nSH Ll m -8 MftR^Ne* Statesmai^^^. POLmcAL:s^N0 OMIC SCi?: W#'' X^i^mks Jarfly Newspaper of the London School of Economics Students' Union The Beaver, Monday 7th March, 1988, Issue 281 NUIS BY 28 VOTES Labour Return by SI AVROS MAKRIS On Thursday, 3rd March, the student body of LSE cast its vote in determining the future of the LSE SU over the next academic year. Amanda Hart (Labour) is the new General Secretary, Phil Davis (Labour) is the new Senior Treasurer and the new Women's Officer is Melanie Taylor (Independent Socialist/Feminist;. Amanda Mart, with 628 votes, won casilv over I-rancis von Habs-biirg (Conservative) who collected 449 votes. Cantellow (SWSS) was thirtl with 78 votes. Phil Davis had a harder time. After the first count he had collected 412 against the 355 votes of I-'abian Borcke (Independent Cireen) and the 314 votes of Andy Blakeman (Conservative), while Nic Cicutti (SWSS) managed 158 votes. In the end, after two transfers of votes, Davis won with 523 votes - only 26 separating him from Borcke, who ended up with 497. Stephanie Snow (Conservative) collected an impressive 516 votes, but still lost to Melanie Taylor who amassed 628 votes. [{ight students contested the seven positions for the LSE SU Executive. But when one of them, Paul Mehmet (Conservative), Cheers! Phil Davis (Labour) reaches the summit but only after a hard climb against the Green Challenge. withdrew his candidacy, the remaining seven gained their respective officcs unopposed. The results of this year's elections, where positions were contested, were close. Their interpretation is bound to lead to a long debate, while their effects will not be felt for some time to come. ELBZnCN ANALYSIS An Ongoing Problem by A.J. Forrest Kinoshita and Calum The New Sabbaticals General Secretary - Amanda Hart (Labour) Senior Treasurer - Phil Davis (Labour) Social & Services Sec.* - Jason Ruff (Ind) *(Uncontested) Security is a problem at the LSE. The geography of the eight buildings interlinked by skywalk and nineteen points of entry, is a labyrinth of security hazards. Recently several acts of theft and a physical assault have highlighted these difficulties. The incidents have included the theft of six computer keyboards from the St. Clements building, the theft of video recording equipment valued at £1500, the assault of a member of staff in the St. Clements building and a series of cash thefts from departmental offices. In response to this growing problem the Adminstration has insured that a porter is present in the building until 9:30 p.m. after which time the building is locked and everyone evacuated. It is very much hoped that this measure is merely ad hoc since it limits access to the computer rooms and disrupts norinal day-to-day academic life. The Administration has steadily cut back on the number of security staff. Whilst in the day time there are usually about twenty-three porters on duty, the night staff number only four and often only two. In 1978 there were seven night staff at a time when the school was without its library complex. The present night staff have expressed great concern about staffing numbers and the dangers they face in surveying the buildings at night. "With only one torch between us and no walky talkies to enable communication, we are clearly at risk." In 1986-87 the Women's Advisory Panel spoke of the need to improve security around the school. They focused particularly on the computer area, and made suggestions to the Administration which included the giving of identity cards to computer users. It would appear this matter is still under review. In the past the Clare Market building has been targeted as a security problem as an)' one may walk through its doors which lead to the Three Tuns and also allow access to the body of the school. Mr. Michael Coops, Acting Bursar, who is reassessing security procedures said that the sky passage linking the Clare Market building to the St. Clements building (and thus valuable computer equipment) will be subject to a new security system. A balance must be struck between access to facilities and the security of school members while pursuing normal academic activities. OPINION The Beaver, Monday 7th March, 1988. Issue 281 Graffiti Violence Dear Editor, Wc would like to express our disgust and outrage at the actions of the individual(s) responsible for the highly offensive graffiti found in the Women's Room last week. We view the violation of our privacy and the attempted intimidation of women students as a particularly despicable act. Every effort is being made to discover the identity of those responsible. If any student was witness to this vandalism or has any information about those responsible could they please contact us, as it is of the utmost importance that those responsible are brought to justice, and that there is no further recurrence of such infantile action. Yours sincerely, LSE Women's Group Election Rules Dear Beaver, Whatever the results of today's elections, there is certainly one factor that should be taken into account in the analysis: the election rules. The Conservatives ran a pretty tough campaign this year - we felt that we'd give it our best shot, and see what we could do. What we didn't expect was how much malpractice and "strange" practice we'd discover. For example, the Labour Club used photocopiers to print a letter to their membership, something which was patently not allowed by the rules, but for which there existed a precedent. The Conservatives lodged an objection, which was sustained. In all honesty, I believe that Tim Hunter did not actually think it was "cheating", because of the precedent, but there is nevertheless a question posed: why was there not specific provision for all this in the Rules? Take another example: posters. Within three hours of thirty Conservative posters going up, fifteen had been pulled down - none of them by the Returning Officer. In other words, they had been vandalised. Christian Matheson, the Returning Officer, told us that he was powerless to do anything about the attack. Why is there not some specific provision in the Rules? And another example: printing. On the first Friday of the campaign, the Deputy Returning Officer agreed by telephone, without consultation with non-Labour Club officials, that printing could be carried out at the SWSS plant in Kilburn. This was in direct contradiction of the electoral rules, which state that all printing must be done within the SU. The Deputy Returning Officer subsequently reversed this decision. Why? And another; yet more printing. A Conservative leaflet attacking Labour's policy in the General Purposes Committee on Overseas Fees was objected to by the Labour Agent, and part of the objection was sustained, but as a consequence, printing of the leaflet was delayed by sixteen hours. At the same time, 2,000 of our leaflets were locked in the print-room - despite being printed -because the discussion continued. The rules, again, had no provision for a complaint of this type. The fact of the matter is that the Returning Officer has no power and no meaningful set of rules upon which to decide. He or she is forced to adjudicate on the basis of his or her judgement. What is actually needed is a complete reform of the electoral rules so that they are actually of some use. But what is of more concern is that this was not discovered before. It is obvious that either previous Returning Officers have been biased or incompetent or have given in to pressure from one side or another. And as it stands, you cannot run a fair campaign in LSE Elections. Fighting Dirty is the order of the day. Yours sincerely, Andy Blakeman Come Clean Avi Dear Beaver, Fascinating! Avinash Persaud's letter to the Beaver last week put his position very clearly. There was no underhand political hack-erv going on in the Greengate episode, was there Avi? NO! he was just doing his duty as a loyal servant of the masses to expose an incompetent and inept Overseas Officer. Strange then when you look at some of the other executive officers and try to figure out what they've been doing! Katy Peters, for instance, was asked what she'd done all year a couple of weeks ago - all she could offer was something about a ques-tionnaiie - we only found out about it because of the question; there were no signs that she had any intention of spontaneously telling us. Humeirah Sheihk was asked the same question at the same meeting - and she wasn't even there! When Imogen suggested that these two officers submit a report for the next meeting, I thought we might get a glimpse into the mysterious world of tl.e Welfare Officer, but no, there has been no sign of a report since. If Nick, Justin, Avi . . . etc. really are the "watchdogs" of the people, why didn't they attacji these two executive officers and not Fabian? Maybe there was another motive! Maybe the Labour hacks wanted to do something particularly nasty to the Greens that they didn't have to do to the Liberals. Seems very strange when you look at the campaigns that the Greens have been running - cycling, recycling, energy conservation, Aboriginal Rights, environmental concern etc. - I really can't see much that Labour could argue with. Then again, there are the elections and the Greens have been gaining quite considerably from Labour recently. Come on Avi - give it up, you were wrong and you should admit it - ther's no point in trying to save face now by diverting the issue. Yours sincerely, Tom Beardshaw Apathy Dear Students, It's quite difficult to talk to you about the Students' Union because the vast majority of you (3700:300) don't attend. I would, however, take the opportunity to remind you of a few basic facts. Every LSE student has paid about £50 to join the Union in their fees. This means that every one of you has paid and, yet only 300 of you participate, why? Well to me at least the reason is simple. The meeting is irrelevant to you. It does not help you, inform you or discuss anything which you can have a hope in hell of effecting. The Union is dead but long live the Union - it didn't used to be like that and it doesn't have to be. The sad fact is that LSE belongs to the apathetic; only you can change it, only you can save it. The current group of left wing hacks have destroyed what was previously accepted as England's finest, most active Students' Union. All 1 would finally say to you is Nicaragua, Palestine and the NHS, - wonderful causes but just as relevant to the LSE SU as the Catford Ladies go IR clubs is to Mikhail Gorbachev. Yours, N. Kilby Vacuous Victory? Dear Beaver, Before coming to the LSE 1 was actively involved with the Labour movement, even to the extent of canvassing on their behalf. However, on reaching the LSE, I decided to observe the practices of the Labour Club before joining their ranks. Since then I have been more and more disappointed by them and have now reached a point of disgust. The Labour Club have complemented their two sabbaticals and executive majority by taking all the "neutral" posts and have repeatedly abused them to their advantage. The chair (Labour Club member) has been consistently biased during the UGMs this year and various tricks have been used. It is old news that priority motions have been ordered so as to best suit the Labour Club. Embarrassing questions to Labour Club's union officers are placed at the bottom of the pile and pseudo questions thrown in that bore people into moving to next business before reaching them. (In the previous 3 weeks 1 had 5 questions skipped in this way). This is bad, but the ultimate abuse came last Thursday when a motion was completely stopped from being discussed. This motion was attacking the Labour Club, of course! The other "neutral" post is the Returning Officer. This is currently held by last year's Labour election agent! This post has also been twisted to the Labour Club's advantage. Nomination froms were refused only minutes after the closing date - not one week