RED RAG READING'S ONLY NEWSPAPER FREE FREE FREE October 30 1983 - 4th Anniversary!! Next issue: Copy deadline: Thursday 10 Nov. Offers of help: 666324 News: 666324 666681 Events: 37 3117 Going Out: 507598 Distribution: 665676 Money: Cheques to 'Red Rag' to our Treasurer, Flat 7, 66 Wokingham Road. Send stuff to: Red Rag, c/o Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St, Reading. - - - RACIST ATTACK - POLICE HIDE Last Sunday night (23rd Oct) the Marquis of Granby on Cemetery Junction seemed a good bet for a quiet drink after a Sunday's laze. The three of us were therefore a bit surprised when something like a pub brawl seemed to be developing just outside the lounge bar. The surprise turned into shock when we left the pub and walked past Crown Colonnade, to find the Mace shop smashed up, vegetables all over the pavement and a bunch of policemen outside the cinema nearby. Two men standing outside the shop told us that a coach party of Welsh rugby supporters (Cardiff Rugby team) had stopped off for a drink at the Marquis and attacked first the nearby Doner Kebab stall and then the Mace shop. Friends who'd walked past when the attack started, and Mr Dhillon, owner of the Mace shop, informed us that the Cardiff supporters had taken over the public bar of the Marquis, played macho games like standing on tables and taking their trousers down ("mooning"), and intimidated the regulars so that some of them had to leave. The landlord of the pub called the police. The supporters then got into a fight with local boys. I don't know how the police dealt with that when they arrived. After this fight, the rugby fans went past the Mace shop to the kebab stall and started some trouble there. At this point Mr Dhillon called the police. (The police who'd been called by the landlord seemed to have vanished.) The supporters now made for the Mace shop and started turning the vegetable stalls over and throwing crates at each other. Some men from the shop tried to defend it. The rugby fans shouted "Paki bastards' at them and threw billiard balls (from the pub) and bricks through the shop windows. Mr Dhillon tried phoning the police again. After a while, 30-40 police with dogs arrived. They surrounded the rugby fans, and tried to encourage them to get on their coach. One fan managed to break through the police line and hit one of the men from the shop, cutting his lip, which needed stitches. Apparently the police just stood by and watched. Mr Dhillon is cynical about the police's response to the attack on the shop. "I called them before the fight started, and again when it was all over. There were some police at the Marquis of Granby before the fight started but they didn't do anything." Despite £1,000 worth of damage done and injuries to the shop's personnel, the police have not actually charged anybody. The three supporters they did arrest have been 'released on bail without charge', which means they will probably have to come to Reading police station at some date soon to find out if they will be charged or not. Meanwhile, the police are supposedly making "further inquiries". None of the eye-witnesses I talked to were consulted by the police at the time of the attack. The supporters may get off scot-free.... a thought which provokes cynicism in those arrested and charged for vocally disagreeing with Neil Kinnock at Saturday's CND demo in London. Mr Dhillon would like to correct a report in the Evening Post which said "Half a dozen Pakistanis rushed out and started on one of the Welsh blokes." (It is in fact a quote from the pub landlord.) He thinks the report makes it look as though his shop personnel were starting a fight, when it was the rugby supporters who made an unprovoked attack on his shop. "Not one of them has been charged - is that fair?" Mr Dhillon would also like to point out that he is Indian. Laura Norder - - - SHOULD IRVING HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO SPEAK? On Tuesday October 18 between 100 and 150 people demonstrated against David Irving who was speaking to the History Club at Reading University. Described by the Evening Post as 'a controversial right-wing historian', Irving is a member of the extreme right-wing Focus Policy Group and has links with fascist organisations. Searchlight, the anti-fascist magazine which brought Irving's political affiliations to light, was described by him on Tuesday as a 'bunch of criminals and thugs'. Having written a book about Hitler's alleged diaries, he has set himself up as an authority, claiming that Hitler knew nothing about the extermination of Jews and other minorities during the Second World War. About 40 demonstrators were able to enter the meeting and Irving