undercurrent n.08

8/9/2019 Undercurrent n.08

1/54


2/54

Number Eight

October -November

1974

.....................................

DDIES.. 1

....................

.....

ddie Curr ents ..a c 5

Letters.. >..toc.ii...o


3/54

On His tour of inspection,

Prince Phillip will view a

solar roo f, a wind mill. and

a metha ne digester, all

bui lt off the s i te -a nd will

inspect t he Centre 's work-

shops. To crown the occasion,

Mr. Sehast ian de Fe rri n t i has

has, until now, be en largely

Pilkingtons . Transpo rt of the

agreed to use th e occasion

unaware of th e jewel that has

Royal Person round the

for th e unveil ing of

a

new

been nestling in its bosom.

The AT -c rowd f ro m the

Centre have spent most of

renovat ing the o ut-

bui ld ings of th e o ld quarry

where th e Centre has i ts home

They have had t i t tle opportu -

ks' bre ath away.

by Royal Train . No dou bt the

nology m ovem ent in Brit

bject

is

not even confined

local Mayor, John Beaumont

Yet very little is known ahou

to Bri t ish Royals , as the

- w h o a l so h a p pe n s t o b e t h e

th e Society in AT circles

vis it of Q ueen Jul iana of the

owner o f th e N at iona l

apart f or the vague general

Nethe rlands t o Sietz Leeflang's Centre's qua rry will be ther e

impression that it has hidden

rathe r similar Small Ea rth

to g ree th im . Fro m the s t a t ion , wea l th and cons iderable Est

ay o r ano ther wi t

a few weeks ago and talked

singly fr eque nt o

he Establ ishment

ment and may even bring in

a b u c k o r t w o . .

Suppose a hu nch of AT-frea

devote more t ime to the paper known as a Free armed with geological ham-

in the province with the

at Chequers hauled of f.

exc eptio n of areas desigua-

to the nearest Fuzz House

ted as Na tional o r Provincial

screanling 'Expedient in th

national inter est ' . t 's

lovely thought.

Details of t he ac t are still

it bare and give it the 'lunar'

thus virtually a Licence of

Geological maps arc

the extent tha t a whole lo t ta

ical Museum. Inhibition

the hills armed with rock pick

or f rom Stanforcis on Lon

live on their claims in log


4/54

W ALL

KNOW

how consumer ~r od uc ts re created t o give

anufacturers a market rather than to fulfil a real need.

d reluctantly accepted. But what is not of ten appreciated

the way in which the same brand of thinking is applied to

Top level documents from International Computers

Limited, Britain's major computer manufacturer recently

fell into

Undeicurrents

hands. They reveal the actual

management thinking that produces a new range of com-

puter. These documents reveal that the process is little

system prices by

different to that with which we are already so familiar in

mach ines will be required

less exotic fields.

with at least three times this

pheral prices. It will be

It seems, for instance, that computers are designed

s

much t o generate future dependence on the company -an d

and scientific uses in ICL s

latter high in view

thus further business s to fulfil customer needs. The

markets . growing proportion

The company has also

enhancement busln

decided not to try to pull old The mark-up on th

tricks on its computer con-

pherals?

270%

international standards. But in fairness to ICL, it is clear

be as large as possible. ICI,

will not b e operating on the

principle used

b y

IBM in th

ng an automated pr

a grinding halt, is a grow

ea of the technology.

four main processors

two Service Interrupt

the current I d users

the consideration o f future

at present is the nature of

o must be persuaded to

enhancement rounds . I t

any ne w IBM range .

ome users of the New

would be difficult to rniro-

So in establishing the

duce further models into a

tentative price structure,

quote growth paths

ICL's guideline is that the

'inconvenience' (one inter-

intermodule price spacing

ruption per shift ) occurring

(General Motors will also

mu st be f ine enough to deny

to once in ei t shifts.

At the lower level of the

ancem ent replacements

existing ICI, products ..

nhancement is the profit-

to keep people buying).

