BRITISH LIBRARY
1 1 APR m political a NO MIC SCIENCE
NEWSPAPER OF THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS STUDENTS' UNION
No. 197
FEBRUARY 10th, 1981
LSE and S. Africa
A new link?
I By ALEX WYNTER |
THE name of the London School of Economics has been linked by the South African press to a.recent 'Bantustan' referendum. Tlvis may have had the effect of increasing the International credibility of the referendum.
Professor John Hutchinson, an academic visitor at the LSE, travelled to South Africa last year to help monitor the "independence referendum" held in the Ciskei Bantustan in the Eastern Cape Province on 4 December. He was described by the South African Press Association as "an internationally recognised political scientist ... of the London School of Economics." South African foreign service radio in Johannesburg and other South African press outlets also described him as being "of" the LSE.
Academic visitor monitors Bantustan referendum
Professor Hutchinson told a press conference in Zwelitsha, Ciskei, shortly after arriving that his invitation to observe the referendum was communicated to him through the South African Embassy in London.
Accompanying him on his trip were John Sears, one-time campaign manager for President Reagan, Francis Lacoste, a retired French ambassador, and Claud Roux, a French lawyer.
Although academic visitors are not considered formally part of the LSE, they do receive facilities like offices, telephones, use of the
library and Senior Common Room and, most important, they are entitled to use LSE stationery. The nature of the relationship between an academic visitor and the LSE is ambiguous but tangible enough to be open to misinterpretation.
It must now be asked whether Professor Hutchinson's trip to South Africa lends credibility to the homelands policy and the Ciskei "state" in particular, and whether the name of the LSE has been used by the South Africans for political purposes.
LSE Director Professor Ralf
(Continued on Page Five)
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Deepening gloom as overseas students face 25 per cent fee rise
OVERSEAS students who began their courses in or after last September face a fee increase of between 20 and 25 per cent, it was announced on Thursday. This disclosure came at the end of what some fear will be "one of the worst weeks ever" for London University.
Earlier, a discussion document issued by the Swinnerton-Dyer Committee on Academic Reorganisation predicted a 15-20 per cent drop in London University's real income in the next decade—a decrease which might lead in the long term to fewer departments and a reduction in staff.
Both of these announcements will have a more serious effect on the LSE than on most of the Univer-versity's other colleges. Just under one-third of all LSE students are from overseas, and although spirited recruitment outside Britain last year maintained overseas numbers, there is a danger that the new fee increases will serve as a discouragement to prospective overseas applicants and seriously damage the School's world-wide reputation as a truly international institution.
This year the recommended mini-
mum fees for new overseas students are £2,000 for an arts course and £3,000 for a science course, which will rise to £2,500 and £3,600 respectively. Mr Mark Carlisle, Secretary of State for Education and Science, announced that fees for home students and for overseas students who began their courses before last September are to go up by 15 per cent.
The new recommended fees for home students are: undergraduate £900 and postgraduate £1,320. The new fees for pre-September 1980, overseas students are: undergraduate £1,389 and postgraduate £1,803. The average cost per student in 1981-82 has been estimated as £4,730.
The Swinnerton-Dyer paper examines all non-medical aspects of London University and its factual findings are intended as a framework for discussion in the University's Schools. Comments are invited by the end of March, with the final report expected by the end of the year.
The committee's predictions of a 15-20 per cent drop in income by the end of the decade and the call for a University 10 per cent smaller and 15 per cent cheaper than it is at present have already caused much gloom, not least among University staff.
The paper says that the "reduction of staff—customary in the industrial and commercial world-may be inescapable too in the academic world." This is of particular concern at the LSE, as it was revealed last week that there are 144 classes with more than fifteen students. Director Ralf Dahrendorf said on Thursday that a special committee had been set up to look into the "quite unacceptable" stu-dent-staff ratio.
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The Swinnerton-Dyer paper also considers a range of possible solutions to the University's economic problems. One such is that the Court should distribute its grant equitably among schools and leave them to find their own economies. In what may be interpreted as a direct reference to schools with a high intake of overseas students, such as the LSE and the school for Oriental and African Studies, the committee fear that "there would be institutions within the University which are of international reputation but which would be in such severe continuing deficit that they would have to become unrecognisable from what they now are—if indeed they could continue at all".
The paper shows the possible impact that the increase in overseas students' fees and the estimated 3£ per cent volume cut in London University income may have on different colleges. The LSE is by far the worst affected; the committee forecasts a 35 per cent cut for the School, compared with eight per cent for Royal Holloway and 19 per cent for University College.
Vice-Chancellor Lord Annan says that London University as a whole may lose £15m-£20m of its income in the period 1980-82, and is concerned lest this resembles only the "patter of rain before the deluge begins".	Simon Garfield
DIRECTOR DEFENDS FEES POLICY
Following a letter and a meeting with Student Union representatives, the LSE Director, Professor Ralf Dahrendorf, spoke to the student body at Thursday's U.G.M. to explain the school's position on the problems now facing it.
He gave figures to show the school's worsening financial position and outlined measures he intends to take.
This financial year he estimated a small loss after the school's expenditure of £12.4m. On projections for next year, with expenditure of £13.6m. and student fees at present levels, the school would be heading for a deficit of £1.15m. Even committing reserves, this could only be cut to £500,000.
This threatened the survival of the LSE at its present level. He didn't want it to contract and made a firm pledge of no staff ' redundancies. The U.G.C. recommends fee levels of £2,500 for overseas students in the Arts and Social Sciences, but is ed-vising universities to go above this figure. Since Dahrendorf feels that raising fees for existing students is immoral, fees for new overseas students will have to be in excess of this.
He stressed that he has tried to take LSE outside the field of public policy over the last four or five years and has "tried to keep an LSE that is both international and excellent," but to do this against falling Government funding had led to rising fees and class sizes.
Dahrendorf accepted that the future was too uncertain for all but short-term planning and rejected the report of the University of London's Committee on Academic Re-organisation proposing cuts aimed to save £20m. per annum.
Though in general his speech was well received, he faced hostile questioning, particularly from overseas students. Surprisingly, in view of their present campaign, there was no questioning on the issue of Greek students' fees.
Colin Bates
CONTENTS
Page 2—Exec, resignation. Page 3—Barclays ousted. Page 4—Briefly.
Page 5—Women & Rape. Page 6—Beaver gets Page 7 some stick. ...
Page 8—A new spirit.
Page 9—Star cast.
Page to—Big Mac.
Page 11—The ultimate
attraction.
Page 12—Cricket photo.

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LETTERS
Academics speak out on Raison
Dear Editors,
Apart from other considerations, the refusal to allow an invited politician to speak is absurd on two grounds. First, it confirms to his supporters and sympathisers and some others that his views are not only correct but incapable of rational refutation. Second, it justifies his supporters in refusing to allow his opponents the opportunity to speak.
The absurdity is magnified when the politician represents majority opinion and it is the minority that is seeking to refute him, They open themselves to the charge of not being serious in their opposition but merely self-indulgent. In any case, we feel that the behaviour of those who prevented Timothy Raison from speaking at L.S.E. to be incompatible with the concept of freedom of speech.
J. A. G. Griffith; R, T. McKenzie
Exec resignation explained
An open letter to Ed Jacob
OF course you know about the problems of the previous weeks and were present at the Labour Club meeting, where I announced my intention to resign, so I will not recap on these events though they are the reason for my resignation.
I am not resigning over the Hqpley issue, although I believe your behaviour on Thursday to be reprehensible, and contrary to the spirit of documents which you put your name to, and which make up Labour Club policy on the accountability and control of Labour Club Union Officers. I am not making a point of principle, or trying to increase the importance of this debate ; indeed I believe that "Beaver" should be dropped as an issue and we should work on fighting the School, not each othei\ It is precisely the fact that I do not feel able to work with you, that I am offering my resignation. There is little point in me remaining on the Executive if I cannot communicate with and work with the General Secretary.
Mark Gundy
R. Dahrendorf's report
THE Director, Ralf Dahrendorf, in his annual report, was sharply critical of the government cutbacks in education, commenting particularly 011 iht disincentives these moves present for overseas students to study in the UK. In the future, he said that financial considerations rather than more important criteria such as need or qualifications will determine people's ability to study at British universities. Additionally, financial cuts will have the more serious result of severing "one of Britain's most effective lifelines to the world."
Retrenchment, Professor Dahrendorf stated, had hit the LSE hard and forced the School to
adopt policies that it would otherwise not have done. The methods of increasing revenue su.n as diplomas, special -courses and self - financing courses were again being considered and it had also been suggested that present degree courses offer too many options. (As an aside, it should be noted that 32 courses have been dropped in 1980-81). More pressure would be placed on academic staff and class sizes would inevitably be increased.
Moving on to the condition of students, the Director suggested that the "absence of protest is probably a form of co-operation." Dahrendorf's view was that students are now poor since home students grants have not kept pace with inflation arid f e w Postgraduates receive awards. Despite this situation, he said, "the alternatives are
not enticing," with the result that for those in higher education there had been a "transition from a position of privilege to one of deprivation which should be kept in mind by those who criticise student manners and actions."
In an effort to assist students, the LSE 1980s Fund, with a goal of £2 million was launched in May 1980. To date, the Director said, member^ of the Common Room have donated £60,000 and two Nobel Prize-winners, Professor James Meade and Professor von Hayek have given £10,000 from their prize money to the fund, while Governors and Fellows have contributed £80,000. Already, the fund total stands at £800.000 and 96 students have been granted the first studentships and awards.
Margaret Cameron-Waller
Governors' annual meet
RENT Strike Pickets laid the setting for the Annual General Meeting of the Court of Governors. The issue did not end outside the building because the Director gave an assurance to the Student Governors that no Hall evictions would occur over the Christmas vacation. A second accommodation matter was raised and the Court heard that the prospect of acquisition of the Grafton Hotel, to provide 200 extra accommodation places was doubtful.
A report on the School's financial situation stated that the extensive schemes to attract more overseas students had been successful and consequently, no large deficit was expected in 1980-81. In 1981-82 however, the prospects are rather more gloomy since any further expansion in student numbers will lead to serious overcrowding. Moreover, it was added that unorthodox methods of raising money, such as special short courses will make no appreciable difference to the in-
come deficit. Since all alternative options have been pursued to their extremes, the Court heard that the Standing Committee recommend that tuition fees be raised.
While it is proposed that fees for present foreign students will probably rise in line with inflation. new students will pay around £2.500-£2,700 per year. It was felt that if fees become too high then students will seek admission to universities outside the UK. One further problem is the likelihood that the University Grants Committee will place pressure on LSE to run down reserves held in the Contingency Fund. The sources of finance for the LSE from 1982, it was stated, will need to be seriously considered. It should be noted that in 1968, 10 LSE Professors and the then Director. Sir Sidney Caine, publicly supported the idea of an independent "business financed" university.
The Governors acknowledged the case of the fees for Greek students, but said that the loss to the School would be con-
siderable — various estimates have been quoted ranging from £48,000-£80,000. Since the School is experiencing serious financial difficulties at the present time, it is seen as impossible to charge home rates to Greek students from January 1981, the date of Greece's entry to the EEC. The Student Governors voiced dissenting views and suggested that the School could face legal action for discrimination.
Although class sizes have increased by 5% and now average a staff/student ratio of 1 :13J, this was said to be comparable with the national average for the social sciences of 1 :12. The Student Governors denied that increased numbers in classes were only marginal, citing the Maths and Statistics Classes which average around 20 students. The Director and Governors were concerned that on no" account should academic standards suffer from the financial restrictions imposed by Government policy.