faced hostile criticise of his ideas, jeers and slow hand-claps. He was obviously unnerved and contradicted himself several times. When challenged he refused to condemn anti-semitism or the repatriation of Blacks. Throughout the meeting considerable noise was made outside the building and more people were able to gain access. Some got into the meeting while others were held brick or ejected by 'stewards' and the police. Irving described the incident as 'a scandal for Reading'. The scandal is that the History Club should have invited him to sneak in the first place. The outrage of many people to fascists speaking in Reading was apparent in their response. I've heard opinions following the picket that the actions at the meeting are the wrong way of opposing fascists and we are infringing some principle of free speech. But as far as I am concerned Irving and people like him should have no platform in Reading. This is an emotional response: I heard him talking, intellectualising the deaths of 6 million Jews, making money and gaining notoriety by saying Hitler wasn't such a baddy after all. His next theory could be that 6 million didn't die, that it was a lie fabricated by Americans and Russians. I'm afraid that if there is no overt objection, just polite academic questions on points of historical accuracy Irving and fascists like him will gain an air of respectability to which they should not be entitled. Irving claimed he was not addressing a political meeting but his ideas are political enough and they stink. Irving said to the Evening Post that it wasn't the worst demonstration he has faced, but I hope it was enough that he'll never want to return to Reading. Clive - - - SHOULD DAVID IRVING HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO SPEAK? Various people could have stopped him: the History Club members who invited him, the Students' union which has a policy of 'no Platform for racists and fascists', and the demonstrators who tried to disrupt his lecture. I suppose the demonstrators wanted to damage Irvine's reputation as much as possible. If he really wants academic respectability as he claims then the demonstration successfully showed that he is not like most academic historians who would have been listened to in silence even if their audience disagreed with them. But if he is merely looking for fame - he is after all probably as well known as A.J.P.Taylor - then the demonstration just added to the publicity he has already received too much of. Don't assume too much from his claim that this was 'a scandal for Reading': that remark seems designed to make good copy for a local newspaper. Make up your own mind, but I do not think he was altogether dissatisfied with the events of that evening, even if he only felt himself a martyr to truth. Some people did not simply want to damage Irving's reputation; they felt they were doing the right thing. But in trying to stop him speaking they were exercising a form of censorship. Why not treat him like the serious historian he claims to be and point out how wrong he is? Then he can cheerfully be left to mutter his rubbish in some historians' cranks corner. By shouting him down the demonstrators tried to deny others the opportunity of hearing his exaggerations, distortions and self-contradictions. Freedom of speech is something most of the left wishes to promote, not to destroy. But David Irving's freedom of speech was of a peculiar and privileged kind. The History Club had already given him some respectability by inviting him in the first place. I'm sure they don't consider it their duty, as supporters of free speech, to invite every crackpot and lunatic who thinks the First World War was a case of mass hallucination. Giving a lecture ought to make you nervous and uncertain. There are so many people considering and judging every word you utter; and just think how much nonsense you can produce in an hour. But just the opposite happens. It's impossible, in the question-time at the end, for the audience to reply to every point the lecturer has made. And consider how much more impressive an hour of eloquence and erudition is than two sentences of plain speaking, even if those two sentences destroy the very basis of the lecturer's argument. University audiences should be specially wary of sober-suited gentlemen on a lecture-hall stage, leaning over a lectern and speaking, calmly in an educated accent. They see and hear that every day, and how often do their university lecturers encourage them to ask awkward questions at the end of the lecture? Freedom of speech would mean something more if everyone with something to say about Nazis and the Second World war were in a position to