ICL have also learnt a

lesson from the British aero-

computer (of the sort used

for scientific and technical

ge working compo


5/54

Undercurrents 8

grammes needed for this self- the des ire to co-operate in

diagnosis and reconfigura- set t ing up rat ional s tandar ds

t ion will be one o f the keys

for the benefi t of the

to the success or fai lure of com puter user.

the top end of the marke t .

We should t ry ha

And. as this

is

ICL s first bid strain IBM sfreed

to ge t in to the marke t s which

t ion arbi t rarily to change

demand these facilities, it

their own s tandards to

monis ing proce

on at leas t one

rds issue, 1CL has

misleading its cust

e rs or years . The compan

has been consis tent ly c

alphabet ic and other c

replacement ofi rrecover-

acters in term s of bina

ly

corrupted

ent i t ies , such

bi ts) substant ial ly d iff

hardware modules, by

f r om tha t c hose n b y t e

gree of system service,

to the t e lecommunica t io

Standa rds Double-Talk

talk dealing with public policy

statem ents and private

l icy I t i s impo r tant tha t Corpora te Futures

should have a coherent

ICL s credibility is perhaps

pol i cy to present to ICL

the most important issue at

customers notes the com-

s take wi th the in t roduc t ion

pany in a briefing .tocu

f the New Range. Many oh-

on the a t t i tud e to be t ake

ervers will be 1ooking;not

t o various internat ional

much a t th e de ta il s of the

s tanda rds organisat io

nee, but at its likely im-

hough not al l aspec

.t i n t he marke t . Thi s is

u r po li c y ne e d be de

rhaps ICL s las t chance t o

publicl)

keep its place as a major big-

It will he easier to put across

oininuter manufactnrer . Over

to o ur customers if ou r

the pas t few years , despi te

cieclarerl p-rlicy statements

t he s uppo rt o f t h e

UK

govern-

e

a

t rue subset of the

me n t t h r ough i ts po l i c yo

share of the British mark

falling steadily .

At on e t ime, ICL could

compete wi th IBM in th e

open market . Yet las t year

ICL fai led to ge t any o f the

vernment sector. And

spi te th e 4 mill ion aid

eived since 1 96 8 is still ,

cording to Er ic Moon man,

P, a critical company in a

In th i s co ntext , the re lease

R E A D E R S O F N ew S c ie n ti st

no doubt were intr igued by

a piece in the May issue

entitled /.noking for electron

hungrv explosives in Ulster

( ~ 3 1 0 ) h ic h d es cr ib ed t w o

new electronic sniffers

capable of detect ing hidden

explosives and out l ined t he

problems involved in making

such devices differen t iate

between everyday substances

(l ike perfume) and th e real

thing..What they will not

have realised was that the

article was altered by a bit

of subt l e pressure f rom the

Ministry of Defence, includ-

ing the threat of a D

Notice .

The sniffers , Pye Dynam -

ics , model L1A1 and the

Analyt ical Ins truments (AI)

model 47 , bo t h w or k o n

the electron capture

principle which depen ds

on th e fact that explos ives

give off large, electron -

hungry, m olecules whichwil l reduce a kno wn curren t

in a detector. Both pass a

s tream or argon over a

radioactive source which

ionises th e gas, which is

then m ixed with the vapour

to be t es t ed . I f enough

electrons are pul led o ff

the ionised argo n, the

alarm is sounded. Th e

art icle explains how o ther

substances , such as the

musk in perfume, the

freon in aerosols, and

tobacco sm oke, can also

trigger the d etectors but

what did not appea r, be-

cause i t was cut fr om the

original, was a paragraph

which read:

Virtually all explosives

conta in n i t ro comp ounds ,

a nd t he @e un it apparetr t -

ly has a substance which

absorbs these com poun ds

a t a m b i e n t t e mpe r at u r e s

but rejects them a t a high-

er temperature. Thus the

vapour to be tested is first

passed over this substance

then the collector is heat-

ed and

the vapour is expel-

l ed in to

the

ionised Argon.