Margaret Cameron-Waller
BEAVER
Newspaper of the Students Union of the London School
of Economics East Building. Houghton St., London WC2 2AE 01-405 8594/5/6 EDITORS:
Simon Garfield Keir Hopley STAFF:
Helen Fawcett Roddy Hallifax Alex Wynter Colin Bates Sarah Lewthwaite Margaret Cameron-Waller Pam Wharfe Stella Orakwue Jenny Beeston Becky Smithers Eden Riche Toby Pose Ed Jacob Nick Goddard Nieel Racine-Iaques WITH THANKS TO
Terry and the lads PHOTOS:
Simon Grosset CARTOONS:
Magnus Spence OPEN MEETING:
Tuesday, 16th February 12 noon, E202 COPY DATE:
Wednesday, 17th Feb.
LOC*r|"
Welfare news
Playgroup
YES parents, there will be a half-term playgroup again for school-aged children of students and staff during the week of 23 February - 27 February. Please sign up your child by putting the names and ages of children expecting to use this facility on the list in the Welfare Office E 294, or on the Welfare Office Notice Board should the office be closed.
Welcome
WE are happy to welcome Pauline Newmark who has taken up the post of Welfare Assistant on the 26th January, succeeding Judy Collingwood. Pauline knows the LSE from her own studies here as a mature student in 1975-78 so although she is
Children should be brought to the TV room in the East Building section above the new Flor-ries — the room adjoins the snooker tables room. Hours will be 10 -1.00 and then 2.00 -5.00 daily, but parents are asked to collect the children for lunch. Yet another super-duper Students' Union facility . . . free of charge but all contributions of toys and materials are gratefully received.
new, she is not a stranger to the institution nor unfamiliar with student problems. We are happy to welcome Pauline as a new" • employee of the Students' Union and are confident that she will contribute to the congenial and helpful atmosphere of the Welfare Office.
I
PAGE
Barclays recruiters ousted
A BARCLAYS Bank interviewer was shown off London School of Economics premises last week, by students protesting at Barclays' South African involvement.
Despite intense security, the location of the interviews was discovered by about twenty students, who, after a discussion, persuaded the interviewer to leave.
The students later returned to the Careers Advisory Service to complain at their decision to allow Barclays to interview on school premises, and argued with CAS staff, who tried to prevent them handing out leaflets and putting up posters.
Although Barclays were mainly interviewing for British posts,, they are also recruiting for their international banking company, which operates in South Africa. Their international trainees are based in London, but spend up to a year in branches abroad, in countries including South Africa.
Barclays argue that because trainees are in South Africa for a short time, they do not take jobs from blacks. Nevertheless only' thirteen per cent of the employees of Barclays National, their main South African subsidiary and the country's largest bank, are black, and most of those are employed as cleaners.
While the company publicly opposes apartheid, which a representative described as "indefensible", this does not seem to be borne out by the facts. Black Barclays' employees are paid .only 57.82 Rand per week —about £32. The company nevertheless found enough money to donate £6,480 to the right wing Economics League last year, and make a substantial profit.
Barclays is one of thirty seven companies known to be recruiting graduates to work in South Africa. Nine of them, including the Shell Petroleum Corporation, which last year paid its black workers only the equivalent of thirteen pounds a week, are interviewing on University premises, and it is this which Anti-Apartheid groups find particularly objectionable.
Pete Crockford of the LSE Anti-Apartheid said that he was
firms, Union Corporation, which is South African owned, and operates almost entirely in South Africa. Brian Steptoe still feels that they are acceptable because "there is nothing in their recruiting literature to suggest that they would not welcome black applicants." Yet South African laws state that no white can work under the direction of a black.
The Careers Advisory Service has previously advertised jobs
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Picketing the Careers Advisory Service Office.
disgusted by the actions of the Careers Advisory Service in tacitly supporting apartheid. He also argued that such firms discriminated against black students and should be rejected on that basis.
This is denied by Brian Step-toe of the University's Careers Advisory Service, who argues that as most of the firms are multi - national, discrimination would be difficult to prove.
However, this argument would seem not to apply to one of the
in the South African Civil Service, although these were later described as an "oversight . Students who complained were toM that such vacancies would normally only be referred to as "Civil service vacancies in an African company" because the Service was worried that in a University with so many overseas students, an open advertisement could cause offence.
Information about such jobs would still, however, be given on request, as the Careers Ser-
vice felt that it was important that students were allowed to make up their own minds, Mr Steptoe said.
In some firms, graduates only visit South Africa as part of an international tour, but in others, they would be expected to work there for at least two years, and would be subject to compulsory military service.
Graduates working for certain engineering and mining firms would have to train to defend their company's premises from attack from guerilla forces immediately they arrived in South Africa.
Firms recruiting for South Africa have also been attempting to advertise in the student press. Beaver, for example, has turned down two full page advertisements, worth over £300, because of their connection with South Africa.
SARAH LEWTHWAITE
Pete Crockford adds:
THE Central Careers office at 50 Gordon Square postponed Barclays Bank interviews after it heard of events at the L.S.E. on January 27th. (It had arranged interviews with Barclays for February 3rd.) A University of London Union Students' Representative Council (U.L.U. S.R.C.) on January 28th, decided to support L.S.E.'s call for demonstrations against graduate recruitment to South Africa.
At L.S.E. the Student Governors are to raise the issue with the School at the next meeting of the Standing Committee on February 17th. They are arguing that if the Careers service arranges interviews for vacancies in South Africa, the School is aiding employers who will discriminate against black graduates.
London University CND in action
THE newly-formed University of London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament held its first demonstration on January 20th.
1,000 people gathered outside the University of London Union, Malet Street, to take part in a torchlight procession to the American Embassy in Gros-venor Square. About 50 LSE students turned up, marching around the LSE SWSO banner. The police provided a massive police escort for the march which wound its way along Tottenham Court Road, Euston
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Road and Baker Street before reaching Grosvenor Square.
It was the police who insisted that this "odd" route was taken; they also insisted that all torches were put out (but didn t say anything until they had been bought and lit) ; and who diverted the march along the side of the Embassy and into Hyde Park.
Kevin Skinner, the organiser, addressed the assembled students in Hyde Park, and told of the obstructive reaction by the police to the whole idea of a march. He suggested that the
demonstrators should go back to the Embassy and protest agam. 40 did return and there were four arrests when scuffles broke out with the police.
Jan Nielsen, NUS executive member, urged students to return to their colleges and investigate military research going on there. Kevin Skinner said afterwards: "We were very pleased with the turnout considering the short notice (one week) at which it was called. It shows that with more advertising and longer planning we could put a massive demonstration together."
One important date for your diaries is February 14th, when there will be a picket of the Young Conservative's conference in Eastbourne. UL.C.N.D. has also initiated the formation of London Student CND with the aims of involving students from Polytechnics, Technical colleges and sixth forms in the London area. No definite dates are available yet. but they plan to hold regular meetings as well as having a benefit concert with "Misty" and "Ivory Coasters" (27th February?), a Week of Action, a rally at University College and a public meeting with E. P. Thompson.
Simon Grosset
Class size inquiry
AN inquiry is to be launched into teaching methods at LSE after it was revealed that there are 144 classes with more than 15 students.
This is largely the result of a vast increase in admissions last ©ctober, without a similar increase in the number of teaching staff. Part-time staff have been taken on, but several departments, notably Economics, are having problems recruiting part-timers.
There is also concern about late starting, which was a problem for many classes. The Timetable Department have often a problem fitting classes in, and pressure on space on Tuesdays and Thursdays is very heavy.
The School's inquiry will concentrate on the short-term problems, but will also consider the relationship between different forms of teaching, and whether a more comprehensive form of training for lecturers should be introduced.
Sarah Lewthwaite
THIRD WORLD EXHIBITION FOR 1980s FUND
2rtd-14th March, 1981
OUR THIRD WORLD OF ART EXHIBITION, in aid of the LSE 1980s Fund for Student Awards, which is to take place in the Library from 2-14 March, 1981, brings together interesting artists, exciting works of art, and important concepts.
100 ARTISTS REPRESENTING 40 COUNTRIES have generously given their work for our exhibition, and our practical way of showing gratitude has been to arrange for them to sell for their own benefit another painting at a related THIRD WORLD ARTISTS' COOPERATIVE exhibition at the Institute of Education, from 16-28 March 1981.
The contributors range from Pitika Ntuii, whom Amnesty International released from a Swaziland cell, where he made sculptures out of his daily bread and soap ration, and who then helped me with the Sculpture Exhibitions I arranged for Amnesty last year, to Yuksel Soylemez, a former student at LSE, who ¦ has since become Turkey's leading abstract artist and its present Consul General here. There has been a focus on encouraging young or unrecognised artists, and we have specially welcomed overseas students studying at art colleges here.
CREATIVE VITALITY marks all the works to be shown, whether in the richly-coloured paintings, the subtly, sensitive etchings, the dramatic screenprints and photoprints, or the deep symbolism of abstract pictures. Yet each artist is essentally working individually, and viewers who wish to ascertain accurately countries of origin will have to borrow or buy the catalogue, which will help the Fund.
¦THE ARTS HAVE THE POWER OF CARRYING CROSS-CULTUR-ALLY THOSE MESSAGES WHICH MIGHT BE REJECTED IN ANY OTHER FORM ". The words of Nelson Graburn, Berkeley Professor of Anthropology, affirm that art, like education, is about the communication of values. Artists have always demonstrated their vision of One World,, be it celebratory or tragic, and it was the same concept which inspired me at LSE when I was a student in 1947, and gave me the idea of arranging this present exhibition on a voluntary ba-sis to help students now. The LSE Society, to which I belong, has given superb support, as have the administrative staff and porters, so it has really been a tremendous team effort. We have also involved the High Commissions and Embassies concerned, plus many British art organisations, and asked U.K. artists, collectors and friends of LSE to donate work to be sold at the Art Auction on 2 March., 1981. So hundreds of people are helping LSE to put on this significant show —COME AND ENJOY IT!
YVONNE CRAIG
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News in brief
IRAQI students at LSE are organising a week of action from 23-27th February in protest at harassment of their members who do not support the Baathist regime in Iraq. Labour MP Stan Newens will be among the speakers. At a similar meeting at University College, Cardiff, two non-Baath'ist students were beaten up so precautions will have to be taken here.
. Greek students have rejected a fee strike as part of their fight for home student fee levels. Instead they have embarrassed the School by raising the issue in Greece, where Student Unions have written to Dahrendorf condemning his decision. On a national scale they are planning to take their case to the European Court, appealing against a Commission decision that it is a matter for the British Government.
Still with students from the eastern end of the Mediterranean, the
Cypriot Society is organising a Cy-
prus Week from 9-13th February. Their aim is to highlight the Cypriot problem amongst LSE students and staff. The programme has not yet been fixed but will include films, discussions and talks by two MPs, Christopher Price and Norman Atkinson. Also this week Amnesty International are staging a campaign centred around the release of political prisoners Nelson Mandela, Oscar Mpetha and Mar-kus Kateka.
General Secretary Ed Jacob has received replies to the letters he sent to Jack Jones and Princess Anne regarding the University Chancellorship elections. Jones says he will stand down if Anne does but otherwise if his nominators want him to continue as a candidate he will do so. Princess Anne merely acknowledged the letter.
Progress is being made on the question of September resits. The Undergraduate Committee Is to make a recommendation to the next
meeting of the Court of Governors on Monday. Though the campaign has been low-key it is getting near to success. Jacob feels that when introduced, summer resits will maka a big difference.
The Union Shop is to stock "Super Shrieker" personal alarms following the resolution on women's safety at a recent Union Meeting. The shop is now looking around for a suitable supplier. The price is around £3.50 but the question of subsidies is uncertain.