speak as Irving did. Most of them would disagree strongly with Irving's ideas, but they don't appear to have been invited. It seems that Reading University History Club, which has now invited Irving to speak twice in the last four years, is more interested in the publicity attached to this well-known name than in allowing its members to meet and talk to modern historians. Wasn't his visit in 1980 enough for them? I only hope that, even if just for the sake of a quiet life, they do not invite him again. Guy - - - RED RAG... This is Reading's Only Newspaper. It's been going for precisely four years, during which time not one copy has been sold. This means that we rely on donations to be able to carry on. There are collecting tins at Acorn Bookshop, Pop Records and Listen Records, or you can send bullion direct to our treasury at Flat 7, 66 Wokingham Rd. Make it out to Red Rag and don't stint on those LOVELY zeros. Some of the shorter items in this Rag were written for Reading Between The Lines but will be appearing there in an abbreviated form - we're printing them here in full. Please send any written contributions for the next issue to Acorn by Thursday 10th Nov. Ring 666324 with any enquiries or if you are able to help in any way (no skills at all required). Contributions to the Rag don't by any means have to be typed. (For instance, spray-canned in six-foot luminous pink all over the nearest prestige office building is OK by us.) But if you do want to type something it will be most useful to us if you type to an absolute maximum column width of 12cm (which we can then reduce by 80% to 10cm and it's still legible) and with single spacing between the lines. Otherwise we have to type it all out anyway, which seems like a waste of your time. Incidentally, I've been asked to add that this issue was produced under the influence of hallucinogenic marrow. Talking of graffiti, there's a bit of paper in front of me urging people to sign their names next to Peace Slogans which are to be found on the King's Rd, Caversham Bridge, Brock Barracks, etc. OK, how about this for a pearl of wisdom? "There are two 'F's in 'graffiti', F for fuck and F for fuck." (Please could someone send us something better.) - - - MAYDAY A labour movement celebration of May Day in Reading was revived in 1978 and is now firmly established as an interesting and enjoyable (if exhausting for some) way to spend the Saturday before the May Day Bank Holiday. The usual pattern is a late-morning March round the town centre banners, placards, jazz band if we can get one, and a nominal police escort (who keep the traffic off us, especially along Friar Street). Then a rally with political or radical speeches. Then a festival with stalls from almost every organisation in town Left of the Libs, food of various kinds and hot and cold drinks, creche (with luck), sketches, drama, poetry etc from volunteers, probably cartoons and/or Inspiring Film, etc. So far there has also been an evening social which has wobbled through jazz, rock and barn dance over the years. Apart from fun and a quite unique get-together, May Day is also an act of defiance to declare that we survive regardless of everything hostile governments may throw at us. But ... it takes some organising and every year some new additions are needed to the small band of devoted mugs who fix up the advance arrangements. Current contact for offers and info: Chris, Reading 477073 evenings and weekends. - - - WOMEN'S LIBERATION GROUP We meet once a fortnight on Tuesdays. It's a fairly loose-knit group which has been meeting for eighteen months, usually there are some 'regulars' who come, but there are always one or two women who just come occasionally, and often someone coming for the first time to a women's group. We wouldn't describe ourselves as a consciousness-raising group - perhaps because that suggests that everyone is coming to a women's group for the first time, which isn't true in our case. But most of us have found the group's discussions consciousness-raising, even those of us who feel we went through all that a while ago. Since Christmas we have had meetings to talk about sexism, women and Christianity, futurist novels and man-made language (among other things). If you would like to come to our meetings or to know more about them, contact Heather, Reading 963363. - - - YOUNG WOMEN'S GROUP Believe it or not, there are a few lonely "teenage" feminists in Reading. We have been trying for some time to start a young women's group without much success, in spite of our own enthusiasm. We feel our particular problems relate to being at school, the popular teenage stereotyping, and the isolation we feel, being so different