The whole process takes

long for a mai l check. A ccord-

ing to A t the 1, lA 1 responds

only to nitroglycerine-based

explosives gel igni te an d

dyna mite (which ar e in fa

the most commonly used in

Ulster) but not to TNT

or plastic explosives. A 1

also says that contrary to

Army claims, neither detee-

to r wil l respon d to co-op

sugar ( sodium chlora te

weedkiller mixed with

sugar) because it is not

electron-capturing and

has no ni t ro compoun

The actual con tents of

the paragraph, w hile inter

ing, are hardly ( t o make

bad pun) dy nami te and a

most certainly would n

te ll the IR A anything

t h

did not al ready know r

had not found ou t by exper -

ience. But leaving aside th e

mora l i ty , or the wisdom,

of making false claims ah

anything - even weaponry

the ac tua l manner of the

reques t by th e MOD to dro

the paragraph is instructive

as an example of how th e

establishment deals with

the s i tuat ion when the un

conscious self-censorship,

that is assumed t o be part

of every journalist s mental-

i ty threa tens to break d o

At New Scientist rece

the news of th e Minist ry s

displeasure in a te leph one

call at 5 30 on press day,

Monflay before publicatio

There was no o ut r ight order

merely an announceme

that th e MoD did not l ike

the offending paragraph,

with the implicat ion tha

the Ministry had powers

act if nothing was done

voluntari ly. I t was a seco

order D Not ice , a s on e N

journalis t p ut i t .

Since al l copy had to be

at th e printers by 6 p m t h

evening, the q uest ion bee

one of expediency not

principle . The offendin

paragraph was dropped

that the issue could appear

on t ime. New Scient is t had

been out-manoeuvred and

the bland fdcdde of the

1 6 sec u ti a a e p i a h l c l ime

British e .tablishnifnl

o search \i person but

I V J O

ri. iiiainei.l

unJisIiirhcd


6/54

F R I G G I N O N TH R I G S

say that it could easily be

First there was tha t tire-

trebled in capacity. No

some Ulster Magistrate,Max-

pipeline as yet connects

well,and his recent insistence

Shetland with the mainland,

that all exploration rights

and apart from those

connect-

round the

enlire

island of ing the Forties field (the

Ireland below the low water

first to be discovered) and

mark are properly t he pro-

the Frigg gas field, no pipe-

vince of the Government of

line is being constructe d to

the Irish Republic. Realising

Scottish mainland, nor are

the minimal probability of

any being planned.

a strike on Ulster s beaches

Ethnically and psycholog-

Her Majesty s Government

icdlly, the Shetlands have

have now referred the mat ter

never been part of Scotland

t o th e Privy Council, where

and d o not consider them-

no dou bt Mr Maxwell will

selves so now. This point has

get the comeuppance he

not been lost o n the British

deserves for presuming to

Government , which has

been remarkably accommodat

ing to the Shetianden, and

Now the recent upsurge

their ideas on how t he oil

in Scottish Nationalism has

boom should be handled.

ening to kick everybody out

Nats. And if by sum

and limiting production to

chance Scotland she

a paltry 5 million tons a

But keen students of

respect the wishes of the

certain people are beginning

limes in the past and indcf

to suspect th at there is cun-

are doing now in Northern

ning in the old hitch yet.Two,

Ireland

but East and North of the

due to be taken t o the still- Irish I2oreign Minister

unbuilt terminal at Sullom

Garrctt Ht~ ger al d s eactio

Voe in the Shetlands which

when he heard the news,

is destined t o become th e

and he announced that his

THE ECCENTRICITIES of

2 million t ons of oil a

the Celtic fringe are making

year arger than any pro-

life extremely difficult for

duction figure for the entire

the eager visionaries directing

U North Sea so far releas-

Radio 88 is an illegal Swedish

present one gets taken

Radio Station that broadcasts

We have had 6 to

to St ockholm and its suburbs.

police cars chasing us

si

Three members of the group

taneously. They don t try

visited Peoples News Service

to get us every week as the

recently, and left this account get tired of trying. In fact

illegally mainly because it was

not catching us. One o

fun. The programmes were

posing as

a

straight repo

mostly music and jokes and a

ter once interviewed a

the station on the front pages

cast it 15 minutes lat

We use our broadca

there s a big strike on i

partly because of t he fierce Stockholm we ll try an

police reaction t o them and

get a long interview wi

a lot mor e people became

the workers concerned

interested and started work-

cover home and i nte

ins for Radio 88 and extend-

ional news. We tran

ing its scope.

poetry and music to

s o m e anarchists, some

safety procedures that we

keep to closely.

