9
BEAVER
NEWSPAPER OF THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
STUDENTS" UNION
Issue 230
LABOUR RETURNS!

On Thursday 15th. November, Dave Jackson of the Labour Club was elected as the new General Seccretary of the Students Union. The by-election was caused by the resignation a fortnight ago of Ed Lucas, who also ran on a ticket of "No Illegal Payments" to the miners. Lucas, however was trounced at the polls, receiving only 420 first preferences compared^ to Jacksons 654 (see below for full details).
The fact that the whole by-election was so heavily dominated by the question of ultra vires payments was reinforced by Jackson sharing the stage for his victory speech with four miners.
The situation now is that we have a General Secretary clearly elected on the issue of paying the money from the games machines in the Three Tuns in accordance with the Union's mandate and a Senior Treasurer who was equally open in his campaign on the principle that he would not make any such payment if it was deemed illegal. Meanwhile, Ed Lucas, it appears, has now left the LSE for good -having graduated last summer. The question of ultra vires has only just begun.
Iqbal Wahhab
FINAL RESULT
Dave Jackson 709 (654), elected stage 3; Ed Lucas 460 (420);
Andrew Tinney 224 (207);
Justin Jones 70, eliminated stage 2; Key van Hedvat 66, eliminated stage 1.
Many thanks to all who helped throughout the day, especially deputies Jim O'Sullivan and Charlotte Heller. Next elections (UGM permitting) will be for Finance Committee and NUS Easter Conference on 27th. January.	., „ , „
Alan Peakall Returning Officer
STUDENTS WITNESS PICKET LINE VIOLENCE
38 LSE students went to Ferry Moor Riddings, a South Yorkshire mining area, with the Miners' Support Group. They arrived to the news that local NUM officials had put their members on red alert. A report had come in that 13 miners would attempt to return to work the next morning, cracking for the first time, a strike which had been solid since March. Thus the students' were able not only to deliver welcome food and financial aid but also to witness at first hand the crucial confrontation between police and miners.
For many, media coverage (which gets most of its information from the police) had been their only source of information on conditions in mining areas.
As union members discussed plans to prevent the "scabs" from returning to the pits, LSE students were taken in for the night by mining families in surrounding villages. One miner referred to the area as "in an unofficial state of emergency". Police vans could be seen parked along the deserted streets, and as the night progressed police blocked
miners gathered near the pit to await the arrival of returning workers at Sam. They were joined by an ever increasing line of policemen who eventually spread across the road four deep. Sam passed without incident and miners passed the time walking about to keep warm, joking and jeering at any police who passed. At 5.30 the crowd grew tense as helmeted police in riot gear arrived, armed with shields and truncheons and formed a massive phalanx together with the hundred or so police already there.
Several stray miners chucked stones toward the police who charged without warning, towards the miners, most of whom were taken by surprise. Widespread panic ensued as miners fled from the police, who halted only to resume their charge a few minutes later, driving the miners further and further away from their pit. Police broke ranks to chase individual miners who had tried to escape into neighbouring fields.
The miners' frustration grew as they learned that two returning workers had entered the pit ten minutes after the original
key roads to local pits and refused to allow motorists to pass. Miners also told of random road blocks set up between South Yorkshire towns where motorists were questioned as to where they had come from and their destination and would not be allowed to pass without a document of official business. Virtually every miner had stories to tell of police harassment and arbitrary arrest on the picket line, some having been arrested 3 or 4 times since the strike began and facing large bail payments, as well as court ordered curfews.
From .midnight until around 3am, miners attempted to block the road to the pit with timber and a large earth moving vehicle, but were dispersed by police and the road blocks removed. From 4am onwards the LSE students and several hundred
charge. More miners began to collect bottles, bricks and stones to throw at the police though a substantial group remained at the back to avoid any violence. Roadside fences and signs were torn down and laid across the road. Bales of hay were piled on top and set ablaze and for a time it seemed as if the miners were secure from further assult. The police in their next charge, however, bypassed the barri-cadesand also ambushed miners from a hillside overlooking the road. The pickets were finally forced back into the village of South Kirkby and the police departed.
During the picket several miners as well as an LSE student, Jay Ginnwere arrested. An eye-witness reports having seen police pull her hair, punch and kick her, before taking her away, and another student who
November 19 1984
INSIDE
BY-ELECTION ANALYSIS 6
US ELECTION -AFTERMATH 12
DAVID STEEL
MINERS SPECIAL 11
WOMEN SMOKING 13
LONDON ARTS	8
SOCIETIES 15
SPORT
16
fell during the charge was jumped on and kicked by three policemen, but later released. The police themselves reported 8 minor injuries to their men.
In the aftermath, as miners gradually dispersed and news of even more violent confrontations in neighbouring towns trickled in, some miners expressed frustration at the impotence of disorganised groups of miners when faced with a disciplined and well-armed police force. While few saw the return of the workers as a real threat to the solidarity of the striking miners, many for-saw only a grim escalation of violence leaving South Yorkshire in a virtual state of civil war.
Students wishing to understand more about the miners' strike should attend Wednesday meetings of the Miners' Support Group, which has already raised £1,000 for the miners and would welcome more support.
Lynn Horton
page 2
Beaver, 19 November 1984
LETTERS
Liberals not Soggies
Dear Editors,
I just had to chuckle at the many, varied, and not always subtle, attacks on LSE Liberals in the last issue of Beaver.
It appears that most of us are about to join the "soggies", that we admit the lack of "middle ground" at LSE, that it was the Tories who really restored free speech, that we are in alliance with the Left, that we are in cahoots with the Right - need I go on with this dismal list?
Now, I do not in the least object to these scurrilous attacks (I have been known to defy the libel laws myself at times!) but I feel bound to inform your readers of the true state of LSE Liberals.
First, we won a resounding victory in the committee elections with ten out of twelve candidates being elected. The Finance Committee we won in a straight fight with Labour (despite massive abstentions from Tories who consider me too
Left-wing). The "middle ground" is there and is spreading!
Secondly, we have indeed been through fire over the Ultra Vires issue but we have risen from the ashes still united, well-organised and with new members.
Thirdly, only the Liberals it seems retain their sense of perspective and sense of humour in student politics. Many students are bored with the same old Labour club extremism and Tory priggishness are joining us for politically stimulating evenings in the Tuns etc.
So, to all those jaded hacks who delight in slagging us off, we know you are dead worried by our success, jealous of our organisation yet too apathetic to get your own act together. Beaver readers should remember THEY WINGE - WE WIN.
Helen Phillip's Chair of LSE Liberals
Poor support for GLC demo
IMPARTIALITY
OF CHAIR CHALLENGED
Dear Lucy and Eleanor!
We are writing to express our disgust at the recent behaviour of Union Chair Dave Bull. It has become clear that his partiality as Chair is in question to say the least. Frequent derogatory remarks directed at the right combined with a willingness to accept the idiosyncracies of the left have left us in no doubt as to his political preferences.
We can quote several examples of his bias: firstly at Friday's emergency Union meeting he waited for over 30 minutes to get a quorum even after giving assurances to various people that he would only wait 10 minutes. The next incident occurred .the week when Dave said "I am sorry but that is not a two thirds majority" when referring to Mike Moszynsky's no confidence motion - well Dave - knowing your political views we bet you were sorry.
We would hasten to point out that these are only two points from a selection of many.
We understand that with his previous connections with the NUM Dave may find it difficult to remain impartial. But we would urge him to resign if he finds these pressures are leading him to exhibit his political prejudices in such a way as to destroy his neutrality.
Jack Frost Nasty Nigel Kilby
PICKET MISREPRESENTATION?
Dear Editor,
Tuesday's Guardian reported the events at South Kirkby Colliery on Monday 12th November thus;
"The Colliery offices were broken into and ignition keys taken so that earth-moving machines could be moved to block roads. Windows were smashed at pits and fires lit."
A major riot - massive picket line violence? No. Admittedly I, with other LSE students, was only on the picket line from 4.00am onwards. However, my
lasting impression was not one of picket violence, but of a group of men who knew that they could not stop the working miners from returning for the first time to the pit; they knew there was little they could do against the riot police. The picket largely consisted of running away from police surges. Violence such as it was, stemmed largesly from the frustration of the pickets at being unable to t,alk to and attempt to persuade miners not to go into work. The blocking of the roads did no
more than occupy waiting policemen. The fires and very limited brick throwing started a considerable time after the working mines had entered the colliery and constituted a minimal danger to the police. The fires appeared to be largely defensive - stopping the police from moving up the hill into the village.
I am not condoning the miners' violence, and certainly many pickets around me disapproved of the destruction, but I feel compelled to ask; where is the paragraph in The Guardian which says;
"With the appearance of the
riot police there was chaos. Unarmed pickets running everywhere from the unattack-able police armed with riot shields and truncheons. Escape to the fields was impossible as searchlights scanned them in an attempt to discover fleeing pickets, and police dogs were ready to hand."
Yes, there are bricks, yes there is picket line violence, but where I was, none of that took place before the appearance of the riot police. And certainly at South Kirkby it is far from being the norm.
Nathalia Berkowitz
Lucas: Cynical Backstabber
The Editor,
In light of the resignation of Ed Lucas, I would like to illustrate to your readers exactly why Ed should not under any circumstances be re-elected. To do this let us annalise (sic) the events of the past week since Lucas proposed to pay the money to the miners.
It is clear that Lucas had no intention of paying this money, he did not as has been sugested (sic) simply change his mind overnight, so why then did he ever instigate the whole affair? The reason i would sugest was that he wished to use Mike Moszynski as a scapegoat and so cover himself with glory. Ed Lucas thought that Mike Moszynski would take some form of legal action and thus bring down the wrath of the union
BEAVER CREDITS
EDITORS: Eleanor Edwards, Lucy Cohen.
Societies Editor: Dayo Forster.
Sports Editor: Joanna Davies.
Photography: Mark Moore, Alan Peakall.
Arts: Julian Ozanne, James Bailey.
Beaver Team:. Simon Barnett, John Donkersley, Dave Bull, Giles Perritt, Randall Flynn, Toby Kramers, Ed Richards, Hugh Sergeant, Richard Jones, Becky Lunn, Rob Alan, Carol Atack, Lynn Horton.
Other contribudited. Many thanks to all.
Photosetters: Gee Graphics, 15 Gee Street, London ECl.
Printers: Cambridge Heath Press.
Published by the London School of Economics Students' Union, East Building, Houghton Street, London WC2.
meeting upon himself. Mike Moszynski however, did not take the bait and thus Ed Lucas was uncovered as having never wanted to pay the cheque. (Ed, who wants to be an MP, would simply not have been prepared to break the law and damage his reputation.)
I would sugest that any person who is prepared to manipulate the union and fellow sabbaticals in such a way as Ed Lucas has done is not fit to be reelected or even re-selected by the Liberals as their candidate. I would call on all members of this School to reject Ed Lucas, to see through his nice guy image and to recognise him for the cold cynicle (sic) back-stabbing hack that he clearly is.
Nigel Kilby
THE CUT-OFF CAPTIVES
(WHO ARE INCARCERATED FOR A DAY-AND-A-HALF IN ONE OF ENGLAND'S ESTABLISHMENT POLICE-STATE CELLS)
If they should die think only this of them:
That there's some corner of a captive's cell
Thai is forever England. There shall be In that foul place brutality conceal'd
By those police so bent and well aware That Justice, too, is helpless and ignor'd;
This force of England, foulling English air,
Wash'd by her blood, curs'd by sons at home And think this heart all evil here to stay,
A blot on the Eternal Mind, no less,
Gives somewhere back the thought that Justice fell.
So hurt and bruis'd, as jackboots had their way;
For hatred, learnt of them, and bitterness.
Now shrieks and screams at this police-state hell.
Nigel Racine-Jaques, 1984
My acknowledgement of the inspired and distinguished genius of Rupert Brooke accompanies my parody (above) of his hauntingly sad, poignant sonnet "The Soldier".
I SLE. NO HARDSHIPS