from the "norm". If you are interested or know someone who is, please contact either Aruna (530047) or Michelle (56475). - - - HELPFUL HINT For washing windows. Rub them with damp newspaper (a drop of vinegar in the water if you're a perfectionist), and then with dry newspaper (press hard to avoid streaks). Perfect results even for Guardian readers - your hands end up filthy though. - - - GAMES CONSPIRACY Doo-wop-bop, Boys and Girls, boys and girls. Playing lots of New Games at the Adventure Playground at Palmer Park. Wednesday, November 2nd, 12 noon till 4pm. Seeya there! - - - LETTER (Send your letters, articles etc to Red Rag c/o Acorn, 17 Chatham St, Reading) Dear Red Rag, 18 Falmouth Road, Reading. Tel: 862659 Housing - Why the Conservatives are wrong. The amount local Councils can spend on Housing capital projects is controlled by central government under a system known as the Housing Investment Programme (fondly known as H.I.P.) Councils make a "submission" or "bid" and the government then informs them of their "allocation". This table shows Reading's H.I.P. performance: Year Actual No. of No. of No. of Expendi- Completed Council Renovation ture Units proper- Grants £1000 ties improved 1977/8 7059 290 103 212 1978/9 6746 290 119 216 1979/80 7469 170 114 216 1980/81 4751 175 32 261 1981/2 4476 163 38 224 1982/3 7549 0 152 326 (estimate) 1983/4 6829 106 (to be 111 620 sold) (Conserv- (1984/5 7375 0 190 790 ative's ( "Bid") (1985/6 6614 0 196 790 Two things stand out. By 1980 the first Thatcher Government had forced a drastic cut back in housing investment. In real terms activity is still well below the 1978 level. Secondly, what the Government started by general cutbacks, Conservative Councillors are now finishing by the imposition of deliberate policy measures. From 1974 for nine years no single political party had control of Reading Borough Council. There was an attempt to pursue a mixed housing programme of new building and improvements. In May this year the Conservatives gained control and began implementing a major change in policy. There are three elements to their new approach. Firstly. No more Council houses are to be built. Houses to be completed this year will be sold at market value by lottery. Council tenants will get priority. All remaining land is to be sold. Housing Associations will get first choice on some land. Tenants in the "Bison" blocks of Scott Close and Tay Road have priority for re-housing. The land occupied by the flats is to be sold to private developers. Conservative Councillors argue that people want to own their property and that the private sector can develop quicker than the Council. People who cannot afford a mortgage will be re-housed through "relets" when people die or move. The outcry from Opposition Councillors has been so strong because :- * There will be no new property to rent. Many on the Housing Register may want to rent. No precise information on applicants' income levels exists but it is believed that many more simply cannot afford a mortgage, either the deposit, repayments or both. People in this situation are being condemned to unsuitable accommodation for years. * The Council had been building (and planning) homes for elderly and disabled people. When tenants moved into these homes it released larger houses for families on the Housing Register. The lottery gives no guarantee that people most in need will be allocated the houses under construction. Elderly and disabled people who cannot afford a mortgage will have little chance of getting a suitable home. Even Housing Association Schemes will be mainly for shared ownership or leasehold. They should supplement Council schemes, not replace them. * Because there will be no new Council houses to replace the "Bison" flats two things will happen. Very few first time and transfer applicants, other than the "legally" homeless will be offered accommodation for many months. The number of families lingering in guest-house accommodation for months will increase significantly. The estimated 450 relets per year will not cope with the demand for housing. * The financial deficit to the Council and ratepayers of selling properties on completion could be enormous - even over £300,000 according to a report to the Housing Committee. Secondly. The Conservatives are to concentrate on improvements in the public and private sector. Of Reading's 49,000O dwellings one third are over 75 years old and just over 10,000 are in Council ownership. 