The Careers Advisory Service is to be asked by the Student Union not to deal with those firms that discriminate against black students, and those who don't properly explain working conditions In South Africa to their recruits. Apparently some graduates have found themselves doing service Tn the South African Army as part of their work there.
Colin Bates
Rent strike latest
A view from the inside by I. Parmar
THE rent strike provoked by the increase in hall rents of 24% may be growing. The best news the rent strikers received this term is that Passfield Hall Society has now officially backed the rent strike. This development is made all the more important by the fact that Passfield had previously been at the centre of the anti-rent strike agitation. This is seen as a major defeat for the anti-rent strike forces in the student body.
Carr-Saunders Hall has reaffirmed its support for the rent strike. In the vote held there at a Hall Society meeting the result declared overwhelming support for continuing the strike. This news was greeted by students with loud and sustained applause. Rosebery has not re-voted on the issue, and its policy is thus still against the rent strike.
The most common reason given for continuing the rent strike is that students are finding it more and more difficult to make ends
meet. Commented one student: "With everything so expensive, and the higher rent on top of this, I just feel I'm being pushed in the deep end."
No attempt has been made this term to get the Union to call off the strike. Canvassing among hall students to increase the numbers even further is successfully going on. Enthusiasm among the canvassers is high: one of them said, "I can smell victory."
The Union is continuing to give official backing to the rent strikers, although the budget of the Rent Strike Committee has been cut from £200 to £70. General Secretary Ed Jacob is "very much in favour of continuing the strike."
The "wall of silence" maintained by the School authorities has now been broken. In a letter to hall residents, the wardens urge students to pay outstanding rent. It contains a claim that the School is already subsidising residents to the
tune of £150,000. The School Director, Professor Dahrendorf, "feels bound to take whatever action necessary to recover outstanding rents." (The £150,000 referred to is the amount of items which the School charges to the central, rather than residence, account, and is the maximum permitted under the University Grants Committee regulations^Ed.)
The response to this letter by some students seems indicative of the feelings of all the rent strikers:
"It's just another of their scare tactics. It won't work. We'll continue to fight the School on this issue until we win."
When asked about the "subsidy" of £150,000 a student replied, "More lies. It took 'em a long time to make that one up."
The ex-General Secretary Krtsh Maharaj, when asked what he thought about the letter, replied, "The School has finally taken a stand. Now it's up to us."
Restful retirement
YES, dear Reader, the time for my retirement is at last upon us. My colleague, Mr Simon Garfield, and myself, having completed our year at the helm of this ship of truth and knowledge, sink now into the obscurity of retirement. My grateful thanks go to all who have helped us over the past year.
Premature retirement
Mi- Ian Schneider, one of Mr God-dard's loyal helpers and a well-known figure at Rosebery as well as in the East Building, nearly retired somewhat prematurely on the first of the month. As he was returning from the cinema — where, appropriately, he had been watching "The Stunt Man" he decided to enliven the wait at the 'bus stop with a demonstration of swinging around the- said London Transport property. The only problem was that another of London Transport's properties — one of the large red double-deck variety — was nearing rapidly. The gruesome details can
be imagined, but suffice it to say that Mr Schneider escaped just in time. The Social Secretary should beware, though, of the activities of his ENTS!
General retirement
Various people have resigned from a variety of Committees, and the results of by-elections will be carried in the next issue. There seems to have been a proliferation of all day ballots and other pleas for nominations this year. With the changing party labels of L.S.E. characters (eg. Gallant Tory to Labour club; Kirby Labour Club to Socialist Works's) one hardly needs to follow the antics of Shirley and her cronies to gain political merry-goround fun.
Furry retirement
One furry being who is not to be allowed to retire, though, is Bruce tlje Beaver. Poor Bruce, now in a secure hideout in Kings' control, is still the subject of negotiation, but we can be sure that Nic Newman
and his colleagues will be doing their utmost to return our friend to his native environs in Houghton Street. As a compassionate soul, though, I must also express the hope that Mr Mac is returned to his friends before long — though one might also think he would be glad to escape from the bosom of Simon Richards.
Retirement ended
Readers will be pleased to learn that ex-Secretary for Finance, Administration and Services, Jeff Staniforth, has now found a new job. Mr Staniforth is now the Union Manager of Sheffield University Students' Union.
Reverse retirement
I am pleased to report the appointment of the new Welfare Assistant to replace Judy Collingwood. who left to take up a post as Research Assistant at Birkbeck College. The new assistant is Pauline Newmark. I trust she will have a pleasant stay at L.S.E.
0
PAGE 5
WOMEN'S SAFETY
ONE must feel a certain ambiva-lance about the motion on "Women and Safety" which was passed at the U.G.M. on January 29th. It was very important that such a motion should be passed, however, it was more important that it should be properly debated.
Ironically we owe a debt of gratitude to the Federation of Conservative Students. Without their amendments the motion would have been moved and the remaining speeches for and against, would have been taken formally, the motion would have been passed and we could have all gone to lunch in the happy knowledge that we had the right policy on paper, but the majority of our members neither understood, nor were committed to the reasons why that policy was there. It is for that reason that the P.C.S. amendments were important because they allowed some debate; however, because of the lack of time in that debate I would like to reiterate the reasons why the Union should be committed to that policy.
At N.U.S. conference a similar motion (with similar amendments) was debated. Ocer 100 colleges put their names to it, and many others practised it. But that motion came only weeks after the murder of Jacqueline Hill in Leeds. The importance of the motion is that it is not specific to one situation, but is relevant to the whole country. It is particularly relevant to students in London because not only has increased, but the number of rapes the number of rapes and attacks and attacks on students both inside halls of residence themselves and outside have risen dramatically.
The motion sought to point out that these things did not happen because of a sudden outbreak of criminality in the male population, but had their origins in the ' position of women in our society. It is these very ideas which seek to trivialise and degrade women in order to maintain the climate of discrimination against them and which breed violence against women. This becomes quite apparent when one examines how the police and judiciary treat rape. Women who report rape to the police are treated in a humiliating; and degrading fashion. Rape is a capital offence, third in gravity only to murder and treason, but the conviction rate, and the sentencing reflect the sad fact that the courts do not see it that way.
If we believe that women have the right to go where they wish whenever they choose, and if we recognise that the threat of violence is circumscribing that right certain practical precautions must be taken—but they must not further curtail the rights of women. Enunciating for this was the main-point of contention in the debate: "This Union will support a women's right to defend themselves by whatever means they deem necessary." The P.C.S. made the point that legally self-defence can only be used in equal proportion to the attack, and moved that the Union should support a woman's right to self-defence with recognised non-lethal weapons specifically designed to ward off such attacks, e.g., aerosol sprays or "super shriekers."
This idea was both impractical and politically abhorrent. Ideally, women would be trained how to defend themselves, but because of the shortage of proper instructors, because of the time it takes to become competent, dearly there is a problem. I would also remind F.C.S. i.hat one's hands become lethal if used correctly. F.C.S. also feared that the wording of this motion was sufficiently vague as to endorse anything. This is not so—the wording of the motion does not condone attack—it supports a woman's right to defend herself should she be attacked—therefore the fears of one eminent Tory theorist that women would start stabbing their husbands if they came home and found them in bed with another woman are somewhat wrong-headed. We know that there are heavy legal restrictions on the availability and carrying of firearms, we know that it can be dangerous to defend yourself with a. knife unless you know what you're doing as it may well be used against you. But since anything that is not usually carried on one's person i lethal or non-lethal i may constitute an offensive weapon I would put it to the Union that under law there are not many sources of self-defence which are legally and practically available.
Surely the main point is that if a woman is attacked the odds are so heavily weighted against her both practically and legally that the Union should support her rather than place further constraints upon her.
What happens if the hand alarms
or pepperpots prove ineffective? How long is a woman expected to wait until she decides whether her assailant proposes to rape or murder her before she reacts? Women can only rely upon themselves—the police tell them to lock themselves indoors and in any case the implication that women should be dependent is abhorrent. If we are serious about our commitment to women's rights we must support their right to defend themselves— women do not rape —they do not attack people walking the streets.
H.F.
Economist Bookshop
THERE is no evidence to suggest that Gerald Bartlett altered or interfered with the accounts of the Economist Bookshop in an illegal fashion as suggested in an article in "Beaver" last month. The staff of the Bookshop can only comment on the fact that the directors seemed unaware of the financial state of the company even after the end of the strike. We apologise to all concerned for the misrepresentation of their comments.
LSI & South Africa —new link
(Continued from Page One)
Dahrendorf, when asked by Beaver to comment on the South African press reports—an example of which he was shown, had no knowledge of Professor Hutchinson or his trip; he emphatically repeated his abhorrence for the South African system and said he would be "very displeased if any member of LSE staff co-operated in any way with the South African government."
Union General Secretary Ed Jacob said last week that a stricture of this sort should also apply to academic visitors whose names are likely to be closely associated with the LSE by the South African government or press.
In an interview with Beaver last Wednesday, Professor Hutchinson said he was "against apartheid" but refused to condemn the homelands policy saying to "harp on the issue is a lazy intellectual habit". The independent homelands are interpreted by many as the culmination of South Africa's 33 year-old policy of separate development or grand apartheid'. Professor Hutchinson said the homelands policy was "dead" and no longer workable but added that he found the Ciskei referendum to be "fair, free of violence" and "confirming a decision which had already been reached by conventional tribal means".
Later in the interview, Professor Hutchinson, who spent only two
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days in the Ciskei, criticised anti-apartheid groups in the West whose motives he severely impugned: "They get such a kick out of attacking South Africa they never really bother to find out what's going on there." Commenting on campaigns to get firms and individuals to boycott South African goods, he said: "Economic boycotts are absolutely the worst thing to do. The best way to liberate South Africa is to invest in it." ?
There are now three "independent homelands" within the Republic of South Africa: Transkei, Venda and BophuthaTswana, none of which has been .recognised by any government except each other and Pretoria and all are completely dependent on South Africa for their survival. Ciskei is the latest Ban-tustan to come up for independence under the Bantustan Homelands Constitution Act 1971.
The referendum which Professor
the referendum in spite of a unanimous ruling by a commission of inquiry, the Quail Commission, which found that Ciskeian statehood was not a viable option. Chief Sebe threatened to imprison any of his people who voted against independence saying that to do so would be "treason." Two weeks after the referendum, on the Johannesburg home service radio in English, the Minister of Co-opera-tion and Development, Dr Piet Koornhof said, "it remains a source of satisfaction that the black people of South Africa, in their striving for independence, have made use of the available political instruments to achieve their aims . . . "
Of what the South African government classifies as 2.1 million ¦•Ciskeians". 1.6 million live outside the "Ciskei" in the Republic. According to figures released by the South African Embassy in London, only 500,000 eligible blanks registered to vote in the 4 December referendum: of these just under
Raj Chandaria questions the Director at Thursday's UGM. The Director received many hostile questions from overseas students and at one point confessed that he did not know where they would get the money from for increased fees.
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Hutchinson helped monitor last December was called by Chief Lennox Sebe, the Chief Minister of Ciskei, to decide whether Ciskei should adopt full independence under the Bantustan system. Only blacks were polled; the area's whites, concentrated in the only major town, King William's Town, rejected incorporation into Ciskei by 1,600 to 100 in a separate poll this January, as did King's 'coloured' (mixed race) people.
300,000 voted for independence, 2.200 spoilt their ballots and 1,600 voted against. It is still uncertain when Ciskei will attain full independence and under what terms. A major complicating factor is the King William's Town whites who are resolutely opposed to becoming "Ciskeians".