YE COOOE SHIP "GR£AT* BRITAIN


Beaver, 19 November 1984
pages
NEWS,
ROSEBERY COMBATS VANDALISM
At a meeting held on Tuesday 13th November, the Rosebery Hall Residents Committee tackled the problem of vandalism that has been plaguing the Hall. This meeting had been called following a similar meeting to find out the views of the Hall regarding the support of any action against vandalism. However, certain inconsistencies arose at the meeting; for example, while the vast majority of residents of the Hall objected to the damage done by the vandals, no-one seemed to be willing to come forward to report the culprits so that they could be dealt with.
Furthermore, turnoui at the meeting was disappointingly low, and was not helped by the fact that most of the posters advertising the meeting had been removed, which seemed to demonstrate a disappointingly low level of interest in Hall affairs. The meeting decided that it was the responsibility of each member of the Hall to report acts of vandalism to the Warden, or to the Committee who would then report confidentially to the Warden. However, this does not alleviate the problem that was clarified in the statement of the Committee member who pointed out that since it was evelyone's responsibility to report vandalism, but no-one had yet done so, it would be 'an abdication of responsibility to expect the Committee to do it, as had been suggested.
Perhaps the most sobering aspect of the problem of vandalism that currently afflicts Rosebery is that due to the current state of affairs, all the residents have to bear the financial burden of paying for the damage that has so far occurred.
Lucy Cohen
FURTHER SCHOOL COMMITTEE ELECTION RESULTS_
In addition to the results published in the last issue of Beaver, the following were elected as student representatives on School committees: General Purposes Committee: Mike Moszynski, Antonia Burrows, Paul Jankel, Julian Cooke.
Building Committee: Natha-lia Berkowitz, Christopher Bestwick.
Careers Advisory Service: Paul Roberts, Mark Watts. Student Support Committee:
Alex Bisticas.
Catering Services: Denise Cover.
Safety Committee: Dan Duncan, George Binette.
Overseas Student Welfare:
Mark Watts, Alex Bisticas, Vicki Nielsen.
Joint Union Representation Committee: Dan Duncan. In addition to the above, the following qualify for a free trip to Blackpool (NUS Christmas Conference): George Elwyn and Alex Bisticas as delegates and Malcolm Lowe, Simon Ellis and Andrew Oldland as observers.
The LSE representation on ULU General Union Council will be Simon Ellis, Lyn Hug-gins, John Donkersley, Carol Atack, Andy Gambrell, Ed Lucas and Andrew Oldland. Alan Peakall Returning Officer.
JIM FIXES IT AT LSE!
Why was the Senior Treasurer doing handstands in the Paternoster lifts in Clare Market Building on Wednesday November 7th? And what on earth were the BBC doing filming him, as he went purple of face while riding upside down in them? Well, actually, the answer is very simple - Jim was 'fixing it' for eight-year old Craig Rowley, who has a passion for unusual lifts, and since our lifts in Clare Market Building are the only ones of their type in London it is hardly surprising that they had brought him here.
But why, I hear you asking, was Michael doing handstands? Well the answer to this is equally simple; you see, they are going to make it look as if, when you go up, you travel the rightway up, and when you come down, you travel upside down!
Meanwhile, I asked Craig whether, since he loved the lifts, and that the building was part of a big school, would he like to study here? "Oh no," he confided. "Well then," I asked him, "would you like to come here anyway, just to ride in the
OSS HIT CAMBRIDGE
What a Charlie!
On Saturday November 10th, the LSE Overseas Students Society ('OSS' or 'LOSS' if you count the L from LSE) finally did something with all the £2s its 380-odd members parted with to join it. A free day trip to that bastion of academic excellence proved a wholly enjoyable affair. The 100 strong delegation from LSE managed to uphold the School's tradition for decency and decorum at all places at all times. In Gonville and Caius this entailed eminent members of the OSS being ejected from the college by the porters for trying to do a 'Chariots of Fire' and run around the quadrangle in between the gongs of the bell. In Queens College, our President, no less, with characteristic flair and dexterity managed to knock over a whole row of dining
students who had only a moment earlier been elegantly perched over their pea soups. Tom Sharpe could do with you Percy . . .
Forthcoming attractions this term include a trip, in conjunction with the Literary Society, to Stratford Upon Avon (including seeing an RSC play), a river boat disco and an international food festival. Speakers planned include the Ambassadors of Pakistan and India, the Under Secretary of the United Nations and also some interesting people - so interesting in fact that it would be imprudent, for security reasons, to disclose their names!
Nearly one in ten of LSE students are now members of the Overseas Students Society, Why aren't you?
'Tricky Icky'
lifts every day?" "Yes please!" He answered shyly. The moral of this story - it is better to ride in lifts than to study around them!
Lucy Cohen
LEEKS FROM WELSH OFFICE
On Monday morning November 5th, Rt Hon Nicholas Edwards, Welsh Secretary since 1979, addressed the L.S.E Conservatives. While much of his speech was taken up with an account of his recent visit to the Far East, he had time to comment on the long-running coal dispute. He said that, for him, the most worrying aspect of the dispute -apart from the picket-line violence — was the NUM's determination to put more and more money into halting change rather than assisting it.
He also commented on the annual public expenditure wrangle Ijetween departments and the Treasury currently in progress. To a questioner who described the "Star Chamber" for settling differences as a waste of time, Mr Edwards said that this procedure allowed detailed discussion of specific proposals before finag adjudication, something not always possible in full Cabinet. He added that he had emerged from Cabinet meetings on public expenditure "bad-tempered, drained and cross with old friends".
Mr Edwards had earlier hailed as a success for his government the fact that Japanese businessmen had a new confidence in Britain's industrial relations. He wondered, nevertheless, whether British and European countries had the drive to match Japanese competition. He spoke of the "unique opportunity" of Korea and of the transformation of China. Their expanding economies would still need new technology and specialist skills which could be provided by British firms. During questions, Mr Edwards refused to be pushed into pessimism by asserting that, even in car production, there was no reason why Britain could not compete with Japan. Management had been a great problem in Britain and an improvement in the quality and effectiveness of management had made better industrial relations possible. Philip Groves
AT THE UNION WITH RICHARD CRANMER
Hail to the Chief!
7th November - Our promised fireworks went off with a decided whimper.
This year's sabbaticals have had roughly the same job security as members of the NCB negotiating team, but on this occasion Mike Moszynski was let off.
ASK EVANS
The tone of benevolence was established early when a guest speaker, Mrs Margaret Evans, on behalf of Pont Y Ayr (sic) Striking Miners' Families thanked the Union for the proceeds of a raffle which would enable her to give her kids a Christmas present. The prolonged ovation was mingled with some un-festive lowing and braying from the Conservative stalls to the effect that it wouldn't be at their expense.
Margaret Evans from Pont Y Ayr
The censure motion obviously had Moszynski worried. The newsletter of Independent Student - HIS (sorry, IS) with which he has roughly the same editorial relationship as "Charles Wilberforce" enjoys at the Mirror , carried the case against censure and HIS (sorry (what again? Ed) IS) organ was prominently displayed around the School.
Mike turned up dressed as G. Fawkes as usual, but nobody could be found to light the bonfire so he volunteered to do it himself. Eventually "TBA" announced his Sooty-like presence and whispered in Dave Bull's ear that he did not mind somebody else proposing the motion. R. Shrimsley obliged but was promptly ruled out of order by a harassed Chairperson.
Mike then re-proposed the motion, giving as his reason that he wished to get the vote over with because fifteen people depended on him. Possibly the national press coverage (Friday's Guardian describing how a 'student leader', a very bad line, had avoided the sack) was another factor.
SWEETS FOR TREATS
Question: which group is being referred to here? They are responsible for "the severe moral decline" in western society and people with "these kind of tendencies" should not be allowed anywhere near young children.
Wrong - not Conservatives, but homosexuals, at least according to Philip Groves. Nevertheless, the motion condemning Rugby Council's discriminating policy against gays was carried and I can't help the feeling that I should tell my (fugitive) dependents not to accept sweets from the likes of Groves, Shrimsley and Co. and I should advise Moszynski to tell his fifteen dependents the same!
OVER THE RAINBOW
A motion noting the unfortunate re-election of Ronald Reagan and condemning US Central American policy brought a strong speech from Labour's candidate for General Secretary, Dave Jackson. Labour thus secured the Hispanic vote to add to the gay vote. Could this be a new "rainbow coalition"? Can it be that Dave and Jesse are in some way related?
By the time you see this, either he or the Tinney Man, or the Teflon Man (who doesn't stick to anything and to whom nothing can be made to stick) will be heading up the Yellow Brick precinct for another seven months at our expense. You will decide.
FIRST AMONG EQUINES
15th November - -election day dawns and the UGM meets with two of the main protaganists absent. Not only is it Hamlet without the Prince as our doubt-ravaged ex-General Secretary is elsewhere, but also Richard III without the horse, as JJ is on a mission of mercy to pit ponies; so floaters undecided between the Equine Alliance and the all-too catastrophic Push-Me Pull-You Party are unable to receive any guidance.
"Mrs Tatcher, minimum grant beastie, anti-Christ, ludicrously ineffective Open Committee get me arf paying" Thus spoke Rory O'Driscoll, the John Cole of the LSE, in a confusing speech on the new Conservative Policy on grants and fees. The debate on the issue brought speeches from the Labour and Conservative candidates and the setting up of an Open Committee to oppose the policy.
Nevertheless, the feeling was of a UGM in limbo until the appointment of the Nouveau General Secretary next week.
page 4
Beaver, 19 November 1984
PNL VICTORY AGAINST NAZI ORGANISER
Students at the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) have scored a notable success in their campaign to drive Patrick Harrington, the student being groomed for leadership of the National Front, from their college.
Last Friday the students managed to prevent Harrington attending lectures at the Marlborough House site on Hollo-way Rd by occupying the foyer of the building. As Harrington approached, 200 students shouted and chanted from behind police barricades. Before he could reach the door, police had to remove 10 women who had linked arms and forced themselves against the door on the steps of the building. Harrington got through the first set of doors, but the students pressed up against the inside doors again blocked his way. As there was no other entrance, Harrington was forced to go home.
Fortunately for the students, the courts had not provided Harrington with the tipstaff necessary to allow the police to arrest or remove students from inside the building. However, the Director of the college was taking names of students he recognised who were taking part in the demonstration. So far he has not been asked to reveal these names in court.
This was the first time that the Marlborough House students had prevented Harrington entering the building. His lectures were moved there after he had been prevented from attending lectures at the Kentish Town site where the philosophy department is located. At that stage Marlborough House seemed to offer an easy way out for the Director as it only houses 160 students, the majority of whom had not previously been involved in the campaign. However, the first Friday Harrington attempted to attend lectures there (all his lectures have been rescheduled to Friday) these were disrupted by 40 students walking out in protest. This number had risen to about 80 by the following
week as a result of campaigning on the site. Finally, last Friday, the students actually blocked his way by occupying the foyer. This escalation clearly surprised the Director.
The mass picket outside has encouraged the students inside: every week at the end of the action, the students emerging from the building are cheered and clapped loudly by those outside. The campaign has attracted students not only from all over London but also from Portsmouth and a small group from Yorkshire.
The previous Friday, students picketing outside, tried to block Harrington's way by standing in front of the police barricades. There was pushing and shoving, but the police managed to clear a way through for Harrington. Five students were arrested and several alleged police brutality. One woman I spoke to said she saw a student lying on the ground beside a police van surrounded by three policemen, one of whom was jabbing him in the head with a truncheon. She started to take photographs, but when spotted, the police chased after her. She escaped. Another student saw a similar thing happening a few minutes later, the police again jabbing a student hard with a truncheon in the head. The student who saw this shouted at the officer to stop, which he did, and the student was then handcuffed. Later, a doctor had to visit this student in the police station because his wrists had been damaged by the handcuffing.
The Director will now have to decide whether it is worth risking further confrontation with the students, or whether he should adopt the suggestion of NATFE (the lecturers' union) that Harrington should be taught in a small administrative office owned by PNL but not currently used for teaching. It is likely, however, that students would oppose this solution as well, as the Director could move him back onto one of the main sites once the campaign had died down.
Harrington — the pressure stays on
STEEL SILENT ON ULTRA VIRES
Steel props up his doomed protege
A distinctly fatigued-looking Mr David Steel picked his way through a crowd of eager students on Tuesday afternoon. His appearance was particularly timely, coming only two days before the hotly contested byelection for the post of General Secretary, Ed Lucas, Liberal protege, being one of the front runners. The audience gave him a warm reception, particularly when he conceded that he was "happy to be the second most important Liberal".
Mr Steel began with general remarks on the present state of politics, noting growing unease amongst Tory backbenchers, particularly after Nigel Law-son's declaration on government spending cuts. As Mr Steel put it: "The wets are now coming out from under their stones". He pointed out that after six years of Mrs Thatcher, we see the pound at a record low level - so low in fact that the Chancellor does not find it worth printing. The Liberal Party leader reminded us that last year, for the first time, imports into the United Kingdom exceeded exports. He then put forward his Party's "limited Keynesian remedies" including the use of public borrowing for an initial two million pound investment. There are glaring inconsistencies which could easily be improved: he mentioned the 400,000 building workers who remain on the dole despite approximately one million homes being below minimum standard.
In a scathing attack on the Labour Party he cited no less than five reasons why they were unacceptable to the electorate. These included their policy of intimidation rather than democracy, law-breaking labour councils, the ditching of obligations to NATO and nationalization without compensation.
It was then the turn of the ¦Tories to stand in the firing line. Steel equated them with Labour, saying that both place too much emphasis on the class struggle and had vested financial interests in minority areas. Mr Steel offered partnership rather than alienation.
He concluded on an optimistic note by reminding those present of the increasing popularity of the Liberal Party. When he joined as a student it enjoyed 2.5% of the popular vote. This increased to 26% at the last election and now stands at a respectable 36%. This has had a spectacular effect on local government. He appealed to "this generation" to help sustain the popularity of the Liberals.
One of the first questions he faced concerned his views on the ultra vires payment to the miners in conjunction with the re-election of Ed Lucas. His approach was noticeably different to that of Mr Ken Livingstone who had pledged full support for Labour candidate Dave Jackson, urging people to follow their instincts of right and wrong in spite of the illegality of the payment. Mr Steel, in contrast, exhibited a marked reluctance to involve himself directly in students' political issues. "A Party Leader" he said, "should not intrude".
As questions drew to an end, the audience afforded him polite applause. Any student who had transferred from the aggressive oratory of Mr Livingstone, found a quiet assured insistence in Mr Steel. He answered questions well but did not have to contend with large amounts of heckling, unlike many of his contemporaries who brave the wrath of the LSE student body. The audience left in a mood of quiet approval or was it merely lack of inspiration?
Gilli Wedon
Sir Keith Wields his Axe
About 64,000 better-off families with sons and daughters at UK universities and polytechics will be expected to pay £725 a year more for their children's higher education from autumn 1985.
The extra charge will affect the student children of families with incomes of £20.000 a year or more. Students from these families will lose the minimum maintenance grant of £205 per year, and be expected to contribute £520 towards their tuition fees. Home students have never before had to pay tuition fees, and this unprecedented step partially reflects Sir Keith's desire to substitute loans for at least part of the grant finance at present received by the students.
Families with incomes in the £18-20,000 bracket will be expected to pay £407 more. There will be extra charges of £241 for families in the £16-18,000 bracket and smaller increases for all above £12,000.
At the same time about 10,000 lower income families will be relieved of the burden of making any contribution to their children's higher studies, because the lowest figure at which parents are expected to start contributions is to be raised in line with average earnings over the past year.
The increased parental contributions should save £24 million in public expenditure. £8 million of this is due to be spent on fundamental scientific research and a further £6 million on restoring the country's research councils. This leaves a cut in education expenditure of £10 million.
Ed Richards Hugh Sergeant
STOP PRESS - NUS NEWS!
In response to Sir Keith Joseph's disastrous schemes, NUS has called a day of action for Wednesday November 21st. This action is going to take several forms, ranging from direct occupations, to mass walkouts of college buildings and occupations of local authorities, to mass walkouts from both staff and students.
The LSE response will be decided at the UGM of Thursday November 15th, where an Open Committee will be set up to co-ordinate our input into the day of action. Every effort must be made to make this action as successful as possible if we are to stop Sir Keith's dream of a lean and profitable privatised higher education system.
Beaver, 19 November 1984
page 5
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 ve^ 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
ptigeG
Beaver, 19 November 1984
THE POLITICS OF
FORGIVENESS?
Elections for the post of General Secretaxy are becoming a regular occurence at LSE - this has been the third this year.
Inevitably it was a single issue election. Ed Lucas had resigned because be said be could not make tbe payment to tbe miners, and bis dilemma and final refusal were clearly tbe main questions.
As tbe Labour Club and tbe Tories selected their candidates, Dave Jackson and Andrew Tinney, by majority and acclaim respectively, most eyes were on tbe Liberals. Whether they stood Lucas again would prove crucial to tbe way tbe campaign was conducted. When tbe Liberals emerged from 'their meeting with no decision it was clear Lucas was undergoing a grilling.
Doomed Ed Lucas
In selecting rather less public figures tbe Tories and Labour were probably hoping that the Liberals would decide that Lucas' vacillation would prove too great a liability for him to be reselected. Anxiously waiting for the plumes of white smoke as Liberals reconvened, tbe others were to be disappointed by tbe news that the Lucas Fan Club had been reconstituted.
More bad news for tbe established parties came when tbe Returning Officer announced that be bad received a nomination from the Equine Alliance, one of the better backed outsiders. Making up tbe field were tbe London Student Movement, representing tbe Albanian viewpoint and with a total membership of around 0.1% of LSE students.
With tbe new Liberal policy of Legal Payments Only, the centre and right were clearly standing on strikingly similar platforms. However, tbe animosity between tbe camps made the all-important transfers rather less likely.
A disappointing panel?
Both Conservatives and Labour hope that a strong stand on tbe ultra vires issue would win tbe day. Liberals meanwhile prayed that personality, experience and sympathy would blot out their candidate's previous defects.
Tbe campaign remained relatively low-key and by Monday the most exciting incident
Emphatic Dave Jackson
bad been an argument over tbe number of posters allowed by electoral regulations. To ginger things up a little Labour managed to turn their star performer out again to give a boost to their election rally. Although Ken Livingstone did not speak for very long, his presence was enough to boost attendances. Those people who came beard Dave Jackson put in an excellent performance; at long last tbe Labour Club looked as if they had a winner again. Their rally was conveniently timed to end as the Liberal's speaker, David Steel began and both meetings seemed to be crowded with exactly the same faces. These two eminent outsiders bad both been given good receptions and high turnouts and some sympathy might have been felt for the Tories, who bad been stood up by Sir Ian Gil-mour tbe day before.
Suddenly there was a new mood of bullishness in tbe Labour Club. Although their candidate was privately pessimistic, it was clear that he was
underestimating bis own chances. After all, he seemed to be a genuinely pleasant, pragmatic man and bad beaten tbe Labour Club's old guard for the nomination by a clear
majority. Tinney meanwhile was in a minor dilemma. It was clear that he would not attract Liberal transfers unless bis Tory supporters reciprocated. ? Despite his own recognition of
Resentful Andrew Tinney
this logic he knew that many Tories were unwilling to do so because of Lucas' record in office. Some Tories were even considering transferring to Jackson - a truly machiavellian move - to land the Labour Club with the responsibility of making tbe illegal payment and hoping to increase tbe chances that one day tbe Tories might take office themselves.
Tbe climax of tbe campaign was tbe hustings, organised on Wednesday afternoon by tbe Debating Society. This, as their chairman points out, is meant to be more entertainment than serious politics. It is however, also a serious opportunity for the candidates to explain their policies and to answer questions. Although tbe hustings were lively and interesting, the panel itself failed to keep good order in the meeting, or amongst its own members. Nevertheless, tbe hustings cer-
tainly helped to sort out tbe candidates if any waverers were listening.
Of tbe three main candidates, Jackson and Tinney acquitted themselves admirably, especially the latter, who had to cope with a fairly hostile audience. Lucas however^ failed to take advantage of this opportunity to convince voters of bis sincerity and reliability.
Afterwards, cold comfort was taken in tbe Liberal camp in tbe belief that most of the audience had indeed made up their minds before they came to tbe meeting, but it was certainly doubtful that Lucas had managed to attract any floating transfers. Whether tbe Liberal's, who were widely-believed to have an early advantage, had lost this in the face of strong Labour and Tory campaigns was tbe central issue for polling day.
Simon Barnett
(S)