3,000 are believed to be sub-standard of which 1,800 are unfit for human habitation. A further 5,500 are thought to be in need of major renovation, two thirds of these in the Council's ownership. So, improving 190 Council houses a year will only scratch the surface of the problem. It will take at least ten years to improve the houses in Whitley before even starting on houses in other parts of the town. What state will some of them be in by then? True, some extra renovation grants are to be proposed for the private sector. But these should be in addition to building Council houses not a replacement. Thirdly. The Conservatives are keeping over £10 million in capital and revenue reserves in the bank. The purpose - to increase the rate fund and reduce the rates. In fact the Council could spend much of the capital reserves on housing without putting up the rates. Technically this simply involves replacing the interest that would be lost by a transfer from the revenue reserves which exist. Conservative Housing policy is undoubtedly benefitng the 900 Council tenants who have bought their home at a discount and the 500 who are in the process of buying. But thousands more families are being penalised, particularly the homeless, elderly and disabled who cannot afford a mortgage and those in substandard accommodation who are having to wait years for improvements. Mike Orton - - - Labour Party Press Release "DEVELOPERS DEMANDING YET MORE OFFICES" LABOUR WARNS Ten different groups of property developers will be appearing at the Public Inquiry on the Central Reading District Plan to ask either for yet more sites to be designated for office development or for the allocation of office floor space on other sites to be increased, the Reading District Labour Party warned in a statement at the weekend. The Plan, prepared by the Borough Council's Planning Department, forecasts that over the next ten years 2,040,000 sq.ft.of office floor space will be added to the 4,000,600 sq.ft. already available in the town centre, an increase of 50%, but if the developers' objections to the Plan are successful then the increase would be even greater. And Council officers have already calculated that the supply of office floor space vacant or under construction is far greater than the supply of unemployed office staff in the Reading area available to work in it. Objections to the Plan now available at the Civic Offices include some from national names such as Prudential Assurance, Commercial Union and British Bail - who as well as wanting more office space on the Reading Station site also want to see offices between the railway line and Reading Gaol and on the land west of the Metal Box building - as well as from local firms. The Rockfort group is objecting to the Plan's proposals for three sites, including the requirement that in redeveloping the Caversham Road/Tudor Road junction it should sacrifice some office space and replace the Britannia Inn and the Britannia Tap. Horsman Mini Coach Service Ltd. want to redevelop their site between the almshouses and the IDR as offices with minor provision of new housing and object to the Plan's proposals that the site be primarily residential. Chiltern Motor Holdings Ltd. want the Great Western Motors site in Vastern Road identified as suitable for office development, although officers say it does not meet the Plan's criteria. Other sites covered by developers' objections include addresses in Greyfriars Road, Kings Road, Victoria Street and Yield Hall Place. About half-a-dozen objectors have told the Inspector they will be represented by Counsel at the Public Inquiry, which begins on November 29th. Labour Party Chair Pete Ruhemann comments "Designating a site for office development greatly increases its value, regardless of whether the offices are ever built and, if they are built regardless of whether they're ever occupied. That's why despite the acres of empty offices in the town we have this relentless pressure from developers to be allowed to plan for and eventually build yet more offices. And every empty office block is a loss to the town: a loss because houses or shops have been demolished, a loss because the Council has to build roads and provide services assuming that the offices are going to be occupied and the Government is reducing the amount developers will have to pay towards the cost, and a loss in terms of rate income when the Government carries out its pledge to stop Councils rating empty property. "Reading cannot afford to become a soft touch for developers trying to increase the book value of their assets," he added, "we are afraid that even if these developers don't succeed in their objections to the Plan at this stage, they and their friends will be back with more planning applications for more offices on more sites, and will use the annual review proposed in the plan to get those sites approved. The Labour Party will