as claimed in the UGM. Last year I was deputy returning officer and I know that last year's Returning Officer (also Labour Club) accepted late papers - although they were Labour that time of course. Finally on the question of tri-vialising the union, I hope everyone realises that NUS candidates Dr Greengate Scandal and Alfred the Great were in fact the Labour sabbaticals - their paper allocation was probably used to boost the Labour allocation. How can they expect more people to take part and play the union game when they set the rules, are allowed more players and even choose the referees? Yours disapointedly, Ross Broadstock. P.S. This appears as a letter rather than my usual column because this is my opinion and I will not abuse my position as a columnist (The Returning Officer gets to censure it now, anyway). D^r Beaver, At the UGM on Thursday 3rd March a very sad event occurred. It would appear that anyone on the right is now no longer able to debate an issue unless the left and their sheep-like followers agree. A history on the event in question is necessary. At LI0pm in the UGM an emergency motion was submitted by me to the Chair. We were at the time discussing a motion on the NHS. Another emergency motion was then put forward for discussion and failed to get the required majority. Imogen (the Chair) then moved to financial motions. It was at this point that I told her that I had submitted an emergency motion. She then said that the UGM could not discuss my motion because it was handed in after 1.00pm. I suspended standing orders to try to get my motion discussed. A vote was taken, the left voted against, and my motion was still not discussed. Up to this point, the reason my motion could not be discussed was because it was handed in late; according to Imogen. It then came to my knowledge that the previous emergency motion upon which a vote was taken, was also handed in after 1.00pm. From this I deduce that Imogen was acting unfairly, unconstitutionally and inconsistently. I then challenged the Chair. 1 spoke badly, and I apologise here for what I called Imogen. I do, however, not withdraw calling her biased. Mayhem then reigned when Nigel Kilby challenged the deputy chair. Nick Randall then took the chair. He said it was time to stop. "This union has a budget of £250,000 and it's time that the trivialisation stopped." There was a motion in favour of Nick, and the meeting continued ¦normally. That is a long history for which I apologise, however it is vital to understand the problem. What I wanted to debate was the Labour Club Manifesto. Given that next year the Union is going to be controlled by the Labour Club and two Labour sabbaticals I think the most important thing that could have been discussed at the UGM was that manifesto. I was not trivialising. Labour refused to debate the manifesto and acted unconstitutionally to stop me trying to discuss it. The right, it would appear, can now only oppose left-wing motions; they cannot propose their own. This is close to totalitarianism. As from today 1 will no longer attend UGMs, I will no longer speak. The left will say "Good. You only trivialise." I leave them with this warning; that one day the backlash from "real" students, the silent 3,700 majority will come. They will oppose your corruption, your filthy ideology and your fascist tactics. See if I'm wrong. Yours Chas Begley Dear Beaver, Chas Begley and Nigel Kilby failed in their attempt to railroad t'le union into putting up with their ego masturbation, not as a result of the reluctance of Labour sabbaticals to debate with them. The sad fact is that people are tired ot Begley's pretentious pouting. With regard to Kilby, the situation is more serious. Poor Nigel has left the LSE, his former ignono-niies a failing prop for his ego. He is obviouslv unprepared for life in the outside world so he sadly has to return to .i land where the public school cretins on the right are wooed by his macho, posturing nonsense. 1 think it is a sad reflection of lite at LSI"! that Nigel and others like him have emerged from its hallowed walls as emotional lailures in the adult world. Surely our luture sabbaticals should address themselves to such serious matters so we are not ottered in vears to come the hideous degrading sight of Chas Beglev, shaven headed challenging the deput\' chair. Yours in earnest concern, franas Cassidy NEED A TYPIST? Theses and CVs a speciality. RING NOW for a price list on Aylesbury (0296) 26398. FREE DELIVERY in the Aylesbury area, or post with cheque and I will return it completed. PHOTOCOPYING service also. THE BEAVER Executive Editor: Stavros V S Makris Managing Editor: Julian Mack News Editor: Tom Parker Features Editors: Ali Fassa Arts Editors: Katerine Pena, Ekow Eshun Photographic Editor: Rebecca Dutton Sports Editor: Tony Ainsworth Layout: Nico Macdonald, Kazuko Hiroa Production: Ali, Ben, Pena, Thea, Andy, Tom and Gavin. Many thanks to Angelique for typing, and Thomas for helping (late!) in the darkroom. See you all same time next week. Typeset by Clerkenwell Graphics, 13 Vandy Street EC2 Printed by Eastway Offset Published by LSE Students' Union, East Building, Houghton Street, LONDON WC2A 2AE. Tel 01-405 7686 ext 2870 The Beaver, Monday 7th March. 1988, Issue 281 Labour at the helm again LABOUR FENDS OFF A STRONG GREEN CHALLENGE, AND DESPITE UPBEAT TORY AND SWSS CAMPAIGNS THERE'S LIHLE CHANGE AT THE UNION. BUT WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN FOR THE FUTURE ? NEWS Nick Randall passes on his "trade secrets". ELECTION ANALYSIS by ANDREW CORNWELL At 8.30 the count room had approximately the atmosphere of a morgue. The General Secretary dragged furiously on his cigarette. Phil Davis looked decidedly wobbly and was being cuddled by Imogen Tranchell as the pile of Green votes mounted. Labour were nervously contemplating the successful revenge of Fabian Borcke. When finally put out of thei agony a few minutes later, the relief of the Labour Club's finest could be measured and poured out into pints. Davis, so nervous he had had to leave the room, was carried back in triumph. He now takes up the Senior Treasurer's office, but perhaps will deal rather more gingerly with the Green Torum than the present incumbent. Fabian Borcke's astonishing result - he came within 2% of Davis - is an awful warning from the voters to Labour not to take their control of the Union for granted. If the Tories had not fought such an aggressive campaign (they were after all less than 100 first preferences behind Labour) Borcke would have been home to an earthshaking victory. How much of his success was personal and a reaction to the so-called "Greengate Scandal" it is hard too say. As the executive was not contested, there is no way of measuring support for Greens as a party rather than a motley crew of personalities from the obscure worlds of animal liberation, veganism and anti- speciesism. But a Green tide is undoubtedly beginning to flow in student politics - witness last week's election of a Green sabbatical at Oxford. Davis' close shave overshadowed the brilliant win of Amanda Hart. Not only is the next General Secretary a woman, she has also managed to overcome the twin handicaps of being an outsider in the Labour Club and prejudice against her sexuality. Not just to overcome them, but to make a positive virtue of them, in a cliquey Labour Club and a still chauvinist college. At least some of the difference between the Hart walkover and the Pavis scrape seems to be due to the perception that she was "clean" and he was a "hack". Anti-hackery is in fact the flavour of the moment. When SWSS start getting populist and talk about "Reclaiming the Union" something is going on. Suddenly elections are no longer a bourgeois deviation for the comrades. Nic Cicutti's high poll has encouraged their belief that bureaucratic answers to the government are wearing thin. The same is true of the Tories. This year, instead of merely slagging the system to death, they have made serious and radical proposals for a more commercially orientated Union. Instead of promising privatisation of the Three Tuns as part of closing down the Union, they now want to privatise it to generate increased welfare spending. Of course the age-old chestnut of withdrawal from NUS is still lurking, as is the blue herring of "Free Speech". But these standbys are buried among talk of better disabled access and more participation, in other words the usual centrist rhetoric they ostentatiously jeer at in Union meetings. Yes, something is going on, and it is called a contest. The Union is up for debate, and in that sense it is already being reclaimed. The Tories have come from no-hopers to contenders, and the Greens have added fresh, if slightly warm air. Even the victors seem unlikely to carrv on the right-wing Labourism of the Randall-Russell-Ford axis. Phil Davis, although already stepping out on the well-worn Wilson-Kinnock road, still has a rough and radical edge. Amanda Hart is more likely to stick to her militant guns in office than he is; her pledges to defy the law on Clause 28 are far more than the usual empty speech-making required to get selected. All in all, then, a thorough outbreak of pluralism for the Union, despite the superficially misleading low number of candidates and the non-contesting of some elections. It will be business as usual next year, steady progress on the mundane issues of housing and welfare that Nick Randall made so successfully and doggedly his own. His triumphant year in office has carried in his successors and given Labour an undented majority on the executive. But he has been almost too good at putting LSE to sleep in the welfare bed: the dream is a safe not an exciting one. Now perhaps a more colourful vision is wanted, and the new forces are quietly assembling in the wings to offer their versions of it. Whether the new sabbaticals will fight them or plunder their ideas is now the most intriguing question facing the Union. Andrew Cornwell is a member of the Labour Club, and a Student Governor. His favourite politicians are Ken Livingstone, John Smith and Roy Hattersley. Amanda Hart, General Secretary - elect. Student Union Elections 1988-The full results Student Union Exec. - Kirsty Ayre (Labour) Hugh Jones (Labour) Simon Hix (Labour) Simon Duncan (Con.) Nick Markham (Con.) Tom Bulman (Green) A. Hussain (Green) Women's Officer - Mel Taylor (Ind. Soc. Fern.) Overseas Officer* - M.V. Hulten (Lab.) Post Grad. Officer* - Avinash Persuad (Lab) Junior Treasurer - Caroline Clarke (Lab) NUS Conf erence- Lucia Fry (Lab) Francis Cassidy (Lab) Simon Hix (Lab) Andy Blakeman (Con) Chris Bunting ( Green) Alex Aiken (Con) Chas Begley (Trot Buster) NUS London Conf- Caroline Clarke (Lab) Mel Taylor (Lab) F. Von Habsburg (Con) Jai Durai (Lab) H.Hendrikse (Con) Page 3 News In Brief Talking Newspaper The LSE SU has set up an open committee to organise and finance a talking version of The Beaver and the LSE Circular, as well as other info about LSE. It will be produced every week and a copy of it will be stored in the tape library of BLPES as well as two copies in the Welfare Office. For more information please contact Lynne Hall, Equal Opportunities Officer. Cycle Logical Last November the Green Forum Transport Group conducted a survey to determine the means of transport used by members of the school to commute to it. The reasons most commonly given for not cycling were dangerous drivers (21%), weather (14%) and home too far (8%). From a separate questionnaire. It emerged that £1,000 worth of cycle equipment was lost to chieves and vandals in the Houghton Street area at the beginning of the Michaelmas Term. Student Publicity Video The School's plans to update their publicity video, costing in the vicinity of £20,000, are proceeding. The main problem is the script, which is seen as patronising and laughably weak. The School did not consider consultation with either the Students' Union or individual students before it began considering the project, which makes reference to the Three Tuns as a place where the "Top Twenty is played - or so I'm told". The video will be shown worldwide. Old Face in New Job On Monday, 29th February, Stav-ros Makris took over as the new Executive Editor of The Beaver, filling the position which was vacant for two weeks. Beaver to produce ''68 Special" A special issue of The Beaver to commemorate 1968's student uprisings is to be produced by the Beaver Collective in collaboration with Marxism Today. The special issue will coincide with a day of seminars, lectures and presentations sponsored by Marxism Today, taking place at the School in May. Page 4 C 0|,LJ,G E^ S The Beaver, Monday 7th March. 