We broadcast once a

atus t o a different place

each week. All broadcasts

are pretaped so that we

one box (in Sweden t

set things up, go away an

n t have numbers, wh

come back to collect the

zzled the police whe

stuf f when it s safe may

y found out we had

ment block, because in

ny mail sent t o the

Sweden they re locked

ss given below will

from the inside, from t

bottom. Even if the po

trace the broadcast and

in they still have the

trouble of locating the

drive out t o forests ust

from anyone who h

lost three sets to them in


7/54

py n the

ky

you re wonde ring what

ndon will be like in a

uple of years tim e, when

e CITRAC system of

veillance TV cameras

e UC7) has gone into

perat ion above th e c i ty

reets , yo u can get a pret ty

good idea by looking at

what s been happen ing in

Sweden lately. S ixty tele-

si on cameras have been

ailed in the underground

way netw ork o f central

ckholm. The

TV

cables

verge at a church.in th e

ci ty , which is now th e

eadqua r ters of a 139 strong

special branch unit.

The TV network was instal-

led for crime prevention,

particularly drug dealing. Fach

oho ne tapping in th e last

igure 5. Catas t roph e theory app l ied to the behav iour

of

a dog

A free bone is offered to t he f irst reader who ca n correct ly

determ ine the fun ction w hich generates this surface, with-

out looking at the October 74 issue of Futures in which

it appears . Entries (on the back o f

a

dog meat wrapper ,

please) t o Maior Canis. Phi Do. our veterinary corre spon den t,

theory applied t o physical

Foxed

education . In

a

survey

s manned by two officials,

video tapes of suspicious

In Berkeley, California, 55

re frequent y

education exp er ts , school

evidence.

administrators and psychol-

e initially installed th e Qgists istened

to

meras in public places

without government permis-

scholarly lecture by a Dr FOX

n, al thou gh th e govern-

on Mathematical Game

ment subseouentlv authorised

rv

camera watching you.

They re so powerful that you

can read th e t ime o n some-

th i s TV network , and one s wristwatch store ys

the figure was 4651.

below o n the s treet .

Radio 88 also says there

re convicted. According to

have recently heen reports in

the Swedish dai l ies about

Everywhere yo u go

police plans to coord inate

their security activity with

that o f various othe r groups.

af terwards45 o f t h e 55 said

they fou nd th e lecture clear

and st imulat ing. Dr Fox

then announced th a t he was

an actor and had been talk-

ing a load of rubbis h.

the plans involve th e large

numb ers of secur i ty men

employed by hie Swedish

firms. Some reports say tliat

the plans entail the unifica-

t ion of al l these groups into

a regularised unit with its

own hierarchy and informa-

tion pool. Colonel Stirling

and General W alker, please

note.

Undercurrents , you w on t

be surpr ised to hear tha t

overseas phone calls from

the United States are syste

atically monitored by the

National Secu rity Agency

(NSA). What is surprising is

tha t , according to informa-

t ion leaked t o intel l igence

Re po rt, a Washington maga-

zine, the NSA no w has a

computer p rogrammed t o

switch on t o cue words sue

as dope , marijuana

Mao for evidence of radic

political or drugs activitie

We didn t thi nk the ir voice

recognition Systems wer

quit e so well advanced.

According to

Intelligent

Repo rt scorrespon dent (a

form er NSA worker, Wins1

Peck) NSA has been cave

dropping on private lines

the late 1960 s bu t unti l

recently, the decision t o

record was made o n the bas

of who was cal ling whom a n

what country th e cal l was

placed to . The monitor in

transoceanic telecom

tion began as par t of

programme to collect c

mercial intel1igence.wh

now considered to be eq

importan ce to miii tar

diplomatic informatio

PROPERTY SPECUL TION

tion or Nuclear attack? Alas,

it almost certainly is not.