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GAYSOC CHAIR ARRESTED
Martin Dockrell, MSc student in Urban and Regional Planning and Chair of LSE Gaysoc, was one of 18 people arrested during last Saturday's demonstration in Rugby, held to protest against the local council's ban on lesbian and gay workers.
Tbe main demonstration went off peacefully with police keeping a low profile. The first hint of trouble came when the police entered tbe Benn Hall, hired by the demonstrators for a meeting after their march, and refused to leave when asked to by tbe organisers. A police escort was offered to accompany marchers back to their buses (this bad not been requested) on tbe condition that they returned in small groups, avoided tbe town centre and did not display tbeir banners.
On emerging from the ball, demonstrators chose the shortest route back to the buses — through tbe town centre - singing and chanting as they went. Most banners were rolled up in accordance with police instructions, but one or two groups, including those at tbe front, felt, understandably, that there was no point having a demonstration if noone knew about it, and displayed tbeir banners. They were within sight of the buses when police moved in and
tried to take hold of tbe banners. The marchers resisted and there was some pulling and pushing. Around 50 people, including Martin, sat down in the road and at this point the police started to make arrests, on charges of obstructing the highway or obstructing the police in the performance of tbeir duties. The arrests continued until the vans were full.
Martin Dockrell -arrested for obstruction
Those arrested were taken to Rugby North West police station at 2pm. They were charged at 2.30 and released at 6.59pm.
They spent the intervening hours in cells measuring 7 paces by 8, containing nothing but a wooden board serving as a bed. The police tried to take' photos of the demonstrators but, unable to master the intricate workings of their Polaroid camera, they abandoned the attempt. They did, however,, search all those detained and it should be noted that they removed all tbe cards issued to every demonstrator on the march by the Gay London Police Monitoring Group which carried information on their rights if arrested and the telephone number of the Monitoring Group.
Some of those arrested claim to have been roughly bandied -one guy being physically thrown into bis cell. Witnesses also report threatening remarks from one officer made in the van during the journey to tbe station.
The bearing was on Friday in Rugby Magistrates Court and tbe outcome will be reported in tbe next issue. When asked how he was going to plead, Martin said it would be a joint decision. They would all stick together.
A benefit is being held to meet the legal costs of those arrested and to support the Gay's the Word Bookshop which has sufferd repeated confiscations of material from the Customs and Excise 'Operation Tiger'. Date and venue to be announced.
Eleanor Edwards
NEXT BEAVER 3 DEC
Beaver, 19 November 1984
page 7
Legal Eagle
UIEIFPRE
OVERSEAS STUDENTSrCHI-LD BENEFITS
The situation with regard to rights of overseas students to claim DHSS and Housing Benefits is a complex one. So complex is it that the Welfare Office is still working out the details The question of Child Benefit allowance indicates just how confused the situation is.
Because Child Benefit, as opposed to inadequate housing, is considered a public health issue, any child's parents are eligible to claim to claim benefit on their behalf. Unlike most other DHSS benefits therefore, claiming child benefit does not count as a 'claim on ptiblic funds', and therefore does not contravene entry regulations for foreign students. Any foreign students with families studying in this country for over six months can therefore claim benefits for their children without fear.
ACCOMMODATION BOOZE!
The Welfare Office is offering a bottle of wine to the student who comes up with the best cartoon contribution(s) for the "Accommodation in London" booklet which is sent to all riew students before they arrive at LSE. Please check in for paper/ pencil/Royal Academy of Art instructions at E294/295.
THANKS TO HELPERS....
Many thanks to everyone who offered some of their spare time to help out with the half-term playroup...and to those who stopped to chat with the budding pavement artists outside Florries! Thanks also the to student who kindly donated left-over food from a Halloween party to the kids' playgroup nursery...
1. Note the following restrictions when deciding whether to claim any financial help from the State, eg. Housing Benefit:
"...the only grounds on which you may be refused entry (to the UK) are those of public order, public security, public health, or f you will become a charge on public funds." (NUS Manual 1984/5)
Exceptions: (a) Free National Health Service (NHS) treatment (if staying more than 6 months), (b) Child Benefit (if parent and child are living in this country for more than 6 months).
OVERSEAS STUDENTS:HOU-SING BENEFITS
From September 1984 the Government has changed the Housing Benefit regulations. From now on only those overseas students who are allowed to have 'recourse to public funds' in the United Kingdom, will be eligible to claim Housing Benefit. The one exception to this ruling is for students from countries which are signatories to the 1953 European Convention on Social and Medical Assistance. These are: Eire, France, Belgium, Federal Republic of Germany, Denmark, Luxembourg, Holland, Italy, Greece, Iceland, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey.
TIME TO GO YUPPIE!
Have you teeth that make Johnny Rotten's look Mac-leaned, and now that punk's passe, do you want a radical image overhaul dental-wise? Worry not. Whether you live in the LSE GP's catchment area or not, you can still have your not-quite-so-pearly whites restored to a Beatle-like gleam courtesy of LSE dental services. Now you no longer have any excuse for being a candidate for a Listerine ad.
"NO NEWS" NEWS
In our last issue, we promised you a report on what progress, if any, the LSE Working Party on Accommodation had made. The good news is that they've met, and on the premiss that no news is good news, there's no bad news, because the Welfare Office has no comment to make, until their representative, Phil Wood, reports to the Student Union. As yet, the S.U. have not received anything, but, hopefully, they will have by next issue.
Welfare News is by Paul Redfern.
2. Change of status: If an EEC student wishes to stay in the UK beyond 6 months, unlike other overseas students they can apply for a residence permit. Collect Form EECl from police stations or local Department of Employment Offices. Send (or, preferably, take) the completed form to the Home Office, together with your passport or national identity card, a letter from the college confirming attendance as a student, and proof of financial support. Advantages: residence permits are normally given for 5 years -other extensions of visas/passports etc. are normally limited to a one-year period.
This week our Legal Eagles have been given the task of investigating THE LAW OF CONTRACT.
Each of us at some time or other becomes a party to a contract. Getting on a bus, or filling your car with petrol are examples of contracting. Have you ever stopped to consider what rights you acquire and what liabilities you become exposed to? This column will tell you what your position is when you buy brand-new clothes at a retailer's, when no credit or down payment is involved, and delivery is immediate.
Let us consider the basic position - that of garments in good or perfect condition. Strictly speaking, so long as a garment is in good condition, the buyer has no right to an exchange or refund after he has brought it. This is only possible on agreement with the seller; or where the seller indicates that his policy is to please the customer, whether by exchange of refund, and the customer buys on the strength of that. Some sellers put up "no exchanges" signs. These are binding on you unless expressly overidden in the particular transaction between you and the seller. Of course, it is common business practice, especially among department stores, to exchange purchased garments. But you ought always to make doubly sure and ask the seller, or one of the seller's staff, if you can exchange after purchase because say, you wish to take
The LSE has two nurseries: one for babies of six months to two years and another for two to five year olds. The fees, however, are exhorbi-tant, the waiting list too long and many parents dissatisfied.
The nursery, a joint econoruic venture between the Student Union and the School, is available to both LSE staff and student babies, and outsiders where space permits. The majority of the Students Union view it as a service for parents. The School appears to take a rather different line.
The nursery has 25 full time places, of which 75% are filled by the children of students, so the SU should take an interest in what is going on. According to the Matron, the waiting list is not too long - perhaps 20 children. However, the Welfare Officer, Felicity Criddle, puts this figure a lot higher. Many parents are deterred from even applying by the size of the fees.
What are the fees? These are assessed on a sliding scale of joint (usually male) income. The wage bands range from below £7,260 per annum to above £17,000 and the fee bands range from £16.20 a week to £58,62 plus £1 per day for food. These prices may well increase by 20% in December. £16.20 a week plus £5 for meals x 40 weeks adds up to an enormous proportion of the average student grant.
The fees, however, nowhere near cover the cost of the nursery. In 1983/4, expenditure was £53,333 and revenue from fees was only £27,879, leaving a deficit of £25,879. This deficit is met by a joint SU/School subsidy and it is here that the School begins to pull the wool
the garment away to check the colour or size.
At this point, take care to ensure that the garment you might want to exchange is in good condition. Examine it in front of the seller, at least on the premises. If you later discover a defect, there may be an argument as to whether it was damaged after leaving the shop.
Keep the relevant bill or receipt handy to present on your return. You may otherwise find it difficult to prove when and where you bought the article. If you pay by cheque, fill in the stub with the shop's name and clothes' description, and be quick about exchanging once you have bought something. There is no fixed, common time limit, but three weeks is carrying on a bit too long.
DEFECTIVE GOODS
Now let us consider defective goods. Some raincoats are supposed to be completely waterproof, and properly seamed to that effect. Zippers aren't supposed to come away when used. Seams are supposed to be properly stitched, and all buttons sewn on. If anything of this sort proves not to be so, you have the remedy of a refund, or, if you and the shop agree on it, an exchange. "No refund" signs are illegal, and if the shop tries to apply them to defective goods, that cannot bind you. In fact, criminal sanctions operate against these signs and you should report such signs to the Office of Fair Trading. So you are always entitled to a refund when your new garment is not as it should be.
over students' eyes. The School's subsidy comes from the Rockerfeller Memorial Fund and last year they generously donated £20,879. (This fund also managed to give £200,000 to Passfield 83/84).
The School will not furnish us with facts or figures about the fund and we gave £5,000 in 83/84 - a sizeable chunk of our block grant from the School. Despite this contribution however, the SU is very much excluded from nursery decisionmaking. We have student representatives on the Nursery Sub-Committee but only after a major wrangle and important decisions (such as the employment of an extra member of staff, costing £6,608 or more per annum) were taken, conveniently, during the summer holidays. The SU is left to clear up the problem of who will pay!
ULU NURSERY
The drawbacks at the LSE prompted me to visit another student nursery. ULU has a 2-5 year-old nursery of comparable size. The fees are significantly lower and the nursery manages to operate without a subsidy. They have only two fee bands, £20 per week for those earning below £5,200 per annum and £28 for those earning over this figure. Lunches are 50p a day. The supervisor there liaises with local authorities to try and secure day-care grants for those on low incomes. In addition to lower fees, the ULU nursery is more relaxed, less regimented and the team running it is clearly more harmonious than the one at LSE. While nursery meeting minutes here contain subtle versions of SU/School bitching, ULU busies itself with reports on the nursery gerbils.
A manufacturer's guarantee does not remove the remedy of a refund. But it has the advantage that it lasts for a period of time.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
Generally, the buyer is taken to know what he or she buys. It is up to you to decide, for instance, that a pair of shoes fits you. As for washability of clothes, again the buyer is taken to know the common attributes of things. You cannot complain if your new jeans turn your entire wash blue, unless they have been described as colourfast. In a case such as this you are entitled to a refund as well as to damages for the clothes spoilt in the wash. If you are thoroughly dissatisfied with a product, and even with the way a seller or manufacturer has handled your compalint, then you can report this to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The OFT offers you no immediate remedy, but it vitally needs statistical evidence in order to formulate trading codes and penalties for breach of them.
Finally, if you have been bullied into a sale, or bullied at all (eg treated in a racist or sexist way), the OFT has sanctions against this behaviour. Otherwise, for any problems or queries you have, just come along to the LSE's Legal Services Scheme, in the Welfare Office (E294). It opens every Monday and Thursday from 1-2pm.
Office of Fair Trading, Field House, Breams Buildings, Bromyard Avenue, LONDON W3. Tel: (01)242 2858.
The difference between the two nurseries can be explained in part by the different attitudes towards the nurseries that LSE and ULU take. Whereas ULU wanted to provide a nursery cheap enough for students, LSE merely wanted to provide a nursery. This attitude is confirmed by their different employment policies, and the size of their respective wage bills. ULU uses YTS employees in preference to skilled labour and consequently incurs a considerably lower wage bill; but LSE has rejected YTS in favour of skilled, better paid workers. At LSE we have argued for the employment of one member of staff (out of seven) under the YTS scheme, but this has been rejected by the nursery matron on the grounds that YTS has dried up and that the scheme is unsatisfactory.
WHAT IS TO BE DONE
The SU representativaes would like to see a cheap nursery available to all staff and students who wish to use it. The School has other things in mind and might well be following a policy of moving students' babies out by increasing nursery fees.
What can we do? Having exhausted myself writing letters and making our point in Committee Meetings, we have set up a Nursery Working Party (comprising of the SU Nursery reps). We are going to prepare a paper to present to the School outlining the facts concerning the LSE nursery and its drawbacks. We would very much like to contact any staff or student parents with a baby in a London nursery (via Pigeon Holes: Fiona Sorotos, Women's Officer, E297).	Fiona Sorotos
HELP WANTED....
Clear speakers only need apply!
Readers for a blind student to read outside LSE premises paid at £2 per hour. Times negotiable around the following: Mondays: 2.00-4.30 Tuesdays: 4.00-6.30 Wednesdays: 2.30-6.00 Thursdays: 4.30-6.30 Fridays: 2.00-6.00
Please contact the Welfare Office (E294/5). Thank you...
EEC STUDENTS....
LSE NURSERY
pages
Beaver, 19 November 1984
IHE LONDON AKIS
MDSK!__JIIIE
Sisters of Herc^ Walk Away
PAUL BRADT AT THE DOimaON
Paul Brady is a little known performer but one who has built up a cult Mowing since his days with "The Johnstons" and "Planxty" in the early seventies. Brady has his roots in traditional Irish folk music which was clearly reflected in the first half of the concert. Songs like 'Trouble round the Bend' and 'Paddy's Shamrock Green Shore' were performed by Brady, his guitar and tin whistle. They had the small band of Irish faithful jumping up out of their seats. As one of the uninitiated, I prefered the second half when Brady was accompanied by his band and played tracks from his more recent album 'True for you'. The excellent 'Take me away' and 'Helpless Heart' showed just what an accomplished musician and songwriter he is. The audience shouted for his most famous song 'Steel Claw' (recently recorded by Tina Turner) and were rewarded as Brady came back for a total of three encores including this riveting track.
Paul Brady has recently toured with Eric Clapton but will be continuing his UK tour throughout November. His next London date is at Harlesden's 'Mean Fiddler' club on December 19th. I strongly urge you to go.
Amanda Famsworth
LGNG-ILfiZBBS.
mUH COPE-FRIED
The second album this year from Julian Cope, the man who used to be bigger than the Bunnymen, and who now appears a sad and sore turtle, curling into introspection. This is a very quiet album; the arrangements are minimal, gentle, and feature an oboe which my conscience impels me to call wistful. Over this Julian analyses the sorrows of his sorrowful world while pretending to be Syd Barrett. He bares his fragility; "Me singing" and "Laughing Boy" are almost too much in their tragic openness, as he acts out his self-appointed role as our generation's heartbreak -and as pop saviour of breathy perfection and past melancholy in the anti-epic "Bill Drummond Said". It makes me very happy that someone should write such beautiful songs. I cannot label this esoteric or self-indulgent you cynics, when it is reckless, passionate, thrilling and shiny.
CS
THE SMITHS-A HATFUL OF HOLLOW
Ah - at last a Smiths' apostles album. Heaven! Hatful of Hollow is a retrospective collection of Smiths' tunes plucked from radio sessions, singles and B-sides. Despite such dubious sources the 16-track album is pure treasure only serving to underline the outstanding consistency they have shown over the last year and a half. It maps their development from the original raucous celebration of Handsome Devil and You've Got Everything
SISTERS OF MERCY SKELETAL FAMILT
A sea of serious-mJnded young Goths fill a sold-out I^ceum as the amazingly pale and anaemic Sisters hit London once again. (Actually half the audience come from Yorkshire or are friends of the ban-d....as usual.)
No, Andrew Eldritch is not the useless one in Wham!, but I don't doubt that he'll be needing a nose job eventually and not for cosmetic reasons. He sings like his testicles are hanging between his knees whilst skinny legs and strobelights show off the rest of the band - the ugly bass player is now hidden safely at the back of the stage.
The last couple of singles have been below par, but live they're still fairly wonderful, mixing their own trite classics with inimitable murders of famous songs, tonight taking on Dylan's 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' and winning. Uh, bloodied but unbowed,'! suppose.
Support,the Skeletal Family, now appearing on a thousand leather jackets near you, were tedious, average, mediocre and noisily obtrusive. The bass player looks old enough to be in A Flock of Seagulls and singer Ann-Marie is weak and wimpy. Would you trust a punk band whose singer changes attire halfway through the set?
Steve "Dont call me sicko, yon Toiy shitkeads" Jelbert
Now, to the smooth but nevertheless jarring angst of William and How Soon is Now? Those tracks drawn from the Peel sessions appear stripped of the studio embellishment that to a degree detracted from the original album. Reel Around the Fountain being the prime example. However the "record's undisputed highspot is This Night Has Opened My Eyes, a tale of unmitigated woe and one of their earliest songs that Morrissey has rather curiously neglected, finding it a little "outgrown". Strange. Speaking as an arch Smithsbore, I could lecture for hours on how much more "crucial" they were a year ago, but being honest, apart from the drippy Heaven Knows single, the new material is just as wonderful. Basically anyone who fails to ei^^oy this record should seriously examine the precepts under which they pursue their life. I used to believe that the Smiths deserved unbridled success, but witnessing the near-ruin this has made of Morrissey's personal life, I now think undying devotion will suffice. So there you are, another Smiths' album; more furniture for my existence. One thousand out of ten.
JB
MARC ALMOND-VERMIN IN ERMINE
Tempted to trash this, the latest from the dinkiest prat ever to wear pink sequinned horns. I'm forced to hesitate as its musical extravagance begins to beguile me. Lyrically we've left boring old Soho for the delights of foreign gutters and
dubious assignments in New Mexico. Rhinestone arrangements add over-ripe shiny flesh to this exoticism, oozing T\juana tack. Is this a journey of self-discovery, as obvious flop single 'Boy Who Came Back' wriggles in suggestion? I think not. The sharp observation and textured confession of previous offerings has vanished (up his nose?) and been replaced by uncritical voyeurism and cynical trash. (I love it.) How clever, a song about the fan club! Will that shift any units?
One or two songs are positively tuneful, even commercial; none of them instruments of subversion as Marc has claimed. Marc, the professional freak, the same old sleaze in different bordellos. If you can cope with lines like 'a deep pool of slime in the cess-pit of life' buy the album, join the fan club - get pissed on twice! In fact considering the frequent mentions for our friends; slime, sleaze and squalor, it's quite a feat for "Vermin' to be so unthre-atening, so Saturday TV cabaret.
What a shame.
CS
THE60-BETWEENS-SFRIN6HILL FAIR
Australia's Go-Betweens have been going through a lean period of late -first dropped by their record company and then barred from getting the work permits necessary for them to perform over here. However 'Springhill Fair' shows that they've landed on their feet - a new record deal, an enhanced sound and a collection of very fine songs.
The album opens with 'Bachelor Kisses', a heartrending tale of unrequited love that sets a standard of excellence that the record rarely deviates from. Each track contains chiming choruses while anchored to rocksteady yet imaginative bas-slines.The only exception from their usual uptempo melodies comes with 'River of Money' where the lyrics
are spoken over a relentless slow backbeat - the river just keeps flowin' on. Of course it's a bit like the Velvet's 'The Gift', but a lot less silly. So there you are, an album of articulate pop tunes written with wit and humility. These people deserve far greater exposure -even fame.
JB
COCTEAU TWINS -TREASURE
One of the more tiresome myths of rock'n'roll is the 'third album'; writtten on the tour bus and more expensive drugs or whatever; divorced from the real experience of the early struggle. 'Treasure' certainly marks a change in direction, and in Liz Fraser's unique vocals; gone are the heart-rending hooks which made 'Garlands' and 'Head over Heels' so disturbing. In their place is multi-tracked breathiness, a heavenly choir. Nonsensical as ever, the songs have deliciously twee names - 'Lorelei', 'Persephone', 'Beatrix' - particularly sugary with almost Jacobean harmonies. Distinctly dubious harpsichord noises waft in insidiously and certain songs recall Kate Bush in their pseudo-mystical intensity. 'Treasure' is precious, sweeter than sweet: cloyingly pleasant listening, even if a couple of tracks need to resurrect the old thudding rhythms in parts to nail them to the vinyl. Still it's a progression; from nursery nightmare to pre-Raphaelite fantasy, as they no doubt see it, or from disturbing to disheartening, as I do.
CS
THE EUROPEANS-RECURRING DREAMS.
Now you're expecting me to really give this the toilet treatment aren't you? Compare the music to Thomas Dolby on a singularly bad day or equate the lyrical subtlety with some great wordsmith like Howard
Jones? Denounce the entire work as hamflsted,soulless drivel?weU that, dear reader, would be simply more effort than this shoddy offering deserves.Indeed there is a track here called "you don't want me in your life" - how apt! But perhaps the saddest thing about the album is that this is the sort of music record companies believe we should be buying in droves, and are prepared to spend literally thousands in an effort to entice us to do so. Maybe The Europeans are a tax-loss.
I will willingly give this record to the first person who professes to ei\ioy such self-immolation. If noone comes forth I shall plant it in the garden and hope it grows into something of worth.
JB
ART OF NOISE-WHO'S AFRAID OF THE ART OF NOISE?
Now here's another precious, clever-clever, little disc that burbles, scratches and squeaks until it's long outstayed its welcome. Art of Noise are an alter-ego for mega-producer Trevor Horn (of Frankie, ABC, Dollar and Yes fame) and arch nose-picker/journalist Paul Morley (my hero - pah!) in which they go into the studio with some uninspired sessionmen, mess about for too long and then try to pass off their efforts as something important, something artistic. And what a hollow shambles it is with seemingly eveiy studio trick cum cliche thrown into the mix. The only relief from this jarring, disjointed tedium comes with 'Moments in Love' from the original 'Into Battle' e.p., and even this is just silky smooth in a very unctuous fashion.
Who's afraid of the Art of Noise? Not I - noise just annoys.
JB
Beaver, 19 November 1984
page 9
TECHNO-ROCK LIVES
Techno-rock lives, or so you were meant to believe. The Europeans came to the Haldane room's tiny stage vfith 5 keyboards, 25 pieces of percussion, 4 guitars and 16 foot switches (8 for the lead guitarist alone!). There being only 4 of them, this seemed rather excessive. The over-abundance of capital equipment extended to a lighting stack whose demands on the CEGB would keep Arthur's boys at work for years, which also blocked access to the bar from back-stage, so it was rather a dry night.
But I digress. The evening was opened by Hurrah Boys Hurrah, whose hairstyles were more striking than their music. They were followed by the Blow Monkeys -good advance press, good sax, very intense guitarArocalist (made Mor-rissey look like an android), but short set, gone before you'd got used to them. They were there long enough for you to notice that the sound was a lot better than usual for a support band at the LSE. Could it be that, all three bands being part of a management package, it was not in the sound crews interests to sabotage the support bands' sound balance to make the
main act (their employers) sound better?
Come the Europeans, a play in three acts. First act - the princes of '80s avant garde techno rock, little movement, little emotion, but a good sound well played. They slowed their set down gradually 'till 'Acid Rain', after which Act Two began, an audience rousing acceleration through to Animals. Louder, faster, more disjointed. The earlier cohesion of the performance melted in the heat of trying to be a frenzied rock band - which they are not. It was too contrived, too scripted.
The pre-ordained script continued into Act Three, the encore. Now they really meant business, jackets off, Fergus Harper, not content with looking like Tin Tin, now decides he's Bono, scrambling up the amplifiers towards the gallery. The front five rows loved it, the rest of the audience were thinking about last buses and drifting away. Now it's Slade time, everyone clap your hands above your heads - well, some of them. "I am not impressed" calls keyboard player Steve Hogarth. No, neither was I.
Alan Peakall
European Han?
ilLMS
101 OikLMATIONS - A MODERN MASTERPIECE?
Perverts and paedophiles may get more of a kick out of the audience than the film. If so they are missing out on what is undoubtedly a cinematic masterpiece - indeed a work of art, and like other works of art it can be appreciated on various levels.
Primarily the film is of course, an anthem of animal liberation, an inspiration for generations of those who have fought to liberate what must surely be the most exploited sector in our society.
Pongo, the hero of this drama, rapidly establishes himself as a highly resourceful young dog. Having married off his "pet", Roger, a failed songwriter, to a woman who just so happened to own a very attractive dalmation bitch, the fertile Pongo and Perdita then proceed to give birth to fifteen young puppies.
These puppies are then stolen and taken to join eighty-four (is this a coincidence we ask ourselves) other puppies at the aptly named Hell Hall, ancestral home of the dastardly and haunting Cruella DeVille. CrueUa DeVille,
"Devil Woman" and "Witch", declares from an early stage that she worships furs and smokes the most revolting cigarettes (Ed Lucas should appreciate the evil with which these cigarettes are associated) and is the source of all evil.
In Hell Hall, Pongo and his wife Perdita, helped by the amazingly agile Tibbs grapple with the incredibly incompetent Horace and Jasper, evil toadies of the Devil Woman herself.
They return to London from snowbound Suffolk after many a drama in which humans consistently make fools of themselves, to find Roger intoxicated with the gloiy associated with his new hit^ song "Cruella DeVille" (Cruella DeVille, Cruella DeVille, If she doesn't scare you nobody will!).
Even if you do not approve of the wild antics of some of the more radical liberationists this film stands ultimately on its merits as a work of art, and should be seen by anyone who is at all interested in cinema.
Toby Kramers
A STRIKING SIMILARITY
The similarity between the film "Strikebound", now showing at the Screen on the Green Islington, to current affairs in Britain is totally coincidental. The film is based on the events of the mining village of Korumbura in Australia in the 1930's, when the miners from the privately owned Sunbeam Colliery attempted to improve conditions in the pits through organised trades unions. The cry of "no free labour in the pits" is frequently heard.
Although the film is really quite clumsy in parts, the writer's enthusiasm and belief permeates it. Sometimes you really wouldn't think that you were in Australia in the 1930s. The main characters Agnes and Wathe Duig plus most of their comrades have veiy sharp Scottish accents. In fact the whole pictime is very familiar; there is talk of scabs and blacklegs; the miners agree to stand together against "all the forces of the state"; there is the harrassing police, and they even have their own hardship fund. The cry of "bugger the Tories!" is a welcome one. A nasty little fat man represents the management (not dissimilar to MacGregor in fact). He carries a small gun which he uses
to control the 'mob' when the mood suits him.
The film encapsulates the birth of the notion of workers' rights in their growing awareness and politi-cisation. When the miners go on strike and face a lockout, when the management refuses to negotiate, and the workers former jobs are performed by scab labour under police protection, the women become more involved in militant action culminating in the formation of the Womens' Auxiliary. This involvement of the women is an important part of the fUm. Up until this point they are almost alienated from the men; their staunch Presbyterian stance accompanied by the hearty singing of "Onward Christian Soldiers" competes with the rousing chorus of "The Red Flag" from the striking miners' nearby meeting. They play a msuor
THE NATURAL
Robert Redford is Roy Hobbs, an orphaned pitching prospect on his way to a trial with the Chicago Cubs. He deomonstrates his potential by striking out a Babe Ruth figure in three straight pitches during his train's stopover at a country fair. This feat brings him to the attention of a young woman with a fatal attraction for sporting heroes, or rather to the myths they embody. As a result, it is sixteen years before he finally makes it to the major league, and then as a right fielder with the basement-dwelling New York Knights; a man with no past, but with a bat named Wonderboy carved from the lightening hit stump of the tree beneath which his father died. He leads the Knights to a fight for the League Pennant, but echoes from the past conspire to thwart his ambitions.
Based on Bernard Malamud's Talmudic parable, this film is not so much concerned with sport as with using the metaphors that sport provides in a mythic portrayal of the struggle between good and evil. This is as well, for baseball, despite its appa,rent simplicity and forth-rightness is a game of tremendous subtlety in its emotional appeal which is very hard to fictionalise. And a game which has turned out
part in the miners' occupation of the pit which forces an underground confrontation with management and police. The men and women in their soUdarity all emerge, if not victorious at least undefeated.
"Strikebound" is a film in praise of the perseverance of men and women who have been pushed too far. Though the issues are not exactly the same as those of today, the situation is - the bitterness and hardship, the damp, dingy claustrophobia of the pits was as much there then as it is today. There is a tremendous feeling of optimism when at the close of the film, Agnes Duig, at ninety odd years, is able to say "I'm proud to be a member of the working class, we've done some heroic things".
Becky Lnnn
pitchers rejoicing in the name of Urban Slaughter, midget pitch hitters, and the Miracle Mets is so much larger than life, that to match it would stretch the imagination pf even the boldest author.
The book's elliptical m3rthic style poses tremendous problems of adaptation to the big screen. The lack of confidence at times shown in handling that adaptation is the film's major weakness. When it handles the issue in purely cinematic terms it works well. The use of lighting to symbolise the power of good over evil is particularly effective. Also impressive are the sketches produced by Robert Duvall's reporter/commentator, notably one showing Hobbs' Wonder-boy leading the Knights' charge out of the cellar. When it resorts to particularly Mterary devices, notably in some of the introductory scenes, and in the final few frames, it makes for an unintentionally ridiculous effect. The worst instance is when the message '16 years later' is flashed up on the screen, producing not shock or bewilderment in the audience, but general hilarity.
Though patchy at times, and not always true to the spirit of the original. The Natural is nonetheless effective and engaging; and any film starring Redford and Duvall is unlikely to lose its way for long.
page 10
Beaver, 19 November 1984
ixm/rms.

