BEAVEL.
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ISSUE 233
FEB 11 th '85
N.U.S. DRAWS THE LINE
Report by Adrian Cohen
Confrontation reached new proportions last night at Sunderland Polytechnic - the first banned Jewish Society in six years. Over 850 students converged on Sunderland for a rally organised jointly by N.U.S. and U.J.S. A delagation of twenty students represented the L.S.E. The march was orderly, tempers being a little frayed when contact was made with the counter-demonstration of some thirty students. A hefty police presence prevented any violence. No arrests were made.
Once inside the polytechnic, the demonstrators assembled in a large hall and were addressed by members of the banned Jewish Society, Simon Myerson (chairperson of the U.J.S), and both Phil Woolas (President) and John Ershine (N.E. convenor of N.U.S).
All major political affiliations were present including, perhaps surprisingly, a Trotskyist tendency SSIN represented by Karen Talbot in support of the banned Jewish Society.
The publicity around this affair has been reaching proportions similar to that surrounding the 'Harrington Affair' at P.N.L., with considerable coverage in the Guardian.
The issue is whether Zionist Jewish Societies have the right to exist. The problems began when a policy of 'Zionism is Racism' was narrowly passed in the union meeting at Sunderland Poly. This led the Executive to bar the Jewish Society on grounds of "No Platform for Racism".
Since then, events have taken a bizarre turn, with the Executive creating what has been dubbed a 'stooge' society; a Jewish Society not supported by Jewish Students which is not 'Zionist'. Both Phil Woolas and John Erstine were unequivocal in their condemnation of the Executive's decision.
Phil Woolas went on to say that N.U.S. had rejected "Zionism is Racism^' on many occasions; that Zionism is the natural liberation movement of the Jewish people, and is legitimate
as Nicaraguan and Palestinian-Arab national movements. He finished by stating that "No Platform' is for declared racists. In stark contrast to his recep-
tion at the national demo's in London, Woolas' chances of reelection in the forthcoming N.U.S. primaries a power of good. A substantial number of
people were mobilised in response to the ban, with what was, in effect, only a week's notice. Most students had a minimum of four hours travel each way in order to attend; in particular, four coach-loads from Manchester made a big impresion.
Tke Sunderland Student Union are now holding an
Emergency General Meeting to ratify the Excutive's decisions, but with the President of the S.U., a mer.iber of the Socialist Organiser, opposing the ban, it is difficult to predict the result. One can only hope that the Union will rectify their error so that a precedent will not set for other anti-Zionist unions to follow.
'

0
1,
ELECTION RESULTS!!!
STUDENTS'
UNION EXECUTIVE
ELIZABETH ALLBRIGHT (INDEPENDENT) 214.88
ALAN EVANS 250.32 (LIBERAL)
GERARD MACMAHON 343 (LABOUR CLUB)
students'
union finance committee
RICHARD TULL 232.9 (INDEPENDENT)
HELEN RYLAND 204.81 (LIBERAL)
PETER WILCOCK 239 (LABOUR CLUB)
INSIDE
Roy
Hattersleyat the LSEon
TUES 19th FEB
LETTERS 2 SPORT 16
SOCIETIES 15 ARTS	8
page 2
LETTERS
BULL IN A CHINA SHOP
A PLEA FROM THE EDITORS
While we have been gratified by the size of our postbag in recent issues, the volume and length of letters is giving us space problems. Please keep on writing but we'd be grateful if you could keep it brief
Harrington, a victor?
Dear Editors,
Nigel Kilby and Jack Frost are wrong to suggest in the last edition of Beaver, that the only victor of the Patrick Harrington 'episode' was the latter. Their interpretation of events has been misguided as they have failed to appreciate the final outcome of this long drawn out affair, which will go down in the history books as the greatest example of students acting with each other to keep the P.N.L. campus free<of Nazis.
Below we present the only true conclusions that can be reached from the saga:
Firstly it did not publicize Harrington and his Nazi cause.It showed the utter abhorrence of people towards these vile beliefs, and their determination to keep their Polytechnic free of such contamination.
Secondly, Harrington has
gone back on his earlier insistence of refusing to be taught on his own. This is a recognition onn his part that he is not exactly the most popular person at P.N.L.
Thirdly, the students at the P.N.L. are now free of being intimidated by Harrington, or his solicitor who attended the course with his client, making a note of those students who may have said anything remotely offensive to their supposedly naive fascist friend.
We send our warmest wishes to Mr. Harrington who has indicated that he may be doing a postgraduate course next year in South Africa. This is probably the only place that will accept his repulsive beliefs, we beg him to stay there for all eternity.
Yours,
K.Macdonald.
G.Lineker.
To bait or not to bait ?.
Dear Editors,
In,attempting to climb out of the 'primeaval sludge' which Miss Huggins so cruelly condemned me to, I hope to also answer her accussation of my being a "pig ignorant git" (never? Ed). I shall take this opportunity to remind the dear lady in question what ignorance is all about. For ignorance concerns those who ignore other peoples thoughts and opinions. The very point of the Debating society is to discuss and come to an understanding of other peoples ideas, rather than simply to ignore or ban them as it would choose to do.
The motion that we will in fact debate this Tuesday reads as follows: "A woman with a lively mind is like a woman with a club foot."
The word useful does not appear in the motion, which I might add, makes no assump-
tions as to the worth of women, for each speaker may interpret the motion as he or she wishes. For if I was to propose this motion I would argue that neither a dab foot nor a lively mind changes our worth, for we are all equal in the eyes of God. Yet rather than debate this motion on paper I would implore you to attend our meeting this Tuesday at 1.00 p.m. in A86 to vocalise your heartfelt objections to this provocative motion. And in future if you disagree with what we are going to discuss, rather than writing immature and insulting letters to Beaver, come to our meetings and demonstrate the equality of women by beating us with thoughts and argue-ments, rather than insults and sneers.
Yours sincerely Jonathan Putsman.
BEAVER CREDITS
t
editors: Giles Perritt, Gilli Weedon, Ed Richards Societies Editor: Dayo Forster
Photography: Mark Moore, Alan Peakall, Sean Li, Peter Williams. Arts Editors: James Bailey, Toby Kramers.
Advertising: Juliette Giles.
Sports Editor: Shannon Ellesmere.
Beaver Team: Lucy Cohen, Eleanor Edwards, Sarah Bronzite, Becky Lunn, Carol Atack, Amanda Farnsworth, Natalia Berkowitz, Richard Jones, Hugh Sergeant.
Other contributors as credited.
Typesetters: Gee Graphics, 15-27 Gee Street, ECl.
Printers: Cambridge Heath Press, 3-13 Hepscott Road, E9.
Publishers: LSE Students Union, Houghton St, London WC2.
In replying to John Donkersly's 'scrap the Social Sec.' article in the last issue, I don't intend to go to the lengths he did, either polemically or in terms of column inches. Suffice to say that he defeated his own argument in the first two paragraphs. Overlooking the fact that his figures were inaccurate - what can you expect from an ex-Snr. Treasurer? - he stated we have a small Ents budget and a large services budget (well observed.
that, John). He stated also that we have one full-time student officer for Ents and eight full-time staff for the services. The logical conclusion that he drew from this was that we therefore needed nobody running Ents and a new Sabbatical to 'McGregor' the service staff. Quite how this is supposed to help either concern we did not learn in the next three columns. Quite how a self-professed socialist - one of the long line of
Beaver, February 11, 1985
like-minded Labour Sabbaticals - squares that obsession with line management with their views on the dignity of labour and workers control, I fail to appreciate.
All in all - as I said last year -John Donkersly giving advise to the Union on services is like Adolf Hitler advising the L.C.C. on how to deal with the Blitz damage.
Dave Bull
More Kilby............. and tact
ueM
every
Thurs
Dear Editors,
I am writing in answer to one of the letters, the many letters, of LSE's answer to Alf Garnett, Nigel Kilby, which appeared in the last issue of Beaver. Before I do however I most express bemusement as to Nigels "donning the mantle" of Nasty which appeared in only two out of his three letters. Is this a Freudian slip or a mere typing error? Is a third of Nigel actually nice? While pondering these questions I was reassured of Nigels' true character by his pictoral impersonation of Frankensteins' monster an page three, perhaps "Killer Kilby' would be more apt. ¦
A middle line.
Anyway it appears that Nigel was another victim of the typing error which confused so many about the notorious yet alas unheard TACT resolution and amendment. As the seconder to the original resolution I must reassure Nigel and others that it was not our intention to ban the gutter press at LSE. The amendment should have read that TACT would no longer be printed using Union facilities, not that it should be banned.
After last terms battle over "free speech' please give us more credit for 'tact' than that. Regarding Andrew Coopers' explanation of the '"Tough luck
Asif controversy, this appears dubious ¦ since the piece was (despite being slightly amended by the insertion of the word Ethiopia) copied from the book "The Thatcher Papers" by Andy Hamilton and Alistair Beaton, not only was it in appalling taste but it wasn't even original and breaks the authors 1980 copyright. I remain, attempting ' to look at the best in humanity, hopeful that the next edition of TACT raises'itself to the level of the playground, a considerable improvement upon the last.
Yours,
Ron Beadle.
Dear Sirs and Madam,
Not for the first time I find myself disgusted at the behaviour of the two extremist parties, F.C.S.and Labour Club, in the U.G.M. A member of the Labour club proposed a minutes silence tjiat was ludicrous and offensive in both nature and execution. Various dissenting members of the F.C.S.acted in a typically delinquent way by trying to sabotage the silence by chanting the national anthem. The mood of the silence
was controversial, disturbed and	consequently
inappropriate.
Simon Ellis quite blatantly used the deaths of innocent people as a political crowbar and clearly discriminated against the many other people killed in the crossfire of the Northern Ireland conflict by neglecting to honour them alongside the victims of 'Bloody Sunday'. He seemed to have forgotten that the silence as a mark of respect for the dead becomes invalid if
it is used to make a political point.
I am sure that most would agree that the victims of "Bloody Sunday' should not be forgotten but I am also sure that to remember them without even mentioning the hundreds of Londoners slaughtered by the other side is an act as disgusting as it is hypocritical.
Yours
Andrew Oldland.
The riotous right
Helpers,
helpers.
The S.U. Half-term playgroup needs you. If you would like to practise at being a playgroup leader, or to regress in safety, come along and help run the playgroup. No special skills are required, just some willing hands and a good sense of humour.....Monday 18th February to Friday 22nd, in the Societies Room. Please sign the Volunteers sheet placed outside the Welfare Office.
Beaver, February 11,1986
page-3
LSE ELECTIONS -A VICTORY FOR STV?
When You Wanna Go
Last Thursday's election saw the three seats on the Finance Committee and the Executive Committee filled by a Labour, a Liberal and an Independent candidate. It was a classic case of the way STV (Single Transferable Vote) favours the centre. On the Finance Committee, Labour and Tory got 63% of the first preference votes, and ended up with one seat between them. The results were almost identical for the Executive. Is that proportional representation? Is that fair?
A first-past-the-post system would have elected 2 Labour and a Liberal to the Finance Committee and a Labour, a Liberal and a Tory to the Executive. Thus Labour and Tory would have picked up four seats, and the Liberals two seats. Surely this would have been a much fairer representation?
There is another imbalance in STV that will act against all large groups in the Executive elections at the end of this term. If a group has more than one candidate standing, the candidate highest on the voting paper tends to pick up the
largest number of first preference votes. It is therefore possible, and happens quite often, that candidates lower on the voting will pick up too few first preference votes and be eliminated, even when the group as a whole had enough votes for all its candidates to be elected. So voters in the know have to try to counteract this effect by the haphazard procedure of "voting up", which is never properly effective and is surely the sort of tactical voting problem that should be eliminated by any really fair system.
In the first preference count for both committees, the Independent candidate came fourth in each case with only 17% of the votes, but was ultimately elected - everybody's second choice but almost nobody's first. You might want to devise a system that moderated a plain first-past-the-post system, but the present STV system, which gives the outer two thirds of the vote one seat and the inner third of the vote two seats is neither representative nor fair, and ought to be changed.
Richard Snell
1"^
LQiq-:
Love adrift and far away.
Like a distant ship at sea>
Lost in mist and led astray Past the breeze that blew for me.
Soon had disappeared from view On the never-ending sea.
Forward but forever true,
Round the globe and back to thee.