1988, Issue 281 by JAMES ROBERTSON Interminable. Inter-min-able. It was interminable. In-ter- min-ab-le. On election day, the UGM is just a diversion from the orgy of hacking, the battle of the insects, that lasts for 16 hoars or more. It is a trailer to the night's drama. As an advert, however, it was a poor offering. On a freezing, grey afternoon, lying on a bed, trying to masturbate, failing to get it up. Your mind wanders. Your mind wanders. You begin to dissolve in your sweat. You think about nothing. There is no climax. No catharsis. A sad interlude in a bout of depression, clinging to your bones like the cold, chilling, debilitating, destroying. Ever the destroyer, Kilby resurfaced. Again. A skinhead in a leather jacket. The look; off-dutv SAS (or TA rather, eh, Nigel?), SPG, FCS, NF . . . "Good evening and welcome". The dog always returns to its own vomit. Taking time from his meal, he sought to harrass "the children of schoolteachers", "the bankrupt generation", with "middle-class consciences", pretending to be "Trots". "Democracy has rejected you" he growled. He promised to wait, like a gatekeeper at Hell, for you to "sell your principles . . . and join the Conservatives ..." The young pups added to the spew. Alex Aiken, a man (I mean boy) whose election campaign was reportedly characterised by violence and intimidation, railed against the "thugs". The subject, this time, was not Ireland, or Russia, or Nicaragua, not Unions nor Local Government, but an Emergency Motion on the NHS. The squeak is always the same. Meanwhile, a yelping Begley fought the good fight against the powerful and the strong. He wanted to smear the opposition. He wanted to discuss the Labour Club election manifesto (though not the Conservatives'). He the Ueputy-Chair. He challenged everything. He challenged nothing. There was nothing to challenge. "1 don't", Randall had started off the meeting, "want to make any cheap political points." In the end, he had to make a few expensive ones in the Health Service debate, finally having to take over when Begley had run out of chair people. "The game is over! ... (a few figures £225,000 budget, £750,000 turnover, to put the UGM in perspective) . . . I-'or Christ sake get your act together!" As always, the Challenges fell. Animals were again at the fore with the reappearance of the previously much-enjoyed motion on Other exciting news of the week: 1) Some person or persons (i.e. boy or boys) unknown trashed the Women's Room. We 1' look forward to some form of prolonged, cruel and exceedingly public punishment on their apprehension. It would perhaps be fitting in International Women's Week. 2) the SU Services are "operating more effectively than they have ever done" (Justin). 3) Gone are the days of "Chinese meals" (Richard), and of Liberal sabbatical candidates (one for all you crinklies out there). 4)the SU Executive, NUS London Conference delegates, and the Social Secretary (Jason Ruff) were all elected unopposed. There's a lot to be said for the Soviet system of "democracy". 5) Fabian saw through a motion on "Environmental Policy" (i.e. re-cycled paper 6) "the tide is turning" (the Tories) 7) "the Tories can be beaten" (anon.) up, dear boy. The only other thing left to report, was, of course, Tom and the Cycling Campaign. The fact that he ottered us a Cycling Day, Ivor Cutler, the Motoring Corres- Old mouth still :)reaching ... Animal Rights. An "ethical question", which even saw its advocate tip-toe through a corner of nineteenth century philosophy, was once again ignored by some moron who got up and made the same speech of a fortnight previously which showed ail the sentience of one who had just undergone an LD50 Test. About three people voted for ethics, but, no fear, the Union is putting on a benefit for the Animal Liberation Front. Get your balaclavas out. pondent from The Independent, Doctor Bike, and 8 parking spaces by the summer of 1989, all under the slogan "Cycling to School is Cool", was hopelessly overshadowed by his more than passing resemblence, in a hat, it must be said, to Deputy Dawg. The whole place is being taken over by cartoon characters. Then again, this probably isn't surprising considering the tone of debate. Moreover, being a cartoon character has its advantages. LSE PRESENTS: NUDE WITH VIOLIN BY NOEL COWARD 7th 3th 9th 7:00 PM IN OJ. SOCIETIES RNER by STAVROS MAKRIS The wonderful LSE Drama Society presents Noel Coward's Nude with Violin on Monday, 7th March; Tuesday, 8th March; Wednesday, 9th March in the Old Theatre at 7pm. Tickets are on sale in advance or at the door: £1.00 members, £1.50 non members. The play is directed by Mark Falconer and Becky Campbell. Turf Society is organising a subsidised trip to the Cheltenham Festival on March 17th, Gold Cup and Triumph Hurdle day. All interested contact the society at the top floor of The Cafe on Friday, 12th March. The Overseas Student Forum meeting is on Wednesday 1pm in A85. It is open to all overseas students who are concerned about their lack of representation in the Union. The LSE Cypriot Society invites all to a discussion on "Whose solution, to whose Cyprus problem, and when?" to be headed by Peter Loizos on Tuesday, 8th March at 12:45 in A86. The United World College Society has organised a party for Monday, 14th March at 6pm. Please bring your own food and drink (to exchange?). For the venue and more details look at posters and talk to society members. The LSE Afro-Caribbean Society has organised a cultural evening for 18th March. It will include fashion show, steel band, folk singers, poetry, carnival dancing, food and a disco (sweet soul music, funk, hip hop, rare groove, socca and reggae). Tickets in advance or at the door from £3.50 to £5.00 according to membership status. The society also presents Bernie Grant MP, on J 8th March at 1:30pm in the Old Theatre. By some strange coincidence, the Soviet Union is being featured for a second time in twelve days in a Student union event. On Monday 14 March "The Future of East West Relations" will be debated in a "round table" style, informal seminar. Representatives of the Soviet Embassy, Pravda and the Moscow Group for the listab-lishment of Trust Between USA and USSR will be present as well as Ann Pettitt, author of DIY Detente and Peter Jarman of Quaker Peace & Services Committee. The Venue A42 between 1pm and 3pm. The LSE History Society is sponsoring a lecture by Dr Janet Coleman on What you should know about the Franciscan William of Ockham on Wednesday, 9th March in A506 at 5pm. The LSE Nursery is holding a Grand Jumble Sale to raise money for itself, on Thursday, 10th March. The sale will take place in the Nursery and it will be full of bargains on cloths, books, toys, bric-a-brac etc. For more details or if you are able to help out, contact the Welfare Office, E294. The LSE Animal Rights Group presents Thatcher on Acid, Karma Sutra and Black over Red. The event starts at 7:30pm in the Quandranglc. £2.00 waged, £2.50 unwaged. This is a benefit for the Animal Liberation. Front and Hunt Saboteurs Association. On Saturday, 12th March, the LSE Tequila Society "will continue its climb to immmortality with a monstrous extravaganza of music and entertainment." according to Nigel Gurney. Following the success of both the Slammers and Jaibirds at previous events, both bands are back for a "breathtaking onslaught" of rock 'n' roll. On top of this, the comeback of Purple Trousers has been promised as well as the LSE debut of the great Ivan Inversion - he stands on his head and does things. As usual it promises to be packed so go there early or not at all and remember to dress in loud flares. Door prices range from free to £3.00 according to dress and membership status. The LSE French Society will be holdind a grand reception on Tuesday, 5th March at 5:30pm (venue to be announced) for plenty of wine, cheese, frog's legs and a French F'ilm (in English?!). The University of London Pakistan Society presents a charity fashion show of traditional and contemporary Pakistani attire. This show is organised in aid of the Edhi Welfare Centres in Karachi, Pakistan. On Wednesday 18th March at 8pm, at the I^mpire Suite, Tottenham Court Road. Tickcts at £10 for students and £20 non-students available from Un-imart, ULU. The LSE SWSS meeting on Wednesday, 9th March at 1pm in A247 will revolve around South Africa:Civil Rights or Revolution. TALKING NEWSPAPER PAID READERS (casual rates) APPLY VIA WELFARE OFFICE NEWS The Beaver, Monday 7th March, 1988, Issue 281 Page 5 Debate: Human Rights in the USSR 'This house believes there are no major human rights abuses in the Soviet Union.' by Tom Parker and Gavin Gray Last Wednesday lunchtime, for the second day in succession, the Old Theatre was packed for a debate. The motion, "This House Believes There Are No Major Human Rights Abuses in the Soviet Union", was proposed by Mr R Krasnov, a political councillor at the Soviet Embassy in London, and opposed by Michael I-recman, Professor of Law at University College, London. Mr Krasnov opened the debate prefering to create a sense of intimacv with the audience rather than addressing the serious issues under consideration directly. He told the audience that he was 44 and that he had no children as yet, though he had not given up hope. He explained that he had been a diplomat in Britain since December 1984 and stated that he was a specialist in relations developed and developing countries. He described the Soviet Union as "a great country of revolutionary ideas" and said that the motion was "quite correct". Mr Krasnov emphasised the distinction between Social and Economic rights and Civil and Political rights. He asserted that the Soviet Union had a good record on Social and I'xonomic rights and, while admitting that there were problems, chastised the West for lecturing the USSR on Civil and Political rights, partly since its It's for you-hoo! record was little better but also because the Soviet Union was improving rapidly. In this context he mentioned the review of the penal system, the introduction of multi-candidate elections and lessening use of the death penalty. According to him there was only one current request for an exit visa under review. He also commented scathingly on the state of Human Rights in Britain and Northern Ireland. Calling for a less confrontational approach to Human Rights issues, he invited members of the audience to participate in an International Conference on Human Rights in Moscow and added, "We are flexible ... we arc open to criticism." For the opposition, Professor Freeman began his speech by describing the Soviet empire as "built on guns and lies" and outlined documented Human Rights violations. He cited several cases of dissenters being forced to undergo psychiatric treatment with the result that the USSR had been forced to withdraw from the World Psychiatric Group for fear of being censured. Professor Freeman discussed the gross inconsistencies between Soviet law, its international obligations and the law in action. For example the USSR has agreed not to interfere with the telephone system, whereas the Ministry of Communication had explicitly prohibited its use against the common good, and dissidents' telephones