MODERN MASTERS FROM THE THTSSEN-BORHESZA COLLECTION
I felt a great surge of freedom and space on entering this collection from "The Age of Vermeer and de Hooch" Exhibition. The galleries are bright and daylight streams in. The paintings themselves are generally colourful products of the last one hundred years. There can be no question as to the excellence of the paintings; the names of the sevenly-eight artists read like an index of a scholarly book on modern art: Bacon, Degas, Van Gogh, Kan-dinsky, Magritte, Kcasso, Toulouse-Lautrec to name but a few. The exhibition itself is taken from one of the greatest private collections, second only to that of the Queen. Though the paintings stand on their own merit, I didn't feel any
intimacy in the galleries and it didn't seem to be a personal collection in the way that some are. 1 think I expected to find some thread of individual feeling running through all the pictures, but could not. Maybe this was due to the set-up of the exhibition (which I found superb), but I think when you collect "modern art" instead of just paintings or sculpture you cannot help but supercede any visible sign of personal taste.
The exhibition lasts until the 19th December and really is an envigor-ating experience. Whether you eqjoy art or not, this exhibition is a wonderful introductory overview to modern art and it shouldn't be missed.
Josef Kondelka - The Hayward Gallery
Confrontation is the name of the game for Josef Koudelka. So clear and direct are his photographs, so intensely does he observe his subjects that it could be nothing else.
In this exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, Koudelka has himself selected the photographs on view. Included are a wide selection from the early 1960's to the present.
The early photographs of Czechoslovakian gypsies illustrate his ability to capture and transmit emotion. There is unmistakeable poverty and oppression, everywhere is death, yet there is also whimsy and joy. The power of this ability is even clearer in the Prague photographs of 1968. The bitterness and hatred of the Czechs towards their oppressors is unmistakeable in photographs such as that of a crowd pushing defiantly against a Soviet tank.
This same intense investigation and powerful contemplation, of confrontation. and the captured moment is present in aU his work, be it of a dead crow tied to a wire fence, or a perilously calm, shadow-streaked road.
As an artist, his organization of space is highly theatrical and exciting. Eveiy corner is filled with textures or small detaOs: a child staring out of the photograph, an icon, or a line of windmills.
Koudelka stretches the possibilities of the camera to their limit.
Deep shadow is sharply contrasted against startling li^t, focussed image contrasted against unfocus-sed image. This, and his strong sense of drama capture and lend strength to what are often fleeting instances.
Yet it is the depth of his observation which turns these technical skills into photographs which shock and compel the viewer - and which makes this exhibition so well worth seeing.
Nathalia Berkowitz
THE AGE OF VERMEER AND DE HOOCH
In 17th Century Holland, the absence of patronage for religious and decorative painting eliminated the development of genre. Genre painting of this era is the depiction of scenes from everyday life, such as peasant and tavern scenes, musical or genteel drinking parties, or simple interiors with the dazzling effects of light.
There are 111 paintings in this exhibition, a carefUUy selected sample of diverse images of the first years of independence of the Dutch Republic. The precision to detail and realistic portrayals true to nature are not the on^ remarkable features of the. paintings. Each work is of a specific scene interpreted by the painter to convey a certain message. These messages may take the form of allusions to proverbs and allegories (as in "Woman at her toilet" by Jgn Molenaer), or on a simpler level they present us with vignettes of human nature, such as "Curiosity" by Berard ter Buch.
There is no doubt about the popularity of the exhibition which is sponsored by the American Express Company, for there are queues of peole from all walks of life waiting to get in. I didn't mind the number of people in the galleries, but after a
while I began to feel shut in. The skylights are covered by grey linen blinds and though the pictures are well lit, the gloomy interior is somewhat oppressive.
I noticed an elderly couple, the husband escorting his wife, pointing out particular details as she diligently examined the paintings with a large magnifying glass. This really is the way to appreciate the pictures; the artists seem to be playing games and tricks, the fine details are a constant source of pleasure. For example, in the largest canvas "The Concert" by Bernt von Hunthorst, you might notice that the elderly woman, while signalling secrecy with one hand, is picking the fop's pocket with the other. Or in Jacob Duik's "Cardplayers and Meriymakers", a woman is holding a mirror reflecting the cards of the player to his opponent.
I thoroughly recommend this exhibition at the Royal Academy to everyone. It closes on the 18th November so you'll have to hurry. Also worth mentioning is the last of five concerts to go with the exhibition, on the 9th November at St George's Church, Hanover Square, playing a selection of period madrigals.
THE HENRI UATISSE EXHIBITIOH
Along with Picasso, Matisse is probably one of the most sensuously appealing of artists; the rounded curve in a woman's cheek, breast, flowers bursting forth from the confines of a vase, exotic fruits portrayed in subtle colours. Henri Matisse's current exhibition at the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank brings together his sculpture, drawings and cut-outs, all of which testify to an absorbing interest in the human figure. The 69 sculptures include a magnificent series of figures, mostly in bronze, ranging from small medallions to the impressive, monumental sequence of "The Backs".
The simplicity of line and subtle nuances in the work of Matisse are evident in the 159 drawings on show. The variation in style is exciting: from the bold cubist portraits like those of "Eva Mudocci" and "Sarah Stein" to the softer "Antoinette" in a plumed hat. The ink drawings of bodies sleeping, leaning or playing musical instruments stand out with a definite contrast. Matisse was a great color-ist, for his early "Fauvist" paintings exploded with brilliance. At the end of the exhibition are his most colourful works of fruit, trees, acrobats; form and colour is almost abstract.
Nevertheless, what brings the works of Matisse together in this exhibition is that they all reveal his irmer thoughts, emotions and fundamental interest in shape and form. Many of the works relate to important moments in Matisse's life as a painter, beginning with the sketches for "Bonheur de Vivre" (1905-1906), and finishing with the charcoal studies for "Pink Nude", his Nice period.
Matisse is one of the great artists of this century, but more importantly, he is one of the most pleasureable. This exhibition is definitely worth a visit especially with the impending closure of the gallery and while you're there take a look at the photographs of Joseph Koukdelka upstairs.
Beclgr Lnnn
THEMRE
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
This is not the "Rocky Horror Show", but a bantam-weight comedy musical, in which the leading part is played by a huge green foam rubber cactus.
There are two problems with "Little Shop of Horrors". Firstly, its
an American musical being performed by an English cast who grapple with American accents in front of a predominantly English audience. Secondly, the performance of the evening came from a cross between a muppet and a triffid.
The action is centred around a tatty back street florists' shop on the sleazy side of town. Its a dead end and existence for the inhabitants of skid row, played by three loudmouthed ghetto girls, a kind of '50's version of the Three Degrees. An end to the monotony arrives when Seymour, lovable apprentice horticulturalist finds a strange plant during an eclipse of the sun. He names it Audrey n after the secret love of his life, and vows to care for it henceforth.
Audrey I meanwhile is played by Claire Moore. She is the archetypal dizzy blond, so busy acting dizzy that she loses all semblance of character credibility. All she wants out of life is the American Dream but she's dating a sadist on a motorbike called Orin.
Events get complicated. Audrey II gets bigger. The cast get smaller, and the jokes get l^arder to understand. The programme thoughtfully provides a glossary of american-isms but this is soon cast aside as the dialogue is too quick to allow back reference.
Not all the comedy is lost without hope however. There are some great moments such as Seymour's demonstration of devotion to his plant as he serenades the sinister cactus. All credit to David Bunt for his portrayal of Orin, a masochistic dentist by day and a greasy rocker by night - a veritable "leader of the plaque".
The fact remains that the audience loved Audrey n more than any of the actors. Although unseen, Paul Springer and Gary Martin who provide Audrey II's voice, managed to breathe life into its ever increasing leaves so that it convinced me that it had a mind of its own.
Don't go to "Little Shop of Horrors" unless you are prepared to suspend your disbelief for a couple of hours. It may be a show with a gimmick but at least its an original gimmick.
OiUi Weedon
. V	\
Beaver, 19 November 1984
Pagell
MINERS'STRIKE:
Pictures of Miners' pickets courtesy of Martin Jenkinson
EYEWITNESS REPORTS
Where People Come First
The village of South Kirkby is a closely knit Yorkshire mining community. For generations life has centred around the now threatened pits of South Kirkby and Ferry Moor Biddings just outside the village. I stayed in the village and picketed with its NUM members having travelled South Yorkshire with the LSE Miners Support Group.
We arrived in the area hours late to be greeted with welcome food at the local miners' kitchen in Shafton. We were allocated to the homes of NUM members from the pits, advised to get some sleep and be ready to go to the picket lines by 4am on Sunday morning. For the first time in 8 months, there were rumours that men were going to break the strike.
I found myself in the home of Dave and Susie Greenshield, a married couple in their mid-twenties who in many ways typify the character of the miners' strike and the real people involved — a far cry from the Scargill/McGregor battle portrayed in the media.
£6.45 Per Week
Dave Greenshield is a face worker at Ferry Moor Riddings pit and has been on strike since the very begining of the dispute in Yorkshire. He is not on strike because he is greedy, indeed, contrary to popular opinion miners are not the best paid workers in Britain. Dave told me how, one week, just before the beginning of the strike, he had worked seven 13 hour shifts (a 91 hour week) to earn the sum of £163. He has now been on strike for more than eight months and throughout that period he and his wife have had to exist on a mere £6.45 per week! How do you survive, I asked him: "That's easy" Dave replied "We don't."
Dave and Susie, like most other mining families have had supplementary benefit payments reduced by some £15 because the government has deemed that they are receiving strike pay — they are not. They are now forced to exist on a paltry sum, eating meals at the miners' kitchen, relying on neighbours and relatives and on food parcels for support. Their television licence has expired, they cannot afford a new one. Nor can they attempt to watch television, as detector vans regularly patrol the village - just another example of how far the government are going to try to
starve and intimidate the strikers back to work.
The community spirit in the village can be seen in the attitude of the Greenshield's next door neighbour, a friendly, smiling woman introduced to me as Doreen. Doreen's husband is a pit deputy, a member of NACODS. Her husband goes to the pit every morning, reports to the manager and returns home - for that he earns £100 every week. But unlike some, Doreen's husband backs the striking miners. As well as supporting his own family, he buys food (and has offered to buy a television licence) for Dave and Susie and ¦ donates to the miners' food kitchens.
This is a community heavily involved in the miners' fight, the strike is not without its critics, Dave admits, but those critics are few. The strikers are not revolutionaries, nor are they extremists. He told me that the miners welcomed outside support, they wanted to show people what it was like to be involved in the strike, but outsiders can cause problems. They are sceptical about many of the revolutionary groups that build themselves around the strike, and do not want people trying to sell Socialist Worker, The Next Step or Militant on their picket lines and at their meetings.
For Dave, the strike is about jobs, communities and people. His job is not easy, as a face worker he has a tough, dirty and punishing time underground - but without the mine he, and many of his colleagues have nothing. He believes the government's ultimate aim is the privatisation of pits. Then, he predicts, safety standards will fall, working conditions will get worse and wage rates will fluctuate as men are hired on a daily or weekly basis.
Scabs
Naturally he is ang^y about men going back to work but, he says, there's 55,000 miners in Yorkshire, so if 3,000 go back to work the strike's not broken. Dave claims that the men going back are usually on the verge of redundancy and will be handsomely paid off when the strike ends because the returning strikers will not work with them. Others are greedy for Christmas bonuses, or, as Susie insists, have been starved into submission. Whatever the case Dave claims that he will not work with scabs after the
strike. The man who broke the strike at Cortonwood had been sacked twice by the NCB, the union had twice got his job back for him. To strikers, the behaviour of people like this is understandably sickening and infuriating.
People
I was struck by how warmly and sincerely the people welcomed us and how much they appreciated our support and interest. The people are not ruthless, intimidating thugs -no matter how much Mrs Thatcher wants us to believe that. One only has to meet them to know that she's wrong. Of course they get angry, of course there is violence but when families, communities are taking such an important and principled stand on their own future it riles them when their own colleagues betray them for mercenary motives. The police, darlings of the press, are seen to perpetrate horrific acts of vio-'^lence, to provoke, to intimidate and to take home bulging pay-packets after a hard day 'in the defence of liberty'.
The visit to Yorkshire was a valuable educational experience. It was vital in obtaining a full understanding of this dispute. It is not a clash between Scargill and McGregor, it is a strike about people who dared to stand up for their jobs, their rights to work, their communities — people who refuse to subject themselves to the dictates of the ideology and dogmatism of the government.
Sean O'Neill
AN AMERICAN VISITS THE FRONT LINE
Last Monday's picket in South Yorkshire, left several impressions concerning the strike.
This was clearly a critical week in the dispute. The return to work of even a few miners, changes the tenor of the dispute. Until now, the strike in this area had set miners against police and government; now miners are turning against miners, and in tight-knit c-;;m-munities this can be divisive and ugly. In'an industry where the strongest weapon against management is solidarity, crossing the picket line, "scabbing" as it is called, is anathema. One 28 year-old miner related a story which illustrates just how deeply such feelings run. He told how he used to talk with an old man who regularly drank at his local pub. One evening, another old man stopped him and demanded: "What are you doing talking to him? He scabbed in 1926". Each miner I questioned about the returning workers said there was no way these people would be able to work in the pits after the strike was over.
Recognising the power of the jobs issue is crucial to understanding the strength of she strike. People who talk about efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the mines, whatever the force of their arguments, are missing the point in so far as the miners are concerned. One can only be impressed by how deeply and passionately the miners want to keep their jobs and stay in the area. "We want to work. We want to expand our industry so that we can continue to work. What's wrong with that?". This was no "hype"; the miner who said this spoke with sincerity and emotion but went to great lengths to be balanced in his presentation. This is the human face of the strike.
The anger and frustration caused by the fight for jobs and by the strike breakers has been intensified by the actions of the police. The role played by the police is one of the key differences between this strike and the one in 1974. As one miner