N. Radne-Jaqu^, 1983
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A Service of

iqbai M/^HHAB S DIARV
MONDAY
On the campaign trail. The energy and rigour with which people pursue these posts is totally incongruent with their importance. Some people take to dressing differently. Take Elizabeth Albright (Independent Student candidate for Exec.). Today she is wearing what she calls her "interview suit". 1 tell her she looks like an air hostess and ask her if she has a sick bag. She is not amused.
¦ *
The Overseas student society announce a trial period of democracy. The self-appointed leaders of last year bow down in a blaze of glor}', having spent in the region of £1000 already this year. The man with the power in the OSS is Charles Rossman - a rich American megalomaniac who stays on as treasurer and who has dragged his friends onto the Executive to ensure
that he continues to get his way. I suggest he would make a good consultant to the Labour Club on the art of getting your own way without anyone noticing.
Beaver appears. It marks the end of the Cohen/Edwards regime. People are queueing up to tell Lucy how bad the issue is. A major complaint is the "Butler and Kavanagh" article predicting who is running for what sabatical post. Every protestor feels the wrath of the Cohen tongue and walks despondently away wondering why the hell they bothered goipg up to her in the first place.
TUESDAY]
I acquire access to some interesting correspondance which has taken place of late between the Admin. Subcommittee and one Edward Lucas. Lucas is refusing to return the two weeks' salary that he was paid in advance of his resignation. The ASC first asked that the money be returned but he refused on the grounds that he had worked that much in overtime. They then asked him to donate the money to the South African Scholarship Fund in order that he 'redeem' himself But, for once in his life, he is remaining resolute and has suggested thai the matter be taken to "an outside assessor" like the LSE industrial relations dept. which, the ASC might like to know, was Lucas' own department.
WEDNESDAY j
The eve of the elections and the heat is on. Independent Student are accusing Nigel Kilby of stealing their leaflets from underneath peoples doors in the halls and then conveniently desposing of them. Kilby denies personally having committed the dastardly act, but admits that other FCS members did. He says "They were incorrectly briefed". From this confrontation between IS and FCS, it transpires that there is some sort of pact to advise voters to transfer to the other group. As independent Richard Tull said to Simon McVicker, FCS vice-chair, "This is a very strange thing to do. seeing as we are supposed to be on the same side". I go to the library to look up the meaning of the word 'independent'.
*
Simon Hughes, Liberal MP for Bermondsey, speaks at a Christian Union meeting. Alan Evans, Liberal candidate for the Exec., doesn't realise who he is and tries to canvass for his vote. Hughes gently points out that he doesn't have a vote but nudges Evans in the direction of
a group of people who might.
if:
The ballot box for the next day is being kept in the Beaver office. It is chained up and inside are lots of pieces of paper. Two inquisitive Beaver editors quite comfortably manage to remove the chain and find the box to be full of ballot papers for the elections. They put the
chain back on. Presently Jim O'Sullivan the Returning Officer arrives. For some strange reason he wishes to open the box but can't find the key. Someone tells him that he left the key on a table in Flor-ries. Independent Student witness this and suspect a labour plot. This is further compounded by allegations that an unknown number of people are allowed to vote in advance.
THURSDAY
The day of reckoning. People start to realise that I am 'up to something' when they see that I am the only person on the steps of the old building not canvassing for anyone. Iain Miller comes up and tries to convince me that Simon Brewer is modelling underwear for Tatler magazine, but I don't believe him. Not surprisingly, nor does anyone else - everj'one is too busj' wondering who is going to vote foi- Nigel Kilby as many members of the FCS boast that they won't,
*
The Union meeting The 'Bloody Sunday' business irritate? many people on the right. It makes Nigel Kilby very angry. People follow him around the School to see if he will actually hit anyone but unfortunately he doesn't. Everyone seems perversely disappointed in Angryperson's ability to control himself
H-
The count. I still haven't managed to figure out why everyone
is allowed to be in the room while the count is still taking place. The whole affair would be over much quicker if the hacks were cleared out. The Returning Officer could come into the Three Tuns, get in front of the microphone on the stage with the candidates behind him and announce the results as they do in proper elections. After all, on such nights the Tuns is where all the fun takes place.The candidates and especially the victors can now stop being nice to everyone. Take for example Gerard McMahon. I introduce him to Ed Richards who obviously doesn't know who he is. McMahon can't believe it. "I was the best known candidate in this election and the Editor of Beaver doesn't know who 1 am!"
FRIDAY!
Rajat Kohli's inexorable progress towards total and complete anglicization has taken a nosedive since his recent visit to India. He can now be seen walking up and down the Brun-chbowl rocking his head from side to side saying "Hallo plizz" to all and sundrj' He invites me to a "desi" (i.e. compatriots^ dinner party, which turns out to be a very wild and Indian evening. Two of his English flatmates spend the evening sitting in a corner dumbfounded by what they are witnessing - the shedding of Raj's inhibitions. Tough on them and bully for Raj.
phge^i
Beaver, February 11, 1985 ¦
THE GREAT DEBATE
On Monday 28th January the monumental battle of rhetoric between our present day Goliaths of debate (?) and the cream of yesteryear sabbaticals (?) took place. The event was chaired by "Uncle" Ken Minogue. Sartor-ially elegant as ever, he sported what could have been a kilt around his neck: reactionary in politics he may be, reactionary in neckwear he is not.
First up was SDP turncoat Keir Hopley. Keir squirmed his way through a list of ageold anecdotes: "to generalise is to be an idiot, said Blake", said Hopley. Very prophetic Keir,
very prophetic indeed. Mr Hopley chased his tail for a while, amusing us only with the first of many references to Ed Lucas, "a man of muscular Christianity", he exclaimed.
This was to be his impassioned finale before he slithered back under his stone.
Next into the fray, already well-oiled by O'Driscoll hospitality, was Francis Keohane of '68-69 fame. The revolutionary flames seemed to burn still brightly if only in the firey oration of Keohane. He complemented the wine, he criticised Hopley, and he quoted from Rousseau in the most vehement of polemics.
Puttsman rose, strode to the microphone, fondled it and proceeded to turn it off. Jonathan talks well on Judaism, if nothing else. But what is it about Mr Puttsman that gives him a neurosis that all LSE students are anti-semitic, even the Jewish ones? Having exhausted his poorly prepared list of personal insults, Puttsman retired, grinning like a schoolboy awarded his first gold star.
Steve "Biker" Pound stomped in in full regalia; Belstaff, boots and helmet not far behind.
Serious he looked and serious he was, setting a precedent that definitely would not be followed. Possibly he misjudged the mood of the evening. Possibly he did not. Either way, he was boring.
Richard Shackleton announced "If you fear tht some boring old fart is about to talk to you about integrity, your fears are well founded". This was not altogether useful. It raised a laugh but, to a certain extent, resigned people to another purely rhetorical speech. In fact, the shy ex-Senior Treasiirer came closest of all to donning the mantle and doffing integrity.
CHRIS PATTEN:
Target Practice.
pagne for the best speech from the floor was won by Scott Lucas, largely, I suspect, on the basis of his analysis that, as an American, he had no integrity and definitely could not discuss the motion.
Mr Moszynski talked of bananas, yet even in this apparently fruitful area, he could offer little. Professor Desai gave us a Marxist/Leninist analysis of a few eminently forgettable topics one of which may well ahve been integriy. He ranted in between puffs of quite the largest proletarian cigar that I have ever seen, but I am sure that it was from Havana with Castro's complements and therefore ideologically sound.
Of the past generations, the pick was an ex-president of'51-52 who, having run through the uses of olive oil as a contracep--tive device, with the audience . in complete furore, announced on the subject of general secre-taries, "Never mind the integrity, you've got to be a nutter!". Paradoxically, one of the most sane comments of the evening.
To summate, Hopley once more squirmed out from under his stone and soon returned when confronted by the chimes of "Boring! Boring!" Keohane, by now practically under the table, staggered to the microphone to spend the debate's final three minutes congra-tualating Rory once again on • the wine list. Uncle Ken Minogue, mopping his forehead with his kilt, offered a final piece of token resistance by asking for a vote. He gleefully announced that the drunken Left had won the day "It was that last bottle of white that won it for us" Keohane whispered to O'Driscoll as they gurgled with delight. Personally, I am not so sure of this, but it may well have been Mr Keohane... it may well have been.
Ed Richards.
Finally, amidst much anticipation, O'Driscoll the crowd-puller arose. Would he stumble into the quagmire of his own excessively liquid hospitality, or would he just stumble in the same manner that he usually does? Unfortunately, Rory lowered his guard and, as Puttsman had done earlier, landed a few comments below the belt. Such gusto! But, as usual, Rory harangued us with what may have been pearl after pearl of wisdom to him but was more often than not a source of confusion to a bemused audience. That done, the floor was giver its opportunity by the hapless Uncle Ken. The bottle of cham-
The Under Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was put upon to endure the slings and arrows of outraged Leftwing opinion on Monday. Mr Patten began in soft accommodating tones, to paint a picture of his own adjustment to the reality of Ulster. The need to have four policemen as travelling companions in an armoured car; recognising the difference between a Catholic and a Protestant knee-capping - the former preferring a shotgun to the latters Black and Decker drill. Clearly, a state of complete tribal brutality in the order of Cyprus or Lebanon.
Then the Secretary injected the inevitable historical insight. At the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Machiavellian directives caused the province to be settled with loyalists: Scots pre; sbyterians. Siege mentality has ensued ever since... a ready knowledge of the crucial period 1640-1689 still an element in contemporary political debate.
Northern Ireland was the casualty of unreasonable governing. Recent talks with the Republican government of the South based on culture gave grounds for "creative pessimism".
Chris Patten took a lot of flak as soon as the questions began. His analysis was derided as imperialist lies to justify and maintain conquest. It ignored the 80% vote in 1916 to be independent and left the province open to exploiters in the mould of DeLorean.
"That's a point of view" responded Mr Patten with Inns of Court irony. The question of exploitation was far more complex. Mr Patten's own ancestors had left Ireland during the famine and over four mil-lionhon the mainland were of similar extraction. He added that it was impossible to go back to 1916 or 1920.
The Secretary fought off accusations of 'cliques' to respond to calls for the disband-ment of the UDR. He admitted
1
EIKE^ AMD EANANAS
-ffr THC GrRCA-r TOATC ))
DECLINE
It was only a minority who expressed discontent with British rule, Mr Patten continued reasonably, jerking us back to the twentieth century. O'Brien Catholics had declared themselves unconcerned by the presence of Protestants. If anything, the Protestant community was concerned: with traditional thinking on the average family size and the Protestant numerical decline since the 1920s. The minister allowed himself an academic aside, namely that if King Henry's initial hold on the province had been stronger, the conflict might have ended.
Chris Patten sketched an economy where the main pillars of shipbulding and textiles had contracted. This came largely from Victorian decline worsened by the difficulty of investment in the gunmen's country. Over 70% of Ulster's GNP comes from public expenditure - 1.3 billion pounds to Northern Ireland. Thus ideas of financial gains for the mainland from Northern Ireland are groundless. Unemployment hovers between 40-50% and housing described as excellent in 1885 now needs £550M spent on it in Belfast and Derry.
In the late 1960s troops went in. For fifteen years the government had stood by the constitutional constraint of a majority. The 1974 attempt to earn acquiescence for the institutions of the state had been invalidated. Direct rule was everybody's second choice.
the UDR's bad image and commented on the IRA's off-duty excesses against it. Better by far to improve its image under the rule of law. One is obliged, he said, to act against terrorism when directed at a parliamentary democracy. The minister ignored cries of "scapegoats'.
Another question concerned the fear of ignoring the IRA and thus polarising minority opinion behind them. Mr Patten firmly asserted Dr Fitzgerald's view of the difference between those who endorse violence and real politicians. He would only deal with constituency matters in respect of Sinn Fein or Gerry Adams. Mr Patten further pointed out that Sinn Fein's electoral success was largel due to abstentionist votes.
Mr Patten scoffed at figures given by the next questioner based on Rose 1974-5 and the ideals of the civil rights movement in 1969 which was crushed. He dismissed the comments made by John Hume and Gerry Fitt during the 1970s. "You cannot pour Belfast into a Marxist mould".
Thus the Under Secretary wound up under a verbal barrage of dissent - in some quarters - reminding us of what the government was obliged to do in Northern Ireland. On the whole, a competent, sympathetic government performance. But one is reminded of Noel Coward's words: "It's as clear as crystal/From Brooklyn Bridge to Bristol/That we can't save democracy/And we don't much care.
David Gregory.
Beaver, February Tl, 1985
i P^e5
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Are the disasters in the African continent that are causing the death of over fifty milUon people a year God-given or manmade?
