as well as providing "additional humourous entertainment".
The Three Tuns will be open all day on Wednesday 17th, and there will be an egg throwing competition in Houghton Street in the afternoon.
On Thursday 18th, the Underground Treasure Hunt begins at noon. Participants must first work out cryptic clues to find which tube stations to go to, and once there must answer the question related to the station. The event, masterminded by Kate Meyrick, promises to be mqst enjoyable. The Comedy Evening, with Simon Fanshawe and Jenny Lecoat, is in to be held in the Old Theatre at 9pm (Tickets £2.50). This is what "City Limits" had to say about Fanshawe: "Of all the second wave of comics to emerge in the wake of Sayle et al, Fanshawe is by far the smoothest. He delivers jokes not by motorbike courier but with a dozen red roses, a card and a Harrods gift voucher. It's all the more telling as he's still one of the most political humourists around, jumping these days more for punchy current affairs satire than the gay sexpot which used to dominate. Fanshawe has come through a patch where he sought TV stardom at all costs, and has worked instead to produce a warm but hard- hitting stand-up act. There ain't too many around as good at the moment."
And this is what "Time Out" had to say about Lecoat: "a surefooted self-assurance and an almost flawless set that puts her firmly and unquestionably in the front rank of contemporary stand-up comics, alternative or otherwise. If there was a British Board of Humour Censors, Lecaot
would be XX-rated - suitable for women and men under female guidance. Any man who claims to be able to follow Lecoat from beginning to end in all her nuances has a somewhat unhealthily detailed knowledge of menstruation and men's consciousness-raising group fantasies of relating to female sexuality. A very funny evening with the reigning queen of alternative comedy at the height of her powers."
The Rag Gig is on Friday 19th, featuring the return of the Jivin' Instructors, who proved to be immensely popular at the LSE Christmas Ball last term.
Jail Break is on Saturday 20th, an event which encourages people to get as far away from LSE as possible, with no money, and return with proof of destination reached. If anyone is already back in jail by the evening, the Roseb-ery Hall Disco begins at 8pm (50p entry).
On Sunday 21st there is the Inner Circle Race in Regents Park; and throughout the week the Drama Society will be staging around the School a 15 minute version of "Hamlet". The Rag Mag will hopefully be distributed at the end of this week, and the Parachute Jump at Brands Hatch is expected to take place on February 27th.
"Please get involved!" is the message from Olivier Lacheze-Beer, this year's Rag Chairman, who in an interview last week seemed understandably irritated by the student apathy he has been confronted with. "How come other universities can raise almost £100,000, and yet LSE last year struggled to raise £10,000? It's a shame on the students of this school that the LSE Rag doesn't do better - there is no reason for anyone not to participate."
Lacheze-Beer is still having problems with the printers concerning the Rag T-shirts, the design of which is illustrated. Furthermore, the expected back-down of STA, the unwillingness of the banks, and to some extent the uncooperativeness of Save the Children /fsc//have all contributed to the Chairman's hardships.
"1988 is the year of the Olympic Games, taking place in Calgary and Seoul. When the games first began, it was participating rather than winning that mattered. Those who take part in the games come from all over the world, and likewise all LSE students should take part in Rag Week."
Lacheze-Beer believes that students should take Rag Week as an opportunity for a "mid-term break", and his underlying argument could not be clearer: get involved, enjoy yourself and Save the Children.
Sharpeville Six
NICKY COLTON
On December I, 1987, one woman and five men, commonly known as the Sharpeville Six, lost their appeals against convictions for the murder of Lekoa town Councillor Knuzwayo Dlamini. South African justice is once again on trial.
In response to rent increases in the Vaal Triangle in 1984, a day of protest was organised involving a demonstration and a march to the offices of the Orange-Vaal Development Board, the power behind the proposed rent increases. Dlamini, a black councillor, viewed as a collaborator with the government, rejected the call to join the march and instead, opened fire into the crowd; he was subsequently stoned and burned together with his house and car.'