"Perhaps the Ciskei's only remarkable feature," reported Quen-tin Peel in the Financial Times of 4 December, 1980, "is that it has been a prime area for Pretoria's mass 'resettlement programme'... tens of thousands of Xhosas have been dumped 'there) after being classified as 'surplus' to white farms or because .they live in 'black spots' in white areas." According to an estimate made by the Quail Commission, 430,000 more blacks risk being resettled in Ciskei because they live in "white areas". Last October, for example, the South African government removed 250 families from the Woolridge and Alexandria districts of the Eastern Cape to the Kammaskraal resettlement camp in the Ciskei.
Last October, the Post', a black-run newspaper (now banned), condemned Ciskeian statehood saying that Chief Sebe, like other Bantustan leaders, was "not concerned with the plight of the people." The banned Black People's Convention (the organisation in which Steve Biko was closely involved) and the Azanian People's Convention are also quoted by the Post', which favours a unitary state for the whole of South Africa with universal suffrage and simple majority rule, as being against all independent Bantustans.
In a further interview last Friday, Professor Hutchinson again refused to condemn the homelands policy per se but said that he would condemn a homelands policy "founded on notions of racial superiority or discrimination" and hoped that South Africa would continue to "fumble towards some kind of federal system." He was not convinced that South Africa's black population was, in fact, asking for universal suffrage within a,unitary state.
Professor Hutchinson did not w-ant to be thought an "agent pi-apologist'' for apartheid. He stated that he had been working for civil right in South Africa over the last ten years, sometimes at hjs own expense, and had been an adviser to the "African side" in the Rhodesian war. He wanted to retain his "ability to go to South Africa to work for civil rights."
At this Thursday's UGM, the LSE anti-apartheid group will call for the implementation by the LSE of a complete academic boycott of South Africa.
PAGE 6
0
THE ROLE OF A STUI
Unmesh Desai
HOPLEYITIS has compelled me to put pen to paper to protest about the general—political and otherwise^standard to which "Beaver" has fallen.
1 do not intend writing a thesis on what the role of a student newspaper should be but I trust this article will appear in its entirety in what hopefully can be the start of a debate about how to pull "Beaver" from the quagmire into which it has sunk.
One of the main functions of a student paper is to inform (on both political and non-political items, e.g. travel), propagandise (around issues largely but not wholly confined to students) and hopefully to serve as a medium pulling together different strands of the student body. "Beaver" is not, as a member of the editorial board admitted, a chance to get a job on Fleet Street. It is exactly this sort of hackish elitist attitude which makes "Beaver" a paper for, and not of, the L.S.E. Students' Union as it should be. The odd occasional article by Alex Wynter or the one on Gays and The Problems of Coming Out does nothing to obscure the fact that "Beaver" has failed miserably to take up the issues facing students today. To cite some examples from the last two issues of "Beaver"
(1)	The outrageous and distasteful cartoon on the H-Block hunger strike—this went straight against Union policy on Charter 80 and could easily have come from a Tory rag like the "Daily Mail". Apart from the principle of not contravening Union policy would the editorial board have approved of a cartoon showing someone selling alcohol outside the pub bombed in Birmingham ?
(2)	The constant attempts by the paper to denigrate the Student Union and its supreme decision-making body, the U.G.M. Thus one gets Margaret Cameron-Waller, your U.G.M. reporter, filling the columns of "Beaver" with diatribes against anyone attempting to introduce some seriousness into Union politics, the Chairperson and anyone vaguely connected with the Left. Why has she never seen fit to attack the attitude and behaviour of a small minority who come along to U.G.M.s with the sole intention of disrupting them ? Why has she never seen fit to attack the sexist/anti-gay remarks often thrown around in U.G.M.s (usually by the same above-mentioned minority) ? Why does she also see fit to give prominence to statements degrading the U.G.M., e.g. "Fun at One", when writing her reports? I await with interest her next U.G.M. report or perhaps by then she may have got a job with the "Washington Post" ?
(3)	The political slant of articles written by the staff and blatant misrepresentation of facts—this expressed itself in a classic way in the report on the Timothy Raison meeting. Briefly, Raison is the Minister responsible for immigration policy and as such for outrages like the virginity tests. While the "Beaver" staff may not have experienced such tests and racist attitudes and bother themselves more with "freedom of speech", life for the ethnic minorities is becoming increasingly difficult due to the rise fascist movements, movements which are helped by the policies and statements of people like Raison. Consequently, the U.G.M. and not the "bullyboy" (sexism here) Left" decided to implement the Union's policy of "No platform for racists and fascists". The article by S. Garfield, "Beaver" editor, made no attempt to bring out any such points and interview any of the people concerned with the entirely justifiable disruption of the meeting. Whatever happened to "objective reporting" ? The report on the Fabian Society meeting, at which H-Block protesters barracked Merlvn Rees, Minister responsible for the withdrawal of Special Category status, is another example. Again no attempt was made to interview anj' of the protesters and the whole article was given to cheap remarks like "Whittaker's Irish Army" etc.
The rent strike issue has brought on similar response. Whole columns have been devoted to ridiculing and attacking the rent strike, in spite of the fact that it is official Union policy, a solid and increasing body is now supporting it and it is the job of papers 'like "Beaver" to fight and campaign for issues being promoted by the L.S.E. Student Union.
The list of articles written by "Beaver" staff biased against Union policy goes on and on. Again, columns like "Briefly",
Mark Kirby
I EXPECT this to go in as an article and not a letter.
I believe every one of the 3,800 students in this college has a right to an article in the Union paper and should not be confined to a 3-page letters section out of a 14-page paper.
I would like to request space in this paper to put some of my views as in recent issues I have been slanged off on more than one occasion.
You have to start with the concept of a Union and what it is for. Obviously this varies, but my own opinion is that the main function of the Union should be an organisational base for attempting to uphold the living standards of students. In order to do this there are various ways. Providing cheaper services in the form of the bar, shop and Florries is one obvious way and a way that probably involves most people in the Union albeit in most cases unwittingly.
But the level of activism is extremely difficult to relate to defence of standards (active in campaigns such as the ones on overseas students' fees, grants and loans, student union financing, provision of nursery).
This I feel is what we should do, try to improve living stan-
dards instead of merely trying to alleviate some of the burden.
To do this we need a voice. The voices we have are the U.G.M., where attendances at a guess this year have been on average 300-350, and Beaver print whose run is I believe 2,500 and I have never seen more than 50 lying around unread. Therefore 2,500 students read Beaver give or take 100. This publication is the link between the services side of the Union and the campaigning side and as such is a crucial part of the Union.
Some unions, for example U.E.A., have no Union newspaper so their voice is limited.
We have. Beaver is financed out of the Union, every one of you owns it, and therefore every one of you should have the right to contribute to it.
However, the reality of the situation denies this. In the last edition of last term, the editors gave themselves articles, but everyone else was allocated letter space.
This is not a matter of the quality of articles or anything else, but a matter of how the paper is run.
The editors seem to have a concept different to previous editors. Page Two has a staff
the Keir Hopley Promotion Column, do no credit to the paper or the Student Union. The column and the paper trivialise student issues, make a mockery of people who want to turn the Union into an active thriving one, and with its little snippets of gossip and flimsy elitist talk further serves to discourage student participation in the Student Union. What students want to know is how to fight rent increases, obtain proper accommodation or fight education cuts rather than gossip about Union personalities and the literary talents of Mark Cundy.
(£) Accountability—the sheer arrogance of the editor in refusing to answer questions about the paper or to make himself accountable to the U.G.M., is disgusting to say the least. The U.G.M. is the supreme controlling body of the Union and the sooner this control is reasserted the better. Direct control of the paper—political and otherwise—has got to come from the U.G.M. and not from a reincarnation of Lord Beaverbrook as K. Hopley may imagine himself to be. One last question — bearing in mind the recent budget increase allocated to the paper — why has it not submitted a detailed financial report to the U.G.M. on how allocated money is spent ?
Enough of criticism. What sort of paper do 'we really need ? One needs to look no further than the P.C.L. student paper "McGarel" for an answer. This paper is both lively and relevant. Basically, a student paper is our paper. It is the one weapon we have to counter the bourgeois media which are constantly telling us that students are lazy, long-haired'scroungers. We get enough garbage from the gutter press without having to get it from "Beaver".
Why have the paper and staff failed to pick up the issues of the day — the cuts, unemployment, falling living standards, attacks on the welfare state, etc. ? Why are articles on such issues e.g. the successful Gardners occupation to save over 300 jobs censored or left out by the editorial board? Such a paper, while it might not get any personal benefits for the people who work for it, would do a darned lot more towards fighting the present attacks on students. Such a paper would far better serve the interests of L.S.E. students than the spineless corpse we have at present.
box, this does I believe give the impression that staff writers go out to a story and write about it and that is what appears in the paper. Therefore it appears that the process works one way . and I believe this will discourage people with a story to write it and submit it to Beaver.
We don't need staff on the paper. On national newspapers the letters page allows people who have nothing to do with the paper to contribute, but here there is no one who doesn't belong to the newspaper (Open Collective) but this reality is contradicted by having staff.
There is no need for a letters section in Beaver. Everyone has the right of an article. But the appearance of the letters section gives the impression of an official and unofficial view.
But what is the official view given? Simon Garfield on the Timothy Raison affair, the cartoon on the H-Block issue.
Is this the official view of anything else. No. So what gives it an official aspect? The answer is the fact that they appeared as articles. But these views are only the views of Simon Garfield and Keir Hop-ley and this I believe is wrong. The editors are using their position to put across views which appear official. This is what happens in every privately - owned national newspaper in the country.
But I don't think Beaver should be run on that basis. I believe there should be no staff box, no letters page — all articles. And, if there is an editorial (which now appears in the form of "Briefly" by K. Hopley) it should appear in the form of Union policy not K.H. personal opinion, which is obviously sometimes divorced from Union policy. Given this, I have to work out ways of implementing this.
A censure motion was placed on the Editors by the Executive at a meeting where I was present and had complained about the matter. These complaints had been going round in circles where I go for a long time, but for once some action had been proposed. It was then stated that the defence of the Editors might probably be based not on their record (which you would expect), but the fact that the constitution didn't actually say they could be censured.
By so defending themselves, the Beaver Editors would have classified themselves as nonunion officers as it is an often unstated principle of this Union that all officers are accountable to the Union meeting and that the ultimate sanction one can apply is a motion of censure.
In answer to questions asked of him at Union meetings Keir Hopley replied (for it was always him who answered questions addressed to the Beaver editors) at first that he was not accountable to the Union meeting, but to the Beaver collective.
In view put my na be discussec ing", whicl tised in the At first, the was that 1 Beaver mee was going ii words to pi according t this is the tions Comr it had to b< body. The e that there a tween the t dilemma, br view, we whose tunc same?
So again we couldn'i doesn't say stitution th resign, so o the Editor: elected by i (last year then there i ing them i office ends.
By passir confidence
IN replying papers frorr Kirby, I ai fact that M ably object myself spa( criticisms o theless mal answer sorr the two though sp replying to
Mr Desai specific issu Beaver has The questio: to print tl was not on flippantly; people coul that the is However, n came to the cartoon was bad taste ar to publish. ( that the Jar Gay News ley's Lover fensive by strongly dep censor them
I would £ ship of IV Waller's art General Mee are meant tc example, ar White in Tf is, I believe, for humour "Briefly" coi category in column—for apology—wb and semi-go; ten in a ligh
0
PAGE 7
UDENT NEWSPAPER
In view of this I agreed to put my name to a motion to be discussed at a Beaver "meeting", which had been advertised in the last issue of Beaver. At first, the reply of the editors was that this was merely a Beaver meeting to decide what was going in the paper, in other words to produce Beaver. But according to the Constitution this is the job of the Publications Committee/Collective so it had to be a meeting of that body. The editors then declared that there was a difference between the two to get out of the dilemma, but how come, by that view, we have two bodies whose function is exactly the same?