therefore be asking the Inspector to recommend the Council to introduce a rigid rationing system to control the amount of office development allowed in each of the ten years of the Plan. We believe this is the only way to prevent the town centre becoming a desert of empty office blocks festooned with 'for Rent' signs." - - - PEACE PLEDGE UNION "Don't just hope for peace - work for it." The P.P.U. had a meeting last Wednesday evening. The following topics were stormed by the 11 people there: Action with a big A(!) --- Designing a new war toys leaflet. --- Showing the Joseph Schwarz film (about a German officer in the last war who joined a condemned group of peasants in a firing squad and was shot by his own men) and other peace films. --- An hour of peace music on 210 with a rep. from the PPU. --- The Peace/CND southern Region planned action was discussed. Anyone wishing to know further details can write to PPU at Box 10, Acorn or phone 479042. Next meeting is on the 10th November. New or old members and the curious always welcome. Love + Autumn Vibes, PHP. - - - RED RAG OUTLETS Get your copy of the next issue from:--- Acorn Bookshop, under Chatham St carpark Listen Records, upstairs in Butts Centre Pop Records, 172 Kings Road Central Club, bottom of London St Centre for the Jobfree, East Street Our Price Records, downstairs in Butts Centre Mace Grocer, Crown Colonnade, Cemetery Junction Johal Cash and Carry, 14 Cholmeley Road Elephant Off-licence and grocer, 1 Derby Street open till 10p.m. Fine Food Stores, 163 Oxford Road Ken's Shop, Students' Union, Whiteknights - - - STOP PRESS CRUISE MISSILE DEBATE AT PARLIAMENT MONDAY 31st. SPONTANIOUS DEMO 6pm TRAFALGAR SQ. 8pm WESTMINSTER. NOTHING ORGANISED SO BRING IDEAS FOR WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. - - - SMALL ADS ... SMALL ADS ... SMALL ADS ... SMALL ADS (These are free, larger ads are £10 per half page.) Scrap Bedford 330 for sale. Dice George, Bus Island, The Mill. For sale: Ibanez Blaser Custom Guitar. 2 years old. Just spent a couple of months re-shaping, re-balancing. Good action, better than new. Cost £l79 new. Excep £120 ovno. Phone Rob, Chris or Biggles on Reading 6l808. (Sorry those two ads were left out last time. We kinda lost them...) I urgently need somewhere to live. A large room in a quiet, beautiful house with a garden etc would be desireable, but the only essential is that it should be hassle-free. Please phone 666681 and leave a message for Ana, Home needed for woman and daughter in Reading. Very Urgent! Contact c/o Acorn Bookshop, 17 Chatham St (tel:584425) - - - GOING OUT KEY: Hex - The Hexagon, Queens Walk. Target - Outside Tesco's at the Butts. Tudor Arms - Greyfriars Rd. Central Club - bottom of London St. Caribbean Club - 112 London St. University - Students Union Whiteknights unless otherwise stated. Reading Film Theatre - Palmer Building Whiteknights Campus. Progress Theatre - The Mount Christchurch Rd. South Hill Park - arts centre on edge of Bracknell. Bulmershe College - Woodlands Rd Earley. Mon 31 Hex: Wrestling 7.30 £2-2.50. University Palmer- Building -109 The Secret Policeman's Ball 7pm £1.20. Uni Palmer Bldg Brimstone & Treacle 7.50 £1. South Hill Park: Dry Wood & Hot Pepper X 7-30£2 + conc (cajun film). Tue 1 Nov Hex: Gordon Giltrap 7.30 £2.50-3.50. Michael Thompson & Catherine Dubois 12.45 free (recital). Uni: The Enid 8-1 £2.50. Tudor Arms: Gay Disco 8ish free. Central Club: Peaches Disco 8-2 £1. Uni Palmer Bldg: Rollerball 7.30 £1. The Mill Sonning: Last of the Red Hot Lovers 2+8pm £10.50-12.50 matinee £7.50 to Dec 3rd. SHP: 7.30 Airplane II £2 +conc. 8pm Frog Island Jazz Band £2.40. Playhouse Beaumont St Oxford: Clay 7.45 £4.25, Sat 4/8pm £2.45/4.90. Nov 1st preview night £1.50. 2nd & 3rd 2 seats for the price of 1. To 12th. Apollo Oxford: The Krankies 7.30 £1.10-3.30. Central Studio Cliddesden Rd Basingstoke: Vanity Fair 7.30 £2 + conc. Wed 2 Hex: The Supremes 7.30 £4.50/5.50 few left. Reading Film Theatre: Heat & Dust 8pm £1.00 +conc (Merchant-Ivory). ABC Friar St: The Kids Are Allright + Big Banana Feet 1.50 + 5.10 + 8.35pm £?. Town Hall Blagrave St: Organ Recital 1.10 pm free. Thu 3 Target: Larry Miller Band 8pm £1. RFT: as above. Angies Wokingham: Ground Zero 9-late £1.50/2. Apollo Oxford: Shaking Stevens 7.30 £4-6. Central Studio B'stoke: F.I.S.T. 7.30 £1+conc (S Stallone as Union Boss). Fri 4 Hex: Gang Show 7pm Sat mat 2pm £2.50 + conc to 5th (few left). Tudor Arms: Gay Disco 8ish free. RFT: Zemlya + Time In The Sun 8pm £1.60 + conc (Classic Russian films). Central Club: Youth Disco 11-17yrs 8-11pm. 50p. Target: Octel 77 Disco 8ish free. Caribbean Club: Disco 8-late £1.50. Still decorating, so not much happening at the moment. Angies Milton Rd: Double Trouble 9ish £1.50/2. Sat 5 Hex: Warm Snorkel 12.15 free. King's Meadow: Firework Display 7.30 £? (free if you stand by the river). Uni: PiL £3.50 7.30-12 (buy tickets in advance it's much easier) Bulmershe: Kabbala disco + bonfire + bar-b-q. 8-late £2.50. Target: Iceman 8ish free. Caribbean: Sound System 8-late £2.50. Angies: Tom Spencer Band 9ish £1.50/2. Sun 6 Treats Kings Rd: Jive Dive 8-late £1.50. Caversham Bridge Hotel: Readifolk. 