The accused, Mojalefa Reginald Sefatsa (30), Reid Malebo Mokoena (22), Oupa Moses Din-iso (30), Theresa Ramashamola (24); Duma Joshua Khumalo (28), and Francis Don Mokhesi (28), were picked up from their homes, charged and convicted of murder and subversion. Despite worldwide protest over the lack of evidence, death sentences were handed down. On the day of the arrests, allegations of police violence were widespread: the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) claims Sefatsa was assaulted, his jaw broken and his wife, eight months pregnat at the time, slapped across the face for protesting her husband's innocence. At the police station he was allegedly subjected to electric shocks. In a seperate hearing to determine the admissibility of evidence against him, Mokoena claimed his statement was extracted under duress.
Theresa Ramashamola was taken from her bed and arrested while still in her nightdress. In the police station she was purportedly stripped to her pants and tortured by electric shocks to her breasts. The following day, her arm was broken whilst she was in a police vechicle.
The six appealed against their convictions to the Appelate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa. On appeal, inconsistencies were revealed in the statements of the prosecution's chief witness, Mabuto, and no less than a dozen witnesses called by the defence rebutted Mabuto's evidence. The ij^ge stated: "It has not been pre !^|^n the case of any of the six murder that l%"
buted causally deceased."
He nevertheless dismissed the appeals on the basis of the British doctrine of "common purpose". Where, for example three people embark on an armed robbery and a weapon is used, all three may be implicated, and therefore by virtue of their common purpose, guilty. To utilise the doctrine in the case of a mass demonstration to convict the six is an extraordinary extension of common purpose -especially in a legal system in which it is the duty of the prosecution to prove its case beyond all reasonable doubt. Dr Baldwin, of the LSE states, "In English common law, mere presence does not suffice to make a person an accomplice. It is necessary to show either, presence in pursuance of an agreement to commit the crime or assistance or encouragement in its commission. The relevant crime here is murder, not merely an assembly of an unlawful kind."
The subversion of legal processes to admit scape-goating is a blow for those relying on P.W. Botha's promise of gradual change and improvement of human rights. Furthermore, if the rationale of common purpose was the sole ground for conviction one wonders why all 2000 demonstra tors were not equally guilty of the murder of Dlamini. Tony Bloom, an outspoken critic of the government, who has recently announced his intention to leave South Africa, once described the state of emergency as, "the death rattle of frightened men."
As the Sharpeville Six wait, official calls for clemency reach the South African Government from the USA, Sweden, Israel and Norway, as well as the United Nations Security Council and the EEC.
§
convicted of conduct contri-the death of the
ARTS
Page 6
The Beaver, Monday 8th February 1988, Issue 277
Getting Laid
Hanif Kureshi has the privilege of meeting the famous Ekow Eshun, star of Sammy and Rosie get laid, and great friend of Courtney Pine.
"Sammy and Rosie Get Laid" is the controversial new film by director Stephen Frears and writer Hanif Kureshi, the team that made the Oscar-nominated independent film success "My Beautiful Launderette". I spoke to Kureshi about working, living and getting laid.
'Sammy And Rosie' has been called fragmented, unfinished. Are you happy with the end product?
"Yes, I don't know if it's unfinished. It's a bit chaotic, a bit anarchic, there's a bit of this and a bit of that in it, all sort of thrown together, but I don't care about that. The structure, the finesse, the finish of a film interests me less than the spirit that it has."
How do you feel about the reception it has had, here and in America?
"It got a much better reception in America than here, the level of criticism is much higher there, just compare the idiots, the arseholes that write for the British press with people who write for the 'New York Times' or the 'Village Voice'. Nor-
dirtier. They're very puritanical in America, in fact, it's incredible; you walk,down 42nd Street and there's a film showing called 'Wet Furbur-gers' or one called 'Smack My Crack'. But they wouldn't run the words 'Sammy and Rosie get Laid' in their newspapers."
Both 'My Beautiful Laundrette' and 'Sammy and Rosie' explore similar themes of sex, politics and violence. Are those your primary concerns?
"Exactly, what could be more interesting than sex, violence and politics Ekow, precisely the things that you're interested in." (He is?? Ed)
They all seem guaranteed to offend.