pointed out: "The police know how to handle us. They've been training." Police tactics are effective and intimidating, both physically and psychologically and it is difficult to see the police as a neutral body after having been to Yorkshire. The sight of 150 police, in ranks three and four deep, backed up by equal numbers in riot gear is frightening. The strength of community support for the strike and the presence of large numbers of police brought in from outside creates the impression that the police are "occupying" the community.
There has been much discussion in the press about two related issues: law and order and the origins of picket line violence. It is difficult to generalise on the basis of one picket, but several things are apparent. First, the deployment of police in large numbers wearing riot gear significantly increases the liklihood of violence. At Kirkby and Ferrymoor Riddings the tension grew in proportion to the number of police and was especially noticeable when the riot police arrived. Miners were of the opinion that the arrival of riot police generally signalled a charge. This seems to confirm the findings of a report, published in the Guardian, that most violence on picket lines is triggered by police provocation, particularly the use of riot police and horses. One union official commented: "Violence is caused by the police. If they stopped their tactics, there wouldn't be any violence."
Police Fostering Disorder
The Tory government argues that the police have merely been preserving law and order. Clearly the tension on both sides has been building up over the length of the strike, but if last Monday's experience is any indication, then it would appear that police are not keeping order but fostering disorder. Miners told of being stopped by police, of being harassed and arbitrarily arrested while engaged in peaceful demonstrations.
Law and order is not served when the police respond to a tense situation by charging unprepared people. Such behaviour is antagonistic, provocative and sanctions violence on the part of pickets. The situation on the picket line is explosive but the key to maintaining "law and order" would surely be to change the harsh and aggressive tactics used by the police. The sudden use of force lends credibility to the miners' contention that the police are not there to keep the peace but to break the pickets.
The climate in these pits and the surrounding community is growing daily more tense. Regardless of how the strike turns out, a high price will have been paid both in terms of damage to community solidarity and in the loss of respect for the government and police.
Dan Tuden
page 12
Beaver, 19 November 1984
M/RfSS? THAT'LL Do NlCfi./, SI^MO^"
"YOU AINT SEEN NOTHING YET!"
R.Reagan has been overwhelmingly re-elected to the White House. General opinion amongst GB students at the LSE is one of increased anxiety towards the stronger than ever Reagan administration. Beaver sought the explanations and reactions of US students at the LSE to this not unexpected landslide victory.
Widespread amongst the US students' views of the presiden-	DoiJCeyiacKct.
tial election was a cynicism	-J J
towards their fellow countrymen. There was a strong disdain for the lack of importance that the issues played in the election; politics, it seemed, was "popcorn and pistols, Budweiser and bullshit", as the presidential candidates slogged it out on TV.
"Reagan won the 6 o'clock news" was a sentiment held by most of those interviewed.
Democrat students quoted Walter Mondale: "politics today requires mastery of TV. I never really warmed to it and it never really warmed to me."
It was acknowledged almost without exception that Reagan had won the election on the strength of his personality.
Views upon the influence that his record had had in the victory varied; Republicans claimed that the success of his policies had won him another term, echoing Ronald's personal view that its hard to get rid of a good thing. Democrats conversely claimed that his terrible record had been ignored. One exasperated jogger forced out "Christ, if people are supposed to be so smart, how can they vote for him? He knows nothing about nothing and hasn't done anything about anything."
There is an alternative and somewhat simpler view: that "he's getting too goddam old".
Specifically, Reagan's firm leadership was seen by Republicans as a factor which contributed to the victory, especially his ability to cooperate with,
rather than be controlled by,
the far right. Most Democrats refuted this claim and suggested that the Reverend Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority as well as the John Birch Society have in fact made considerable inroads into influencing policy decisions; inroads which they feared would be exploited in the new term.
No-one really attached much importance to the role of Mr George Bush. Very few commented; those that did tended not to be complimentary: "what really scares me is if Reagan dies, and somehow Bush gets in,
he's too pompous and insensitive."
The politically unaffiliated and often more perceptive US students were quick to point out that the election, although it had given Reagan a mandate,
had not given the Republicans likewise. As a corollary of this many pointed out that Reagan's power would be checked. On some issues the Centre would come out against him more and more consistently, but the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives would prove more problematic.
What of Mr Mondale? The Democrat's leader was seen as weak and "a leftover from the Democratic party of Carter, a peanut of a man." The throwback to Carter's days was common, and f|^w who commented felt any great optimism towards Mondale's "New Deal". The cynics saw it as a dated philosophy with no appeal. Most considered that Geraldine Ferraro had done little to help her running mate. "One dimensional and over concerned with feminism" or simply "corrupt as hell".
Nor was her "I wouldn't have
done it if I'd known what it would be like" much appreciated.
Few people, in criticising Mondale focussed upon his policies: Mondale's defeat was blamed on his inability to excite the general public and specifically his failure to assure the prosperous majority that he cared for them "not a man of the people but a man of labour". Reagan had returned to the US people a feeling of national pride arguably absent since JF Kennedy's assassination. Few wanted to lose this again and it was Reagan, not Mondale who they considered would maintain it.
Many suggested that American society was moving back to a more conservative stance, a general return to probity. A number offered the view that Americans had "sort of had it with homosexuals"; equally, feminism, civil rights etc. were seen to be backseat issues. Unfortunately for Democrats, the backseat issues were Mondale's only real strength; the Jewish sector, alarmed at the aggressive Christianity purveyed by the likes of Reverend Falwell et al, suggested "vote for Mondale, at least you'll live to regret it". If issues counted at all, it was in the spheres of the economy and foreign policy that the election was fought.
In economic terms, US students felt that US voters had voted with their pockets, this being particularly the concern of white, male business interests. In foreign policy greatest interest was centred around the Star Wars issue and relations with Russia generally. There were extremes of opinion on the subject. Republicans justified Reagan's strong stance with pure Russophobia, while Democrats forthrightly condemned Reagan's refusal to negotiate. We were informed of the Chicago Tribune's interesting slant: "with respect to the nuclear issue, the choice is between Reagan falling asleep on the button, and Mondale groping wildly in the dark for it". The general feeling of distrust for Reagan that runs
through British students on this topic was not echoed by US students. Least of all on the part of the most stoic Republicans who were dismayed that anyone could possibly not trust a man with such a nice wife.
If apprehension in American ranks existed at all it was centered more around potential adventurism and arrogance in Central America.
Of those we spoke to, almost all were remarkably well versed in the US political situation, and perhaps less surprisingly, opinionated on the subject. Sincerity did not however, reign supreme. Having said this, it is fair to end with a final American comment; hopefully made in the lighthearted manner in which it was taken:
"As a follower of Reagan and a fellow believer in Jesus, I welcome the forthcoming armageddon as the final end to the Arms Race".
Ed Richards Hugh Sergeant
CHOOSING YOUR DONKEYS AND ELEPHANTS
A major innovation in the evolution of the American election changed the physical ballot requiring the voter to select a candidate in each contest instead of allowing him to vote for a party's slate of candidates. Americans today tend to split tickets between parties more than at any other time. Understanding the forces generating this fluidity of party affiliation is the key to the Republicans' hopes for consolidating their power, and to the Democrats' hope for resurgence.
The essential cause of America's preference for Republicans on the federal level and Democrats on the local level can be traced to a co-ordinate system of conflict between voter desires, the ideologies of the parties and the responsibilities of the different layers of government. The "average" American approves of the existing scheme of social programmes and requests a strong defence. Approximately 65% of the public would like to see spending increased on one or more programmes. Yet Americans categorically reject higher taxes and list the girth of the federal deficit amongst their most garish nightmares. The conflict is unavoidable; the average voter demands fiscal frugality and yet wants his slice of the Governmental pie continuously sweetened.
Each party plays to one of these conflicting desires; a grotesque but accurate stereotype of the average party member would be that a Republican favours both a strong defence and fiscal conservatism, while a Democrat advocates a redistributive system of greater social spending.
At the same time the two layers of government are held responsible by the public for vastly different tasks. The Pres-
....AND IT SIMPLY IS NOT STATISTICS CONFUSL ME.
YOU TO RE.-E.LELCT ML TWO YEARS I