often unexplicably go out of order. However he qualified his case by agreeing that things were improving: "Now we know the laws, at least." In summating, he drew a veiled comparison between Human Rights in Nazi Germany and South Africa and the Soviet Union, which provoked some protest from the audience. He condensed his argument into five requests. He called for revoking the need for an invitation before granting an exit visa and argued for a fixed "quarantine period" of two years for all state secrets and deplored the fact that the definition of a state secret was in itself a state secret. He supported the International Covenant on Human Rights and questioned the "shadowy system of appeal". Next came the opportunity for floor speeches, all of which were addressed to Mr Krasnov. Leonid Brailovsky, a 27-year-old ex- re-fusenik, described his struggles to leave the USSR. He deplored the fact that an invitation from a first degree relative was required for an exit visa and pointed out that mail from Israel frequently was not delivered. Mr Krasnov's reply was, "I don't think your former motherland lost a true son." He displayed similar abruptness when Martin Flatters asked a question about the stigma attached to homosexuality within Soviet society and claimed that this was "a matter not accepted in my society as a natural matter". The final question came from a SACSJ (Student and Academic Campaign for Soviet Jewry) member who asked specifically about the plight of Edward Besproz-vany, the refusenik adopted by the LSE Students' Union, who has repeatedly been refused a visa to allow him to study abroad, specifically at the LSE, and has now been forbidden to apply again until 1995. The official Soviet line was that he is in possession of official state secrets, something that he was first accused when aged eight. Mr Krasnov began a bland response refering the questioner back to the British half of a Anglo-Soviet Working Party on Human Rights who he said would process her request for action. At this point in his reply Mr Krasnov was interrupted by SACSJ campaigner Tim Isaacs who burst into the Old Theatre waving a cordless telephone. He declared that he had a point of information relevant to the debate. In fact he had Edward Besproz-vany's father, Ilya, on the line from Leningrad. Without being The Spiritual Temple of Zor will be holding High Mass all weekend, as usual. Please come along. The Count. Are you a DRUMMER? Do you want to play in a blues/folk fusion band? Phone Jared on 354 4419. (Cigs and recording time guaranteed) HAPPY BIRTHDAY HELENE!! You're wonderful even if you don't know how to climb a coconut tree! To the ranking Miss P. Sorry and thanks I'm touched. Why does Nico own a FILO-FAX? Alex P. of Int. History. Will you go out with me? S.P.J. That's not funny, Sidney, that's BIZZARRE! Tony Maggs? Give me some money! WANTED: One utilitarian nun needed to make obscene phone calls. SIG, my co-conspirator, the soap opera continues - what will be Joe's next move? Tune in tomorrow . . . Great Wang obviously hasn't yet learned of the power of the media ... - Barfly, second cousin once removed of the mighty ZOR. To Lucy Craig - Happy 21stf Birthday. Watch out world . . . FOR SALE: Electric guitar & pickups. Maple neck. Made in USA. £95 ono. Ring Simon (Rm 252) on 01-278 3251 Bob Turner wants to live on a small African island called Morocco. £64 Question: Who the hell is Toni? Those little golden birdies, look at them! To James - Is your green belt still in Northampton? JENNY - there is a cheque for you in Sam's office. The early bird gets the worm. But look at what happened to the early worm. AEN/EB Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Old time is still a-flying And this same flower that smiles today. Tomorrow will be dying. (Robert Herrick 1591-1674) Where's Ade? I don't know, but Everybody always seems to be waiting for him. Miranda Cohen. Remember me? I remember you. Love from down under. Mark G. invited to do so by the chair he climbed onto the stage to confront Mr Krasnov. At Isaacs' invitation Ilya Bes-prozvany, in a barely audible voice, told of the many attempts he and his family had made since 1974 to obtain exit visas from the Russian authorities and of the repeated rejections they had received. He ended by addressing Mr Krasnov, begging him personally to help his son "to study at the LSE." The diplomat asked if he could talk directly with Mr Besprozvany and was handed the phone. Speaking in Russian they exchanged pleasantries but as the conversation developed Mr Krasnov refused to let an interpreter, a volunteer from the floor, hear what Mr Besprozvany was saying. Few members of the audience believed his translation which sounded little better than blatant Communist Party propaganda. Talking once more in English Mr Krasnov told Mr Besprozvany that he could appeal against the decision to refuse his family an exit visa, but he would not be drawn into making a promise to look into the matter personally. He referred student campaigners once more to the Foreign Office Working Party on Human Rights in the Soviet Union, which he stressed was the proper channel for British protests. Mr Besprozvany did not receive the assurance he had been hoping for, but took heart in the knowledge that there were people in the West campaigning on his behalf and he thanked those in the audience for their support. As Tim Isaacs left the stage Mr Krasnov accused him of living in the 70s and "warned" the floor, "you have heard the voice of the Cold War." Russia by comparison had moved beyond this, "we are in perestroika and out of stagnation." His comments did not meet with much enthusiasm from the audience. Summing up, both speakers concentrated on restating their earlier arguments and did not dwell on the issues raised by the floor speeches. Mr Krasnov completed the debate by urging the audience, "Not to vote once and for all ... not before you are absolutely convinced." But the floor was already convinced, and the motion was defeated. Ekow - I am tl e scary monster who follows you all over school. Beware of me as I go up and down the CAFE STAIRS!!! -¦¦•'¦"'¦"LSE presents'-"'-''" "Nude With Violin". Come and see Hunny, Lucy, Rachel and all your other favourites, for their brief theatrical bout TONIGHT Monday March 7th, Tuesday 8th and Wednesday 9th. A night to remember. The Butlers Wharf Appeal Office, A47, A squid eating dough in polyethylene bag is vast and bulbous. Got me? Just think of us as erotic politicians! JM/FIB Jim Fagan - my first nomination for Slave Driver of the Year Award. F E A T U R E S Page 6 The Beaver, Monday 7th March, 1988, Issue 281 The Right Hon. Edwina Currie MP was appointed Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security with responsibilities for the health of women in 1986. Previous to this, she was P.P.S. to Sir Keith Joseph, as Secretary of State for Education and Science from 1985 to 1986. She was a teacher and lecturer in economics, economic history and business studies from 1972 to 1981. Mrs Currie was educated at St Anne's, Oxford and the LSE. She has represented Derbyshire South since 1983. Mrs Currie might reasonably he described as a high profile member of the present government. She has achieved celebrity status through the periodic release of quotes which would reduce the most hardened hacks to jellies quivering with gratitude. Mrs Currie is well, known for her exhortations to the British public, particularly those living in the North, to eat more vegetables and drink less alcohol. I\ met the minister in the Commons lobby and was led off to one of the numerous House of Commons bars. As we settled down at a table near the window, Mrs Currie asked the gentlemen next to us to close the window. This they promptly did, muttering "Fresh air is good for you, Edwina" in half-joking tones. Mrs Currie ordered a plain tonic from the waiter and I, not wishing to incur displeasure, stuck with orange juice. "1 was a postgrad student at tho LSE. I did an MSc in 1971-72 in economic history. 1 didn't enjoy it an awful lot, partly becausc the buildings, some of which have since been rcplaccd and refurbished, were in a pretty poor state. Partly becausc 1 was getting organised to get married and so 1 was a bit distracted. In fact I got married in the July. I was doing exams and getting married all at the same time. Therefore 1 didn't have much time really to enjoy LSE. During that year there was a certain amount of student unrest and there were numerous occasions when I couldn't get into the place at all, the doors being barricaded or pickets outside or what- Did Mrs Currie get involved in student politics? "I didn't. Partly because, as I say, we were trymg to get married and I was more worried about the mortgage . . . but 1 remember that Jaques Arnold, who is now the MP for Gravesham was the Chairman of the Conservative Association. He was trying terribly hard to get me involved, which was very sweet of him, but there is a limit to the amount of mental energy anybody has at any one time. I reckoned that ni)- mam objective was to "get him to the altar", which I did! One of the reasons whv I wanted to do a postgrad degree was that 1 knew that 1 wanted to go into politics eventually and I had originally thought that I needed to have a profession or a career so that I could earn enough mOney to do politics on the side. "I originally went to London to train as an accountant, but I married an accountant. So what could 1 do that was interesting or worthwhile, reasonably well-paid, and that would give me plenty of time for politics? Teaching was the obvious thing to do. I was a lecturer in London for a while, at Kingston-upon-Thames, which 1 enjoyed very much. I-'rom about halfway through my first degree ... I knew that I wanted to be a Member of Parliament. Sooner or later, somehow, 1 was going to do it. 1 eventually did it when I was 36, but I didn't really start doing it with energy until about three Currie on Politics years before that - so it was tolerably easy to do. I thoroughly enjoyed being a college lecturer ... I was working pretty hard, but it didn't involve working during the holidays ... I spent two years following LSE teaching ... it was two years that were really very important, because if you're going to put an idea across to a group of people who've never heard of it before, then you really have to work out a very simple progression of argument. You have to support each statement with some evidence, and you have to present it in such a way that they don't forget it. That is the essence of teaching just as it is the essence of politics and making speeches." Mrs Currie is an intelligent and able debater, yet her comments to the press are often fairly odd, simplistic and gratuitous. Was it because she was a believer in the-adage that "no publicity is bad publicity"? "No. I'm very lucky. I think I probably control access to the press reasonably well. The things I learned in teaching turned out to be very useful and I've stuck to them. One of them is to think very hard about your audience, their motives, background and their psychology. This probably applies to teaching students at LSE as well. In some speeches what I may be doing is niggling away at people's basic psychology or basic feelings about something. 