"They only offend stupid people. You're not offended by them and nor are most of the young people who go and see the film. They're not pissed off at seeing boys kissing or girls kissing or people kissing or riots, because they know it's all the stuff that goes on round the corner. It's only conservatives who are
If I'd gone to Hollywood and said, I want to niake a film about a gay Pakistani who runs a laundrette, they'd have thrown me out of . the office and beaten me up.
man Stone's article 'Sick Scenes from British Life' (the 'Sunday Times' critics' notorious condemnation of contemporary British cinema), well thank you Norman, it was terrific, because it really helped us at the box office. The level of debate in that argument was so low, it was really repellent. What it wanted to do was to crush dissent rather than have a sensible argument about what is happening in Britain and British films."
frightened by it, and they're the people we hate and want to attack."
So are there any subjects you would not tackle?
"No, not really. I suppose what we're primarily concerned with is making films about what actually goes on in Britain today. Most British films are exercises in nostalgia. They're films set in India or Italy in the past, like 'A Room With A View' or 'Passage to India'. They show a Britain that's grand and glorious and rich, where everyone
versy through the very title of your film, "Sammy And Rosie Get Laid".
"Originally the film was going to be called 'The Fuck', because there is a big fuck sandwich in the middle. It was going to be about all the trouble you get out of a fuck. But we thought that title wouldn't go down too well in Connecticut, so we softened it."
Did you have much trouble with the title as it stood in America?
"Yes, they wouldn't run the words 'get laid' in the 'New York Times', because they felt it was salacious, which I hope it is, so they called it 'Sammy And Rosie Get', but they thought that was even
wears nice clothes. And this is a view of Britain that people still have in America; and when you make a film like 'Sammy and Rosie' and they say, are there really riots in Britain? You say well actually there are. They still think of Britain as public schools and pretty boys. In fact it's rough and sexy and dirty, and that's what we're interested in showing."
'Sammy and Rosie' seemed to me to have elements of an old 'swinging sixties' feel to it.
"Yes, it has a sort of swinging sixties spirit of pleasure to it. But it also has an eighties depressive aspect that wouldn't have been

possible in 1968."
Is that 'depressive aspect' something you personally feel?
"1 suppose so. I mean there are riots, and black people do get shot up by the police, but also there is a wonderful middle section of the film where Sammy and Rosie go to the Royal Court Theatre and Hyde Park and places. So it's not entirely depressing."
You've rridde both your films
off his clothes with their teeth, so he got the part."
Marriage and fidelity don't seem to get a good press in your film.
"That's because they don't go together. To mention them in the same breath is an outrage. In my day, in the sixties, it was seen as outrageous to get married, the supreme bourgeois act. People get married now when the're 18 or 19. What is interesting is the way this
I'd love to be sucked into the establishment but they never offer you enough money.
with Stephen Frears, why is that?
"Because I love him, because he's such a good director, he's very friendly, very open, he listens to what other people have to say. He seems to get younger and younger, as I get older and older. I write my films because of him. It's not my career, I'm much more interested in writing a novel."
Which areas of London was the film shot in?
"Notting Hill. We wanted to film it in Brixton, where the riots actually took place after the shooting of Cherry Groce, but the police wouldn't let us for fear of another riot. We went to them and said, we're going to have a few scuffles, and they said fine, we don't mind scuffles. We said it's going to be like an episode of a police thriller, and then we burnt down this arcade of shops and had about four hundred people rioting."
Were you involved in casting the fdm? Such as the choice of Roland Gift, who had not acted before?
"Although he'll probably act again. Roily-Polly came in when our casting director saw him on 'Top of the Pops'. Stephen and I had never heard of the Fine Young Canibals. We sat him in the office and I said to the women in there, look through the window. And if you want to rip his clothes off with your teeth, we'll give him the part. So he sat in the office and didn't say very much, and they wanted to rip
country's become more repressed in so many different ways in the last ten years."
How do you reconcile that though, with the 'New Puritanism' that's been thrust on young people by the threat of Aids for instance?