So again the claim was that we couldn't censure them. It doesn't say either in the Constitution that the editors can resign, so constitutionally wise, the Editors of Beaver are elected by a Collective meeting (last year seven people) and then there is no way of changing them until their term of office ends.
By passing a motion of no confidence at a Publications
Committee meeting and then taking it to the Union meeting to be ratified, it would give the U.G.M. the chance to discuss it and would require the Beaver editors to defend themselves. This happened last Thursday and although it happened in a different way the Union expressed confidence in Keir and Simon.
But in the past a person who disagreed with Union policy (Simon Garfield) got an article to put his view so I now demand the same. I offer my differences with the latest edition of Beaver.
On the front page, I am referred to as ex-Chairman of the Union. This is a blatant lie. I never held that post because it doesn't exist. I had requested to Keir Hopley after he had persistently referred to me as Chairman that he should not and he agreed with me on that occasion. But then I see it again. This is in direct contravention of Union policy and as I believe him to be a Union officer he is as much bound by Union policy as any other officer, directly
related that means,' no racism or sexism in Beaver. But here on the front page there is an example of blatant sexism.
Page Two — there is a staff box again giving the impression of officers and others. If there is to be a staff box it should include the names of every one of the 3,800 students at L.S.E., or perhaps more practically it shouldn't appear at all.
Also on page 2 one of the letters is from a non-student at the college, while I know for a fact that Unmesh Desai submitted a contribution to the paper which was not printed. Non - student takes precedence over student.
Page 4—Kelvin Baynton is allocated a third of a page to put his view on the Raison affair. But then immediately afterwards it says "Simon Garfield writes" as if to 3fey he is replying to this view with the official Beaver view. He should resubmit an article arguing his differences with Mr Baynton like everyone else does, not use his position as editor to gain special
privilege in the paper, viz, automatic reply. Also briefly (no format, drivel .and personal drivel at that).
On that page there is a headline which could easily fit on one line fitted on to two lines, a blatant example of bad layout.
On page 12, a whol£ page is devoted to Rag '81. Flicking through the policy document in the Admin. Office I can find no trace of a motion to set up a Rag Week Open Committee being passed so Rag Week (the concept of it) has never been approved of by the Union yet, but it has been arranged without our agreement anyway.
Hot Gossip is announced despite the fact that there have been objections to that group on sexist grounds and therefore the Social Secretary may be mandated not to book them by a Union meeting, so how can Beaver be sure?
There is an article saying where the Rag Committee have decided (without asking anyone) where the money should go.
All of this page is devoted to presenting the decision on the Rag Week and all related decisions.
The cliques who have organised all this didn't even have the courtesy to ask the Union if they approved yet Union money has been used.
Finally, I refer to pages 6, 11 and 13. These are three full page interviews. Is this conducive to wide appeal ? If you don't happen to care about Robert Fripp, Beryl Bainbridge or Roger Carroll there isn't a lot left. I would prefer an active newspaper — students writing their opinions in it—rather than a passive one, students reading the opinions of others.
Add to the full page article on Oz, it doesn't leave much space for any other contribution.
I end by reaffirming my commitment to the Union, this paper (conceptually) but still feel I disagree with the way it is being run.
Keir Hopley replies....
IN replying to the two lengthy papers from Messrs. Desai and Kirby, I am conscious of the fact that Mr Kirby will probably object to my allocating myself space to reply to his criticisms of me, but I nevertheless make the attempt to answer some of the comments the two gentlemen make, though space prevents my replying to every point.
Mr Desai enumerates several specific issues where he claims Beaver has acted improperly. The question of whether or not to print the H-block cartoon was not one which was taken flippantly; one realises that people could be offended and that the issue was sensitive. However, my colleagues and I came to the conclusion that the cartoon was amusing and not in bad taste and therefore decided to publish. One must remember that the James Kirkup poem in Gay News and Lady Chatter-ley's Lover were considered offensive by many, but I would strongly deplore any attempt to censor them.
I would also deplore censorship of Margaret Cameron-Waller's articles on the Union General Meetings. Those articles are meant to be sketches, as, for example, are those by Martin White in The Guardian. There is, I believe, a prominent place for humour in a • newspaper. "Briefly" comes into that same category in that it is a personal column—for that I make no apology—which is semi - news and semi-gossip, hopefully written in a light-hearted manner. I
fail to see how this column reduces the enthusiasm of students to participate in the Union.
If "Briefly" criticises the leading figures of the Union, then so did the article on the disrupt tion of the Timothy Raison meeting—but in a different and much more serious way. The Union did not (repeat, not) vote to disrupt the meeting — Mr Maharaj merely moved a procedural motion to adjourn, and he even said that he only wanted to picket the meeting. The meeting was broken up, however, and it is useless to deny that bully-boy tactics were used: the simple fact is that physical intimidation and violent disruption took place, and my colleague was perfectly correct in reporting that they did.
Keir Hopley
Mr Kirby's points are, on the whole, of a more organisational nature, and the passage of time has shown that Beaver was accurate in predicting that there would be a Rag Week, and the Union meeting of 29/1/81 rejected a move to ban Hot Gossip. The complaints about contributors are completely unfounded: Mr Wynter calculated
that there has been well over thirty contributors of articles in the three issues before the last. Certainly, there is a staff box, and it contains the names of those who have worked on that particular issue. I believe anyone who is prepared to stay and work on a newspaper until (often) the early hours of the morning deserves credit.
The idea that Beaver is a closed clique is often allied to that of lack of accountability. I shall not dwell on the preposterous meeting Mr Kirby cites — it was not advertised as a meeting of the Publications Committe, was not called by the Chairman of that Committee and was constitutionally invalid. Suffice it to say that the editors are accountable to Union floor—the very fact that I take questions proves the point—and I welcome the motion tidying up the procedure for censure.
Some of the questions I have been asked refer to the Beaver finances. It is out of the question for me to spend hours of valuable Union time going into 20p here and 15p there, but I have repeatedly challenged my questioners to go through the books with me and the Accounts Officer. That challenge has never been accepted. In any case, there are the Senior Treasurer, a Finance Committee, and two employees in the Finance Office to check the claims. If any one has failed to perform his duty by letting through faulty claims, it must be one or more of that group, not the editors of Beaver. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest misappropriation of Union funds though, and I become slightly annoyed
when people accuse me, in effect of committing fraud.
In passing, I refer Mr Kirby to another of his numerous questions to me in the Union meetings. When he asked if I would apologise for using the term "Chairman", which, I maintain is legally correct and good English, I replied "No Sir, I will not" and received the acclaim of the meeting. I suggest he drops this absurd triviality which has become a long-running bad joke.
In conclusion, I return to Mr Desai's opening where he lists three functions of a student newspaper. I accept the first and the third, but the second I reject outright. I would be appalled if Beaver became a
propaganda weapon of the dominant group on the Executive or on Union floor. The role of the student newspaper is to inform and to criticise ruling bodies whether that criticism be over violent disruption of a meeting of a society with a Minister, the selling of South African oranges in the Brunch Bowl or the Union shop or the sordid circumstances surrounding the departure of Jeff Stani-forth. The fact that Mr Kirby sees few copies of Beaver left about sugests that Beaver is a newspaper relevant to and appreciated by students, and the overwhelming vote of confidence in the editors emphasises the point. I reject a propaganda paper out of hand, and so, I believe, do most students at the L.S.E.
E" I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
Gay week goes off with
a bang
Gay Soc students let off a pink smoke bomb in Thursday's Union meeting to publicise the events they are staging as part of their week of action.
As Professor Dahrendorf left the theatre after speaking to students on the School's problems, they mounted the stage and after a short technical hitch, made their point. They stressed that it was not a protest against the Director.
The week's events had been well publicised and attendances have been good, both among Gay Soc members and other students.
To round off the week, prominent Gay campaigner John Mumford 'was elected to the Student Union executive.
John Mumford, part of a successful campaign.
Photo: Simon Grosset
PAGE 8
LONDON ARTS
0
A new spirit in painting?
SIX months ago the Royal Academy had plans for a big, safe exhibition of old masters.
When arrangements broke down, R.A. exhibitions secretary N o r m an Rosenthal called together two old friends —one a gallery owner, one a critic—to organise a show of the other extreme—the recent works of 38 modern and modernist artists from Europe and the States, who embody a supposedly "New Spirit in Painting".
Sadly, the exhibition fails to live up to expectations.
That it is a highly idiosyncratic choice is of little consequence ; few would dispute the worthiness of hanging a Bal-thus, Hockney, Bacon, Picasso or De Kooning. Moreover, any attempt at such an adventurous show is laudable as a remarkable feat of courage.
Yet there is exceptionally little that is "new" here, and even less that boasts any form of stimulating "spirit".
Any trace of consistent pattern appears only in the joyous, ruthless application of paint-sodden brush on great areas of canvas. It is more the act of
Recent works by Jean Helion (above) and Lucien Freud (above right)
Loulou
THE neighbourhood bakery, butcher shop, and tailor are establishments that have acquired a persona bestowed upon them by their patrons. The shops are associated with feelings of warmth and security. They are experiencing a gradual process of erosion as they give way to the mainstays of a flourishing, developing society — "dumb shops and restaurants for fairies." In his recently released film LOULOU, director Maurice Pialat presents a glimpse of the common Frenchman's life; a life plagued by what may potentially be the most threatening aspect of the future — a life devoid of emotion. The impersonal nature of modern man leads to alienation and ineffective communication. Pialat's vision rests at the brink of such despair.
There is no sordid tale of two lovers caught in the throes of criminal pursuits, nor does the film create an atmosphere of suspense or intrigue that leaves
painting as an end in itself, rather than any intellectual plan or desire for artistic purpose, which characterises most of the works.
While there are several impressive contributions — notably from the more formal artists Freud and Bacon, but also from Britain's bold Howard Hodgkin — there is also a disturbing amount of work that should have been weeded out long before the exhibition opened ; much of it is very bad indeed. No matter how wary one may be of condemning anything labelled remotely "new", it is hard not to feel conned by many of the appalling attempts to shock.
Georg Baselitz's nudes are not only painted upside-down but are hung upside-down as well. Brice Marsden's minimalist slabs of blue canvas have little originality, wit or intrigue, and are about as new as one of Duchamp's "ready-mades".
Most are sufficiently large so that you can stand at the end of the room and decide that you don't want a closer look.
Thankfully there are a few redeeming artists on whom the exhibition relies for invaluable skeletal support. Bacon, Helion, Freud, Balthus and Warhol are all well represented, and all show the value of the light, warmth, humanity and energy sadly lacking in the work of their contemporaries. But what is new with the Warhols ? His "Marilyns" would not look out of place next to any of his current exhibits, and his study of David Hockney (biting his nails and no wonder) show no signs of straying from the well-worn paths of Pop.
The hanging, mockingly arranged in homage to the Dadaists' passion for random chance, suggests no kind of development either in chronology or style. Consequently there is neither a consistent image nor any attempt at climax and anti-climax.
There is, however, one quite stunning area
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of order and true calculated "spirit" ; from the central hexagonal stone slab in the Academy can be seen four Picassos, painted on borrowed time but still outshining most of his contemporaries; five fine-lined Bacons and three large, soothing Balthuses. This room alone ensures that the entrance money is not wasted.