The shortage of food in the Third World is not because those countries do not produce enough to feed their population adequately. India, for exampje, is now totally self-sufficient in food, yet last year ten million people died from hunger-related diseases. The real cause is that one third of the world's population in the rich North consumes two thirds of the world's food. Third World countries export a vast proportion of their crops while their populations go hungry. While the West gives aid to Ethiopia, they are simultaneously consuming coffee, watermelons and other crops which are produced in the most fertile areas, which could be used to feed the dying thousands.
The world economic system puts profit before people. Food goes to those who offer the highest price. The North's control of Third World economies did not end with decolonisation, but continued under enormous multinational corporations
monopolising world food markets. Sixty per cent of the world's banana production is controlled by three multinationals. Land in the Third World is often used to grow non-nutritious cash crops such as coffee, tea, cocoa and tobacco. Lack of alternative emplojrment forces millions to work for pitiful wages for these multinationals. They find themselves in an inescapable poverty trap.
Ironically, independent Third World producers have decreased in number because of so-called "aid and development". Increased food production following new technology often causes greater poverty as more food goes on the market, the price falls. Small producers go out of business and are forced to sell their land. Often, they are obliged to leave for the overcrowded cities in search of work.
The growing problem of world poverty will not be solved by working within the present world economic system. We individually help to perpetuate this situation by buying cash crops from the multinationals. To prevent this "silent holocaust", we must use our income
to support independent cooperatives either by direct giving or through buying from an alternative marketing organisation.
A good example is Traidcraft, which helps co-operatives by marketing their goods, advising on new designs, paying fair prices and helping with cash advances. We in Britain spend five hundred times more than we give. Traidcraft sees the potential of trying to influence the way we spend our money. If
only one per cent of our income was spent through a system that was committed to justice for the world's poor, then millions of pounds extra would go to help the Third World producers out of thier poverty trap. In accordance with these aims, Traidcraft is not controlled by individuals, but by a parent trust. Every Wednesday you have the chance to put into practise your new consumer policy by buying from a Traidcraft stall outside the Old
Theatre from 11 am until 2 pm. A group has also been formed to promote Third World Issues together with the closely allied ecological issues at LSE.
Roger Hallam.
TRAinCRAFr
II
STRUGGLING ON - SOUTH AFRICA AND THE ANC
A recent address by George Johannes of the African National Congress brought to the forefront for LSE students the reality of ongoing struggle in South Africa. From 1912 to the present, the ANC has been working for the abolition of apartheid - a system where fundamental and structural injustices are reflected in a duality of racism and economic exploitation.
The most profound aspect of such that men are lured into
Johannes' presentation was his ability to project the South African struggle into the realm of international affairs. Forced removal of blacks into Bantus-tans, racism legitimised by pass laws, the Group Areas Act and a heightened state of militarisation are all elements of apartheid essentially linked to Thatcher, Reagan and the broader context of Western imperialism.
Unparalled foreign investment is dominated by Britain, closely followed by the US and West Germany. This allows for growth, based on cheap labour, of the oppressive military sector of South Africa's economy. Investment seen in this light makes Johannes' assertion of British collaboration with apartheid an entirely valid claim.
Capital investment growth cannot be isolated from the exploitation of labour. It is this exploitation which attracts Western finance and which forms the backbone of mineral extraction industry. The bulk of the labour force comes from millions of dispossessed Africans. The division of labour is
working for outrageously low wages while women are left to raise children in areas infested by poverty and disease. Thus development of an internal machinery of oppression is seen as necessary to keep the black majority in a permanent state of servitude.
Military build-up, supported by Britain, the US, Israel and West Germany is a force existing specifically to maintain concentrated internal power, and as a mechanism safeguarding the strategic and economic interest of South Africa's Western allies. South Africa's foreign policy towards neighbouring countries reflects that of an expansionist and imperialist power. Militarisation and repression are means employed by the National Party to counter the strength of the national liberation movements, specifically the ANC.
1960, a year in which the ANC was forced underground, marked a turning point in the movement's history. After the massacre at Sharpesville where peaceful protestors fell victim to apartheid's senseless brutality.
Geqrge Johannes from the ANC
the ANC's commitment to liberation went beyond reform to the complete abolition of apartheid by any means possible.
"Our people have come to the conclusion" Johannes announced, "that our democratic rights can only be established by the overthrow of the
government". Selective violence and industrial sabotage are viewed by the ANC as essential means to break the economic and military stranglehold of a power so oppressive that it seeks to deprive the majority of its population.
South Africa's new constitution cannot mask the reality of systematic and deliberate injustice. Education is manipulated to reinforce exclusion of blacks
from political and social power. Age limit laws restrict students from continuing their education past the age of 17, corporal punishment and sexual harassment are regular abuses of the apartheid education scheme. This, along with forced removals and productivity hinging on labour exploitation, all indicate the extent to which the existing social order can never respect the human rights of South Africa's majority.
Johannes made it quite clear
that the ANC and the people of South Africa will struggle until apartheid falls. He depicts his country not as blacks against whites, but as people struggling in solidarity with Greenham women, with the miners in Britain - against the common enemies of imperialism and the inherent immorality of domination.
Jo Kreiter
I
page 6
Beaver, February 11,1985
WOMEN AND DRUGS
Society sends out very strong messages to women about how they should behave, think and feel. The more powerless women feel, the more they need to compensate for it. The drop in the price of heroin due to the large quantities available has meant that more people have ready access to a drug that acts as a form of insulation against the stresses engendered by our hightech, competitive society. Yet why is it that almost 60% of those seeking counselling today are women? One project in West London
which concentrates on the problems surrounding drug abuse estimates that, in 1979 34% of their clients were women; in 1981 41%, and in 1984 59.8%. They believe that drug use is something much bigger than a fun diversion or a form of rebellion. For a lot of women it is due to feeling trgipped and isolated because of their inability to express themselves and how they feel inside.
Most of the women who come to them are harassed housewives struggling to cope with the demands of a family; women tiying to cope with poverty and bad housing; women in isola-. tion and those who, if they become ill as a result of this pressure and seek help from a doctor, will most likely be given a prescription for valium "to help them cope". Taking prescribed drugs is seen as more respectable than using heroin. Heroin is in fact the classical "drug of despair" and it is a somewhat cjoiical irony that it is virtually the only addivtive substance to decrease in price since the government took office.
Social Deviants
Why are the effects of heroin on women greater than they are on men? Women's livers are smaller than men's which means that they are prone to suffer liver damage more quickly. Women ae also more sucseptible to tetanus and heavy or regular use of opiates can affect menstruation and pregnancy. But possibly the greatest effects are of a social nature. Why is it that women using heroin and other opiates are viewed in a totally different light to men? Because heroin is illegal and is portrayed by the media as the worst and hardest drug, women using it are seen as deviant and outside society. Heroin users are never seen as being good mothers, hard workers or socially useful people. On the contrary, they are pictured as disturbed, physically dirty, and often compulsive liars. Thus the effect is that taking a tablet indicates that there must be something wrong with you, and not with your life.
Why are twice as many women given minor tranquilis-
ers' or "tranx"? In 1984, it was estimated that one out of every three women was prescribed tranx by her doctor. Why is this? When women visit the doctor, they are more likely to be given mood altering drugs, whereas men are given a physical examination and treatment. Drug companies bombard women with advertisements showing them in their day to day lives being "helped" by tranx. In the end women turn anger and frustration upon themselves and consequently feel depressed. Mental illness is diagnosed and another drug handed out. Why is it that when
men act angrily or violently, this is seen as normal male behaviour, whereas women are "neurotic, pillpopping housewives".
Statistics have shown that women's bodies are more easily damaged than men's by tranx. For example it suppresses their emotions more easily and males vision blurred and causes boss of concentration more quickly. There is also some evidence that tranx will effect the unborn body by passing through the mother's bloodstream and resulting in deformity of the child.. Yet tranx can be very addictive, a
fact some doctors refuse to recognise.
The mjfths and stereotypes of women drug users promoted by advertising, the media, and the medic profession need to be challenged; the reality is that the number of women taking drugs is on the increase, and the effedts considerably more dangerous than they are in men. What may start out as a way of rebelling and refusing to conform can become another way of keepng women powerless - but one with a very bad reputation and legal penalties.
Becky Lunn
THE SILENT SCREAM
The Anti-Abortion lobby is stepping up its efforts to secure the repeal of the 1967 Abortion Act which legalises abortion on certain medical and social grounds. The latest weapon in its armoury is a 26 minute film imported from America called the Silent Scream, which uses a technique known as "real-time ultra sound imaging" to show what happens to the foetus in the womb in the course of an abortion.
The film, which was recently have appeared on television and
screened on ITN shows very distressing images of the foetus being broken up and sucked out of the womb and is accompanied by a highly emotive commentary from the man who made the film. New York gynaecologist, Dr Bernard Nathanson. Dr Nathanson, who used to run an abortion dime in Manhattan, claims he made the film to support President Reagan's assertion that the foetus feels pain and it is this proposition which has caused so much controversy.
Members of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
on the radio following the showing of the film stating quite categorically that the form of abortion portrayed is performed under anaesthetic and all available medical evidence demonstrates that under these con-diions, the foetus also is anaesthetised and feels no pain. This claim would seem to be borne out by the development of new. techniques for performing therapeutic surgery on the foetus in the womb, which would be inconceivable unless it were possible to anaesthetise the foetus.
The pain and terror suffered
by the foetus during abortion is inferred from its agitation and the opening of its mouth as the surgical apparatus is introduced into the womb and suction begins to create turbulance in the amniotic fluid. The foetus opening its mouth emits, according to Dr Nathanson, a silent scream, while we are struck dumb with horror, as we are intended to be, at the implications of legalising such a practice. When I asked a spokesman for the RCAG about this scream, I was told that the foetus sustains life in the womb by swallowing the liquor in which it floats and excreting it through the kidneys. The opening and closing of the foetus' mouth is therefore not only natural and normal but necessary. In this and a number of other respects, the RCAG spokesman felt the film constituted a "total misrepresentation of the truth".
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Birth Control & Pregnancy Counselling 31/35, Langham Street, London WIN 6LE. (just 3 mins Oxford Circus).
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Many gynaecologists are angry about the film, not only because they believe it falsifies medical evidence, but because it puts doctors who perform abortions in a very bad light. Others, who are themselves opposed to abortion, take a different view. Anti-Abortion groups who are enthusiastically showing the Silent Scream up and down the country, are less conc^ .led with questions of medical veracity.
When I questioned a member of the organisation LIFE about the film, she conceded that the scream might not in fact be a scream, and as to whether the foetus feels pain or not, she, as a lay person, couldn't say. She also conceded that the commentary by Dr Nathanson could be seen as emotive, but her organisation regarded it as a useful "tool to stimulate debate". "Our method", she stated, "is to put the facts and let them speak for themselves". If there is one thing facts never do, in my experience, it is to speak for themselves and the Silent Scream is no exception. Mrs Scarisbrick of LIFE is not the only "lay person" who will see this film and accept Dr Nathan-son's highly controversial interpretation of the reality of abortion.
The Women's Reproductive Rights Information Centre (52-54 Featherstone Street, ECl) are very worried about the impact this film could have, not only on women who may be contemplating abortion, but on those who have had abortions in the past. Its arrival in this country coincides with the passage through Parliament of Enoch Powell's Unborn Children (Protection) Bill, soon to have its second reading. This Bill, a response to the Warnock Report, seeks to ban research on the human embryo and many women's groups believe it will be used to mount a new attack on abortion as well as on many widely used contraceptives,
which work by preventing implantation of the fertilised ovum.	Those who
remember the Babies for Burning Report published in the mid 1970s are aware just how far the anti-abortion lobby is sometimes prepared to go to achieve its aims. This report, subsequently shown to be a complete fabrication with no basis in fact at all, claimed to reveal a monstrous network of Harley Street gynaecologists who were making huge profits from selling foetuses to factories producing soap and cosmetics. It also alleged that doctors received DHSS circulars instructing them to burn foetuses and painted a lurid picture of the products of abortion as live babies which then had to be 'murdered'.