"I think Aids is often used as an excuse to bring back notions of monogamy and fidelity and the idea that sex isn't a celebration of life or can't be enjoyed with strangers or whatever. At the centre of the film where they sing 'My Girl' we have the fuck sandwich; it is a sort of celebration of life, despite Aids,
sixties as if they're some old Hippy ideas that are now out of date; because a lot has happened then that is still important and still needs fighting for.
So what's important to you in life?
"I suppose it's doing good work. If you're a writer, the most important thing is to make films that are good; to write films that are good, to write sentences that are well constructed, to be good at your job,just like everyone else."
Work?
"Yes, but it's more like play. Being a writer is on the one hand a solid bourgeouis profession and on the other, it's sort of mucking about. I work about three hours a day, it's not like being a civil servant."
Rumour has it that you are writing a film about rich people?
"I'm thinking of it, yes. 'The class of my characters' as Joe Orton said, 'is going up over the years'."
You were nominated for 'Best Screenplay' Oscar for 'My Beautiful Laundrette'. What was Hollywood like?
"It was terrific. Oscar Day is like a combination of the F.A. Cup and the Royal Wedding. Everyone goes home at 12 O'clock and sits by the pool with their trunks on and a few drinks. They talk about it for days in the papers, orj T.V., they love it. And when you actually get to the Oscars it's terrific. But you watch it on T.V. just like everyone else. You realise most of the people in the audience are drama students in evening dress and that most of the stars are in the bar drinking and taking coke, just like everyone else in L.A. because you don't want to sit for eight and a half hours watching the ceremony, which is how long it takes.".
Any plans to move out there?
"Grow up and sell out, as they say, get sucked into the establishment. I'd love to be sucked into the establishment, but they never offer you enough money. Also if you work in Hollywood, you don't have the same amount of control as we have here. If I'd gone to Hollywood and said, 1 want to make a film about a gay Pakistani who runs a laundrette, they'd have thrown me out of the office. And beaten me up. Despite the fact that it has continually being attacked by people
I wish I was rich. I want to be rich. Perhaps if people reading this could send me money, I'd really be pleased.
despite the age which we live in. People can still enjoy having sex and enjoving each others bodies."
You seem very much like a child of the sixties.
"That's absolutely true. And a lot of the values of the sixties: The women's movement, liberal attitudes to gay people and black people, the breaking down of the class system, attacking the establishment and so on, seem to be notions that we have to fight for today, that are being eroded as our country moves further to the right. So I hope you're not being dismissive when you talk about the ideas of the
like Norman Stone here, you can still make films with integrity."
How are you coping with being rich and famous?
"I wish I was rich. I want to be rich. Perhaps if people reading this could send me money, I'd be really pleased.
"I think in the end, you have to go home and decide what to write again. Whatever your financial state, what matters is whether you can write the next thing. As a writer you're always worried you'll run out of things to say, or start repeating yourself. In the end all that matters is getting on with your work."
ARTS
The Beaver, Monday 8th February 1988, Issue 277
Page 7

B
A L
L
E T
Robocop
General Release
By "Give me three minutes, and I'll give you a review" Ed
"Dead or alive, you're coming with me." Bang, pow, biff, boff. "Your move, punk" Biff, pow, boff, bang.
This is the type of dialogue we are more used to hearing in the latest Stallone movie. So why all the acclaim for the latest offering from director Paul Verhoen? He himself says that he has managed to combine the art movie with the commercial movie, and invented what people are calling 'Tech Noir'. In fact, his is the latest in a long line of quite similar movies featuring the robot as main character -Bladerunner and Westworld to name but two.
The scene is Downtown Detroit, the time is . . . sometime in the future, when South Africa has the bomb, and American cars still do 8.6 MPG. The corporations run the city, but the city is rife with crime, and the crime extends as far as the boardroom. Policeman Murphy is
Macho metal marauder
killed by a malicious, balding crook, and is rebuilt as Robocop, the answer to Detroit's problems. In his pursuit of the balding baddie, he discovers the corruption in high places, and the crusade is under way.