Dedicated arm y watchers

lies buried o n the Northerly

ds, sewage compress ors

Sti ll , th e D epots would

ntion

a

t o t a l o f m o

say , th e world s first noise-

f ree underground pop festi-


8/54

nothing in positive

to either Socialism or Ca

Ill,Anarchism, the Albion

The Customs, who I don't

see getting knocking review

in UC- I lldo one free harge

w f t y or exactly fuck all.

The V A T mothers here in

Brita in get

1 3

Iretaii price

is 13.1 again for exactly

fuck ail.

a v i d l y Soviet Socialis

o m the completely

thereby entraining lo t of

constructing the world's

good.

How

about

Pluton ium sniffer

n check out the

own private market,

so

the then

I c n

get either

cienc

Soviet Union uses Eastern

Smialism Marxism?

Europe and Cuba.

As for internal repression,

ear ndercurrents

the Soviet Unio n indulges in

n o

pu n intended) of Marxist

in that meaningless expression

currents entitled 'Behaviour

'class struggle'. Modifi cat ion '

w s

n eye-open-

For

the purpose of this

r , check out the f r more

missive, Iam going to make

barbaric and inhuman treat.

some assumptions which

I

hope ment That seems to be prevalent

e appears to be misap-

do no t strike people as being in Soviet mental hospitals.

ension on he part of one

too outrageous, indeed to o

(Contact: The Working Group

for some of the most

magazines ever t o pop

t

my letter box. There isen

in the fe w I've got to keep

busy if I etired today

Your enthusiasm is itfw

theory only, yo u would be

li qu id columns i n each case.

playing into the hands of

r is one except ion

to

this

people like Aims Of Indust ry

and that is the use that can

zine. spoiled lit tle f o

m de

of the hydraulic

r m

:u o n Socialists wh o

io n s an untenable o

nV good people can't

that has to be done to v alienate prospectiv


9/54

uld learn further about amateur

ectronics or T V .

We are very disappointed. You

aazine holds nothing of interes

is

We do

not

like nor do we

ree with the contents or the

pies you cover. We herewith

turn the unwanted and unliketi

gazine and would appreciate

return of our 35p.

atmoral Avenue

ockton-on-Tees,

leveland TS 17 7JP

E DAMNED

a t e my subscnp-

urrents

and for

of the year's mon-

ded or donated

a t i o n Society' .

,as you do, that many

s need changing in this

ty of ours; however, one

which I prize highly is

freedom o f speech which

r magazine seeks to under-

e. In a democracy a man

pe ak h is mind . The t ime

subversion is und er

a

repres-

r

Schofield is presumably

erring to the letter in UC7

advert in UC 6 for a community

based on the ideas of B F Skinne

wouldn't have printed that

letter. Perhaps Mr Schofield

it? Surely free speech logical

implies freedom even for those

who advocate its abolition?-E d

give AT a bad name.

Maybe my definition

us having a license and a st a

ion in the Mothercolumn

ut Well

are needed

for

along with som e basic inf

mtor duty, a n d to

I,0

tion . This list will be acc

t speakers (e i ther in th

panied b y the following

ck or via phone patch).

;t th e word ou ow-scanners willing t o con- . .wjhen

r t

slides

a n d

photo s /he foil,, rad io am at eu rs

t o

TV

tapes

are needed

would l ike to o f f the ufe 0

fly;

if you kn ow one ,he,,

c~lmp

'doing people

work-

otfiers

Certa in of them a h

ar d

a

be t te r fu ture

in

have access to inform ati

e ld o r other , See if he

orem of ititeres

won't as people with experience

The t i c 1 i e l d f asked,

rdinator of this effor t

hams

_

a t t e m p t .,,.vide

Brink, wA BKR. If

information via radio in the

o

e to lend a hand , con- eg or ie li s ted Contact ind ivid

on 3898 KHz uals directly to make arrange-

and Thursday nights n erits

*

acif ic t im e, or Sun -

~ , ~ ~ h

f

us is capable

of

serv.

n o o n s o n 1 4 2 5 3 a t ing mi niat ure, radio acce

;ear

of the fu ture , of course ,

noo n. (If ha m radio fails You.