There are suspicious parallels between Babies foV Burning and The Silent Scream. Both involve doctors who have performed abortions and who are then "converted' to an anti-abortion stance. Both claim to present the 'facts' in a disinterested way while using highly emotive language. The one question on which both are strikingly silent is the rights and feelings of women. There are two points which are never raised by the anti-abortion lobby. Firstly, history shows that women who do not want to have babies, for what ever reason, will find ways of aborting, at whatever cost to themselves and the cost has often been high. Secondly, the whole edifice of human rights legislation has been built on the premise that human beings, including women, are to be treated as ends in themselves and not as instruments for achieving some ulterior purpose. Abortion raises difficult ethical questions but the debate cannot be conducted ignoring consideration of women's point of
Eleanor Edw^ards
Beaver, February 11, 1985
page 7
INTELLIGENCE
ATITN
The ITN is proud of its news. So proud, in fact, that when it was discovered that the security men had retuned the television monitor in the reception area at ITN to BBC, it was replaced by one which shows nothing but ITV.
At the centre of the hightech glass and steel ITN building - a stone's throw from Broadcasting House -is Sir Alastair Burnet's office. At first sight it is apparent that this is not the office of a mere newsreader. A television flickers in the background showing, with the aid of a massive radar on the roof, the Russian nejvs. All the daily papers are laid out on a table next to the discreet drinks cabinet and there, on the other side of a desk laden with telephones, is ¦ Sir Alastair himself. He stands up to shake hands, proving once and for all that there is, in fact, another half to his body. He speaks exactly as he does on the news — slowly enough to make a decision between every word as to whether or not he is about to put his foot in it. I realised as soon as he said, "As you know, news-castors have no visible opinions" that it was going to be a difficult interview.
Sir Alastair is not just a news-castor. He is, to some extent, a newsmaker. A3 he is Associate Editor of News At Ten and a member of the Board of The Times, as well as ex-Editor of The Economist and the Daily Express, one could be forgiven for believing that he might, after all, have some opinions tucked away somewhere.
He insists, however that his job at ITN is concerned in the first instance with the technical side of the news programme — consistency and continuity rather than the general slant of what we see. Apparently he was offered a slot on the news where
he could have absolute control of the content, with his own sciptwriters, as Mr Kronkite did at CBS news in America. Sir Alastair said that he turned this down because he felt that it was impossible, as one person in front of the camera, to give a valid and', objective view of world events:. Personalities, he said, should not be given much importance as they are. Encouraged by this, and realising that it was not a good time to ask him about his knighthood, I asked him about ITN coverage of the miners' strike. His invisible opinions immediately took on a more solid form as he leapt to the defence of ITN.
Visible Opinions
When I put it to him that the way the cameras face during coverage of the picket lines had a lot to do with how the viewers understood the strike he replied that this was an "unsubstantiated theory". He equated it with reports that he had received from people who had studied the number of times that his mouth turned up or down in relation to certain issues while he was reading the news, thus indicating his prejudices. Without even looking at his mouth, I could teli that Sir Alastair was not going to allow any suggestion that ITN had not fulfilled its reponsibilities in its coverage of the strike. He said that news reporters and cameramen are never sent out with a brief to put a particular slant on what they film and that the coverage was not definitive, but illustrative. Maybe there should be a little note at the end of the news to this effect, as over
60% of people have said that they regard the television news as their main source of information on current affairs.
I got the impression that Sir Alastair and Arthur Scargill are probably not best friends.
Scargill and I?
Sir Alastair made it clear that he will keep his criticisms of Arthur Scargill until after the strike is over, but he still managed to convey where his feelings lie. "When you are on the scene of a riot...(pause)... which is one description of it, or a peaceful picket, which is another..." Sir Alastair is, however, happy to be judged on ITN's coverage of the strike, and I agreed with him that ITN's record over the last eleven months is a lot better than that of.the BBC.
Sir Alastair's previous employment on The Economist and The Daily Express appears to have been to have been mixed. He said that he enjoyed working on The Economist, which he did for six years. He established that editing The Economist and editing the news are two completely different things. The greatest crime according to him is to talk down to an audience, and the two audiences are very different. His experience on the Daily Express was not so happy. With a lot of modesty, Sir Alastair admitted that he had not thought that he was making a very good job of editing the Express, and so he left. He is also a great believer in not staying in a job for too long. His advice to all budding careerists is not to stay in one job for more than ten years. His stay at the
SIR ALASTAIR BURNET
Express was considerably shorter than that, but that appears to me to be a recommendation rather than a fault!
The area which interested both of us most during the interview was that of the responsibility of the media in directing the spotlight of public opinion on various issues. Sir Alastair pointed out that the media had had the dual effect during its coverage of the famine in Ethiopia of stimulating public support of famine relief but, at the same time had turned attention away from the equally terrible situation in the Southern Sahara region in Africa. He felt that the responsibility of the media in these
areas is enormous, and that they are in a Catch 22 situation whatever they report on situations where people are despar-ately in need of help.
I tried hard to elicit some kind words about the plight of sudents, and was partially successful, even though Sir Alastair seemed very fond of fellow knight Sir Keith Joseph. He likened the education system to the car industry, where complaints are made when govern-ment subsidies are not increased as much as people would like. So, if you ever feel as though you are stuck on life's great conveyor belt at the LSE, Sir Alastair agrees with you. Giles Perritt.

ZIONISM, LOGIC, AND THE JEWISH QUESTION
The banning of the Jewish Society of Suriderland Polytechnic's Student Union has to be understood as an exercise in pure logic: the union had a policy of "No Platform for Racism', and,on these grounds, when faced with a Zionist Jewish Society, banned it.
For those who believe in 'No Platform', this must present a problem, for following this~ logic, every Jewish institution (the Union of Jewish Students, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the World Jewish Congress, and so on) all profess racism. Clearly, according to strict logic, these too would have to be banned, along with the majority of the Jewish population, including many Jewish and non-Jewish activists on the left, such as Tony Benn, Eric Heffer, Ian Mikardo, and Chris Smith,- all of whom profess sympathy for Zionism. It's logical. So something is wrong, and as the logic works, it must be the premise - that is to say, "Zionism is Racism' is false.
Zionism is the only national movement ever t6 be condemned as a form of racism by the General Assembly of the UN,
after a resolution was passed by an alliance of Arab states, the so-called Communism blocks, and non-aligned Third World states dependent on Middle Eastern oil. The hypocrisy of many of these states who actively discriminate against their own ethnic minorities neeedn't be stated here, but clearly sincere anti-racism was not their motivation.
So what was and what are to implications of the latest events up in Sunderland? Frstly, it must be understood that to attack Zionism is not to attack the Israeli government of the day or any aspect of state practise but to go back much further: to try and delegitamise an ideal to which the majority of Jews and all their institutions adhere. It is a denial of self-determination of the Jewish people.
Zionism simply put is the belief that Jews constitute a people, and as such have the right to a national home in the Land of Israel with which they have always spiritually and culturally identified themselves, and where a sinificant number have always lived. Furth-
ermore, Zionism is a political and emotional reaction to having suffered prejudice and persecution over 2000 years, culminating in the Holocaust 40 years ago.
What Zionism is NOT is a theory of race. Radical theorists base their theories on radical and generic definitions; for example, Nazism and Apartheid. Zionism may discrminate between nationals, but so does every nationality, including Palestinian- nationalism. Clearly, the criteria applied to Jewish nationalism equally applied to Irish or any ot^er nationalism would produce the result that 'Nationalism is Racism': a false statement. The result of banning Jewish Societies is anti-semitic becuase it discriminates aganst the Jewish people. It denies their right to self-expression, and as an analysis it is false and inconsistent. Finally, it undermines 'No Platform for Racism' as an effective anti-racist weapon.
Racists are those who preach race theory and race hatred, no one else.
pose 8
Beaver, February 11, 1985
THE LONDON ARTS
IHEAXRE

• ¦ijsf'.
Trouble with legs in Poppies
POPPIES: GAY SWEATSHOP
The lights come up to three benches and autumn leaves. In 1987 Sammy gives us a view from the top of Parliament Hill. On one side is London, the other is "the eternal side", and Sammy is on top of the world. The poetiy in the character's speech gives a fresh quality to this play - the actor is acting and not being his part: the characters take risks and the players are in control. At times the writing seemed too contrived, but because of the depth of the language used and the strength of the actors it did not detract from the effects of the performance.
'Poppies' gives four male relationships, two of them homosexual.
THE POWER OF THE 006
Shock! The love expressed between the gay men was the same that 1 feel for my girlfriend -1 was amazed that I thought it would be different. Men loving men seems natural...but being 'in love'? Dealing with loneliness, jealousy, love and desire in times of war the play raises "such a suchness". The ideas fUl the theatre but are not focused onto the stage. It is like a table at a jumble sale piled high with interesting clothes -there are so many but none hold the attention for long before another is seen.
This writer, though, is something of a craftsman; his characters speak poetry, comic relief is provided, and he con-
jures ideas in the head. The actors presented a play for the first hour and then progressed into theatre. There were lessons to be learnt here, but they were not taught. 'Poppies' holds "a mirror up to nature", even if it is a Uttle plouded at times.
There is more to love than the working of the mind and more to the earth than you might think. 'Poppies' ended in silence - a silence that recognised that something was going on. We then suocembed to the convention of clapping. The play runs until the 16th of February at the Drill Hall - well worth seeing!
Greg Thompson
The power of the dog
Howard Baker's play is framed by scees from the inner rooms of Stalin's Kremlin where we see Stalin determine the destiny of the world with the help of Churchill amid speeches of self-congratulation. The play deals primarily
with history, the mad dog, Stalin, overwhelming and arbitrary.
Stalin comes across as a paranoid god-king (is not dog an anagram of god?), while Soviet front-line soldiers invoke his powers like Macbeth's
witches around the cauldron; he is wilful, cruel and horrifyingly amoral.
The main marrative which weaves through diatrabes on Soviet film-making revolves around a beautful Kungarian photographer, nana. She has spent four years tramping about a devastated Europe courting all sides in the conflict, and so surviving the mad dog history by prostrating herself to it and showing her throat.
And so she proceeds with her business, unscathed in her cool, stylish and immaculate clothes, and ignoring the horrors of war. Indeed, she lets nothing please her, not even finding her sister's hanged cadaver which she disowns, but not before taking the compulsory photograph of the victim with out shoes and stockings.
The victims of history are those like nana's assistant and the letter-writing infantrymanwho were fool enough to see and feel the horror around them, unlike those who see it aU as banla and mundane. But Dana finds that she cannot conquer history, and it's only the mad, like Stalin, who ever do.
The plays progression is discrete and jerlgr, partly because Barker tries to pull in too many themes whioh,like the singularly unfunny Scottish jester, intrude throughout the piece.
Nevertheless, the competent performances of Stephanie Fayerman and Hugh Fraser manage to rise above the harsh dogmatic railings of so many of the cast, and make the Mad Dog and entertaining piece of theatre.
Andy Cannessa
London has many theatres but the new Half Moon Theatre, to open in its new complex with Sweeney Todd, is not like most of them. The ethos behind this project estimated to have cost £2 miflion is to have theatre integrated into the Ufe of the community of East London. The old site, a converted synagogye on Alie Street, was too smalj, and fast deteriorating, so with funding from donations and grants, a new theatre is being built.
In the last century, the East End could boast six theatres rivaUing those of the West End in size if not grandeur, but these are all long defunct. The creation of the Half Moon Theatre in 1972 was an attempt to bring theatre back to the East Enders, a cultural repatriation if you will. Unfortunately, the old site was simply not adequate for its aims.
The artistic director of the theatre at the time of planning was quite explicit in his instructions to the architects; "Our specific aim is to draw new audiences into the theatre to give it a
broad popular base. It should be a place where meetings can take place and newspapers bought and read, where to sit and have a beer is as legitimate a it is to watch a play".
The auditorium is a flexible arena that can accomodate up to 400 people in any stage configuration. It is modelled on classic design with two opposing facades containing upper and lower galleries which have the capacity to be used for seating or to be incorporated into the stage design. One wall can be opened onto the piazza which is an open public area off Mile End Road which is intended to contain a bookstall, gallery, bar and cafe.
Another vital part of this new theatre complex is the Young People's Theatre Club, used by schools and youth clubs as a place for workshops. Two rooms interconnect to make one performance area accomodating up to 50 people and once again a wall opens up to an outside grass area which can be alternatively used for more audience space or a performing area.
The historical success of the theatre in attracting area residents has been limited in the past largely due to its location and delapidated condition. However, already in the temporary facilities on the new site a production of 'Dracula' last autumn was a considerable local success so the future augurs weU for the new Half Moon Theatre in its admirable aim of making art and theatre accessible to all.