1 can surprise myself by putting my fmger on somethmg. For example, if you are talking AIDS: Some people will feel that it's nothing to do with them and they'll go off on a business trip to Africa, New York or Milan, they will pick up a girl and come back with AIDS. So when I said at a businessmen's lunch, "Do you really want to know what to take with you to avoid catching AIDS?", they all looked interested. I said "you take the wife". Everybody laughed but then they all started going funny colours. Sometimes ' you realise that you've said something quite significant. Same with the comments I made about second holidays. How many people in this country take second holidays! But then they moan about how much it costs to pay for their teeth to be done. The outraged letters that I get on very expensive notepaper suggest to me that there is a fair bit of guilt lying around. How many people in this country now think that what you eat has no effect on your health? When we started . . . large numbers of people in this country would have said 'what I eat has nothing whatsoever to do with my health . . . the fact that I eat loads of fried food and chips, never ear any vegetables, never get any exercise and smoke has nothing whatsoever to do with my heart attack last year.' I don't think there would be too many people that would say that now." Why did Mrs Currie think that she had achieved "household name" status in Britain? "I think it's partly being a P woman. Woman MP's are more visible. For me, being well known is part of the job. Because prevention is part of my brief . . . and prevention involves more than the government doing things for people. It involves the people . . . taking it on board themselves. All the research showed that health messages are readily received by educated people and acted upon. They are much harder to get across to people who haven't got those advantages. Therefore one has to do it a bit louder . . . self-promotion is a pain, it's actually quite nice to go shopping and not get recognised. It's . . . nice to go on holiday in Spain and lie on a beach in a bikini and not have people come up to you and say "It's Mrs Currie isn't it?" We can all do without that. It's not as exciting and as much fun or as glamourous as people think. The other side ... is that whenever you go out . . . you have to put your makeup on and look nice and make sure you haven't got holes in your stockings. I envy those colleagues who are not verv well known and can enjov a normal life." In a recent interview with The Beaver, Norman Tcbbit said he thought the government were being "a bit shy" about tackling the NHS. Did Mrs Currie agree? "The review that is going on in Downing Street is complet-ely open-minded. It's looking at all the different options for patterns of organisation and funding of the health service. On that basis, I think that the pattern of thinking is about as radical as anything. Certainly I think it would please Norman. What the Prime Minister has said is that she rules out major change during this parliament, because it would be a manifesto matter . . . but that doesn't rule out changes that would make the NHS much more efficient. There is an American saying: "11 it ain't broke don't fix it.' For a long time the Health Service has been doing a very good job. What happened ... in my judgement just in this last year or so, is that the demand had taken this hike and has jumped ahead of the funding again. 1 suspect that many of us Conservatives could have lived with that but many people in the country seemed to find that the gaps that were opening were quite unacceptable and made a tremendous fuss . . . some of the problems will still be there if you change the pattern of funding . . . If we think of health as the National Health Service, what floods into our minds is a picture of a hospital. If we think of health as part of promoting longevity and enjoyment of good health at each stage of our lives, of a life . . . freer from risk, then we arc talking of a completely different approach. That is something you could not possibly promote by changing the funding of the Health Service. The view has been taken by the government that the Health Service has needed more money. We've actually put a hell of a lot more money into it.If you take 1987-88 Chris Philipsborn meets Edwina Currie MP * -89's growth together, it well over 6% extra in IS and that is actually n the Labour Party has ng for. This is where our omes in ... if we are hat the Labour Party ,. putting a lot more to the Health Service and y is still screaming at us )e we should be thinking ing it in a different way. le Minister's view is that luty to think about it. She out hospital charges and ;es for going to see a GP." me in the NHS^ from a part of the in South Derbyshire eople generally think that re usually a bad idea. That my coalminers. I think lise that the first person ss out in a strike is the al on the picket line. In ith Service the people who e . . . patients" '.ionf ambition was to get into mt. My ambition is to stay iment: ever since I've arte I've thought to myself-u've achieved your ambi-ky, what are you going to ' You get to the stage, 1 am , when you want to stay • children arc growing up im thoroughly enjoying ing teenagers . . . 1 've been 16 years . . . our house is a il on a hill in Derbyshire, i taken on a serenity . . . ng else ... is a kind of but there is a price, like to do five boxes a night, ig able to spend Saturdays le family. I just regard IS lucky to be the MP for Icrbyshire, and that's what :o carry on being." •¦issues this Parliament? vc got local government ., . and the reform of the nity charge which take an us amount of effort. Edu-from being a major row irs ago, has now achieved us again. Most people agree with Ken Baker's n the national curriculum lool standards . . . but it tough for the teachers to . . if we involve ourselves niing the Health Service in I'ay that we have legislation ar as we have tended to do cial Security, that will keep ministers very busy. The reform of Social Security in this year, having been n two years ago. There is ;o be a lot of flak until get used to it. I-'oreign eems to have settled down, jod! Perhaps Ivurope will rca of work . . . the Prime r is determmed that has to be sorted out . . . ibsolutelv right. When we nc election in 1987, my , a pensioner in Liverpool, . me up . . . she said "that's ... another four good We are living through a of quite unparalleled peace asperity, and that is great, ivcrnment in history has ad the opportunities that ;ot to do things right." t are you proudest of in ireerf , my children! I've got two ers and every time I look at think they can't be mine! e smashing! My kids can do cr they like, and if they say ant to go to the LSE when older, I shall ¦ be very FEATURES The Beaver, Monday 7th March, 1988, Issue 281 Page 7 The Wish to be Free Paul Wood talks to Jewish Refusenik llya Besprozvany about his family's hopes for emigration. LSE students will launch a campaign next week to obtam an exit visa for Edward Besprozvany, a young Soviet Jew whose family has been trying to leave the USSR since 1974. Last Tuesday, 1 telephoned ms father llya at the family's Leningrad apartment. He told me about the family's struggle to exercise their right to emigrate. This right is given under the Helsinki agreement and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights which says, that "every one has the right to leave any country, even his own". The USSR has signed both documents, but Soviet Jews like llya Besprozvany have seen little sign of the freedoms they guarantee. "! first applied in 1974, when my son was only seven", he said, "but 1 was refused because they say 1 have done secret work". Soviet Jews are often prevented from leaving because they have state secrets. Mr, Bespro/.vany told nie why the authorities thought he had such secrets. He graduated as an engineer in 1963, and worked on ship building from '63 until '69. His knowledge of "state secrets" date from this period and are now 18 years old. The KGB determine how long the secrets remain dangerous. In 1974, they told him 15 years, leaving him free to go in 1984. But then it was increased 10 years to 1995. Even when this year is reached they may increase the time still further. Professor Aleksandr Lerner, a recent Jewish emigre, estimates that 20,000 Jews are being denied visas under the state secrets clause of the emigration rules. Out of desperation, Mr. Besprozvany divorced his wife so that she and Edward could leave, even if he could not. But they were still refused. "My wife Helen is a music teacher, evidently music is a state secret in the Soviet Union", he said. He thought that being refused for the reason of having secrets was "a mockery": a phrase he used often to describe the seeming cruelty of his treatment by the bureaucracy. After he made his first application he was dismissed from his job, and now, despite his qualifications, has to work as a taxi driver. His son Edward was expelled from the institute where he was studying 3 years ago. He now continues his studies at night school and works when he can. m m. The Jewish Society at the LSE has been trying to get Edward a place to study economics here. He has tried on two ocassions to send the school the necessary applicant's information. The first time a messenger went to collect the papers. But they were confiscated and destroyed at the airport. The second time the documents v/ere photograped, but the family apartment was broken into and the film exposed. Edward and his mother Helen appeal every six months, and are refused every six months. The last refusal was two weeks ago. Even so, they are one step ahead of many other Jewish people: "there are a lot of people who wish to leave, but the Soviet authorites refuse to receive the documents because they have no close relatives abroad", Mr. Besprozvany said. He was referring to new emigration rules brought in last Janu-arv which limit visas to those with near family abroad. He has an aunt in Tel Aviv and his wife's-parents live in the US. Others who do not fulfill this are not even put on the waiting list. Yet there has been some improvement. Last year 8000 Jews were allowed to leave the Soviet Union, compared with less than 1000 the year before. This is far below the annual 30-50,000 seen in the mid-seventies, but two recent developments have given hope for a return to that level. The first is the week long visit to the Soveit Union made by the International Helsinki Federation at the end of January: the first by a group critical of the Soviet Union's human rights' record. During the visit there was an open meeting between Soviet Officials, delegates from the Federation and dissidents; including refuseniks. This would have been unthinkable before the Gorbachev era. The second is the release of several prominent refuseniks. Mr. Anatoly Scharansky was exchanged for a spy in 1986. Following that came the release of Mr. Vladimir Slepak, Prof. Aleksandr Lerner and Mr. Yosef Begun who was pardoned last February after serving 5 years of a 12 year sentence for teaching Hebrew and wishing to emigrate. However some Jewish activists fear that these release have been done out of political expediency, to deprive the remaining refuseniks of strong leadership and to win over Western opinion. Neither does the United States government see a change of heart on the part of the Soviet authorites. They detect "a tendency to substitute process for substance". With this in mind 1 asked Mr. Besprozvany if Glasnost, which we hear so much about in the West, had had any affect on his life. "Mr. Gorbachev has changed things in Economics with Peres- troika. But Glasnost is nothing more than propaganda in the field of human rights. Human rights have not been affected, as the case of our family shows". But Mr. Besprozvany does have some reason to hope. Last week he was able to meet the US Secretary of State George Shultz in Moscow. Human rights are on the top of his summit agenda and he promised to raise the case with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Schevardnadze. After the first summit talks General Secretary Gorbachev offered to review his case and look at many others in the field of human rights. Before we said good-bye, Mr. Besprozvany thanked LSE students for their help, which may be decisive in gaining freedom for his family. In his opinion only continued Western pressure will gain more concessions for Soviet Jews. He told rne, "There is no law and jury to go to. It is impossible to defend yourself. When