It may wel 1 be that the organisers have made a conscious, destructive attempt to show the bad or "con" side of the New Spirit as well as the pro. It is certainly unfair to everyone to suggest that this is the best that has been produced in the last ten years.
In short, there are many admirable names, but far fewer admirable works; there is much evidence of ordered, painstaking administration, but little of thoughtful hanging ; and above all there is the promise of hope on arrival, but only the reality of despair on departure. If this is truly "A New Spirit" then the art world is surely in an awful mess. Luckily the smaller galleries, in hanging that work which is not still buried in the styles of the last three decades, prove that this is far from the case.
Simon Garfield
the viewer sitting at the edge of his seat biting his nails. Actually, nothing much happens. But that is why Loulou is successful. It is a portrayal of a man and a woman attempting to communicate, to love. Such an endeavour, as exposed by Pialat, is not quite as simple to enact as it is to envisage.
At the film's onset, a young woman walks down the street, pausing briefly to stare at a couple locked in a firm embrace. What we ideally perceive as a display of passion between two people is transformed into a more realistic interpretation whereby the woman is a subservient object, subject to the physical cravings and whims of the man.
The man is Loulou: tall, brown hair, a worn leather jacket enveloping his large muscular frame. He is unemployed and not too intelligent. His attractiveness to women has earned him an infamous reputation as a stud. Enter Nelly, the young vulnerable woman who leaves her wealthy secure boyfriend so that she may devote herself to the lower class, aimless Loulou.
When combined, however, the ingredients for a romantic plot do not resemble their initial
consistencies. Rather, the lives of Loulou and Nelly are wracked with difficulties and pain. The subject of hope is correlated with fools; the two people that Nelly believes really love each other are written off by her( ex-lover as nothing more than a "joint stock company." Pessimism is the order of the day, and it is the plausibility of Pialat's gloomy portent that is frightening.
The film's realism is accented by the choice of Gerard Depar-dieu and Isabelle Huppert to play the roles of Loulou and Nelly respectively. Depardieu does not emanate the radiance and charm of Clark Gable. Rather, he is hulking and slightly awkward in appearance. Because he is no glamour boy, he is more easily identifiable as the man who walked past us on the street yesterday rather than a film star practising his trade. Depardieu's counterpart, Nelly, assumes a similar understated yet powerful presence.
Loulou has been touted as the "best French film in years" and is the recipient of widespread critical acclaim. But the film is not amusing, it is not entertaining. Loulou succeeds because it is none of the above superlatives; it is life.
Carol Lee Berlinsky
Mixed reels
Seems like Old Times is another example of a Hollywood pulp/ pap movie in which jokes/situations that have raked in dollars in other movies are rehashed in the hope that either the audience have no memory or that they do not appreciate originality.
The film has one joke and that joke for all but the first 10 minutes then becomes its plot. The joke is Chevy Chase hiding out, to the occasional knowledge of Goldie Hawn and the eventual knowledge of her husband Charles Grodin, in their bedroom, kitchen, car . . .
The first ten minutes, which are more amusing, use Woody Allen's best scene from Take the Money and Run when Chase delivers a written hold-up note.
Those who would still be tempted to see this film because of Goldie Hawn should be warned that there has been an attempt to anaesthetise her charm in line with those of "Charlie's Angels" and the "Dallas" females.
Pam Wharfe
THE theme of a menage-a-trois has been used in some great works of art. There's a simple, easily-defined framework, ample opportunity for the development of tension and, through that, the exposure of caracters. Wou can give full reign to exciting, dark emotions such as jealousy and guilt and to the possibility of real love beyond the limits of the conventional dyad. There sure is a lot going for the old eternal triangle. So why does Willie and Phil blow it so badly ?
Willie and Phil meet at a showing of Truffaut's Jules et Jim. Later, their friendship firmly established, they meet Jeanette. She moves in with Willie, but sleeps with them both, and they carry on with a pretty balanced threesome. After ten years in which the "family" has taken on board the whole tedious run 'seventies lifestyles and had their fill of the beautiful life in Southern California, they end up back in New York, older, and possibly a little wiser and still friends.
Paul Mazursky has managed to make a very boring, long film that is trivial, stereoscopic and flaccid.	Roddy Hallifax
0
PAGE 9
Moments of being
IT is with a certain amount of scepticism that one approaches any product of the seemingly interminable Bloomsbury industry. The only way in which a play about Virginia Woolf's life can have any'--validity is by cutting through the mire of humbug which surrounds her and producing an honest reaction to her life and work. Surprisingly enough Edna O'Brien's play "Virginia" (Haymarket) has succeeded in doing exactly this.
O'Brien has achieved this by an immense attention to original sources and Woolf's own writing. In fact it is very difficult to decide exactly where original quotations from Virginia Woolf end and O'Brien begins. The variety of material that O'Brien has used is woven into a long monologue illustrated by events and other characters. But one doubts if we are watching a play at all. One would lean towards the view that we are witnessing a performance because Maggie Smith's recreation of Virginia Woolf is so central and dominant to the play one would seriously doubt whether the play could be successfully performed with any other actress. The other supporting characters (Nicholas Pennell as Leonard Woolf and Patricia Conolly as Vita Sackville-West) give excellent performances but merely exist to complement and illustrate Virginia Woolf.
The play begins with Woolf's formative years ; her reaction to the death of her adored mother and the intolerable emotional aridity of life with her father. Neither Maggie Smith nor Edna O'Brien is prepared to give the audience what they expect to see. The memory of life with her brutal and selfish father produces a reaction of uncontrollable hatred in Virginia Woolf. She feels only relief at his death and the end of a life of intellectual and emotional frustration. But this is contrasted with her boundless joy on moving to London with all its possibilities for socialising and intellectual stimulation and the end to the frustrations of living with her father.
Maggie Smith also portrays the terrible possibilities of Woolf's madness — the total perversion of her personality, her inability to function or to live. The play describes her slow rehabilitation in the care of the ever solicitous Leonard. Nicholas Pennell gives a moving performance, showing how he sought to cushion her was stultifying and frustrating. The triangu-her was stultifying and frustrating. The trangu-lar relationship between Vita Sackville-West,. Leonard and Virginia brings out the point that Virginia, unresolving, vulnerable—desiring to explore all the potential excitement of life and desperately needing exhilaration and stimulation, but at the same time was far too delicate and sensitive to cope with it, without risking depression and madness. Leonard Woolf comes across as understanding this but as being impotent to do anything except care for her as best he could.
Maggie Smith's Virginia is therefore a great deal more than a portrayal of an intellectually dominating, elegant and aloof figure, she gives us a portrait of all the paradoxes and inconsistencies in the artist from life lived at its most intense to Woolf's vulnerability and unresolv-able anguish. The only fault is that there is little reference to Virginia Woolf's work which
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was the source of a great deal of her depression and frustration. By omitting a discussion of her work the character loses a great deal, and the importance of the play is taken for granted. However, I have rarely seen a performance of such conviction and such power. "Virginia" makes almost every play
presently running in London look pale and insipid by comparison. One word of warning—the only way to get tickets is to go to the theatre box office and queue for approximately one and a half hours—but it's well worth it.
Helen Fawcett
Man and Superman
FOUR and three-quarter hours of Shaw may sound (and sounded to me) as more of an endurance test than theatre and hardly entertainment. On leaving the Olivier that amount of hours later I felt that my trepidation had been justified but that endurance was rewarded.
An explanation of the story line in detail would create a misleading impression of the play's content, for the greater part of the play is-in monologue form discussing at length various philosophical issues. The programme notes declare that Shaw originally defied anyone to make "Man and Superman" into a play — before doing so himself—and elements of a struggle with the text remain in this performance.
The plot, such as it is, is concerned with the strategems of Ann/Anna to marry Jack/Don Juan. The alternative names come in the mid-section of the play where the antecedents of the original couple are dressed in 16th-century clothes and discuss morality with the Devil in hell.
There have been discussions about whether this section of the play should be included, an understandable query because the arguments are sometimes difficult to follow and it is easy to lose concentration but one is kept those few fatal steps from boredom and sleep by the skills of Daniel Massey as Jack/ Don Juan and Michael Bryant
as the Devil. Massey's sustained energy and enthusiasm permeate his whole performance and allow one to overlook a certain desperate tone to his voice at particularly complex stages of his monologues, as well as mannerisms invented to cover the lack of stage directions.
The play was never dull to look at—a credit to Ralph Kol-tai's sets — where the combination of brilliant colours and imaginative changes of scene evoked a round of applause from the audience.
As for the philosophy around which the play is based I was unsure of my reaction, it seemed at times pathetically misogynist —Jack ("No man is a match for a woman except with a poker and hobnail boots"), but whenever one assumed that one was getting Shaw's creed expressed by one or other of the characters that argument was then accurately punctured by someone else.
That technique made the arguments interesting and probably more so if one had read them and there lies the crux of the difficulties which this performance seemed to run into, but the excellence of the acting and production in every aspect cannot help but lead one to believe that the play is as difficult to perform as Shaw had hoped.
by PAM WflARFE
STAR-CAST
THE promise of tenor Luciano Pavarotti and soprano Montserrat Caball6 sharing a stage and conductor Bernard Haitink in the orchestra pit is the stuft of which music-lovers' dreams are made. Unfortunately, few opera-goers saw their dream fulfilled last month as first Pavarotti missed a performance of the current production of Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera" ("The Masked Ball") and then Miss Caball£ was taken ill on stage. Add to that the fact that renowned Italian baritone Renato Bruson also missed some performances and it certainly began to look as if there was a jinx about.
Happily, everyone had been restored to good health by the first performance of this month and the full cast took the stage. However, as if unable to believe this piece of luck, soloists, chorus and even the orchestra started rather tentatively. All, that is, except for Renato Bruson who, as the King's secretary Anckarstrom, stole the opening scene with a gloriously rich rendition of the aria, "Alia vita che l'arride" ("Upon the life which you enjoy") in which he warns the King with a threat against his life.
The rest of the company soon relaxed and the performance came to life. Particularly fine singing by Yvonne Kenny (the page), Patricia Payne (Madame Arvidson, the fortune-teller), and Roderick Earle and Paul Hudson (Counts Ribbing and Horn, the conspirators) provided a wonderful vocal backdrop for the principal soloists.
Montserrat Caballe, the undisputed queen among sopranos, was in magnificent voice and the highlight of her impeccable performance came in the first scene of the third act when, threatened with death by her enraged husband who has just found her alone with the King beyond the city walls after midnight, Amelia Anckarstrom makes an impassioned plea to be allowed to see her son before she dies.
"Morrd ma prima in grazia'' ("I am to die, but first, in mercy"), and is forced to draw the name of the King's assassin after the arrival of the conspirators. The singing and acting honours in this scene were fully shared by the splendid Renato Bruson.
Luciano Pavarotti has returned to Covent Garden after several yearsiwith a reputation that is even more dazzling than it was before. But during his absence, the two other great tenors, Jos6 Carreras and Placid® Domingo, established themselves as firm Royal Opera House favourites. So the question uppermost in many minds was whether Pavarotti would be able to live up to his "superstar" image.
Doubts that lingered in the first scene were obliterated in the second by the finest piece of dramatic singing I have ever heard. In this scene. King Gustavus, disguised as a sailor, has his hand read by the fortune-teller who predicts that he will die by a friend's hand. He tries to shrug off the warning as a joke but his fear is clearly apparent beneath the bravado of "E scherzo od e follia" (Is it jest or lunacy?"). It is Pavarotti's performance of this aria which has to be heard to be believed. And from that moment in the opera, he never looked back.