TRUL THA.T FIGURLS AND SO. FELLOW ^fALRiCANS, I FOR \ FOUKTU TERM OF


ident is expected to execute foreign policy, defence strategy and control the purse. These duties are largely shared by the Senate and to a lesser extent by the House of Representatives. The House and State and Local Government are largely expected to deliver specific benefits, and scrape the pork from the barrel (sic).
As the election results elucidate, Republicans are favoured on the federal level because they demonstrate the right combination of fiscal discretion and international assertive-ness, and the Democrats dominate the lower echelons because they are willing to proffer particularised benefits. Each party would love to consolidate their power, but to do so would require significant revisions of party dogma. The Republicans are less likely to moderate, feeling their resurgence is due to renewed American conservatism.
The Democrats should change their ideological orientation over the next few years to reflect the contradiction that swells within the voter. They have particularly alienated the once solid South by talking down defence and promoting special interests. A new, younger leadership shall emerge, free from the ties to traditional party beneficiaries and the rhetoric which so bound Mr Mondale's candidacy.
1988 should be an interesting year. The Republicans, now blessed with an expansion, should find themselves burdened with a recession by then. The conservatives will blame the more moderate Republicans for interfering with policy selection, and the Democrats will blame the cyclical woe upon whatever the GOP does. Who shall triumph depends largely upon how severe a downturn occurs, how much Republican in-fighting occurs and how well the Democrats make the guilt stick to the GOt".
Of course, Reagan could soften the inevitable business slump, but the only way he can do this is by reducing the deficit. In order to maintain legislative clout he must keep the Republicans united and formulating effective solutions to the balance of payments problems and the coming banking and Third World debt crises. One easier solution is to weaken the dollar by reducing interest rates; the deficit must go.
Only if the Republicans can surmount the unique problems facing America in the eighties will they be able to offer the electorate the benefits they desire and subsequently consolidate their leadership. The Democrats should find it easier to run a moderate because Mondale leaves no heir to his liberal tradition. 1988 will be a showdown between two fresh faces set against a backdrop yearning for legislative initiative. Who knows - issues may even surface!
Michael Rose
Beaver, 19 November 1984
page 13
WOMENe SMOKING
Men are smoking less, women more - why?
Last year 95,000 people died from smoking-related diseases. Until now, lung cancer and heart disease caused by smoking have been seen as predominently male diseases while women as a risk group have been largely ignored.
The rate at which women are giving up smoking is much slower than that of men. In the last decade the percentage of the male population over 16 smoking has fallen from 52% to 38%, a fall of a quarter. Among women it has fallen by only a fifth, More worrying is the fact that among 15 year-olds, 30% of girls smoke compared with just over 25% of boys.
Why have women been ignored in the past? Unquestionably their death rates have been lower but this is misleading. Because there is a 20 year gap between starting to smoke and developing lung cancer, the effects of the 'liberation' of the 60s and the consequent growth in the number of women smoking have only just become visible. Between 1972 and 1982 the incidence of lung cancer in men increased by just over 1%, in women it rose by an horrific 52%.
Until now, research has been done by men on men. Any research on women has not been concerned with women themselves, but with the effect their smoking has on others -on the unborn child and the fact that children of parents who smoke have a much higher risk of developing chest complaints.
The fact is that smoking is much more harmful for women than it is for men; the menopause is likely to occur two or three years earlier than normal and smoking while on the Pill increases the risk of cancer of the cervix. Smoking by women is also thought to double the risk of cancer of the larynx, mouth, gullet and bladder.
SMO
Why do women smoke? It has been suggested that it is due to the pressures they alone face in dealing with everyday life. They are conditioned, unlike men, by their role in society to believe that it is unacceptable to lose control. Rather than kicking the cat, they smoke. Women are still regarded as the centre of the family. When they try to stop smoking the family is not so quick to rally round; they are supposed to be the controlled, stable influence and are not therefore expected to be intolerant and bad-tempered.
Women still feel they have to measure up to a society that requires them to look attractive. These pressures lead them to worry that if they gave up smoking they would get fat. Statistics show that after one year only 6% have put on weight, and by an average of only 4 lbs.
Cigarette companies have been quick to exploit women and this had made it even more difficult for them to give up. Coupons and supermarket offers are female-orientated as they are still conventionally thought of as doing the shopping. Professional women have been a particular target with such themes emphasising liberation, for example Virginia Slims' slogan (banned in this country) "You've come a long way baby". The increasing number of slim cigarettes and menthol brands are advertised as being feminine, sophisticated and elegant. More recently they have deliberately targeted young women.
In the next few years the numbers of women dying from smoking-related diseases will overtake that of men. Women should be aware of this, as should all those elements in society which are perpetuating this frightening smokescreen.
Becky Lunn Richard Jones
\
BENTLY WOMEN'S ACTION GROUP