you struggle for your rights you ruin your life because you have no rights. Only Western opinion can settle it for us". Mv thanks to the Financial Times for help with research for this interview. N E WS Pages The Beaver, Monday 7th March, 1988, Issue 281 The Market is the Prison of the Poor by PAUL WOOD Last Tuesday the New Statesman celebrated its 75tli. anniversary by holding a special debate at that other notorious creation of the Fabians; the London School of Economics. The motion, "That the Freedom of the Market is the Prison of the Poor" was one which our founders would have approved of. An audience of 500 students was there to see it proposed by Mr Roy Hattersley the deputy leader of the Labour Party and Mr John Lloyd, a former editor of the New Statesman. It was opposed by Professor Kenneth Minogue who wrote and presented the New Enlightenment and Mr Bruce Anderson the deputy editor of the Sunday Telegraph. Mr Hattersley began by staking out the moderate territory for himself. He would not denounce the market as the "devil's favourite form of economic organization". Neither was it "the system by which goods and services will be allocated in the New Jerusalem". He gave examples of dangerous extremists who put too much faith in the market: Professor Milton Friedman, Enoch Powell, Lenin, Dr David Owen. Enoch Powell called the market "an ongoing general election where no one, not even the poorest is disenfranchised". For Dr Owen it was a Predatory Minogue redundancy terms include £92 a day for lunch, a car, a chauffeur, and seats at Covent Garden Opera House. This leaves him with nothing to do all day but flit sadly between the Carlton Club, L'Escargot and the Opera house. Here, I think Mr Lloyd was folowing Professor Galbraith in accusing the marketeers of double standards. (Professor Galbraith characterises monetarists as those who believe that to make the rich work harder you must give them more, while to make the poor work harder you must give them less). Mr Lloyd said that his opponent's idea of freedom was a "freedom to dine at the Ritz". Their radicalism, one which "likes to see the rich get richer and the poor pricing themselves into jobs". Replying for the opposition Bruce Anderson said that the market should be extended to help the poor. Planning controls in the South needed to be lifted to create new jobs and provide new housing for the the northern unemployed. Professor I'riedman's model was not faulty, he said. Those who did not have money to spend were ignored by the market, but I-'ried-man also believed in a of negative income tax. This would provide a floor for income. Through it the government could subsidize the The "New Statesman" 75th Anniversary Debate "continuous referendum" and even Lenin had said after the revolution, "now that the Socialist Government is in power, our task is to organise competition". But in the debate between planning and markets, Mr Hattersley told us, there were no absolute principles. A careful case by case approach was needed. It was he said "an unheroic declaration". You could see his point; "we must have a case by case approach" does not quite have the same ring as "all property is theft", when shouted from the barricades. Nevertheless, Mr Hattersley outlined where markets were acceptable and where they would not work. Market allocation was necessary to provide the consumer with choice and to ensure efficiency through competition. Soviet style planning gave the state machine too much power over the individual. Yet what was good for the profit maximizing firm was not always good for society. The individual firm might rationally decide to send heavy goods by road rather than rail, but the resulting road congestion is bad for everyone. British Rail might close a branch line for commercial reasons, but there were economic and social costs which would not show up on their balance sheet. Capitalism also tended towards monopoly and, following Lenin, Mr Hattersley said that Socialists needed a strong competition policy. But the most important failure of the market was that it could not provide the poor with the goods they need but cannot afford. The market was geared to the consumers with the most purchasing power. Most people would be consigned to a "second tier of provision" in a free market society. In the fields of health, educa- tion, and housing acceptable. this was un Mr Hattersley remembered how Professor Friedman had once explained how the housing problem could be solved by letting demand meet supply in a market operation. But those families who could not afford the did not appear in the equilibrium equation, he said. He concluded that in housing, as in medicine and education, the state had to intervene to provide the poor and disadvantaged with the basic necessities of life. The first opposition speaker. Professor Minogue, said that if markets were a prison then they were a very open prison. Markets could work for every one. They liberated people: In the middle ages serfs fled to the cities, and to the market to escape feudal tradition. There was mass emigration from Europe in the 19th. Century to reach market conditions. And people still ctimbed the Berlin Wall to escape Communist administrators who think they know best what people want. Mr Hattersley had earlier quoted a list of eminent persons on the market. Professor Minogue had a quotation from yet another eminent person : Roy Hattersley. In his book Choose Freedom Mr Hattersley says "Capitalism does not possess a moral theory of distribution . . . The market system ensures that petrol which might be used for transporting food to ethiopia is used for every sort of frivolous of positively undesirable purpose". "But", Professor Minogue said, "people disagree about what is a desirable purpose. There are many possible ways of doing things and the market is a continuing referendum about what people want": The argument that if people want petrol to go to Ethiopia they can choose to send it (or send the money they would have spent on a Grand Prix ticket to Oxfam). Professor Minogue noted that this did infact take place, and historically western free market societies were very generous. But it was the socialist assumption, he said, that there was a single way of life and values which the state must bring about. A planned society was one where a bureaucrat made "moral" allocations and frustrated "frivolous desires". Professor Minogue held up the alternative of a pluralistic society where there were many decision makers and a dispersal of power. "Of course markets do not always get it right", he said, "But you cannot admire or condemn what markets do since they are simply a mechanism for reflecting peoples' desires". If the mechanism was value neutral, it did have certain properties: the market, he said, was very good at conveying information about what things cost, what is available, and what people want. The market was both innovative and responsive. Yet it was also misunderstood : The Fabians held that as markets got more complex a central authority, a "hand on the tiller" was need to guide them". However as things get more complex,control is more difficult to establish as knowledge of the system becomes more imperfect, he said. It was also a wrong assumption that the poor was a single body whose problems had a single solution. In many cases private charity could better help the many different types of poor. State action might still leave them in a miserable condition, and by encouraging dependency deny them the prospect of real improvement through the market. John Lloyd denied that markets could, as Professor Minogue had said at the beginning of his speech, work for all the people. "Markets", he said, "disriminate against a powerless minority". One example of this was the 20% of children discovered by the Warnock Committee to have special needs: dyslexia, deafness, visual impairment or physical disability. These pupils needed extra resources, but in the prolit centred schools Mr Baker wanted to introduce they would not be a commercial proposition. The result would be that no school would accept them without extra money, which many parents do not have. Mr Lloyd pointed to Professor Peter Townsend's work which has shown that the death rate in working class areas is much higher than in middle class areas. It was the state's role, he thought, to counter these economic dislocations and ensure equality of opportunity. And in a democracy people would always demand collective provision to counter the market's inequalities. Mr Lloyd did think that too little was done to encourage enter-, prise and independence. But he took a different view of the effect of state provision. People had been no more free to escape the private slums of earlier depressions than today's welfare families on council estates are to escape their poverty, he said. Why, he wondered, did the concept of dependence only apply to the poor? He invited the audiences sympathy for the recently sacked Chairman of Britoil, whose poor and give them spending power. Market mechanisms could be introduced into health and education by the mechanism of the voucher. It was the operation of the free market which had improved the quality oi human life over the last 100 years, not Government intervention. And Governments could do little to help the poor. They were the people who could benefit most from the market: it was their only hope of escape. Actions by Government in the field of welfare created dependence. They did not encourage people to take control of their own lives and denied the poor the freedom of the market which was the opportunity not to be poor. Before the final summing up it was apparent that there was a great deal of common ground between the two sides. They both recognised the value of the market to ensure competition, choice and efficiency. Both sides considered that a completely planned society was destructive of liberty. Neither would the Opposition have wanted completely unrestrained markets governing all aspects of social life. The dispute was over the right mix. To the opposition the state could only tinker at the margins with poverty, or make things worse. The real escape was offered by the market. A more pessimistic view was offered by the Proposition: capitalism's structure requires that there be poor and low paid of necessity. This, Mr Hattersley said, was why the state needed to provide housing, education, medicine and welfare payments for the worst off. It was an argument which found favour with the House and the Motion was overwhelmingly carried. NEWS The Beaver, Monday 7th March, 1988, Issue 281 Protest: But Where is LSE? sm bIoff HANDS OPF by lOM PARKER Between 11,000 and 15,000 British students gathered in London on Saturday 27th February to protest against the government's proposals tor changes in Higher luiuca-tion which are currently being debated in Parliament. There were only two arrests, both before the march got under way. The demonstrators met on the Embankment before one o'clock. Most universities sent representatives, and virtually all of them more than attended from LSE. Fewer than forty students from the School turned up for the demonstration and most left once the march got under way. The Labour Club banner put in a brief, almost shameful, appearance but it was left to SWSS to provide a focus for what LSE support there was. The police maintained a discrete presence and the only arrests of the day occured outside the Flmbankment Tube Station when two men were arrested for drunken behaviour. The march finally set off at one o'clock. It was headed by Lesbian and Gay students, taking the opportunity to protest further at Clause 28 of the Local Government Bill, in the company of Peter Tatchall, Vicky Phillips (NUS President) and Fred Jarvis (Gen. Sec. of the NUT). The route took the demonstration right past Downing S'.reet but although both the Press and the Police clearly expected there to be