Pavarotti's voice may not have the lyrical quality with which Carreras' voice is endowed but it is resonant and powerful. His diction is exemplary and his acting good but it is the expressiveness of his singing, the ability to make his voice act, which sets him apart from other fine singers.
The final word must be about the most inconspicuous and most important person. Never havt, t heard the Covent Garden orchestra play so well Not only was the music played crisply and with feeling, but not once did it threaten to drown the singers—in other words it was a real accompaniment. The credit for this all-too-rare restraint must go to Bernard Haitink who is one of the few conductors a-ble to accept that, cn such an occasion, the orchestra must play a supporting, and not a starring, role.
The fulfilment of the promise of these great musical stars has made this revival of Otto Schenk's production with Jurgen Rose's marvellous designs as nearly perfect as possible.
Jane Kleiner
PAGE 10
? FATS*
1.	A Ragtime lunchtime, featuring the music of Scott Joplin, in the Three Tuns Bar on Tuesday, March 3rd.
2.	Sponsored Disco Dancing will be held on Wednesday, March 4th. Present discovators include Nick Goddard. Toby Rose, Ed Jacob and Christina Archbold, who will gyrate for at least six hours. The Disco will be open to all in the evening, with a late bar.
3.	A Red v Blue all-star tug of war on Thursday, March 5th in Lincolns Inn Fields featuring Morning Star/L.S.E. and King's College/Daily Express combos.
Participants are still required for the Intercollegiate Pancake Race, Tug of War, and. all sponsored events.
Rag badges, the size of dinner plates, are now on sale, price 20p.
RAG MEETINGS TAKE PLACE EVERY TUESDAY AT 1.30 IN THE TV ROOM.
Big Mac for Beaver
THEY call him Mr Mac, head porter of King's College. Stolen two weeks ago in a daredevil raid on the Strand Poly, the bust's present whereabouts is being kept a close-guarded secret so as to avoid yet another attempt by the Aldwych Tech Rag Committee to repossess him.
Negotiations with the Poly have been going on at full pace over the last week for a mutual exchange of hostages. It now looks as if the swap will be carried out by the half-term playgroup in the last week of February. It is planned for the kids to mount a petition demanding Bruce the Beaver's release, and then march to Kings with "Big Mac" to effect the exchange. It is thought that even Kings students would not attack such "babes in arms", and that Bruce will be returned for the start of Rag Week.
Nic Newman
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COMING SOON
TUESDAY, 17th FEB.—
AN EVENING WITHOUT . . .
Tickets £1.20 Advance from LSE Union Shop £1.50 on door	OLD THEATRE
FRIDAY, 20th FEB.—
ULU—Manning Hall, Malet Street
LONDON STUDENT BAND TALENT CONTEST FINAL
Will an LSE Band be there ?
Tickets approx. 50p
SATURDAY, 28th FEB.—
In association with Rough Trade . . .
DELTA 5 JOSEF K THE NIGHTINGALES
Tickets £2.00 advance from LSE Union Shop £2.50 on door	OLD THEATRE
MONDAY, 2nd MARCH—
THE ONE THEY TRIED TO STOP!!!
In the Haldane Room—HOT GOSSIP Plus the LSE Intergalactic Boogie Unit Tickets £2.00 advance from LSE Union Shop £3.00 on door.
THURSDAY, 5th MARCH-
THREE TUNS BAR
BAR GAMES CHAMPIONSHIP
Darts/Pool/Yard of Ale/Video Games
and CHEAP Pilsner Lager (2 bots. 50p ; 3 bots. 60p)
SATURDAY, 7th MARCH—
L.S.E. RAG BALL
BEAT ROOTS	RED BEANS & RICE
Bar till 1.30 a.m..
Headline Band yet to be announced.
FILMS : Omen II, Three Musketeers Ronald Raygun in Santa Fe Trail.
Mr Mac—King's Head Porter
Disco diary dates
Friday, 13th Feb.—Rosebery Hall (usual debauchery, fun, etc.)
Thursday, 19th Feb.—Graduate Common Room.
Friday, 20th Feb.—Passfield Hall.
Friday, 27th Feb.—Disco in the Three Tuns.
Monday, 2nd March—Disco in the Haldane Room.
Alt
without....
LSE Old Theatre, Tuesday, 17th February
... is a show featuring the best of the last five years of Cambridge University Footlight revues.
The performers are :—
Clive Anderson (Footlights President '75)
Martin Bergman (Footlights President '78)
Rorv McGrath (Footlights Vice-President '78)
Jimmy Mulville (Footlights President '77)
Griff Rhys Jones (Footlights President '76) and member of TV's "Not the Nine O'clock News".
Past members of the Cambridge Footlights include Jimmy Edwards. Peter Cook, Eleanor Bron, Jonathan Miller, David Frost, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie, Graeme Garden, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Germaine Greer, Clive James and Julie Covington.
The troupe recently took Australia by storm and was awarded the "Best Show .at the Adelaide Festival" prize. Their performance prompted unanimous rave reviews in the Australian press—
' ''
is
The "Evening Without" Team.
"If there's one show you mustn't miss in the Festival, it's got to be this hilariously clever team of funny men, who are proving to be the most successful attraction the Adelaide Fringe programme has ever staged. The 1.500-seat Norwood Town Hall has never been filled before, but these five young men have been filling it twice a night this week and have had to extend their stay in Adelaide by another two days ... for audience participation—in one way or another—they score ten out of ten, and I don't think I have ever seen such a large number of people so obviously in tune with stage performers ... an incredibly successful coup bringing these young men from Britain. It certainly equals anything the official Festival is offering in the comedy line—and that includes the excellent Spike Milligan show. Don't miss it!"—Australian Sunday MaiL They play selected dates in between their collective television and radio commitments, and this may be a rare opportunity to see what promises to be a hilariously funny show.
Griff Rhys Jones is the second member of the "Not the Nine O'clock News" team to appear at LSE this year following Pamela Stephenson's dubious debut as a "stand-up" comic on the same stage in Freshers Week.
I haven't seen the show myself, but it comes highly recommended and should not be missed.
"AN EVENING WITHOUT . . ." ai'e appearing in the Old Theatre on Tuesday 17th February. Advance tickets (price £1.20) are available from the LSE Student Union Shop.
Nick Goddard (DR)
BAND CONTEST
UNFORTUNATELY, the usual bad timing of "Beaver" issues (sorry Ed.) means that this event did not get the press coverage that it truly didn't deserve.
By the time you are trying to understand this article the L.S.E. heat at Carr-Saunders (Friday 6th) and one of the London semi-finals at L.S.E. (Monday 10th) will have been buried.
The L.S.E. entries to the competition have been numerous; whether any were actually talented enough to reach the final stages at U.L.U. on February 20th will be revealed on your next Ents page with a full run-down on the past week's events!
Nick Goddard(DR-)
note
THE Services Committee regretfully had to increase prices marginally (5 per cent) in Florries and the Three Tuns at the beginning ol this term, in order to implement) the "break-even" policy in these establishments.
On a brighter note we are wording on a number of cheap bees and spirits promotions in the bar. At the moment the regular feature is the cheap doubles shots (50p) every Wednesday evening between 7.30 pm and 9.00 pm.
Will the Hole in the Wall go bankrupt?
Nick Goddard(DR-)
0
PAGE 11
The Sound's debut album reviewed by Nick Goddard (Dr)
FROM Liverpool, and on Ko-rova Records, The Sound appear on the strength of this album to join the illustrious list of talented bands to emerge from Liverpool and Manchester over the past two years. Whether they develop to the stature of their forerunners — Joy Division, A Certain Ratio, Teardrop Explodes and Echo and the Bunnymen to name but a few, remains to be seen, but with Jeopardy they have made a notable debut album.
The comparison with Echo and the Bunnymen has to be made; same town and record label and they also exude Echo's stark austerity, and look to have much dry ice potential. Psychedelic New Wave . . . Post Modernist ... label it what you want, but if you like the new direction you will like this band and this album. Like many albums in this category its "hooks" are minimally implicit and it is an album to be discovered, not one that has instant impact.
The band are perhaps too in-
tense ; optimism in any form is difficult to find. However, lyrically they are stronger than their contemporaries . . thoughtful and capable of political comment:—
"Who the hell makes those missiles when they know what they can do !" Adrian Borland sings with restrained passion. I can imagine Stiff Little Fingers whipping the same sentiment into uncontrolled fury. A simplistic, almost naive political analysis, but vehemently couched within The Sound's musical confines it becomes powerfully effective.
"Sick and tired of reasoning, I can't escape myself." A musically neurotic start to JEOPARDY, but "Heartland" bursts through with reassuring vitality and the keyboards are used to cut a psychedelic edge which prevails throughout the album.
From the brilliantly sustained "Resistance" to the disturbing eloquence of the suicidal "Unwritten Law", Jeopardy is an achievement as a debut album and suggests the potential not only of this band but of a musical movement.
Graduate Party
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19th, 7-11 p.m.
GRADUATE COMMON ROOM E 300
50p at door, with music and refreshments provided L.S.E. Graduate Students Committee
The Graduate Students Committee—An Open Committee of the Students Union meets every Wednesday during • during term at 1 p.m. in E300. All welcome.
Trusting the ultimate Attraction
THAT Elvis Costello has chosen to return to rhythms and imagery reminiscent of his first album might suggest a lack of new ideas and a dangerous search for former influences. Yet where his early work faltered for lack of variety and poor musicianship, "Trust", the latest release on his own F. Beat label, exhibits not only a wider verbal and musical range, but also a chillingly accurate observation of human fallibility. Few can touch his sharp analysis of deception, self-deception and sexual desire.
Like "Armed. Forces", "Get Happy!" and countless Stax albums before them, "Trust" opens with the promotional single — the full, pumping beat of "Clubland". The strength of the album explains why the single failed to chart; it has little immediate appeal and is far from commercial on first hearing; although production is often far simpler than on earlier work, Costello's vocals are still layered beneath thin sheets of trebled acoustics and are often quite incomprehensible ; and above all, rhythms are off-beat and void of catchy hooks.
Only "From a Whisper to a. Scream" presents itself as an obvious choice for a future single (Costello is joined by Glen Tilbrook of Squeeze), whereas out of the twenty tracks on the "Get Happy !" album all but a handful were possible single releases. The move away from the pressures of achieving commercial success has provided Costello with a free hand for experiment. His restrained, reflective ballad-like "Shot With His Own Gun" and the country and western feel of "Different Finger" are both valuable tracks that he had neither the guts nor opportunity to put on an earlier album.
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ELVIS COSTELLO &THE ATTRACTIONS
.More than ever on "Trust", The Attractions sound convinced of their equal role in a four piece, rather than a second-rate backing band. Their eerie, lilting accompaniment to Costello's perceptive "Big Sister's Clothes" provides a sparse, acoustic clarity which might have appeared as over-mixed chaos two years ago.
"Passion went out of fashion That's all you're concerned With,
Sweat it out for 30 seconds on home improvements, It's easier to say 'I love you' Than 'Yours sincerely' I suppose,
All little sisters like to try on big sister's clothes."
Costello's intricate word play, concentrating almost solely on sex and failed ambition, often run away with him. There are too many loose ends, too many unjustified puns.
Nonetheless, this is still a significant album. It takes Costello forward, it takes the narrow boundaries of "pop" forward and it keeps three steps ahead of Costello's imitators. From the stark cover to the final track it is a triumph of simplicity.
Simon Garfield
A student's squint at the library
IF I thought that my room was flooded and that there were piranh'a fish in the water, and if I thought the Grand Canyon was too cold or the Arctic Pole too hot; then, and only then, might I consider working in the Library. Of course I exaggerate, but deep within those absurd extremes a seething discontent sired by frustration and bureaucratic impedition slouches towards Houghton Street to be born.