SCREEN
Women's Solidarity
The 1984 miners' strike, which is already in its eighth month, will go down in history as a crucial and bitter dispute. The media coverage and heated debate that surrounds this strike will no doubt be incorporated into voluminous tracts. But their is an aspect of this dispute that has received scant recognition: the concomitent dramatic transformation that has occured in the lives of hundreds of working class women. This side of the strike was clearly brought out by Bobby and Dianne from the Bently Women's Action Group. They came to LSE on Monday 5th November.
Initially, the dominant male culture of the mining community resulted in an essentially male strike. Women were not included, nor did they want to be, in its planning, organisation, or inauguration. However, five weeks into the dispute eight women from Bently changed all of this by organizing a kitchen to provide meals for the striking miners and families. This kitchen has become the heart of the striking community uniting men and women in community solidarity.
Donation
Before the strike none of these women had been involved in anything remotely political or in any large scale organizing. However, with absolute determination and belief in their own ability, these Bently women came down to London to a skeptical NUM. With the resultant '100 donation and a sympathetic council who provided the hall, "Operation Kitchen" was activated. Leaf-letting locally and campaigning nationally, the project has escalated. The kitchen now provides between 700 and 800 meals a day, and runs at a weekly cost of £1300. Since the women are determined to maintain their independence, they rely solely on donations, which requires considerable organisational skills.
The collective action of these women represents a break with the traditional "isolated housewife" syndrome. "Women are now closer than they used to be, they're doing more. Before when we passed in the street it
were 'hey up!'. Now we're working as a team." The resulting change in attitude is marked by increased political awareness and confidence in their ability to play an active role in mobilising the community. "Before the strike we were concerned with day to day life, not politics or what our men were doing. Now we have fortnightly meetings and talk things out more. We're showing bur husbands what we are made of and proving that women can do something about it."
Resistance
These women are also active outside the kitchen, picketing regularly and travelling up and down the country in search of financial aid. However, the new role of these women, and the breaking of tradition, has met with some resistance. Bobby related one particular incident that happened out on a picket line. "A male picket said to me 'you should be behind the kitchen sink'. So next time I went I pegged my wet washing to myself and said 'now are you satisfied? I bring my washing with me!' Everything's as right as rain now. We're best mates."
The dynamic role of these women represents a change in attitude throughout the mining community.. There is wider acceptance of women at meetings, pit discussions and in pubs. "Before we never wanted to discuss pits, now we want to know more. Growing awareness of our own situation and what we can do has changed lots of ideas about the system". The role of these women has necessitated a change in the role and attitudes of men, who are now taking more responsibility for the running of the household and looking after the kids. "Lads help now if we're rushed off our feet because we took it on our own backs to run this kitchen. I'm proud of it and proud of the lasses who have done it."
Despite all the suffering and hardships faced by these mining communities, the experience has enriched the lives of hundreds of working class women. Whatever the outcome, they are positive that the change in their roles is permanent.
If anyone would like to send donations or toys since Christmas is not far off, the address to send them to is 55 Woodside Road, Scunthorpe, South Yorkshire.
Jane Wagner
NUS LAUNCH NEW WOMENS' UNIT
The National Union of Students has established a Women's Unit to serve the NUS Women's Campaign and college-based womens' groups, and to research into the position of women in further and higher education, training and the labour market. The unit has two full-time members of staff, and is situated in NUS' London headquarters.
According to Lesley Smith, NUS vice-president (education), increasing attention to the position of women in the student movement has led to increased demands on the NUS Women's Campaign.
"The campaign was taking on wider issues of concern to women students, such as social security, rape, abortion, sexual harrassment, as well as trying to establish a national network of student women's groups. There has also been increasing discontent that women were under-represented both locally and nationally within student unions. The NUS Women's Unit will give us the professional back-up we need to raise the issues and concerns of women in education, both within the student body and outside it.
"The Unit will also be concerned with the subjects women study at school and college and whether or not they can get to college in the first place.
"There can be no question that the continued denial of equal access to science and technology subjets, and the continued use of traditional teaching methods for maths and computing discriminate against girls. This limits their access to higher education and has a lasting effect on their career opportunities.
Opportunity
"Older women, or women wishing to return to education after having children are also given little opportunity. In the 1970's there was some recogini-tion of their needs with the establishment of the Open University and the increase in Adult Education classes at times convenient for women to attend. But it is precisely these courses that are being cut back, so that women are suffering disproportionately," says Lesley.
The Unit will be working along the following lines:
Establishing contact with college women's groups, and helping to set up new ones;
Developing links with women's organisations in the wider community - with trade unions, community women's groups and local authority women's units;
Undertaking surveys and providing research for use by women's groups in campaigns;
Acting as a referral service and information resource to students and women's groups;
Producing campaign and publicity materials for women's groups in colleges;
Contributing directly to all areas of NUS' work where it affects women.
The Unit will be staffed by Chrissie Oldfield, Women's Officer, and her assistant Michele Wickett.
page 14
Beaver, 19 November 1984
TOWARDS A NATIONAL .LAW SERVICE_
I recently saw that the millionaire financier James Goldsmith had just taken another libel action to courts. A couple of years ago he won a case against Private Eye. Whether he wins or loses doesn't matter to him, because he can afford it. If he wins he gets the additional satisfaction of exacting his private revenge.
Peter Tatchell was of much greater public interest when he stood in the Bermondsey by-election a couple of years ago. Yet because he had no money he was unable to sue the Sun, when they published pictures touched up to make him appear as if he was wearing lipstick, or when they claimed he had been to the Gay Olympics in San Francisco although he never left the country.
So Goldsmith pursues his personal battles, holding up the courts while thousands of often innocent people wait anxious and frightening months before their cases can be heard. Tatchell on the other hand, cannot even seek justice because he can't afford to enter the legal process in the first place.
The legal services in Britain today bear many resemblances to health services in the thirties. One resemblance, as illustrated above, is that the rich can buy whatever services they like, whereas the poor may often lose out altogether. Not only that, but the lawyer's training will usually have been publicly subsidized, and the costs of the legal system are borne principally by the public - yet it's mainly the rich who use the facilities.
Another resemblance is in the type of people entering the profession. I was shocked to discover that you still have to "buy yourself in" to a barrister's practice - a practice straight out of Dickens. This means that barristers are drawn exclusively from the very rich, whose parents can afford the thousands of pounds necessary.
Judges are drawn almost exclusively from the ranks of barristers. Thus the people who prosecute you and judge you are drawn entirely from the richest echelon in society. Yet the great
majority of people who end up in court are from vastly less privileged backgrounds and classes. So what chance for a black youth, say?
A third resemblance is the structure of those services that are more or less free. In the thirties, municipal hospitals and health services often funded from workers' funds provided a hotch-potch of treatment for those who couldn't afford to pay. Today in Britain we have Citizen's Advice Bureaux, law centres, free representation units, etc., funded from a large variety of sources and Authorities, providing a variable range of legal help and advice. Their one common denominator is being vastly overworked and greatly underfunded.
Clearly it's time that the law was made more accessible to all, and that uniform standards and services were introduced throughout the country which were not subject to the vagaries of commercial demand. This would be an enormous undertaking, requiring large public funds. The free services must show the way, as they did in the establishment of the National Health Service in 1945. We need a National Law Service as one further step towards a free, fair, and just society.
What would some of the con-squences be? A major one would be that millions of people would for the first time feel that they had a service that they could participate in, that was working for them, and that wasn't just a mysterious process run by a privileged few for their own benefit. Legal intimidation as a means of achieving aims could dwindle away, as bullying landlords find they have to use the same legal services to evict tenents as the tenents would use to defend themselves.
Another far-reaching consequence, and one which was not present in the in the formation of the NHS, would be a major challenge to state powers against small groups and individuals. As an example of the first, the Treasury has recently launched a campaign against all the lesbian and gay (non-porn) bookshops in the country (including gay Christian ones). Customs and Excise, who fall
under the Treasurer, have far greater powers of seizure than the police, and are effectively enforcing their own form of censorship by seizing enormous quantities of imported material. Several smaller bookshops have been driven out of business as a result of having thousands of pounds of stock impounded. Only one bookshop in the whole country could afford to mount a legal challenge, and even that has needed the backing of the National Council for Civil Liberties. Customs and Excise are now trying to drive them out of business by seizing almost any imported material, including books that are available in every bookshop in the country. This is a major abuse of powers by the present government in its. piecemeal attempts to suppress civil liberties. They are trying it because they think they can get away with it. With a National Law Service the bookshops could fight the government on equal terms.
As an example of state power against individuals, I recently went before Supplementary Benefits Appeal Tribunal. The DHSS blurb says you don't need to appear in person, but you've a better chance if you do; and you may or may not have your own representation, as you choose. The tribunal itself is made up of "ordinary members of the community".
I couldn't have been- more misled. The Chair of the Tribunal was obviously a legal person, who completely took the side of the DHSS. He argued my representative down, even though there was a DHSS lawyer there. I wouldn't have had a hope without representation - I was completely intimidated — yet I'd very nearly had no one at all to help.
There must be tens of thousands of people who lose out in cases like mine because they can't get adequte legal advice or representation. An NLS, taking on all these cases, would provide a major challenge to the state's method of rule by bureaucratic intimidation. It would strike a major blow for poor, needy, and defenceless individuals.
' So the creation of an NLS would help to eliminate some of
the major injustices and inequalities in our society. But in also challenging the power of faceless bureaucracy and vested interests in government, it would also have much more political consequence than the creation of the NHS. With the present government hell-bent on destroying the NHS, we
clearly cannot expect any moves towards an NLS in the near future, and indeed, it's something no Tory government is ever likely to introduce. But I believe it should be a priority in the first post-Thatcher government.
Richard Snell



LONDON AT WAR
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DOHT UOOK LIKE. WE'LL HAVE. TO WAIT FOR THE. HOLOCAUST CHARLIE 1
On the battlefield
London's seven million tread a battlefield each day and most are oblivious to the deadly struggle fought on its streets and in the skies. We tend to believe the physical is all; forgetting the subtle world where we find such familiar things as mood, knowledge, atmosphere etc. The war in the subtle world is so intense that even psychologists see its effects and hospitals have to deal with heart attacks. The strain is showing, tempers are short, happiness is transient, reason is weak, and the mind is clouded in the fumes of exhausted men and cars. Greed is winning on the roads - pace is fantastic; cars and lorries are gone, or stopped impatient by traffic lights. How fast can this city move? All this activity and we're supposed to be in a recession.
This London never stops - the roads a continual fever pitch of movement and dissatisfaction. Everyone wants to be somewhere else. Could you spend an hour coming into work every day and another going home? Everyone of those frustrated faces can give reasons for wanting to. Money?
Money can buy another London. Walk off High Holborn and into Lincoln's Inn Fields. Although littered with parked cars there is a hush, a gentleness, a peace where the rush of the road rides away and life takes on another quality. Why is it that in this great roaring city of ours, there are so many pools of tranquility - pockets of resistance refusing to allow greed to win a final victory? Walk down Kingsway, and in seconds the activity will take hold - inner conversations rehearsing the parts and reliving the future in the theatre of the mind. And thats it; atten-
tion captured - too busy to see whats going on. The selfishness of it all. Seven million all claiming this city for themselves; and they're so scared of losing their little piece that they won't allow London to rest. Does this city ever sleep? It certainly never wakes refreshed - the tight lips and angry foreheads are with us each morning; or the stumbling of ignorant bliss. Does anyone live in this here town?
The subtle war threatens all life in this town - the physical fun of all this excitement is ok because the flesh is willing, but the spirit is weak and the real damage is done to the mind. The contrast is incredible. The mind cannot Cope - pornography on the streets of the Law Courts, fine architecture and pollution.
Somebody sometime will walk into Lincoln's Inn Fields and know why the gardens are open "for the enjoyment of rest and quiet"; someone will see the art in this city; someone will realise why our theatres keep showing Shakespeare; why Mozart is heard in our concert halls; why the libraries have the finest books. What is it in the eye of the beholder that strikes the common chord -what makes the passion and ignorance fall away, allowing purity to take its rightful place in our efforts, our hearts and our minds?
The outcome of war is on the scales in each man - the "Measure for Measure". Use your discrimination. It's said that the state of a man is the reflection of the state of his heart; and so it is with a nation. London is the heart of England - be careful with it!
Gregory Thompson
Beaver, 19 November 1984
page 15
SOCIETIES 'N THINGS
LS£ SKI CLUB
TWO SKI TRIPS:
January: MERIBEL
(France)
Easter: ANDORRA
ALL STANDARDS WELCOME!
For more information JOHN LEWIS ASHLEY HYETT
through the
AU pigeonholes.
SQUATTERS FACE EVICTION
On Monday 13th November the Gower Street squatters received a court hearing to vacate the Gower Street premises by the 28th of November or else face the consequences of a court eviction at any time by court bailiffs. Picketing outside the drab, grey, Royal Courts of Justice, the squatters had a mere four minutes to make their decision — their answer in the affirmative to vacate the building.
The squatters had wanted this court hearing to be adjourned in order to get four weeks in which to sort out legal entanglements. NUS soliciters had assured them that they could sort out these legal issues given the time to do so. Surprisingly, University of London officials were also initially willing to cooperate, provided the legal side of the matter was dealt with adequately.
There were three fundamental stumbling blocks. Firstly the University officials had bought a sub-lease of the property from the "Legal and General" insurance company. The University therefore had more or less complete control and say regarding who occupied
the building. The squatters were therefore at a loss to deal with the situation from the very beginning. Secondly, the squatters would have to pay a sufficient amount of insurance on the building. Being financially inpecunious (sic) they were once again at a loss. Thirdly, in order to be used as an accomodation site the building needed a license under the Town and County Planning Act from the Department of the Environment. The financial problem was partly alleviated by the £1000 which the squatters received from the LSE Student Union, though it is used primarily for campaigning purposes.
The rush for a court hearing on the part of London University may perhaps be attributed to their growing fears of having matters decided against them. More time would have meant more chances for the squatters to win public support and sympathy and raise more funds for legal problems.
In response to a query regarding plans for the immediate future one of the squatters replied, "We'll go through it all over again.". The purpose of the squat can be gauged from an extract from one of their cam-
MONDAY19 NOVEMBER
CATHOLIC SOCIETY regular meeting S401 1pm.
DANCE SOCIETY Funky Dance with Errol from Pineapple Dance Studio C018 1pm '1
AIESEC regular meeting S169 6pm.
PSYCHOLOGY SOCIETY TALK BY DR J.W. STRANG (consultant psychiatrist in a drug dependency unit) on drug abuse.
S075 6.30pm.
GAY SOC regular meeting S175 7pm.All welcome.
TUESDAY 20 NOVEMBER
CHAPLAINCY Open Forum. Graham Wallas Room 1pm.
WEDNESDAY 21 NOVEMBER
CHRISTIAN UNION "Is God a male chauvinist pig?" Elaine Storkley S421 1pm.
DANCE SOCIETY Big Apple Health Studio presents Body Conditioning 2pm; Aerobics 3pm. New Gym 80p each '1 both.
DISABLED STUDENTS MEETING to discuss disability issues for LSE students 3-Tuns Bar.Free drinks.3.15-4.30pm.Enquiries to SU Welfare Office E294/295r
AIESEC Trip to Paris(21st-25th).
FRIDAY 23 NOVEMBER
LSE FRIENDS OF SRI LANKA Dinner/Disco A45 6.30pm '3, tickets available in advance from Old Building stall. All proceeds to charity
CHRISTIAN UNION prayer and praise meeting S175 12 noon.
MONDAY 26 NOVEMBER
DANCE SOCIETY Funky Dance with Errol from Pineapple Dance Studio C018 1pm "1.
AIESEC elections S169 6pm. (extended meeting followed by pub crawl or crawl to pub!)
GAY SOC regular meeting S175 7pm.
TUESDAY 27 NOVEMBER
AIESEC talk from ESSO 5pm.
PUBLIC LECTURE "Gregory King, T.R. Malthus and the origins of British social realism" by Peter Laslett, Trinity College, Cambridge. Old Theatre 5.15pm.
WEDNESDAY 28 NOVEMBER
CHRISTIAN UNION "Inside the Bamboo Curtain" Dr Helen Makower S421 1pm.
DANCE SOCIETY Big Apple Health Studio presents Body Conditioning 2pm; Aerobics 3pm. New Gym. SOp each, '1 both.
THURSDAY 29 NOVEMBER
AIESEC Local Advisory Board meeting at Arthur Anderson's, Surrey Street 6pm.
FRIDAY 30 NOVEMBER
CHRISTIAN UNION prayer and praise meeting S175 12
GAY SOC Disco C018 8pm-11pm. 50p (free concessions).
PHOTOSOC
Apologies over the lack of publicity for the last meeting, we were relying on the notice in Beaver, which eventually hit the streets the day after the meeting. We are now operational, see the darkroom door for teaching lists, darkroom booking rota (key from Old Building Lodge in exchange for current membership card), and notices of forthcoming meetings. Please keep the darkroom clean and tidy!
Societies: Deadline Tues29tii Nov.
THURSDAY 22 NOVEMBER
There's no present like the time..
As a student, you have the giftof a long vacation. Use it for something memorable... and valuable.