8pm free. Merry Maidens Shinfield Rd: Jazz 8.30 free. Target: Paul Jason Roadshow 8ish free. Silks Thatcham: The Enid 7pm £2. £3 on door Angies: Ellery Bop 9ish £1.50/2. Mon 7 Hex: Trial By Jury + HMS Pinafore 7.15 £2-3 to 12th some seats left. Bulmershe: The Girl 7.30 £1.25 + conc Apollo Oxford: Swan Lake £3.30-7.70 7.30pm to 19th. Tue 8 Hex: Wind In The Willows. 8th 2pm, 9-11th 10.30+ 2pm, 12th 10.30am. £2 + conc. To 12th. Uni Palmer G10: Schubert Recital 1.10pm 20p. Tudor Arms: Gay Disco 8ish free. Central: Peaches Disco 8-late £1. Target: Ollesloper 8ish free. B'mershe: as above. Wed 9 RFT: My Favourite Year 8pm £1.60 + conc (P O'Toole as ageing star). Uni: The Fall 8pm-2 £3 (a great band get tickets in advance. Warning- it's the 'Bonfire Hop'). Southlands School Northumberland Ave: Variety Cavalcade 7.15 £1.75, also on 11,12,16,18,19th. B'mershe: Adrian Mitchell Poetry Reading 'For Beauty Douglas' 7.30 £1.50 limited no of tickets. Thu 10 Target: The Vibrators 8ish £1.50. RFT: Another Way 8pm £1.60 + conc (dodgy Hungarian film on lesbians) Progress Theatre: Waiting For Godot 7.45 £1.80 conc to 19th (a laugh a minute from Beckett). B'mershe: The Card Index 7.30 £1.25 + conc also on 1lth. Angles: Toucan Trolls 9ish £1.50/2. Apollo Oxford: Giselle 7.30 £3.30-7.70 to 12th. Central Studio: Moving 7.30 £2+conc (solo mime) Fri 11 Tudor Arms: Gay Disco 8ish free. Target: Octel 8ish free. Caribbean: Ali Boo Sounds 8-late £1.50 Central: Youth Disco 11-17yrs 8-11pm 50p. Angies Rave To The Grave 9ish £1.50/2. Central Studio: The Haunted Through Lounge And Recessed Dining Nook at Farndale Castle 7-30 £2+conc. Sat 12 Hex: Eclipse 12.15 free. Uni: Strawberry Switchblade 8-12 £2. Uni Great Hall London Rd Site: R.U. Chamber Orch 7.30 £2+ conc. South Reading Community Centre. Northumberland Ave: GT Moore & the Outsiders (CND Benefit.) 8pm £1-2. Target: Truffle 8ish free. Caribbean: Hartley Sound System 8-late £1.50. Angies: The Beat Back Band 9pm £1.50/2 Sun 13 Hex: Val Doonican 5+8pm £2.50-5 Merry Maidens: Jazz 8.30 free. Treats: Jive Dive 8-late £1.50 C'sham Bridge Hotel: Readifolk 8pm free. Target: Chester Roadshow 8ish free. Angies: Still Life 9pm £1.50/2. Apollo Oxford: Eurythmics 7.30 £3.50/4 - - - EVENTS Mon 31 South Reading anti-nuclear group, South reading Community centre, Northumberland Avenue 8pm Letter writing meeting. Wholefoods Cookery Course, St Michaels Primary School, East Hampstead, Bracknell £3.80 for four sessions (also 7th,14th,21st November). Tel: Pangbourne 2371 The Food Business - "How farming is becoming Industrialised" What are the effects of the CAP and what's happening to the food you eat? 7.30pm Reading Centre for the Unemployed £1 (free to unwaged) Tue 1 Reading and district Vegan group. Discussion: "How far do vegans see their commitment to other areas of the environment?" 38 Long Barn Lane. Tel 581 805 ROAR (animal rights) Monthly meeting 8pm The Crown, Crown St. Veggie Dining Co-op Mk 2. meeting 374532 for details . Wed 2 'Women as workers' 16 week course continues with 'New Technology' (Ivy Cameron) 10.30-12.3O Reading Centre for the Unemployed. £6 for the course, 75p per session. Free for unwaged. Red Rag Social/Disco The Crown, Crown St. 8pm till late. 50p - 75p on the door or fill in a standing order form. "Good Clean Fun"!!! Sat 5 "Does unemployment make you sick?" A one day conference on the relationship between unemployment and ill-health. Various Speakers between 10am and 5pm. Creche available. 50p Free to unwaged. Reading Centre for the Unemployed, East St. For more details contact Chris Miller: 596639 Ecology Party Jumble sale 2.15pm St Andrews Church (next to Royal Berks Hospital) Contact Maria 663195 for offers of help and any jumble. Woodly Peace Group "Not an arms sale" Woodley Shopping centre. Full details of where to take your jumble from Sue- 690813 or Anne- 868260 Amnesty bonfire party 7pm; 45 Brooklyn Drive, Emmer Green. Tickets: £3.50/50p children. Includes mulled wine and supper. Tel Jean 472598. FOE paper collection - meet at George St Chippy 11.15am Mon 7 Ecology Party regular meeting 25 De Beauvoir Rd 8pm Discussing:- Centre of Reading Plan- facts needed to back up objections. Ring Maria 663195 for details. WEA