But this is not the whole story^ for under the powerful and violent exterior of the Knight in Shining Armour lies a man seeking his soul. This robot is still Murphy, but the metal separates the soul from the man. Thus, the crusade is not just against the criminal world, but in search of his own 'Holy Grail'. Okay, maybe I'm carrying the metaphors a little too far here, but Verhoen carries it even further, claiming overtones of Christianity. Don't believe him.
I absolutely adored this movie, and had been building myself up for it for days. Luckily, it lived up to my expectations. It may not be all that it is said to be, but it is a helluva lot of fun.
Ed Giblet Esq
White Mischief
Mischief Mishap
Sizzling to shades of lobster red under the African sun has never been much fun for anyone of white complexion. Suntan lotion put an end to the problem, but well before that, the British had come up with a wonderful new pastime called decadence. That meant abusing everything that was vaguely abusable i.e money, alcohol, sex drugs and the adjective 'frightfully'.
White Mischief is an account of those bad, mad days which reeked of all the afore-mentioned. It has the sexagenarian Sir 'Jock' Broughton (Joss Ackland) coming over to Kenya with his steamy young wife Diana (Greta Scacchi) to join the 'Happy Valley' branch of Decadence Unlimited. Sir Jock has the sex-appeal of a rancid fig, and pretty soon Diana is being fondled by the philandering Lord Errol (Charles Dance) who has achieved a wonderful peach blossom pink tan.
On the other hand, Errol's for-
mer mistress, Alice, has had difficulty achieving any level of redness because of an enormous python wrapped around her head, and the others, though disinterested in tanning, do spend a lot of time at orgies and transvestite parties. When the inevitable crime pas-sionel follows, the community is thrown into a dreadful malaise, which could be remorse for vices past, or alternatively, regret that future vices won't be quite as fun without Errol. Trevor Howard puts in an appearance and does precious little, and John Hurt goes to great lengths to pretend he's doing precious little.
The film itself, apart from giving much exposure to Miss Scacchi's breasts and Kenyan landscape (not that either needed it), trudges along at tortuous pace. Mischief is a mishap. They should have stuck to suntanning.
Ali Fassa
The Dream/Pursuit/The Concert
The Royal Opera House
I feel very sorry for the Royal Opera House. When they present a classic, they are accused of conservatism and reactionism, and yet when they attempt a new production, it is damned before it even reaches the stage.
Thus, the latest offering. The Dream, is a balletic interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and very well done too. The role of the Fairy Queen was danced wonderfully, and the whole piece was a marvellous example of classical ballet - witty, yet not absurd, romantic, and not yet pathetic.
The second piece. Pursuit, was greeted with an "Oooohhh" as the curtains rose. "Avant Garde" is the best term I can come up with, but it is not a very descriptive one. It is certainly different. Bold contrasting primary colours, a Mondrianesque backdrop, and music with a very Oriental flavour. The ballet itself was beautiful, with wonderfully graceful movements. Neither the music nor the set were to my taste, but I could have sat all night and watched the movements, erotic at times, and yet serene and peaceful.
The final piece was proof beyond doubt of the versatility of the Royal Ballet. The Concert was accompanied by a pianist on stage. And the ballet was accompained by a humour which had the auditorium eager for the next movement. Rarely 'has ballet been unpretentious enough to actually ridicule itself, but this was one of those occasions.
This is a wonderful idea for a ballet, and the kind of performance
OPERA
"Ah, love me a little,
Oh, Just a very little,
As you would love a baby." -Butterfly, Act one
Gentle words indeed, but set against a turbulent landscape of the American rape of the Japanese civilisation. Puccini captures the im-
Royal BaJIet reaches the masses
which the Royal should be promoting. Although Persuit was received coldly, it was encouraging to see the production team attempting to show all the aspects of the ballet:
the classical, modern, and the purely fun. This production should go some way to placating the critics of The Royal Opera House. Don Basilio (Ed Giblet)
Madame Butterfly
English National Opera
perialistic and bombastic nature of the American people in his opera, and is yet beautiful in his handling of the subject.