Andy Cannessa


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Beaver, February 11, 1985
page 9
EXHIBITIONS
JOHN FRENCH FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY
John French was one of London's leading fashion photographers during the 1950's and early 1960's until his death in 1966. The exhibition of his work at the Victoria and Albert Museum gives a chronological survey of his output. There are 110 black and white photographs shown , plus many pictures taken of work done 'behind the scenes', a fUm of French directing a sitting and a display of newspaper and magazine pages featuring his work.
The introduction to the exhibiton was fascinating, consisting mainly of many untouched prints which reveal various 'tricks of the trade'. Some of these were highly original, for example using a milk-bottle to hold out the back hem of a dress, and putting a large box underneath a ballroom gown to give it support.
The film was not very Interesting -there was only a small section of French workng, the rest being taken up
with trivialities such as how to become a model, or what models do in their spare time - but it did show to some extent the hectic lives of those in the business, and the conditions which they have to put up with, such as modelling a swimsuit outdoors when it's freezing cold and windy.
As to the main pictures, whether they appeal to you on a fashion level is a matter of personal taste - 1 certainly eri^oyed them - but from a photoraphlc point of view they are all superb, revealing both elegance and excellence in French's work. His revolutionary technique was to use broad dayUght (which he much preferred), or, when this was not available, artificial light bounced off white reflector boards. The results are impeccable. My favourites were those taken outside, usually by various London tourist attractions and with appropriate costumes - for example, Tower Bridge used as a background
for a 'Tudor' ensemble. I particularly Uked one of a girr in a room with daylight flooding in through a window, entitled "The Army Blanket'. All those mentioned had a misty look which, although highly romanticised, were nevertheless very appealing. There are also many clever shots which rely on a stark black/white contrast. Most of the photographs had comments underneath them, which 1 found extremely useful.
The exhibition, which is on until the 10th of March, is relatively short, and the number f postcards on sale is very limited (although there is a iook containing all the prints and various articles for £5.95 if your grant will stretch that far!), but if you have an hour and 50p entrance fee to spare (don't forget your student card) it is well worh the effort.
Sarah Bronzite
ilLMS
Two Tone Fashion
A MAN LIKE EVA
Eddie Murphey in Bev. Hills Cop.
EEVERLET HILLS COP
'Beverley Hills Cop', fast on the heels of '48 hours' and 'Trading Places', confirms Eddie Murphy as the funniest man in cinema today. The fUm is little more than a showpiece for his undeniable comic genius; he transcends a mediocre plot and turns the film into one of the most entertaining of its genre. Certainly, if the title role had gone to Sylvester Stallone, as originally intended, the result would have been infinitely forgettable.
The story, however, is unremarkable.
^ Eddie Murphy plays Axel Foley, an unconventional Detroit Polipe Officer, whose best friend is murdered on his doorstep. He heads for Beverley HiUs seeking revenge, and uncovers the killer - a seemingly respectable art dealer - engaged in Cocaine smuggling as a 'sideline'. The iiyection of Mu.r-phy's charisma (in particular his infectious laugh), along with amusing character touches, running jokes and hila-
rious off-beat action assures that the film never loses its grip on the viewer. His conflict with the 'everything by the book', Beverley HlUs PoUce Department, provides the main ingredients of the film, and in this he is excellently supported by John Ashton and Judge Reinhold, the two 'supercops' who are faced with the impossible task of keeping track of him. Suprisingly they provide the funniest moment in the film, when under heavy machine gun fire from the hoods, the more inane of the two comment on how their situation reminds him of the final sequence of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'.
All in all, for a couple of hours of essentially Ught entertainment, no film, with the possible exception of Ghostbus-ters, could be more enjoyable the 'Beverley Hills Cop' at the present time.
S. Kearsey
"Pretentious rubbish", was the thought that immediately ran through my mind a the first strains of Verdi reached my ears and the first subtitle flashed up on the screen: "It is better to be hated for what you are than to b loved for what you are not".
However, this film is in fact very far from being pretentious. It tells the story of Werner Fassbinder, a very gifted German film director, who died only a few years ago; he is perhaps best remembered for "The Marriage of Maria Braun". But the strange and rather unnerving thing about this fihn is that Fassbinder is played by a woman, Eva Mattes, who often played leading roles in the late director's productions. Her almost perfectly masculine appearance was totaly contradicted by her extremely feminie voice, a fact that constantly underlined the message of the film: Passbinder's life was a painful and ultimately futile attempt to reconcile the two different sides to his sexuality.
A curious love triangle develops between Fassbinder and the leading aotr and actress in the production he is supposed to be directing. The cast and crew seem TjiUing to do anything he
im
KILL A ttfrC 1\
JAZZ BUTCHER-A SCANDAL AT MERGERS
It's not often I want to praise a band for their wit and intelligence (the stupidity of pop-stars has a charm of its own) but these are the qualities which make me love the Jazz Butcher and his band. Anthe-mic choruses and thrashy guitar bits, make you want to stand up and dance till you're bent over laughing. Oddly out of place in the plastic atrocity that is Mergers, preaching to the unconverted, they delighted three yards of fans and seemed to mystify everyone else.
'How come no-one's clapping beyond that line?' asked iguitarist Max, perching on his barstool. David J quietly recycled his Bauhaus effects and the odd riff. Undoubted highlights were 'Party-time' it's better than a cold bath with some-one you dislike' and 'Real Men From Hell' 'they're university rugby club officers' alleged the grinning Butcher to the meatheads at the bar while the front three yards agreed in disdain. Where others pout distantly the Jazz Butcher draws you close, tells you a few sick jokes, and something very naughty about the people behind you. Irresistible.
Cindy Snide
V,
Someone getting wet: A Man Like Eva
commands and to satisfy his every whim, while Fassbinder himself acts hke a spoilt child, throwing tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. As this fihn is meant to be based on factual evers, 1 could not help asking myself why these people degraded themselves in this way? Fassbinder provided the answer: "My art is a power, a power over people, their souls and their
bodies". I found it depressing to watch a group of people submitting to the domination of one man's ego, and was, no doubt intentionally, reminded of another such ego which belonged to the Germany of fifty years ago. Now as then, the result is violence, destruction and death.
Amanda Farnsworth
YALTA
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page 10 .
Beaver, February 11,1985
MUSIC
POOR OLD SOUL James Bailey meets Edwyn Collins
It was drizzling grimly on sonth London as I set off to the tube station to meet Edwyn Collins. This was in October of last year and Orange Joice were still very much a going concern on the verge of releasing their third album. I listened to a tape of the new record and then their singer/guitarist. I was charmed by both. We spoke for over an hoar; Edwjrn would wind me up gently (noth^ changes,eh? ). He would sort of lean over and tell me something naughty only for a broad grin to crack cross his face, and then burst into the most curious hooting laughter. Whatever, heavier things first.JAMES: Does the success of current Scottish bands sadden you, given their close affin- there's a kind of warmth and
ity to what you were doing some three or four years ago?
Edwyn: Well, there was a stage when I felt quite embittered.
JAMES; Given that, how do you react to the hype that your own record company have put behind Lloyd Cole?
EDWYN: That's certainly a great bone of contention at the moment. It's not so much that we feel usurped by Uoyd Cole, but in an ideal world you would stand or fall on how talented you were as an individual. We don't eqoy the same prestige at Polydor that we once did; they've admitted to us that we've been surpassed by Lloyd Cole and I think it's just an iroic coincidence that Lloyd should have been influenced by Postcard. But whatever group it was Polydr prefer to put all their eggs into one basketand have consequently ploughed a lot of their hype and influence into making Lloyd Cole and the Commotions successful. Because ultimately it's all money they could have made 'Lean Period' a hit if they wanted they could make anything a hit; it's just that after three years they don't feel that we've 'realised our potential' and arent prepared to spend any more money. I don't feel bitter against the Commotions just at Polydor's attitude.
'Embittered'
I can understand how other groups have been more successful; we haven't had conceptual continuity or a stable line-up, we've jumped stylistically from, say, 'Rip it up' to 'Texas Fever' which, to be honest, are like chalk and cheese. I won't put myself in a position where people idolise me. I think
camaraderie in the Orange Juice audience and I don't think anyone worth their salt, apart from a few wee girls, could see me as a popstar in a conventional sense.
'Money'
JAMES: How has your own personal style changed?
EDWYN: Well, I've changed my hairstyle into this quiffy bit at the front, but I don't think I've any fixed mode, you know, today I'm dressed up like a 1950's poof (Hoot Hoot) or a 1940's moron (Hoot Hoot). Sometimes I dress up like a teddy-boy, sometimes like Marlon Brando (Hoot Hoot) or whatever. Though I dare say we'd have been more successful if we'd stuck to a similar mode of dress throughout.
JAMES; Would you want to become fashionable or even popular again?
EDWYN; What, become a trendsetter? (Hoot Hoot) Fashionable? I think I am fashionable. (HootBoot)
I think we're already popular in a cultish sort of way. I mean, I really enjoy critical respect but I'm not a careerist. The group may have suffered at Polydor's hands but we're no longer the most marketable of groups. We've always had this arrogant attitude that I think lay dormant for a while but has now come back, which is necessary to carry something through 100% in anything you do creatively. You must have that confidence in yourself and I'm very pleased with our latest album, though because of Polydor's attitude it's set to be our least successful. We've taken some counter-measures and there is a feeling in the group that we can pull
through. But in spite of all these pressures I refuse to prostitute myself. I often think of ways in which we could broaden our appeal, but I'm not sure that that's my prerogative. It's a sad, sad business, but as old Mother Collins would say 'if ye did nae laff ye'd cry'.
JAMES; Do you see anything of importance happening in the world of pop?
EDWYN: Well, there are a number of bands currently in the charts that I feel are the natural conclusion of a movement Orange Juice and a few other bands helped if not to launch then at least to establish.
JAMES; You're thinking of Lloyd Cole?
EDWYN; Not just them, the Kitch-enware bands have close affinities with Postcard, the Smiths to Mmited degree as well.
JAMES: But apart from them nothing?
EDWYN; No, of course' not.
JAMES: Who wer your musical idols then?
'IS Minntes'
EDWYN: Let me see, the Velvets were a complete obsession of mine from about the age of 15 until I was about 23. But familiarity breeds contempt; I think I knew every vocal nuance and guitar part on every album. I had a wee Dansette record player and I'd be doing my housework and polishing with the machine on auto playing the records over and over again. I Mke the' thrill you get when you first hear a record and that's just gone now.
JAMES: Do you think you could ever be a solo performer?
EDWYN: I might have to be. (Hoot Hoot) This might be the last Orange Juice album, just because of Polydor's ineptitude which only serves to drive a wedge between the group and to erode our audience. Saying you've had your 15 minutes is a very hackneyed phrase but Polydor certainly seem to believe it. As I've said before I don't want to be a high
The doctor; happy in flares
..from BLITZKRIEG BOP
There's no stopping, the Heat Clubl Returning triumphantly to LSE with its favourite live acts, the Mighty Clive! and Doctor and the Medics, a host of beautiful people turned up, frightened the bar staff, filled the Haldane Room; and suddenly we realise'' chat half of them were BEETLES! Drenched in psychedelic semi-darkness even the Doctor's purple flares were beautiful as the Medics played their best ever live show yet.
After unveiling some new songs -'Aunty Evil's dormitory' a particular goody - the Doctor called for everyone to 'ride the beetle' and create the biggest shagpile in the west. This was done and the Haldane Room did indeed resemble a very groovy carpet with arms and legs waving wildly and colourful bodies on the floor, being trampled. Medics fans apparently have regard for neither life, limb, nor clotliing. Nor does the Doctor who leaps, bounds and occasionally savages his long-suffering guitarist; Meanwhile the Anadin Brothers showed just how untalented most vocal groups are by singing in tune and dancing perfectly at the same time.
The Mighty Clive! were very noisy but were warmly welcomed by the
profile popstar - there are so many pressures and you'd really need to want that. You need to be desperate for that sort of success, wanting it intrinsically in yourself and not resting until you've got it. I've met people like that in the business. Lloyd Cole, to his credit, is quite honest about that - he wants to be a "pop star". I don't - it's as simple as that.
And that was that. Orange Juice died three weeks ago and I suppose the forthcoming split is fairly evi-
dent from the interview, which was among their last. In reflection. Orange Juice's moment had probably already past and I'm sure that in spite of Edwyn's confidence in his latest product, he felt the same. However, what came over most in our talk was his utter irrepressibil-ity, he's had his knocks before and will undoubtedly bounce back from this. Orange Juice is over but I fear that Edwyn Collins could only be beginning.
Clive I army. With the aid of an excellent PA they almost achieved their dream of sounding like the Velvet underground.