bunacamp


e<»9'

If you iIKe children,
has to >»	, nrt
richly rewardlns, stlmulrtlng (and
exHau^lnfl!) summer of your life.
For a low one-time Pavme"'. find you a )ob as a counselor In a children's summer camp, pro vour work papers and your round-trio flight. Board and lodging are
'fr^ and the salary you receive
beats similar programmes. For BUNACAMP, you need to be 19V. by July 1985 you nMd
rdrtn%°rdr£^^^^^
fo'^^rcrp^Ttfris^'Tr
crafts to computers, singing to
laumg, soccer coach to secretary.
intorviBWS start In November, and , lCs:&e for camp in June.
Contact your local North America Club

IN ONE
-¦••f itjf EiSo'Z
-• your



¦ etc,	t'ourroundT
fecreat/onal faclimf 'he ^"sh/„e,boarda'?°'""'P-those	are
SUNAC's,aa,°"f®^'<AMP/J
P'ogramrrm
For more information about BUNAC be outside the Old theatre anytime from 12.30- 2pm.
Gower Street, not yet Home
paigning leaflets,"We plan to educate the educational establishment in their responsibility for housing all students to whom they offer places, beginning by making available all empty buildings for use by homeless students."
It seems as though University of London concern for student v^relfare is at a low ebb. Their response to student demand for a basic necessity like housing is quite disheartening. What is heartening, however, is the fact that the Gower Street squatters view their stand as an exam-plary one and hope others will follow suit.	Rahman
STUDENT ACTIVITIES
The LSO Conference was inquo-rate by about 5 delegates, so the date to remember for the reconvened conference is December 1st.
The LSO "Claim It" leaflet, produced in cooperation with the GLC, has now been published (details from Graham Nicholas, LSO Office, Malet Street).
24th-30th November is GLC "Transport Week".
Monday 26th November Womens' Events including a lobby of LRT at 2.00pm.
Tuesay 27th November Lobby day: briefing at County Hall 12-12.30pm. Plus Old Bus Parade and ride to Central Hall; rally/debate at Central Hall at 2.15pm and a lobby of MPs.
Wednesday 28th November Student Youth Day - lunch party at Earl's Court Station from 12.00 to 2.00pm. Plus NUS organised lobby of Parliament as part of the "New Deal Campaign" for further education (Martin Biron LSO).
Jane Wagner
page 16
Beaver, 19 November 1984
BEAVER SPORT
HOUGHTON STREET HARRY
BEAVER HOCKEY REPORT
Hockey is not just a sport, as the 1st Team is rapidly discovering - it is an amalgam of all the nasty, masochistic things in life that ironically result in people enjoying themselves.
The first fixture for report was against UCH, who turned out to be Sussex University thanks to a last minute brainwave by our hardworking secretary who was never very sensible anyway! The match was dominated by arctic conditions, a boxless goalie and much to their surprise, the LSE. The score was 1-0 to Sussex before most people realised the game had actually started. A valiant fightback led to the LSE monopolising the play, but unfortunately only one of their many chances was converted and even more unfortunately it had to be credited to the much-hated political activist of the left wing.
The next opponents were Kent University against whicli the team didn't really get i1 together. The deficit was 2-0 to Kent thanks to two penalty flicks - the backs really are getting very good at giving these away! The general excuse for this lacklustre performance is that the bus left at an unset-tlingly early hour in the morning (10.30am to be exact), when most are still unconscious. The early start left plenty of time to support the women's teams and the bar. The day however, was not yet over; the bus drivers decided to indulge in a bit of hide and seek throughout the campus and had developed the annoying trick of leaving ten minutes before they were supposed to. Eventually, a coach was caught and cornered at a roundabout and the stragglers all managed somehow to crawl aboard.
The LSE Riding Club 1st team made a flying start on the new competitive season by winning the first inter-collegite competition on Wednesday 7th November at Lea Bridge Riding School. The competition was part of a League points system which produces an overll winner amongst London University Colleges at the end of the lent term.
The winning team were Jane Beanstock, the incoming president and captain of the 1st team, and Sharon Mitchell, a first-year student. As the third team member couldn't attend, Jane rode twice in the dressage and Sharon twice in the jumping to make up the 3rd team place. At the end of the dressge phase LSE was leading by 9 points against Barts and Imperial. Competition tightened u in the jumping phase when both Jane and Shron had one refusal each but LSE hid its lead and went on to win.
Thanks go to horses Ros, Max, and Sylvester for putting up with 9 different riders in rapid succession and of course to the staff of lea Bridge Riding School. The dressage test was BHS Prelim 6.
Next came Imperial who were wallies, and their centre-forward was a real wally since he was responsible for the two goals.
In the meantime, Sussex had protested successfully about the umpires at our last meeting; so the intrepid eleven (plus one supporter) found themselves being ferried to the floodlit arena in two cars and an orange thing. Most had never played floodlit before, and everyone found it rather dark - except for the ageing centre-half who described it as 'painfully bright' (it was later ascertained that his hang-over was worse than usual!). The score was once more 1-1, after one of the most hotly competed friendlies most had ever played in; the backs fell victim to yet another flick and the Sussex goalie to another terrible goal by the slimy left-winger. The trip back was of course a race, ending superbly with one vehicle pitifully pleading 'obstruction' as it was forced down the Kingsway underpass and out of contention.
The past few weeks-worth of hockey may not have been the best results-wise, which is hardly surprising since the LSE has been playing teams that are historically their superiors, but it has been great fun. The mixed hockey is fun as well, and is a very good way of dissipating that Sunday afternoon lethargy and of learning how to tackle the other sex!
Any new members will be heartily welcomed, but please do not get the wrong impression - the Hockey Club is intensely serious by nature, and you could end up hating it as much as the rest of us do!
Andrew Oldland

LSE 3rd XI3-1
Sussex University
The 3rd Team had a very good start in the UAU competition against a strong Sussex team when captain John Lewis .scored from outside the box in the first minute. Sussex responded with long periods of pressure for the rest of the first half, but thanks to particularly strong defending by Andy Shingler and Adam Style the LSE lead survived. In the second half LSE exerted their superiority with goals by James Berry and Nick Ball although Sussex scored a late consolation through John Coombes.
LSE 3rd XI3-0 Imperial College V
A depleted 3rd team scored their third successive win with a comprehensive victory over Imperial College. Two goals from Andy Williams and one from an outstanding Dan Dag-lish were the highlights of a game that will be most remembered for Pat Hayes leaving his kit on the train.
The next competition coming up is for the 2nd team on 28th November at lea Bridge. Anyone interested in being considered for the team list should contact Jane Beanstock on 203 6272 or via the Riding Club notice board behind Florries.
The Riding Club arranges regular lessons and hacks for all riding standards (particularly beginners) on Wednesday and Friday afternoons, along with riding holidays and other activities. General enquiries to
HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN
After stunning the City University with a come-from-behind overtime win, the LSE Basketball team streaked past Islington Green 122-35 last week.
Both teams played right into the strategy of the LSE's s^wy Captain Richard Barsons. When the Perrier press — a new weapon - didn't squeeze the City University tightly enough, Barsons called for a man to man defense in time to snatch the day away from the less gifted, but hard-driving CU men. Co-Captain Mike Lewis tossed in a game high 21 points, while Jay Allen and Tom Gentille, visiting scholars from America, took time off from their books to score 12 points each. But the most inspiring performance came from Alec Campbell, an American football player, who wrestled rebounds away' from the scrawnier CU squad with impunity.
Against a well seasoned, more mature Islington Green team, the LSE shone, causing several fans to suggest afterwards that this LSE team might just be the one to bring back the national championship trophy to its proper resting place in the Athletics Union cupboard. The "Century Express" (the name given to the LSE by the popular press), exploded for more points than any London team in the past three years. The scoring was balanced, and heavy credit goes to Mike Shaen, Andy Garner and Cliff Myrowitz who came off a cold bench and lit up the gym with a shooting and passing display.
John Maynard Jumpshot
LSE 2nd XI3-2 Sussex Univ.
A fine performance in poor conditions, LSE fell behind in the first minute but recovered to win the game with goals from Nick Saltrese, Tony Jafar, and Adam Markin.
LSE 2nd XI0-5 Kent Univ.
LSE were disappointing after travelling to Kent for the second UAU match and were beaten on the day by a superior side.
LSE 2nd XI9-1 Imperial College
An excellent performance in this the third UAU match which nieans that the 2nd XI should qualify for the next stage. Ray Bradley scored five goals as LSE overpowered the opposition in a very one-sided game. Other goal scorers were Adam Markin (2), Mel Harda-gon, and James Berry.
DonKeyjacKet.
Next weekend features what many experts consider the world's premier steeplechase, Newbury's Hennessy Gold Cup. I spend restless summer days dreaming of the time when Hennessy fever will once again descend and I can make my fortune.
Although my heart finds it hard to oppose Burrough Hill Lad his chances have been considerably curtailed by the hand-icapper. As a compromise Rich-dee, his half brother, is a confident selection, although arthritic knee joints might serve to hamper this otherwise dynamic animal. Broadheath only needs restore a mere semblance of his early season's form to achieve third place.
The following Saturday (December 2nd) Aonoch could
graduate successfully (something which seems beyond me) from novice company and put his seniors to shame in The Mecca Bookmakers' Hurdle at Sandown. In Aonoch's absence, Janus who is a cute grey colour should emerge victorious.
Finally watch out for a young hurdler called Wine and Prayer who has positively mesmerized me with his erstwhile form.
DANCE SOCIETY
'•isa'#-

Strenuous exercise!
When I first heard of the Dance Society I envisaged ill-assorted couples acquiring outmoded social graces in a ballroom. But what had that to do with the Athletics Union? Illumination rapidly followed. The only dancing, in the accepted use of the word, is at Errol's Monday dance exercise class- in C018, 1-2.30pm, where a period of limbering up is followed by learning a dance routine which you can do at home.
The main event however, is on Wednesday afternoons in the Old Building Gym. From 2-3pm there is a body toning class, a sort of yoga to music, stretching and bending the parts you do not get to bend or stretch in Western Civilisation. This is followed by an hour of aerobics. Opinions expressed on aerobics include "poncing about in tights", and that it is dangerous. Both are to a certain extent true - it is light going compared to karate or rugby training, but
not much else - if someone with delusions about their fitness were to do all the exercises on their first week they would damage themselves.
The idea is to build up gently, week by week. Vikki and Karen, like Errol from Pineapple Dance Studios, advise how to do the exercises, tell you not to (and how not to) strain yourself, take your pulse and regularly advise you to keep breathing (I've no intention of stopping).
Both sexes can join the classes, suitable wear would be track suit top, shorts or leotard, and tights with light running shoes for the aerobic section. Fees are 80p for each session, or £1 for both (join Dance Society in A65). Practical benefits include a smaller waistline and catching buses you run for instead of spending ten minutes wheezing at the bus stop waiting for the next one.
Alan Peakall

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