ENO have managed to bring Madame Butterfly to life again, after so many classical revivals interspersed with the odd bizarre interpretation. They have almost everything right. The set demands the greatest praise. It really is
wonderfully designed, with a marvellous system of lighting, which captures the dramatic nature of the piece wonderfully.
This is not a brand new production — in fact, it was first shown in September 1986. One new member of the cast was Edmund Barham, who takes the role of Lieutenant 'Pinkerton, and he is no improvement on the last tenor. They were both so ineffectual, even by themselves, and when in duet with Cio Cio, San (Janice Cairns), they • proved their impotence beyond doubt. A new tenor is definitely required for this production. My only other qualm is that Ms Cairns looks nothing like Japanese.
Otherwise, this production is pretty flawless. And very moving. 1 didn't cry, and neither did she, but I have seen it before (and 1 did cry!). How Pinkerton could ever live with his conscience after practically killing Butterfly I will never know. This time, at least for me, the opera had more significance in other ways. It is frightening how much love can make one do - reject your religion, discard your family, live in poverty, and all in the (vain?) hope that the partner will return, ever more loving, ever more tender .. . why is love so painful, and why do we keep falling into the same damn trap?
All my love, with trepidation, Don Basilio (Ed Giblet)

S PORTS
Squash
UAU. Championship
Fftotball
LSE FIRSTS - 1 ESSEX - 5
BIRMINGHAM - 4 LSE SECONDS- 0
Both the First and the Seconds qualified through to the last 16 of the UAU', but met strong opposition, and made an exit at this stage. The boys from Birmingham arrived about two hours late, so technically, LSE fcould have gotten a technical walk- over.
When the match finally did get under way, Birmingham set about systematically demolishing any hopes that LSE had of proceeding to the quarter-finals, despite some spirited resistance. Captain Paul Haninsworth, who squandered good leads in his 3-0 defeat, was in a philosophical mood after the match, saying, "Win some, lose some!!" No.4 string Ketan Raja and No.l string David Lee also lost 3-0. No.5 string Robert Winter did a little better, losing 3-1. But No.2 string Jason Fletcher salvaged some pride, winning 3-2.
Acknowledgement must be given to the vociferous support'received by the Firsts in their match.
The Seconds did even worse than the First, in Colchester, with only Matthew Curtin' and Rick Gurgos (who, incidentally, is a member of the all-conquering LSE Basketball team) winning a game each. So, all in all, it was a pretty depressing day for the LSE Squashers.
Finally, some mention of the successful trip to Paris by the squash team must also be made. The team played two matches, and won them both quite easily. The members of the team, comprising of Clive Jefferies, Robert Winter, Ketan Raja, Sachen Gudka and Jason Fletcher would like to thank Paul Flainsworth, the captain, for his extremely useful, flawless command of French, for acting as a very good guide to beautiful Paris, and for arranging the matches in the first place.
LSE 1ST HI
LONDON HOSPITAL 1ST XI
Wednesday afternoon saw the 1st XI boys attempting to beat their bogey team London Hospital. In a diastrous start to the game, Captain Macra gave away a dubious penalty heaving goalkeeper "Mr. Trivia" wondering whether the referee had a father.
Despite this early setback, the team fought back and were unlucky not to score after some impressive football led to the creation of a number of chances. However bad luck prevailed ad late in the first half Mr. Trivia was beaten from 25 yards.
After an inspiring and encouraging team talk from Snotty and Macca at half time, the boys took to the field in the second half with renewed enthusiasm. With 20 minutes to go "Birdman" Dave Warren floated over a corner to find "whippet" Wallis lurking at the far post to head the ball home.
Back in the game now, the boys continued to create chances and late in the half were awardes a penalty. However "SKINHEAD" was unable to take advantage of the opportunity and despite further attacks London Hospital ran out 2-1 winners at full time.
Special mention must go to "Michel" for being the only in the team who looks like a footballer. Birdman
UlU travel
Wherever you want to go.
•	Worldwide flights.
•	Special fares for students and academics.
•	Tours and short breaks.
•	Ski holidays.
•	European trains.
Enquiries and Bookings SO	,,,	, ,
European 01-581 8233 ..we II get vou there!