AH in aU this was a very groovy night out, bringing the spirit of the sixties back to LSE, and was one of the most successful LSE events this year in terms of both atmosphere and finance that I can remember.
Cindy Snide
to CRETIN HOP...
Following hot on the heels of the HEAT CLUB, definitely a tough act to better, 'Sound Attack', organised by a group of Sociology students, certainly has potential for those bored with social life at LSE. A criticism of the Heat Club is that it is too esoteric. 'Sound Attack' serves a broader spectrum of 'musical' tastes, playing what might broadly be described as dance music both alternative and otherwise.
Although the first night was somewhat sparsely attended, a combined bash with the Sociology Societyshould serve to spread the word. Thus within the near future I predict that this night wiU flourish to the extent that if the HEAT CLUB continues to operate on Thursdays it will be presented with competition,
Jules O'Riordan
NEW ORDER FOR THE UNEMPLOYED
As he came onto the stage of the enormous sports hall at the Sobell Centre in Finsbury Park, vocalist Bernard Albrecht apologised for its acoustics. This proved to be an extremely unnecessary apology, for the sound quality was so good it could have been anybody's living-room. On the night, New Order, renowned for their temperamental onstage performances, were superb. As could have been predicted, each of the versions of the songs they played seemed to last for eternity; and one could not have failed to be impressed by their accumulation of assorted synthetic sounds. These ranged from a Mediterranean cicado in their rendition of 'Confusion' to the use of a vocal synthesiser in 'Blue Monday'.
Also played were a variety of their best known songs, such as 'Temptation' and 'Ceremony' alongside some exciting new songs that will be the toast of various dancef loors at some future stage, no doubt.
Large venues such as this tend to have the effect of creating a barrier of isolation between band and audience (which is why LSE gigs are so good). At the Sobell Centre, this certainly wasn't the case, and although one might question precisely how the GLC's 'Concert for Jobs' intends to promote employ-, mentt its entertainment value was second to none.
Jules O'Riordan
Beaver, February 11, 1985
Pag^ 11
THE VALLEY'S LAST STAND
Alan Evans recently visited a small colliery in the South Wales Valleys hoping to learn more about both sides in the tragic miners' strike.
A rugged snow-covered landscape, small villages nestling against a hillside; visions of Swiss beauty linger in the thoughts of the visitor. The valleys, renowned heart of South Wales culture and industry, are changing.- Once, as any miner will tell you. South Wales boasted over 200 pits, slag heaps littered the hillside, cramped terraced streets wound their way along the valley floor. The untamed beauty of South Wales was sacrificed to progress and the age of coal. Now the Coal Board administers only 28 mines in South Wales. With the industrial decline, the traditional Valley landscape is disappearing under a luscious green carpet. The geography may be changing, but the soul of the mining community remains as strong as ever.
During the 10 months of the miners' strike, attention has been focused on Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire with little thought being given to the struggle in the valleys which, although less violent, is far more desperate and potentially tragic. Welsh miners are different. The unique geography and hardships of 19th century Wales produced a special culture and outlook which survives to this day. The Bishop of Swansea and Brecon recently observed that since South Wales pits are among the least economic in Britain, they are most vulnerable to closure, and this breeds a special fear about the future.
Talking with a small group of Welsh miners, I was struck by their intense and lively community spirit, a bland of pride and affection for their own people. As H V Morton pointed out in 1932, the beauty of the valleys 'is not that of sun or moon, but of the human heart'. This sense of community has been a major driving force behind the strike in South Wales, many miners agreeing that the fight is not primarily to keep collieries open, but to protect the way of life which the chemistry of the valleys and coal has produced.
Meories of former struggles have hardened the resolve of Welsh miners. A colliery strike committee explained that they were determined to fight on, because they had seen what defeat had brought before. The talk was not of 1974 but of the 1940s when they were children and stories of 1921, Tonypandy riots and the General Strike fuelled the dispute. The present strike has rekindled the feeing of community. Some said 1984 was the best Christmas they had had for years - materially it was poor, but since everyone had to muck in together, the atmosphere was electric.
The attitude of the colliery manager was less inspiring. He acknowledged the strong community feeling but appeared to dismiss it coldly - men must be prepared to move and that is the end of it. Nice in theory, but where are the jobs hungrily waiting to be filled.
Cynicism
The Welsh miner is proud and has a remarkable interest in intellectual pursuits. He is not, as sometimes portrayed, ignorant and coarse; he reads and studies, often during breaks underground. H V Morton observed: "these men know how to think". Members of the strike committee discussed the present industrial and political situation articulately and with a sound knowledge of the facts. The average miner (if such exists) is not a blind radical, if anything, he is a little cynical. Men I have met will challenge Coalboard figures and explain in detail why the NCB is wrong, but their views are not shaped by NUM propaganda, rather by their thorough understanding of the South Wales coalfield, and the mining industry in general. Political discussion and learning groups are still a feature of Valley life. Another miner suggested that the reason why many workers failed to grasp the real issues of the dispute is that they only read the tabloids.
Support for the strikers has been phenomenal. Members of the strike committee were stunned by the degree of sympathy they'd received from all over England and Wales.
Relations with the police raise the greatest bitterness. South Wales men have travelled all over the country on picket duty and each has his own story to tell. It is not hatred but sadness they feel at the attitude of the police. The genuine respect which miners had for the force 10 months ago will never return. One miner, who spent 6 months away from home on picket duty, explained that he would never have sworn in front of policemen, let alone attack one, yet he had seen young bobbies taking great pleasure in both persuits over recent months.
There are few angry scenes in Wales at the moment. Less that 1% of the coalfield's 20,000 miners are working. Relations with management are generally good, since many staff members realise their jobs too are in jeopardy. I was given the official NCB line by the colliery manager but did not feel he really believed what he was saying.
Stalemate
So with apparent stalemate, where do we go from here? South Wales has held solid during the present strike and has a history of endurance in previous disputes. Area Director, Phillip Weekes, recently appealed to the Welsh miners not to play the martyr yet again, but the colliery manager I spoke to grudgingly admitted that what he called 'stubbor-ness' might prevail. I believe he is wrong. Welsh miners are tired and frustrated not only with the intransigence of the Prime Minister but also with the apparently blind stupidity of the NUM.
Feelings are mixed about Arthur Scargill. The Chairman of the strike committee said Welsh miners would follow their leader anywhere. Other members did not share his optimism. Most acknowledge that Scargill has done a magnificent job in holding the strike together during the difficult months, but there is genuine anger among those who know there must be some pit closures and are struggling to make ends meet. There has always been a degree of suspicion in the
COMMUNITIES SOON TO DIE
Valleys about Arthur Scargill, who has not always responded with his present enthusiasm to South Wales calls for help in fighting closures. The general mood of recent pit-head meetings is that Scargill will inevitably lose the support of more realistic Welsh miners if he remains stubborn.
One consequence of the present dispute may be growing support for Welsh nationalism. The response from Plaid Cymru, which has never won a Valley seat, and from the Welsh Language Society has been "tremendous" according to one strike official. There has been cj 'ticism of the degree of support from the Labour Party. Geraint Howell, a Liberal MP with a rural constituency, has shown concern for t.-.e fate of Valley constituencies.
However, it is Plaid Cymru and in particular its energetic new leader, Dafydd Elis Thomas, who have won the greatest respect from many Valley people.
The immediate future looks black. Recent peace proposals by the Church of Wales, backed by Plaid Cymru, the Alliance, the Labour Party and the Welsh and National NUM Executives have been coolly received by Mr Scargill and Mrs Thatcher. The Welsh miners would rather achieve a moderate, negotiated settlement, than bow down to the Prime Minister. If Thatcher smashes the strike, the Valleys will die. A culture, a community, a people apart will be destroyed. The valleys are fighting, and they will continue to fight for the right to decide their own fate.
David Owe^ speaking in the Old Theatre on 8th February at the invitation of the
SDP Group said:
««
M must listen
to the working miners.
page 1-2-'
Beaver, February ii, 1985-
IN THIS ALIEN ENVIRONMENX
SPACE TECHNOLOGY IS OUT OF ITS DEPTH
Inspecting underground gas pipelines for faults may not sound like the ultimate high-tech challenge. But, in fact, the task proved to be beyond the 'state-of-the-art' technologies previously available - even in military and aerospace applications.
PROBLEM:
Design a vehicle which can travel inside the pipe, carrying equipment capable of identifying any significant defect, and pinpointing its position to within a metre in a run of up to a hundred kilometres or more.
SOLUTION: THE INTELLIGENT PIG
The Intelligent Pig, developed by the gas people, is a vehicle carrying highly advanced sensing, data processing and recording equipment. Driven through the pipe by the gas pressure within it, the Pig can be used without taking the pipe out of service.
What is more, it can not only pinpoint any defect on the inside or outside of a steel pipe,but even describe its nature.
HOW?
Using strong magnetic fields or elastic waves propagated at ultrasonic frequencies, different types of sensors can detect corrosion, cracks, impact damage or distortion of the pipe. But the real challenge lay in processing the hundreds of millions of signals produced by the sensors in an average run.
THERE WASN'T A COMPUTER SMALL ENOUGH AND TOUGH ENOUGH
Many of the pipes to be inspected are less than 305mm in diameter. To fit sufficiently powerful data processing equipment into the tiny space available, hybrid microcircuits incorporating custom-designed silicon chips had to be developed. And since the space restrictions also limit battery size and therefore power, many of these highly advanced electronic components have to operate at the very limits of their specifications. What's more, the environment inside the pipe isn't exactly friendly. All the highly sophisticated equipment carried by the Pig has had to be designed to tolerate or be protected from extreme vibration, mechanical shock, dirt, and gas pressure of up to 70 atmospheres.
A TOMORROW'S WORLD' TAPE RECORDER
The sheer volume of data to be stored inspired the development of what is probably the most advanced ultra-miniaturised tape recorder currently in
existence. Making extensive use of sub-miniature hybrid microelectronics, new types of recording heads and ultra-precision mechanical engineering, this little marvel can store up to 500 million readings on a single reel of standard one-inch tape, with an accuracy of better than one-thousandth of one percent!
FROM REEL TO REELS
Once the Pig has finished its run, the next job is to prepare the data for analysis by powerful, advanced computers such as the VAX 11/780. There's so much information in the Pig's tiny recorder that many reels of computer tape are needed to receive it,and many hours of computer time to analyse it.
THE RESULT
Britain's underground gas transmission network is a multi-billion pound asset. And the technical pyrotechnics we've just described have a thoroughly down-to-earth end result-they help the gas people to maintain this asset more efficiently and cost effectively.
WHY THE GAS PEOPLE LIVE IN THE FUTURE
The fact that gas is Britain's most popular domestic fuel—and a powerful and growing force in industry, too-is the result of many years' foresight,planning and massive investment by British Gas scientists and engineers. And they're still working for the future—to meet Britain's energy needs in the next century.
THE GAS PEOPLE-WORKING FOR TOMORROW'S WORLD TODAY
Beaver, February 11, 1985
page 13
LONDON AFTER THE ABOLITION
The Thatcher government approached the 1983 general election with a threadbare record on all its local government policies. Attempts to find a way to fulfil previous manifesto promises to abolish domestic rates had failed because ministers could find "no alternative" local tax acceptable to them. The obvious longterm option, a local income tax, was rejected and the drive to reduce English local authorities' spending by use of grant penalties had also foundered. In the rush to prepare the Conservatives 1983 manifesto Mrs. Thatcher pulled down from the shelf the only two ideas ready to hand to do something about the rates. The first was abolition of the G.L.C. and the six Metropolitan counties with the return of most of thefunctions of the G.L.C. to London boroughs. The" second was an idea from Leon Brittan to make it illegal for "extravagant" councils to fix "excessive" rates. Both schemes were thrown into the 1983 man-ifestl and both threatened the G.L.C.
Last month findings of a research project carried out by the LSE's Greater London Group called "The Future of London Government" was published. The majority of the work was carried out by M.Sc. students, the rest by academics in the Government Department at the LSE. Following interviews with two hundred decision makers throughout London Local Government dnd after analysing documents and statistics, a small number of "scenarios" were constructed by the research team to model the future of a reorganised London Goveernment system. For the purposer, of the report-commissioned by the G.L.C.—the researchers assumed that the Government plans for abolition would go ahead.