trouble no attempt was made by the students to get through to No. 10. Around two hundred demonstrators towards the back ot the march did stage a peaceful sit down protest opposite Downing Street it only lasted for tifteen minutes and the police were content to let the NUS marshals encourage them to move on. A second sit down protest occured in Parliament Square involving a similar number and lasting half as long. That these were the only spontaneous events of the march pays a tribute of sorts to the organisation of the NUS Officials. The rally in Hyde Park was equally sterile. There was an excellent line up of speakers which included Norman Willis (Gen.Sec. of the TUC), Fred Jarvis, Jack Straw (Labour front bench spokesman on FMucation), Rodney Bickerstaff (Gen.Sec. of NUPF"), Diana Warwick (Gen.Sec. of the AUT) and Peter Tatchall. F'ach spoke lucidly about Baker's "wreckmg bill'" but none them managed to catch the audience's imagmation, there was no banner waving and little vocal participation- just polite applause. At least 10,000 people entered Flyde Park for the rally, an hour and a half later when Pat Young (NUS vice-president. Education) brought it to an end there was scarcely 500 left. Sexual Harassment - A Students' Union Statement Sexual harassment covers a wide range of unsolicited and unwelcome behaviour which constitutes a verbal or physical affront of a sexual nature to another person, and which may often be repeated. Such behaviour may range from unwelcome comments, gestures or actions of a sexual nature to unwanted and deliberate physical contact, to subtle or explicit demands tor sexual favours. A survey conducted at the LSE in 1985 showed that sexual harassment was a significant problem and this led to the appointment of Jan Stockdale as Adviser to Women Students. Given the large number of students at the l.Sl-!, the reported incidence of sexual harassment is conipantively low, with the majority ot students never encountering it, but where it does occur it can cause serious personal distress. In 1987 the school instituted grievance procedures to deal with incidences of sexual harassment of students by academic and other members of staff. Last term, the Students' Union voted through a similar set of procedures. If you think you have been the subject ot sexual harassment by another student, you should go and see either Jan Stockdale, the Adviser to Women Students, your tutor, the Dean of Undergraduate Studies, the Dean ot Graduate Studies, or any other member ot the Academic Staff to discuss the matter informally. The process is Page 9 entirely confidential; there is no need to reveal the name of the harasser if you do not want to. In all cases the aim is to ensure that complaints are fully looked into at the outset with the minimum of formality and the maximum of fairness to all parties concerned. Complaints do not have to enter the informal procedure simply because an individual brings a problem to the Adviser or any other member of the Academic Staff. No action can normally be taken unless requested by the individual conccrned. All information will be completely confidential. A full copy of the grievance procedures will be available soon trom the SU Welfare Office and the Women's Room. Jmi Stockdiilc can be contactcd in her ofjiic (S386) and by phone on extension 2705. Becky Faith A New Beaver? On iMonday, 29th February at 22.02 Marv-Ann Wood, wife of Paul Wood, gave birth to Robert, a healthy baby boy, weighing 7.5lb. Both mother and son are doing well. Alternative Prospectus The Alternative Prospectus is still very short of contributions. The editors, Stephen Moriarty and Andv Blakeman, desperately need course descriptions and comments on depaitments. They have found the reaction to their plea "very disappointing" so far. Perhaps LSl"^ students are completely unmoved by their University experience? ilL It's the Year of the Dragon! Discover China in '88... from Beijing £456 nn Hong Kong £456 and all around Asia rtn Thailand Malaysia India £345 rtn £420 nn £375 rtn .. .Book now before it's too late! UlUtravel for low cost worldwide flights, tours, holidaysand expert advice for the independent traveller. Special fares for students and academics Ask for our brochures —see how far you can go! ULU Travel London School of Economics East Building, Houghton Street LONDON WC2 Enquiries and Bookings: S Q European 01-581 8233 Intercontinental 01-581 1022 A service of sm TheWorldbeaters ARTS Page 10 The Beaver, Monday 7th March, 1988, Issue 281 Northern Soul The recent appearance of the "R&B" sound in London clubs, apparently the result of Rare Groove DJs, flicking through their Atlantic box sets, has seen sixties soul music back on southern decks. But beyond Watford, sixties soul has been the underground sound for nearly a quarter of a century. The Northern Soul story began in small clubs like Stoke-on-Trent's Torch in the early sixties. Close to Northern England's then flourishing ports, Northern Mods found in rare soul 45s, shipped over from the States, cult objects to rival the French couture prized by Southern Mods. The scene reached its peak in the early 70's with clubs like the renowned VVigan Casino packing in capacity crowds. Original mixes of Ska. Rhythm and Blues, and Soul tunes, both fast and slow, were tightened up into strictly up-tempo soul that somehow fitted the category "Northern", What exactly makes a record "Northern" is not the province of a converted Southener like myself. Northern Soul classics tend to be rare, US white promo 4.5s fetching up to X150. The huge volume of releases, often on tiny labels, and the local nature of the American 60s soul scene (even today, Mega-records in Philadelphia never make it to Chicago), meant that many mind-blowing records were never nation-wide hits. Those that were, quickly became over-familiar to the fanatics. Northern Soul continues to flourish in digging up beautiful, previously unheard of records from as far back as 1963. Especially the "party records" pressed in limited quantities for the personal pleasure of the musicians and never generally released. But a "Northern" gem must be more than rare. Though the sounds tend to come from the industrial heartland of the Northern USA -Chicago, New York. Philadelphia and particularly Detroit (though the Southern labels Sue and Paula are also much sought after), "Northern Soul" refers to the tastes of Soul fanatics in the North of England. The perfect "Northern" single has a fast "stomping" beat and lyrics that take an unusual angle on love's strange story, crooned to smouldering perfection by some long disappeared should- The Royal Ballet have-been. Most importantly, the record has a bitter-sweet far away feeling to it that allows you to imagine you're in the front row of the Harlem Apollo circa 1964. Neither is Northern Soul exclusively sixties. In clubs like the legendary Blackpool Mecca, a "Modern" scene has always flourished alongside the revival selection, and has been responsible for rescuing classics like Eloise Law's-Love Factory. King Tut's Wung Up . The current "Modern" scene tends to concentrate on tiny independent labels from the Southern USA, playing records not heard anywhere else outside remote corners of the Misissippi Basin or Japan. While 1 defy anyone to dislike Frankie Beverly and the Butlers' "If That's What You Wanted", Jackie Verdell's "Are you Ready for This", or .Mr. Floods Parry's "Compared to What", Northern Soul is an acquired taste. Records were often recorded in someone's front room by musicians more notable for their enthusiasm than their proficiency. Northern bares more relation to Punk Rock than Rare Groove in this respect. And the steady stomping beat, aimed at the feet not the hips, can be off-putting to dancers reared on Funk and Hip Hop. As an introduction. Inferno record's Out on the Floor Tonight compilation is unsurpassed. Otherwise, try one of the Casino Cla.ssics series, the Northern Soul Story volumes, or the (patchy) Kent compilations, the best of which is Soul IJprising(s), a fine collection of "Modern" sounds from the Brunswick label. Records are only one part of the Northern Soul scene. True devotees spend their weekends hustling around the North from all-nighter to all-dayer fuelled on whizz and vodka. Inside the dancehalls.the fanatics gather not to pose but to stomp and spin. .Applause greets every gem as it fades to a close. Oxford Street's 100 Ciub holds monthly all-nighters. But for the real thing, South London's faithful Danse Chase Crew are organizing a trip to what promises to be one of the years finest all-nighters at Morecombe on March 12. For more details contact Kevin Moore on 622 1128. Tom Lloyd The concept of the "triple bill" is a recent departure for the Royal Ballet, who have tended to concern themselves more with the traditional elements of ballet. It works extremely well. It provides diversity, and attempts to display to the audience the versatility of the dancer. and of the medium. However, the latest offering is perhaps not as good an example as earlier ones of this desire to communicate more with an increasingly perceptive audience. The first piece, The Sons of Horus, has a distinctly Egyptian air, and makes varied use of a variety of hieroglyphical poses, resulting in a ballet with visibly modern overtones. The ballet represents the preparation of the dead body for the departing of the soul from the human form, and hence, the dancers are cast as the protectors of the various parts of the body. They assume characters and perform accordingly. The piece is interesting and lively, but rather inaccessible, and as such, it loses much of its appeal. The second piece, Symphonic Variations, was choreographed by Frederick Ashton, and was the highlight of the evening. A simple and delicate piano movement by Cesar Franck was complemented with a beautifully moving ballet, danced almost to perfection. Philip Broomhead is wonderful in this all-but too short ballet, as is Lesley Collier. It is worth sitting through anything to see this. The final ballet, as seems to be customary in the "triple bill" format, is of a quirky nature. The cast assume a thirties style dress and, accompanied again by piano music (Ravel), manipulate two ballerinas through a series of movements intended to represent swimming. The aquatic theme is carried through to fishing and various is somewhat confused, but pleasing to the eye. In fact, the costume department provide a veritable feast for the retinas. The triple bill concept is, I think, a valuable addition to the ballet at Covent Garden. Having seen two this season. I feel a distillation of the more valuable assets of the two would result in a delightful evening- The groundwork has been completed for an interesting balletic concept. As it is, the spit is there, but a little more polish is required to complete the performance. other pursuits of leisure. The result Don Basilio EXHIBITIONS Yousuf Karsh The exhibition, which runs to 24th ¦April at the Barbican art gallery is a retrospective look at the work of the world's best known portrait photographer. Viewing the exhibition is like standing at Madame Tussaud's since the range of celebrities is almost as wide. There are the now classic portraits of Khruschev in a fur coat, Bogart with a cigarette and my companion drooled over Audrey Hepburn. Unfortunately the wax-work reminisces can become very strong, as the photographs, or rather the lighting used, gives a very waxy feel to the images. However, that should not detract from the many attractions of the exhibition, which should appeal to REVIEW Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe The Bonfire of the Vanities consumes New York City in one titanic gulp. Tom Wolfe plunges the reader into the embroiling vat of the Big Apple - from City Hall to the Courthouse, from Wall Street to Harlem, from Park Avenue to the Bronx. Nothing escapes Wolfe's relentless survey. He scrutinizes beneath the