capitalism course- Unemployed Centre 7.30 pm "Merchants of Deterrence" £1 free to unwaged. Womens Peace Group Meeting at Womens Centre, Old Shire Hall. Ring 471742 for details. Wholefoods Cookery Course. See 31st for details Tue 8 University Public Lecture 'Probing mans past by pollen analysis' Dr D.M.Kieth Lucas (Lecturer in botany) 8pm G10 Palmer Building, Whiteknights BANC public meeting Robert Aldridge on First Strike. Friends meeting house, Church St, 8pm. Ex designer of Lockheed Ballistic missiles talks about the realisation that America's strategic doctrine is not really concerned with deterrence any more. Wed 9 New Games Conspiracy Session. Palmer Park Adventure playground 12.00 Thu 10 PPU meeting 8pm 15 Stanly Grove. Reading Tel 588459 All interested welcome. W.I. Mini-market St Marys Church House St Marys Butts 9am to 1pm every Thursday. Stalls of Crafts, Veg, flowers, plants, cakes. Cheap and Good. Red Rag Copy deadline. Editorial meeting 8pm Acorn Bookshop in which we decide about what to put in the next issue and who's going to do all the work! Fri 11 Berkshire Humanists Regular meeting 8-10pm Friends meeting house. Phone 21307 for details. Sat 12 WEA Saturday School "What does community policing mean?" Reading Centre for the Unemployed. Sun 13 Open Day at Coley Park Nursery.Free. Wensley Rd Reading 2-4 pm Remembrance Sunday Action to be arranged, contact PPU as above. Mon 14 WEA, Capitalism Today course "Public expenditure and privatisation" Tue 15 Reading Health Watch campaign, meeting 6pm, Reading Centre for the Unemployed. This is the day the Health Authority decides what jobs to try and cut. Come and help the fight back. Regular Events ============== East Reading Adventure playground At Palmer Park, Reading 11am to 6pm Tuesdays to Saturdays. Tel Reading 665313. Anyone interested/talented/free with ideas to share should contact Sandy or Bob on Reading 665313 or call round during opening hours for a chat. Help and suggestions always welcome. Housing and welfare rights session on Thurs evenings at community house, 117 Cumberland Rd. Share your problems and knowledge. Womens Centre opening times Tues 10.30-2.00 Wed 10.30-2.00 Sat 12.00-4.00 Also free pregnancy testing Tues 7-9pm Bring urine sample from first pee of the day. Shared Childcare group Thurs 10.30-lunchtime. Womens self defence: learn the basics. Fridays 1- 3pm from now till 9th Dec. Free for unwaged (creche available) Reading Centre for Unemployed. Reading Gay Switchboard ring 597269 between 8 and 10 Tues evenings (& ditto for Friday) New Gay Youth Group Sundays. Phone 585858 for details. Anarchists (I just noticed I left em out of events - sorry) Meet Monday evenings. Contact box 19 Acorn Bookshop. East Reading Rights Group stall outside the church at Cemetery Junction Every Sat 11am to 1pm SWAG (charity paper collection) Skips at Superkey, Palmer Park, Northumberland Avenue, St Martins Precinct, Recreation Ground Great Knolleys St 8.30am-12.30pm every first Saturday of month. Central Club bottom of London St. Fridays 10.30-4pm Creche. 3pm 'Uprising' a new black womens support group. Come and tell us what you'd like to do, what you'd like to see and what you're interested in. FOE Paper Collection Door to door in Great Knolleys Street, first Sat of month. Meet 11am George St chippy. City Farm Work continues on the site, meetings are still held on Wednesdays 7.30pm in the staff room of Ashmead School. After School Club Newtown Community House. Mon & Thurs 4-5.30 Age 5+ See noticeboard and local schools for details of activities etc. Thurs inflatables at St Johns School; Mondays: swimming. Young Vegetarians meeting last Thurs of every month (except December) The Sun, Castle St 8pm. Details Rdg 866259 Berks Humanists 2nd Friday of the month 8-10pm Friends meeting house, tel 21307 or Wokingham 780944 - - - READING BETWEEN THE LINES This guide to alternative Reading really will appear with the next issue! It's all written now, and will be typed during next week. It will be included in the following Rag (ie: Free) but otherwise it will have a price on it. So make sure you get your copy of the next issue! - - - DISTRIBUTION may have got messed up somewhat as the computer lost 3 distribution groups, so if you changed address recently and still haven't got a Rag, this is the explanation! To get Red Rag (Reading's only newspaper) delivered free to your door each fortnight, ring 665676 or leave a note - preferably dated - at Acorn Bookshop. Alternatively, see page 5 for a list of outlets in Reading. - - - It was the world's least proof-read newspaper and they knew it. - - - $Id: //info.ravenbrook.com/user/ndl/readings-only-newspaper/issue/1983/1983-10-30.txt#3 $