Patrick Dunleavy, the project director, summed up the main findings of the report. Up to 1990 "social tensions and economic pressures" in London will grow. Perhaps his greatest criticism of the Government's proposals is that administration will become infinetely more complex under single function bodies and at least until 1990 more centralised than the Government will care to admit. Whereas forty functional responsibilities of the G.L.C. will go to separate agencies, seven political responsibilities will be under the boroughs. The remainder will go to non-elected London boroughs, regional or national quangos, and central Government departments.
In the field of finance things will become more complex, for example in the rating system there will be six or seven different elements to rate bills. Cooperation between various government bodies is likely to deteriorate because of financial strain, leading to parochialism and cost-cutting, managerial differences between boroughs and non—elected authorities and intensified political hostilities. In short, joint arrangements with large numbers of member agencies are unlikely to work and thus the title of the Government White Paper "Streamlining the Cities" is somewhat of a mockery.
Will abolition save money? The government claims that it will but singularly fails to provide any testible evidence to support this. According to the Greater London Group, rate capping and tighter Government control of expenditure will mean declining standards in the fire service, the Arts and less funding for voluntary groups. "No areas of G.L.C. activity objectively dispensable", says Patrick Dunleavy and particularly emphasises the various "back-up services" the G.L.C. provides. Ethnic minorities and other disadvantaged groups funded in the past by the G.L.C. have been subject to partisan dispute, fuelled by an unsympathetic Conservative Government which accuses County Hall of providing a living for "left wing activists" and "nutters". This exposes the lack of in-depth consideration by the Government of London's needs and services; in 1990 London will be far more ethnically diverse than it is today.
The greatest criticism of the G.L.C's record from Patrick Dunleavy was over their Transport policy where moves towards an integrated transport system had met with mixed success: "The G.L.C. intervened too much on local road issues and interfered in local planning." Under the Governments proposals the G.L.C. will lose control of London Transport to a quango appointed by the Transport Secretary accompanied by job losses and increased fares.
What are the prospects for housing in London? At present most housing is owned by the G.L.C. or allocated among the boroughs. Assuming that abolition goes ahead the repoVt predicts a general deterioration in standards and efficiency, especially in repairing and rehabilitating programmes, unless the D.of E. makes more generous adjustments to grants and investment allocation.
It is significant that before
BAHA'I: PERSECUTION
OF A BELIEF
The persecution of Bahais in Iran was described in a recent House of Commons debate (Friday 21st December 1984) as "a matter of deep concern". Although most of us have, no doubt, heard through the media that Bahais are being persecuted for thier beliefs in Iran, we seldom hear what their beliefs really are. This article aims to put into perspective the situation of Bahais in Iran and to shed some light on Bahai s
belief.


Bahais have been victimised in Iran since the inception of their faith in that land in 1844. However, the current spate of Bahai imprisonments, torture to elicit recantations and (upon their refusal) subsequent executions have brought Bahai sufferings to a new and painful peak.
the last reorganisation of London Local Government twenty years ago, proposals along the lines now being put forward were considered in detail and at length. They were unreservedly :ondemned and rejected. Confusion, mistrust and loss of efficiency seems to be the prospect for London if abolition goes ahead. But what if the results of abolition conform to the Government's expectations? It would need a "uniquely favourable combination of circumstances" for this to happen and in no area could the researchers find any likely major improvement in the system or the services after abolition. So why, is the Government putting up this obstinate battle to go forward with their abolition White Paper totally disregarding local democracy, any financial analysis or considerations of London's needs and services?
Becky Lunn
IFTHE GLCGOES WH
ifvou have any mmplaints ygjpj
THEGLC GOES, vmrix BE TALKING TOWHrTEHALL.
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FROM NOW ON
HAVENOSAY
IN WHO RUNS LONDON.
Persecution —
This persecution is mainly because t"he enlightened and liberal taechings that Bahais have followed for generations have made them a people who are conspicously progressive in the Iranian Islamic society - a society where people, or at least those who rule the people - are resistant to innovation of thought.
Second Class Citizens.......
For example, one of the teachings of Baha-u-llah (prophet-foundet-of the Bahai faith) is the equality of opportunity and status for men and women. In practical terms this teaching of equality implies for Bahai women that they do not have to wear the veil, can educate themselves to the highest levels, be in decision-making posts, and have every right and oppportunity to develop themselves to take a fuller part in the affairs of society. It is hardly surprising then, that in a land so orthodox and at a date as far back as 1844, this Bahai belief was so grossly unacceptable. Lord Curzon of Ketleston (who spent a number of years in Persia in the latter half of the nineteenth century) wrote in 1892 that the persecution of Bahais "seems to have arisen partly from the much much greater freedom claimed for women by Baha-u-llah, which, in the oriental mind, is scarcely dissociable from profligacy of conduct". It seems that the present reg'.me in Iran has relegated the status of women almost back to nineteenth century levels. At any rate, the present government is opposed to Bahai belief in this respect.
Among other teachings of the Bahai faith are the oneness of God and the basic oneness and equality of every human being. Bahais uphold the principle of the removal of prejudices and promote the idea of the harmony of reason and religion —
there is emphasis on the principle that all religions originate from the same source: the one creator — and that therefore they are equally important. All religions are God's messages to humankind in different ages, and this continuous divine revalation is God's direction for human progress throughout all ages. Baha-u-llah said that religion must be the cause of uniting people and if it becomes the cause of discord and division, it is best to be without religion.
Bahais hold work done in a spirit of service to be like worship of God. They do not believe in party politics and are exhorted to contribute towards the betterment of civilisation through excellence in all things and through service to society. There is great emphasis on a strong and healthy family life and on prayer and self-improvement both morally and spiritually.
The Bahai faith does not have any form of either priesthood or manmade ritual. It has adherents in virtually all lands and has National Assemblies in over 140 countries. The Bahai world community is a cross-section of humanity including almost all nationalities, classes, trades, professions and social strata, and the holy writings of ^the faith are translated into over 700 languages and dialects. The Bahai international community is accredited in consultative status with the United Nation's ECOSOC, UNICEF and UNEP, and the relationship with the United Nations dates from 1948.
With the recognition that Bahais have, and with the harmless beliefs that they hold, it seems strange that in Iran their communtiy should be under attack. Under the auspices of the Bahai Society of the LSE, Dr. Geoffrey Nash, author of "Iran's Secret Pogrom", will be speaking on the persecution of Bahais in Iran on Tuesday 12th of February and 1pm in S67. All who are interested are welcome.
Geeta Gandhi Kingdom
T
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Beaver, February 11, 1985
THE	GAME
CARR-SAUNDERS
Our prospective Liberal candidate in the forthcoming sabbatical elections, hall president Elwyn Watkins, is being romantically linked with the Liberal candidate who proved to be unstoppable in the recent finance committee by-election. Elwyn is known to be proud of his close relationship with Rochdale heavyweight Cyril Smith, and in an attempt to impress his mentor Watkins is battling to increase his bulk. An easy victory seems assured. However, despite the hall president's expanding waistline, it appears that his would-be suitor will continue undaunted.
Elwyn's hopeful sucessor, Scotsman Jim Mclnally, has also been making the news lately. Following his skilful maiming of the women's 1st XI hockey match of last term, he has been seen by my spies
escorting the same young lady in some of the West End's more 'exclusive' nightclubs. Does this mean that the sporting starlet has finally abandoned the medical profession and is now hoping to move into the higher echelons of political life?
In the forthcoming hall society election, the most interesting confrontation would seem to be that between the two rival duos of social secretaries - Jules O'Riordon and Barry Perkins versus John Nolan and Adam Markin. The clash highlights two separate approaches to the social life of the hall. Jules and Barry favour a glamorous approach, whilst John and Adam prefer more down-to-earth events. Nobody is really sure of John and Adam's reason for standing, but the motive behind Jule's nomination is his wish to prepare for a future
Hall Football.
Sunday 3rd February saw CarrSaunders gain a suitable revenge over Passfield. In the previous week Passfield had achieved a victory over CarrSaunders on the pool table; the final score being five frames to four. However, as soon as the sport was changed from pool to soccere, and the green baize was swapped for the green gi-ass of a football pitch Passfield foundered.
The match began rather sluggishly with neither side making any significant headway. This was exacerbated by the referee signalling some very dubious offsides. However, very soon he gained in confidence and the game beganto flow as CarrSaunders took an early lead through Ed Richards. Soon after Adam Markin added a second and at this point the game seemed lost for Passileld. Admirable work was being done in the forward line by Justin, but unfortunately he received very little support from his teammates who constantly complained that the match was a waste of time and that they wanted to forget the whole thing. Richards added a third just before halftime and so the first 45 minutes ended with
CarrSaunders having a comfortable lead over the opposition.
The second half followed very much in the same vein as the first with Richards adding a penalty to complete his hat-trick. It was at this moment that Andy Shingler, having begun the match at centrehalf, popped up at centreforward, and began to perform. His first goal showed remarkable control as he almost walked the ball into the net. Then in rapid succession he added three more goals to take the game far beyond the reach of Passfield. They did manage to score one goal through Justin to make the score 81 but CarrSaunders' President Elwyn Watkins scored twice and despite Justin's second for Passfield the final score was a resounding 102 victory for CarrSaunders.
Worthy of commendation are Nick West and the 'unemployed' goalkeeper Andy Griffiths for CarrSaunders, and J.J. for a truely equine performance on the Passfield side.
Revenge was certainly sweet for CarrSaunders: it was also comprehensive.
John Eddleston.
John Eddleston.
sabbatical position. Whoever wins it is generally accepted that that the hall will be better served than it has been recently.
The contestants for Vice-President are not known at the moment, but it is clear that John 'the Organiser' Eddleston is very keen to attain this position. He was known to be very friendly with the hall treasurer last term and it is possible that he is hoping for a personal viewing of her financial assets. Unfortunately his hopes may be dashed, as she is currently sharing the same living quarters as the usual resident of room 210. Perhaps 'the organiser' will asuage his disappointment with some appropriate act.Ironically the James Dean lookalike on the Beaver editoral staff committed no newsworthy act this week.
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roseberry report
Leading figures in Rosebery's criminal- underworld were yesterday unavailable for comment about the recent grassing on the hall's most wanted terrorist. The man in question, De Salt, has been busted for assault and now languishes on bail whilst awaitingsentencing. It is rumoured that this is but the first in a whole series of swoops by the authorities who, with the aid of new police tactics, including sensory/alcohol deprivation, interminably boring interviews and a centralised file on crime are determined to stamp out the vice, porn and protection prevalent in the murky underworld of the hall after closing time. Fearing capture, the gang have gone to ground, vanishing in a transit van to Bristol and the West Country, nurtured by scrumpy, Six X, and the hope of revenge. The Godfather will return.
Meanwhile, back at the hall, the house member Lou Williams has continued to amaze with his wardrobe for Spring/ Summer 1985. The latest is a pair of trousers which look as though they were made by an epiletic spraygun operator with visions of being the next Picasso. Coloured tentacles
swarm and multiply around the lower leg and advance sinuously up the inner thigh with a gay abandon surely suitable only for the privacy of his room and a psychadelic aura which would earn him twenty (deserved) years in a Turkish prison. What's more he wears them continuously. At least last term we could comfort ourselves in the knowledge that he took them off once a night (generally six floors up from his room and, if the stories are true, to musical accompaniment).Alas, it seems even that little pleasure is denied to him this term and so we must ask, "has anyone seen Lou without his trousers this year?" Answers to Beaver on a postcard please.
In general, the lack of libido this term has greatly saddened us, both in our professional capacity as muck-rakers and our private one as voyeurs. Where, we ask, are the seamly, torrid, lustfilled romances of yesteryear? does the male menopause begin at 21? We feel that a hall with two hundred cases of incipient sterility can only be the result of some as yet undiscovered disease, with a bromide in the soup compaign the strong suspect. Evidence
cited in favour of this hinges on two well-known soup abstainers from the second floor for whom abstention is clearly a phenomenon confined solely to only one of the basic human needs. Modette and Beetles fan the eyes of the world are upon you.
Rosebery was replete with threats, lible writs, not to mention physical violence, after the publication of the last issue of Beaver. Various names were proposed as to who the scandalmongers might be (all of them incorrectly) but currently the hot money is going on ex-colonial piss-head Charlie 'Bud' Weiser and Rory O'Driscall. Apparently, the ebullient Irishman was subjected to a third degree gi'illing in the bar on the night of publication, with O'Driscoll's ability to defend himself impaired by his being as the newt, so to speak. In the meantime. Bud has been keeping a suspiciously low profile. So low, indeed, that attempts to find him in his room have so far failed. Hall sources inform me that if he is not located within two days, his room will be sublet and atterats made to have him declared legally dead. Remember, girls, once he's dead, it's illegal...