polished and the grimy surfaces to confront the people and the machinery. We meet the Mayor and the Bronx District .Attorney, both acutely obses.sed with public ity: a crafty reverend, who has dark underlying motives: a journalist, who ignites the juicy story in tabloid-like fashion. These characters become entangled in the demise of aristocratic Sherm.an McCoy. He is of the exemplary new breed on Wall Street - proper WASP upbringing. Yale degree. Park Avenue co-op flat and an interior decorator wife. His insulated cocoon oozes with money and status, from his three million dollar duplex to his seven digit salary as bond salesman and the immense power he feels when he is on the trading floor. This world is shattered when Sherman becomes enveloped in a freakish hit-and-run accident. He becomes an easy prey when lost in the Bronx, a jungleland far from Park Avenue. Fear and paranoia surrounds Sherman as everyone capitalizes on his downfall. He becomes a political football, a sensationalized scandal, and finally, a hardened man. Tom Wolfe reveals a circus. Where is the jungle - in the Bronx, the police department, the judicial system, the press, or on Park .Ave. and Wall Street? Not only does Wolfe define the ethnic images of the Jews. Irish. Italians and Blacks, but he dives into the criminal justice system and into high society, with their gross display of wealth. The title. Bonfire of the Vanities, captures the e.ssence of the novel where every single character is a megalomaniac. The book is as unner\'ing as two other prominent works featuring scathing portrayals of investment bankers, all created prior to Black Monday. Along with Oliver Stone's Wall Street and Caryl Churchill's play, Serious Money, Wolfe's Bonfire indicates the growing reflections in the aftermath of market collapse. The Bonfire is exceptional in that it provides a panoramic view of the financial world among politics. the law. the press, and the public. Few writers have defined Amer-. ican society and American experiences as perceptively as Wolfe has in his past works. He writes with veracious observation and searing wit. Bonfire, his debut novel, is a triumph. Nina Chien Doth the photographer and the person who wants to view "anyone who has left their mark on the world". Karsh's genius lies in his ability to photograph a person in a way which reveals their character. In this respect my personal favourite was the gently thoughtful image of Einstein. ARTS The Beaver, Monday 7th March, 1988, Issue 281 Babette's Feast Lumiere St Martins Babette is head chef at the Cafe Arplais, Paris who is propelled by the Communard uprising 1871 to the nrafe haven of a remote Lutheran island near to the coast of the Danish Jutland. The obvious contrast between a woman who has lived in an urban capita! torn by ^ political upheaval, and a sectarian community of unchallenged order, is not explored, consequently "Babettes Feast" is oppressively dull, punctuated only by directionless passion and overworked humour. This is not surprising considering Baroness von Blixen also wrote "Out of Africa", arty but patronizing colonial crap, typical of the cultural boom in post-Empire nostalgia. Page 11 Stake Out stake Out is loosely based on the formula cop shadows girl, cop falls for girl, so successfully exploited in Sharkey's Machine. Only this is not a Burt Reynolds movie. This is an Emilio Estevez and Richard Dreyfuss movie. These two make up an unlikely couple of cops; Estevez has a young family and a steady lifestyle while Ureyfuss is an ageing man at the turning point of family and booze crisis. Together with another pair of cops, they are asked by the local FBI agent in Seattle to shadow the girlfriend of an escaped convict, a cop-killer, on the odd chance that he will tr>' to contact her. The plot is simple enough but the storytelling is steady, full of comic relief provided by the rivalr>' of the two cop teams and the incidental encounters of one of them with their object. Emilio Estevez, by testing a new kind of role yet again, almost pulls it off convincingly as the ambitious, career-orientated young detective with a square approach to his job and a knack for revenge on his partner's practical jokes. The moustache does not quite fit, but his taste for the obscure, matching that of his fathers', is to be applauded. His quest for different roles and varying shadows of human personality is the mark of the actor: seemingly effortless, perceptively natural. Richard Dreyfuss, enjoying a new chapter in an acclaimed career, follows on his success of "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" and "Tin y\m". In Stake Out. he is, for all intents and purposes, the main figure around whom the whole movie revolves. His timing is tight and conscious, best observed during the last one-line exchanges between himself and Estevez. Dreyfuss is the I Have Heard the Mermaids Singing experienced cop who faces problems in his private life, yet he is undeterred in the pursuit of his job. He is rather like a bulldog who will not let go. His performance may appear rather grin-deep, but this is only because we have seen it before. In the "Goodbye Girl" as in "Tin Men", Dreyfuss plays men who survive by their ability to show skin-deep emotions on their faces while managing to convince their lady friends (and us?) that these emotions are soul-deep. Stake Out is not going to hurt either Dreyfuss' or Estevez's career, and in the process it might make them a couple more millions (the film has already been a huge box office success in the States). It is well worth contributing your £3 or £4.50 to these millions, for what you will get back is a thoroughly entertaining film, full of comic relief and effortless performances. Start queueing now . .. Stavros Makris Barfly At Your Local Cannon Tottenham Crt. Rd. The next words from Eliot's poem are. "I do not think that they will sing to me". Polly, played by Sheila McCartny would agree. The film is about the mermaids not singing to her (metaphorically speaking). Instead her hyper-active imagination fills the role. She also has an instinctive and natural love for life and people-her art is the photography which results from this. The story, well set in the magnificent scenery of Canada, is about Polly's realisation that the power of art is not some critic's hot air but what it means to you. Although emotional, this film light-heartedly flushes away the crap of art "affi-cionados". Polly is a great fantasist and the cinematography comes into its own in portraying this; the music is assertive and vibrant. This is a celebration of life without modern pretension; like an Ansel Adams mountain photograph, it transports you into a world which inspires and uplifts. I wished it wouldn't stop. You must see this. Haider Ali It is a sad world, inhabited by shadows of humanity and carnal wrecks. Yet this is the world Henry Chinaski (Mickey Rourke) has chosen to roam in. He has rejected the conventional lifestyle of a man caught in the rut of home/office existence. All he wants to do is drink and wait. He has no time for much else but the periodic attacks of inspiration which he manically transfers to yellowed paper. Every day in Henr>''s life is the same as the day before, every day in his life is the same as the next one is going to be. Every moment in his day is dominated by his wish to drink. He drinks everything. He is a barfly. As a barfly, Henry exists to live and lives to brawl. Brawling is something he does with unfailing eagerness and zest. Then one day, or is it night - to him the distinction is between dry and wet - he meets Wanda (Faye Dunaway). Wanda drinks because she thinks it's the only thing left to do. Her intelligence is born of disillusion, and even though she has lost much of her sense of purpose, she still retains a dry, sharp sense of humour. Henry and Wanda share a need for the bottle. The bottle is their bond. The highlight of this film, most of which looks remarkably like the inside of a blue Danish pottery shop, is when Babette concocts a classic high Parisian five course meal. To the uninitiated Islanders, the quail, champagne, and turtle soup is unintelligible to them, and they devour it as though it were their everyday ale and bread potage. The audience laughed at their naivete. I did too until I noticed a subtle but distasteful undertone to this piece. Babette has paid back the Islanders hospitality by patronizing them, immersing them in an alien bourgeois culture they could never hope to attain. Babette sees herself as an artist; and wants to escape the commercialization of the Parisian hitchers to pursue the culinary art in the real world. She says "through all the world, there goes a cry from the heart of the artist: Give me leave to do my utmost". Bullshit. As usual the artist is idealized; a poor struggling Bohemian trapped in a garret. Finally in the film, a candle is puffed out, raindrops fall on a shut window, a few notes of Chopin are heard. The cliche lives on. Segarajah This bond comes to be tested by Tully Sorensen (Alice Krige), an attractive, refined, well-educated and rich woman. Just like any other who has been unlucky in love, she craves for a meaningful relationship. What she finds instead is a raw unconventionality in Henry. Yet the promise of his creativity cannot exist behind her golden bars. Prison bars are the only bars Henry hates. Barfly is a true adaptation of a Bukowski story to celluloid. In fact Bukowski himself wrote a script which was strictly adhered to by Barbet Schroeder, the director. The end result can hardly be described as enjoyable. Bukowski's vision does not fit into conventional life; his shadowy characters linger outside the bounds of reality. But Barfly as a fable of freedom induced by intoxication is unparalleled. Direction is true to script, the script is true to Bukowski. But life as we know it is not as Bukowski knows it. Willing prison- ers, we live behind the bars of our tight eveo'day schedule. Bukowski's characters live in bars and have no schedule. This is not an ideal to aspire to. What is presented as rejection of authority and conventionality. could also be interpreted as inability to deal with reality. Courage does not lie in turning a blind eye to danger through alcohol or through resignation to everyday routine. Barfly is not the answer to the eternal question: Who are the brave? Those living behind bars or those living in bars? It is the story of a man who has decided for himself what the answer is. This answer is true to him. Barfly does not even attempt to force a choice on the viewer. Every man has his own question, every man has his own answer. What is your answer? Have you asked the question yet? Stavros Makris S PORTS Football LSE IV - 2 Imperial V - 7 Dave Wilkle's position as captain must surely now be under threat from the "referee's friend" Rodney. He ran around like a headless chicken on Friday to tell his chosen squad of 13 to be at Holborn tube at 12:45. (Shame he couldn't make it himself.) Saturday came and so did only five players! Nick (the Cat) Farmer complained that he had shut his hand in the fridge (plonker!) and definitely wouldn't play in goal. A little persuasion insured he did. The "Famous Five" travelled to Heathrow with The Guardian crossword as their only stumbling block on the whole journey. Surely nothing The London School of Economics An Invitation to A ROYAL GALA CONCERT in the presence of HER MAJESTY QUEEN MARGRETHEII OF DENMARK on 21st APRIL 1988 at 7.45 pm at the BARBICAN CENTRE London Symphony Orchestra Pinches Zukerman (violin/director/conductor) Ralph Kirshbaum (cello) David Shallon (conductor) In Aid of the LSE Butlers Wharf Student Residents Appeal Special tickets and concessionary rates for staff and students from: Butlers Wharf Appeal Office London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE Telephone: 01-405 7686 This Concert is jointly sponsored by Carlsberg Brewery Limited and Den Dansi