It wasn't always like that. I remember writing to my mother extolling the virtues of the L.S.E. library. That I had never set foot in the place did not prevent this naive, .rather pathetic figure from eulogising. Inevitably, it was only a day later that the truth trickled through.
With coat and bag chocablock with all sorts of academic goodies, I marched purposefully towards the awe-inspiring metal thing I later discovered to be an automatic, computerised, self - evaluating, cosmi-cally oriented turnstile. I never actually got there, the reason being that I had committed the most des-
picable crime of the century. I was going to enter the library with a shoulder bag! After being discreetly hustled into one corner and straightened out by a Porter or five, I found myself without the very material necessary for intellectual self-fulfilment: a pen.
Undaunted, I placed my computer card in the orifice-like slot and watched while lots of pretty lights flashed on and off telling me to proceed and try again. I must admit, it's a polite turnstile, but one susceptible to playing practical jokes. After trying each of the four possible variations at least three times I found out the correct version was the very first one. To emphasise this humorous victory the computer sniggered as I clunked through its revolving teeth.
Thus I found myself in the land of bibliography. All I had to do now was find my book, and after looking at the catalogue I realised I'd probably need a degree in linguistics for that inoffensive task. It was with great trepidation that I
opened the first drawer. The book I was looking for was "Genetics and football: the real connection" by Professor Garbo Rhinhardt, and after only 25 minutes I found it. So anxious was I not to undermine this feat of ingenuity, I studiously copied every single number/letter on the card, even the "Ralf was 'ere 1978" scribbled in pencil in one corner. The result of this was, not unnaturally, total confusion, but after yet another delay waiting for the lift which I soon realised was stuck somewhere else, I eventually reached my prescribed destination of Zone C Floor 3.
Row after row of shelved books stood before me like a military parade. Each with its own yellow or white label giving it a meaning, an identity. I was looking for WA 80,001 and walked for what seemed like half an hour before I found it. Then I looked at my watch and saw that I had been walking for half an hour. You must then realise, indeed share my disappointment to see the book was printed in the author's native tongue of Upper
Voltan. A long trek back to the catalogue gave me the chance to discover the English version to be in another zone on a different floor. Unfortunately, those beavers in the re-classification department had beaten me to it and the book on the shelf was no longer the one listed in the catalogue.
Perceiving it to be a hopeless mission, I gave up the search and redirected my fast diminishing energies to watching the other people in the library. Like the books, they all sat there looking exactly the same, writing exactly the same essay, paraphrasing it from exactly the same book. Well; so it seemed. To be honest, I think they'd all been cast into a catatonic trance by the anodyne green carpet. Staring at it for long enough frees one from the day to day anxieties that the onerous university life creates.
I looked into those natty little cubicles that someone has decided to call "carels", and saw more of the same. Only this time the crush-
ing uniformity was disturbed by the occasional centre page pin-up from "The Economist ".
Feeling about as inspired as the duck in "Duck a L'Orange", I trooped towards the exit only to feel an excrutiating pain right across my stomach. After I had recovered the porter pressed his pedal and smirked gleefully as I crawled through the turnstile. I smiled back with infinite finality.
Although dejected, I realised that there must be a technique to using the library, after all people take degrees in it (Dip. Lib.). But first impressions -stick, and the mere sight of bile green, mesmerically be-spotted carpet and pinewood furniture, has an unfortunate effect* on me even now! In fact, it is the thought of those terrible twins rather than the stimulatory powers of the coffee that keeps me scribbling away into the wee small hours.
I never did find Professor Rhin-hardt's masterpiece.
EDEN RICHE
PAGE 12
Trotting
ONCE again LSE riding club had a resounding victory, over Bedford and Imperial colleges in the third round of the ULU league. Could this be the result of the team's visit to the Edinburgh "home of relaxed control and good balance ?" (Anyone who wants to do a 150 mile endurance ride please contact Debbie or Liz, or in desperate circumstances only, Mark). Anyway, the win puts us in a strong position for winning the ULU league overall this year, which is impressive in view of the fact that the riding team didn't exist last year.
On the home front, the riding club is quite popular and regular groups attend a riding school in Enfield (and the pub nearby). Some people have actually learnt how to ride ! - They will be testing their newfound skills, probably to the full, on a trekking holiday to Wales this term.
Needless to say, you're never too old to fall off, and new members are always welcome. Consult the AU Notice Board if you are interested in riding. We are planning a ride in Hyde Park soon. In the meantime we hope that the team does well in their next fixture, against Wye and the Royal Veterinary College.
Grass roots
Dryszko's drivel
WELL,"as usual, it is difficult to know where to begin but since I have already begun this is no longer a problem.
Tactics are changing here. I am now more concerned with the writing of this column than I am with the game of hockey—the latter has merely become a means to facilitate a no doubt inane and spurious end : to gain recognition, acclaim, esteem . . . (women?) . . . my TV told me that girls always go for journalists.
Well, I bet you're sitting there thinking, "I don't know why I bother reading this column because they always lose, and it is working negatively on my psychological sub-conscience because I go to LSE and since this is an extension of my personality any defeat incurred by an LSE team is necessarily equivalent to a defeat for my ego." Ha, all is not yet lost.
Our game has recently acquired a new sociological and humanitarian outlook hitherto sadly conspicuous by its absence ; we are out there to kill etc (God, what a load of crap!) ; we are now Gemeinewesen (if you don't know what that means you don't deserve to be reading this article). . . .
It was iniquitously feeble of me to cancel the match against the Pakistani Society who no doubt feel that they have won a moral victory of obese proportions and will never let us hear the end of it — well, it was a Saturday game . . . (z, z). The only one to lose oyt really was me who got yet more egg thrown on to his already yolk-besieged face; this is probably why I have acne.
Next came RCS and a 2-1 victory. Jacques Steffens "gave birth" to our first goal from his neo-genius skill at short corner taking. He told me afterwards in a very sincere and reverent tone : "You know as soon as you've hit it if it's going in or not. And when it goes in you feel good." I was touched and shed a silent
tear. Simon Hall scored our second and words are inadequate—I would be accused of being a tautologist since I could not find enough superlatives to do it justice (that's a cop-out if ever I heard one).
The match against City and Guilds (top of the league at present) was funny—some of the team were stoned. Anyway we turned up at our ground half-an-hour late, got a bollocking from Brian (groundsman), and were two men short despite the presence of Phil Cowles and Steve Ho'lden who turned out at two seconds' notice and who, I might add most sincerely, both played superbly. I am negotiating a five-pint transfer for the latter with the relevant football captain. C. & G. claimed a walkover but rather than freezing our bollocks off we had a "formality" of a game and drew 2-2.
We beat UCH 5-2 with goals from Jacques Steffens (2), Nigel Sirret (2), Andy Dryszko (1) (the latter being allowed so much time he could have changed his nappies).
The latest bad news is this week's team (or lack of it). I am missing quite a few stars. Simon Hall is out for two weeks with cartilage trouble which is rather like hearing that Rowan Atkinson reads "The Guardian". Joe Kordan has, for this week only, defected to the football camp (boo-hiss). So it will be a hard game versus St Mary's but we will win; we are now sixth in a league of 13.
If you are interested in playing hockey leave a message for Andy Dryszko in the A.U. Still it is 3 am and the wife is calling me to go and feed the baby, so I shall conclude by bollocking the team and asking you, the reader (audience participation, you know) to consider this tentatively offered fable : Picture yourself knackered after a game of hockey and a shower sitting at a table in the "A.U. Cafe" bloated with beans and mash seeing those same old faces and having nothing to say to them.
So you sit there like a lemon, your mind trying to stimulate itself by seeing if you can smell your feet frofn your sitting position, discover you can and so you get really paranoid and go to the bar. Isn't it worth it though ?
BALLS
THE LSE first XV continued their impressive form this term despite the boardroom upheavals which resulted in a change of club captain.
On the field, Neil Confrey continues to lead his team to impressive victories — notably the recent win against Imperial College. In his team talk before the match he instilled con-
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W';
Great photos of the past
fidence in us all by admitting that he was "as scared as hell." We then followed him on to the pitch only to see a set of six-foot-plus forwards running on to play us.
Although Imperial had all the early pressure it was strong tackling by the backs which led to the interception by Martin JJasterbrook and the consequent 50 metre burst by Paddy Hol-dich for the first try.
In the second half, quick thinking by Holdich resulted in a quick throw-in to Peter Savage who then passed to Simon Brayshaw to go over for a second try, only to find that the referee had disallowed it. Continual LSE pressure resulted in Hugh Bishop getting the second try. Ceri Davis converted them both to make the final score 12-0..
The second team, who also played Imperial, were unlucky to lose 7-9, after scoring the only try of the match.
The following Saturday an A' team played Old Wimble-donians and won 13-3 in a second-rate performance, with Perry and Brayshaw scoring LSE's two tries.
Running
cross roads
THE dozen or so people in this club are having one of their most successful seasons for many years. At the end of last term, we won the University of London Championship ahead of U.C. and Bart's Hospital. Imperial College the traditional winners, could only provide two runners. We currently stand in third place in the London Colleges Cross-Country League, with a strong chance of moving up to second at the last race. At the B.U.S.F. Championship on February 7th, we could provide half of the University of London scoring team, and will also have a complete LSE team try, we also compete in road running. As well as cross-coun-races, which continue into the summer term and vacation. New runners are always welcome, and can contact us through the A.U.
"Eiiphas Levi"
0
SNOWMEN
WW*!!**	! 'i
FULL of pride and self-confidence, the members of the LSE ski Club set off last week for Les Arcs to further the LSE's international reputation as a centre of excellence.
Situated in the French Alps, Les Arcs is the home of Ski Evolutif, a method of learning to ski by progressively using longer skis. The three who tried it had after only three days progressed to 1.60 metres and learnt to parallel immediately, thus not needing to go through the "snowplough" stage and picking up all the bad habits that go with it.
For the more advanced skier, Les Arcs provides a host of different runs of all difficulties, and challenging enough to keep Karim quiet in the evening. The resort is very recent, has numerous ski lifts, and is extremely well planned, so avoiding the terribly long walks often encountered in other older resorts.
As to the town itself, it seems they have yet to discover the meaning of the word apres-ski, one of the problems being people's tendency to keep to themselves. A few of the more enterprising males did try to establish cultural links with the natives, though to no avail.
"Snowball," the organisers of the trip, did try to organise a few evenings out, but these tended to be drab, very overpriced affairs, and although the Disco evening was only a third of the price of other local places, the reason was quite obvious and seemed to confirm the saying that "you only get what you pay for." Friday night's fondue evening proved to be more of a success although the merit was Karim's and not "Snowball's." It proved to be great fun, excessive drinking resulting in a Labour member of the Exec, throwing himself on to a table, thereby landing on a few pieces of raspberry pie, and in an adventurous, but very enjoyable, torchlight skiing run down to Arcs 1800.
• Relief could however always be found in the words t)f Chairman Robbie, who through his wit, charm, and intelligence provided a non-stop one-man show of rhetoric. Voted as the Mouth d'Arc, he was nearly pipped (sic!) at the point by Val, another American also known as Voice Of America, who found fame on Radio Arcs after having been picked up by one of the presenters at a party.
So, to ensure that any member of the general public can question us over our exploits, we have been considerate enough to develop fantastic suntans, so, if you see someone, feel free to ask !
Alex Braun,
Thor Gudmundsson
"of^EcSnomics
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Printed by Ripley Printers Ltd., Ripley, Derby. Published by London School
and Political Science, Students Union, East Building.