SIMON HUGHES' VISITS CHRISTIAN UNION
Ken signs on
Simon Hughes came to the L.S.E., not as a politician, but as a Christian, and, as arranged, spoke about both the Christian Union under the title 'Being influential for God'. The first publicised link (in 'The Times') stated that his prime motivation for politics was his Christian faith; this prompted many invitations to speak at Christian meetings nationwide. His temporarj- retirement from this is due to his realisation that he was not elected just to talk about his faith; we managed to 'contract' him before his decision to abstain from this. Last summer, he became the first politician to appear 'on stage' at Greenbelt, and his noteriety also prompted Central Television to invade his office. The resulting documentary
initiated a prayer group in his constituency which meets fortnightly, and upon which Simon relies substatially for support.
In Parliament, Simon's objective is to "in humility put forward the Christian view", which has entailed not voting with the party when his theological and moral principles differ. But why the Liberal Party? By process of elimination on a basis of being against the fundamental truths of Christianity, Simon finds that his party is the least far away.
Simon accepts that he may and will get things wrong, but if his job is to be justified in ; Christian terms, then commitment must be seen to be influential for God. The Christ-, ian Union would like to thank Simon for his time.
Beaver, February 11, 1985
LSE'S RUBBISH..?




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Let's try to keep the LSE tidy this year. With less money to spend on cleaning and general maintenance of the buildings, it is important that everyone makes an effort to take care of the environment so that the facilities last longer and the school is a more pleasant place to work in.
The School's Environment Working Group appoints four students each year to. act as environmental stewards. This year, we are: Wayne Morrison, Ami Klin, Robin Lawson and Chris Johnson. Each of us is responsible for a particular area of the School and our job is three-fold:
• 1) To deal with observed problems ourselves if necessary (e.g. clearing notice boards of cut-off date posters;
2)	To report damage, malfunctioning, and excessive untidiness to the School's authorities; and
3)	To raise consciousness of the environment among students and staff, and thereby to secure their cooperation, especially in terms of tidiness.
Obviously four people cannot achieve very much in a place the size of the LSE without YOUR individual and collective cooperation. Some suggestions for improvement are:-
PUBLICITY
-restrict posters to a reasonable size, and only to the notice boards provided; remove posters when out-of-date, and do not simply cover up old ones; please do not use staples on notice boards; and PLEASE do not put stickers on walls or windows, as they are impossible to remove.
REST AREAS AND CLASSROOMS
-ensure that all refuse is deposited in the bins provided; use ash-tiays or cups for cigaretter ash; and adhere to canteen clearing regulations.
Please let us know if facilities are either lacking, inoperative, or full (as the case may be!). We can be contacted c/o Dr. R. Estall, room S506
RAG WEEK 85
Dates: 8*15 March.
Rag Committee Meeting Weds. 13 Feb. at 1pm in C018 ALL WELCOME!
RAG MAG JOKES REQUIRED
^11 suitable entries to the
Senior Treasurer please.
ARE YOU AN ENVIRON MENTAL STEWARD?
If yes, please would you make a careful note of the posters which you remove from the walls. If outside the Welfare Office, do not remove. If advertising the Student Union Hardship Fund, DO NOT REMOVE. It is false ecology to have to duplicate posters!
JOBS!
TEACHER WANTED URGENTLY
For half-term playgroup of children staff and students. Dates: February 18th-22nd (and subsequent half-terms if free). 30 hours for £120. Contact LSE Students Union Welfare Office, Tel 405 7686 ext.391.
JOBS!
PART TIME CLEANER
for small West End Clinic (just off Regent Street). 10-12 hours per week (flexible). £2.50 per hour & fares. Please phone Eileen Coward 437-7125.
JOBS!
HAMMERSMITH JOB CENTRE
TEL 741 9674/9675.
Lots of casual/temp work e.g. Crufts Dog Show, Mens Fashions (Olympia), sales/waitress/table cleaners. £2 per hour, min. Ask for Virga or Julia.
page 15
HALF-TERM PLAYGROUP
Business as usual for kids of staff and students. From Monday 18th February to Friday 22nd, the half-term playgroup will be held in the Societies Room (formerly the T.V room), above Flor-ries. Parents should sign their children in before this week so that we have some idea of how many students are arriving. Please do so on the notice board outside the Students' Union Welfare Notice Board outside the Welfare Office E294/295. Please bring some goodies as a contribution eg. orange juice, felt tip pens etc. as there is no charge for this service which runs from 10.am to 1.0.pm, 2.0pm to 5.0.pm. You must collect your children for lunch.
SOCIETIES 'N THINGS
MONDAY 11 FEBRUARY
MALAYSIA-SINGAPORE SOCIETY "International Food Fair", A45, 1.30-3.30pm. Book of tickets, £1.
THE NEW GROUP for everyone concerned with the Third "World and ecological issues e.g. Traidcraft. E198, 1pm. Every Monday.
TUESDAY 12 FEBRUARY
LSE LIBERAL SOC: Paddy Ashdown MP. A160, 1pm.
PUBLIC LECTURE - "Morality in the Evolution of the Modern Social System". OT, 5.30pm.
BAHA'I SOC Regular meetings. Dr Geoffrey Nash on "The Persecution of Bahai's in Iran". S67, l-2pm.
DRAMA SOC Every Tuesday. Rehearsals. A45, 6-8.30pm.
DEBATING SOC: I.T.O.O.T.H. "That a woman with a lively mind is like a woman with club foot". Speakers include: Nasty Nigel, Andrew Oldland. A86, 1pm.
WEDNESDAY 13 FEBRUARY
CHRISTIAN UNION "Focus jDn Spain", J. Spink. S421, 1pm;
AIESEC Tax Game.
THURSDAY 14 FEBRUARY
SHAW LIBRARY LUNCH HOUR CONCERT: Ralph Kohn(baritone) & John Bruzon-(piano). 1pm. Free.
DRAMA SOC Every Thursday. Rehearsals. A45. 6-8.30pm.
AIESEC
Thinking of starting your own business? AIESEC presents a "Business Start-up Seminar" -a package of training, counselling and cash grants worth £8000 could be yours. Passmore Edwards Room. 4-6pm.
Please contact:Alan Thompson, pigeonhole 'T', Dept of Accounting & Finance, 3rd floor. Old Building.
FRIDAY 15 FEBRUARY
LSE HELLENIC SOC: Talk on a newly published book. A86, 5-10.30pm.
NEW COMMUNITY ACTION GROUP hopefully to be formed by Alison Carr & Caroline Gooch. l-2pm.
CHRISTIAN UNION: Prayer meeting. S177, 12pm.
TUESDAY 19 FEBRUARY
BAHA'I SOC: Re^lar meeting. Mr Simon Mortimore on "Is World Govt possible?" S401, 1-2pm.
WEDNESDAY 20 FEBRUARY
CHRISTIAN UNION "Ephe-sians", A. Ackroyd. S421, 1pm.
STERLING CLUB Talk by Roy Griffiths, Managing Director, Sainsbury's. 1pm.
THURSDAY 21 FEBRUARY
PAKISTAN SOC presents "THIS IS PAKISTAN" -Fashion Show -Music —Food
OT, 7pm. £2.50 members, £3.50 non-members.
TUESDAY 26 FEBRUARY
BAHA'I SOC: Regular meeting. Ms Sovaida Maani-Bruce on "A new world order". S67, l-2pm.
NITELINE
Please will any LSE student helping on niteline contact the Welfare Officer at University College-Chrissy Borowski-on 387 3611, as she is urgently trying to get in touch with one of you......
HARDSHIP FUND
(Self-financing students only). Have you missed the notice of this term's Hardship Fund???? If you have and think you are eligible for financial assistance (small sums of money from £50 to £175 ) contact the Welfare Office E294/295 URGENTLY!
FOOTBALL REPORT
LSE 2 ENSAE (PARIS) 2
The LSE entertained ENSAE, a statistics and economics college based in Paris. The congenial atmosphere of the reception at the Royal National Hotel was carried over onto the soccer field at New Maiden.
The game was played in an excellent spirit and independent observers would have been forgiven for thinking that the match was being played in Paris, considering the large French contingent of suppor-
ters. LSE took the lead after thirty minutes when John Nolan crossed from the right. The standard of football was high. Despite several half chances, LSE were unable to increase their lead and ENSAE slowly began to dominate the game. The French, playing neat one-touch football, notched the equaliser five minutes before time. A draw was a fair result and both teams retired to the bar happy.
Barry Vincent.
SQUASH RESULTS
LSE (Firsts) 4 City 1
LSE (Seconds) 2 Bedford 3
The LSE First Five have reached the semi-finals of the UAU to be staged on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of February.
SAILING




Never sailed before? Even if the closest you have been is the cross-channel ferry, you will be able to become a crewmember aboard one of the Ocean Youth Club's vessels. If you like the idea of getting out of the city for
a weekend, why not come sailing with the LSE sailing club?
The Ocean Youth Club is a registered charity which has a fleet of eleven vessels to give ¦sailing experience to young people throughout the season (March to September).
If you would like to find out more about the Sailing Club's weekend away, leave a note in the Sailing Club pigeonhole outside the AU in East Building. Yellow wellies aren't compulsory. All ypou need is warm clothing, shoes with a good grip and a sleeping bag. All waterproof and safety gear is provided. The cost should be about
Caroline Paterson.

0^
L
RIDING CLUB
The second team to try Test 12 on Wednesday 23 January. Their only opponents this time were Barts as the Kings team didn't show. At the end of the drssage phase, LSE were leading by six points, but an unfortunate fall by one of the team | gave Barts the chance to slip to victory. The final score was LSE 230, Barts 232.
Any clb members who haven't received a newsletter and questionnaire should contact Sharon on 0582 8418776 or Jane on 203 0272.
Shergar
RUGBY REPORT
LSE 31 ENSAE (PARIS) 0
Three o'clock on Friday afternoon saw the arrival of both teams. Formalities done, the Ls settled down to business. The Ls' forwards dominated, providing numerous opportunities for the backs. Just before halftime, Taylor broke into the line like a taan possessed and scored with the inevitable Jenkins popping over the conversion. The second half was similar to the first with much of the possession predictably controlled by the LSE.
BEAVER PHOTOS: copys ofthisphoto and others available in E704
HOUGHTON STREET. HARRY
Given a semblance of impartiality on the part of the hand-icapper, Jenny Pitman's Cor-biere, inspite of a touch of senility, would have been a confident Grand National selection.
Unfortunately, the horse-racing world seems to mirror the wider world all too precisely. Those who are obsequious and janus-faced are allowed to prosper, whilst those who are conspicuous by their honesty are penalised. Corbiere has suffered through being allocated a ridiculous amount of weight to carry. There can exist no logical reason for such an allocation other than the fact that his trainer's comments on a whole range of equine topics have been embarrassingly close to the truth.
Now I have given vent to my anger, I shall move on to more pleasurable things. Urser's victory over Prominent King stamped him as one of the nation's finest hunter chasers.Given the astonishing regularity with which my tips win, I was surprised at Urser and Further Thought, whose enormity makes him look more like a giraffe than a horse, should dominate hunter chasing in the preliminaries prior to Cheltenham.
Given the paucity of quality racing in the immediate future, I shall now turn my hand to some long-term selections.
The Grand National (I apologise for harking back to it) should, according to the
experts, be dominated by last year's winner, Hallo Dandy (whose trainer the handicapper appears to get on with), and the progressive Hallo Dandy. Nevertheless, since I have no pretentions as to being as expert, I think the race shall turn out to be a battle between Duke of Milan and Ireland's Drumlargan; both are plodders, and are thus suited to Aintree. It is well worth a considerable each-way bet on them on the 30th of March.
The champion hurdle at Cheltenham in March might well see a new Irish legend emerge when Ararun sprints up to the hill to outpace his rivals. Mount Tumbledown should be another long priced winner in the Triumph Hurdle for baby horses.
When the flat season commences, Blowing Bubbles (currently 25/1) will win the season's first major race, the Lincoln, ridden by a jockey with a funny name, Tyrone Wiliams. Oh So Sharp will win the 1000 guineas, but alas, my clairvoyant skills can stretch no further.
THE ARTS PACES NEED MORE WRITERS TO JOIN TEAM
PERKS INCLUDE:
FREE TICKETS TO THE THEATRE, CINEMA & CONCERTS
PLUS:
MEMBERSHIP TO THE FABEROONIE BEAVER COLLECTIVE
Or and the Medics