Intercontinental 01-581 1022
Unbeatable prices — unbeatable quality! Call in and see how far you can go.
A service of
ULU Travel East Building
London School of Economics
STA

TheWorldbeaters
B asketball
UAU Champs on a Roll
LSE 83 Hackney 70 LSE 107 ULU 50
The mighty LSE basketball team have notched up another 2 victories in friendly games. The first was against a London first division league team. Hackney. LSE were expecting much tougher opposition and sailed through without any difficulty.
Then the LSE team overran ULU, with Phil Nickels leading the fast break and scoring 29 points. Other team members found their shooting touch, leaving ULU with no way of preventing the points running up against them. Each member of the team, contributed to the points tally, reflecting the strength in depth that has enabled LSE to gain 8 VICTORIES IN A ROW.
P.S. Houghton Street ¦ Harry would like to congratulate the team (although somewhat belatedly) on their recent success in the UAU championship.
Cricket
Roving Tokers 86 LSE 80
The six-a-side indoor team suffered yet another defeat at Lord's last week, this time at the hands of the Roving Tokers.
Fielding first, tight bowling from leg-spinner Saeed Iqbal and pace merchants Mark Wynne-Jones and Anthony Ainsworth, prevented the Tokers from gaining the initiative for much of their innings. They managed to score 86, which should have been easily attainable.
Derek Smith (26) and Saeed Khawaja (18) put on 35 in quick time for the first wicket. Matther Lonergan, promoted up the order to No. 3, was showing fine form until being stumped off his second ball. Unfortunately, the lower-order batsman could not keep up with the run-rate; Wynne Jones and Ainsworth swung their bats wildly, but more often than not failed to connect. When the overs ran out, LSE were only six runs short.
So another sad day for the cricketer (and team guru Kate Meyrick-who has also lost her project), but spirits were raised at the Cricketers' Ball, which proved to be a great success.
lOUGHTON i^RRY^
The big sports news around the College this week came on Tuesday night, when the first round of "A Question of Sport" was completed. Under the "quite remarkable" eyes of Crispin Leyser, many thrillers took place. Congratulations to Carol and Menna for humbling the Carr-Saunders crew; to Bobby "haircut" Jones, Chris Atkinson and Eddie "even worse haircut" Barber for using their supporters so effectively (obviously a home tie); and to Jon Nobbard, Dave Wilkinson and Ironfist for coping with frightening pressure.
Question: Are Everton concerned with (a) winning games or (b) maximising gate revenue? A tough one this, but the way they are going at the moment you would have to plump for (b). If they were to win the cup after their 3rd and 4th round efforts, they really will have done it the hard way.
One could never accuse England and Australia of seeking to maximise gate receipts in last week's test - this was a poor advent for the one day game as it drifted slowly, and without interest, to the inevitable draw. Other major points to come out of the game were (a) if groundsmen persist in turning out dead wickets no-one benefits, and (b) Chris Broad (Rod Corkhill from Brook-side) has got no brains and cares far more about himself than about the public's perception of his efforts - very Boycottesque.
Congratulations to Sandy Lyle for another win overseas. At the moment Lyle, Woosnan and Faldo seem to be fighting it out for the unofficial World Championship of Golf. Isn't it nice to know we can still succeed in one sport (apart from whippet racing!)
Rugby
L.S.E 3 Royal Free Hospital 20
The first match since Paris was a great disappointment. Despite taking an early lead, LSE never really played well and were duly defeated.
For the first 25 minutes LSE had all the play with Royal Free under sustained pressure. Unfortunately a drop goal by Barry Finlay was all there was to show for their domination. Gradually, Royal Free, led by their large pack, came back and scored two tries. One was a pushover from a 5 yard scrum and in the other their pack drove from a tap penalty.
In the second half LSE had the wind behind them and started strongly with the Royal Free fullback dropping several high kicks. However, once agin the opposition shook off their lethargy and began to assert themselves. The Royal Free backs began to run with the ball and good support led to two further tries.
Nevertheless, the LSE team performance was fair given the number of people ill and the fact that many had not played since Christ-