sed

inform ation scrvicc ,

hi

n d cer t ificates for those sta t-

his address is RF D 2, Box 301-

h e

t ype s

of

in forma t iou

o n s w h o w o r k t o h e lp ma k e

B, Port Orchard, Washington

you

have

x

mere

is

he weekend happen . But there 983 66.)

bound to be a t least one or

will also be sessions

on

HE

RT T Y T E CH N ICA L

tw o areas of personal know-

lmics, Alternative En er

ledge. For starters, on what

~

Sources, Women's Issue

If a printed word net-

subject do you have more than

education, The

En ir0

ham rad io , o r com-

five books ? In addit ion , you

Decentralized living, Ham

puter access tie-ins via ham

probably have access to know-

Radio's

Future and

Other

r ad io , tu rn you on , contac t

ledgeable friends and neigh-

'erns we share.

Mitt Noda cker, WA7TFE . Mitt bors. See if they'd be willing to

One

O f

the

ideas

is

sent ou t a newsletter a couple

share their in fo via ham rad io.

'pen

u p Our

shacks

a n d

of weeks ago o u t l i i th

share this ha m radio weekend

technial problems to be over.

3 7 - 4 1 ~ 5 ,

with other s. So me sessions will

come, mentioning sources f

use single sideban d-only , and RTTy suggest.

some radio te le type, hut many ing a onc..a-week RTTY get.

of th e sessions will utilize Slow

together

on

t he

air

as

soon

as

a

scan

to permit Weakers to

few peop le have even a crude

illustrate their weekend open

mp wri te h im a t gox 8 557,

house to the local

ham

poca te l lo, Idaho 8 320 9 and

members, and maybe even to

him for a copy of th e news-

th e whole tow n as well. It will

-

( s e n d a

be a perfect chance t o show

stamp ed envelope) .

of f wha t SSTV can do , and to

Copthorne Macdona ld (WOORX)

show o ff a serious use of ham

INFORMATION

AND

STATION SHARING

516 N W First Ave

Much of th e New Direc-

Roch ester, Minn. 55901 USA

~oufidti ie

Weft Coast day. 8 : m p m PDT


10/54


11/54


12/54

Undercurrents

IT IS YET another of the paradoxes of

and quali ty control checks .- a t ir

mmed up: Keep the custo

our quasi-Orwellian world th at Doing-it-

and laborious business in any case

pendent on us as suppliers;

Yourself can simultaneously be Big

What DIY

ou ht

to be ab ou t w e marketing and advertising in

Business.

summed up admirab ly on one o f t

ur

hands, and for God's sak

But Do ingit-Yourself, in the eyes of the slogans

in

the Chinese handicraf t on 't let them do too much fo rt h

vast majority of the companies who

pavilion, whic h extolled the virtu lves, or they might realise tha t o

booked space at September's DIY

Exhibit- of Maintaining indep ende nce an d

refully-packaged kits aren't reall

ion at Olvmpia. means little more than th e keeping the initiative in our own

elimination of the need for final assembly

if articulated, could

be

DIY Exhibitions could ever de monstrate

One of the few genuinely amateur, truly

Do it Yourself. Be Your Ow n Boss Start

Do itY ou rse lf canoe bui lding. One other

Do-it-Yo urself stands at the show. The

Your Ow n Business, Bv the manazine tha t

apparent bastion of a mateurism and

Popular Fly ing Association demonstrate

ecently to ld its readers how they nthusiasrn amid a sea o f money grub

how you , too, can bui ld and f ly you r o

ro f i t f rom exploi t ing cheap pr ison

pro du ct pushers.

aeroplane. N ot that I l i ich w ould regard

labour- the 'Business Ideas Letter'.

the D IY-aeroplane as a par ticula rly con vivial

tool, bu t the PFA a t least seems free o f the

instant, packaged commercialism of the

majo rity of e xhibits. Enthusiastic, too.

It

can be pre t ty lucrative to prey on the

No w here's a piece of DIY-Technology

insecurity of strike-w orried midd le cl

the w orl d really needs: the magnetic

consumers. Pay

for a low power

win dow cleaner th at cleans b oth sides o f thi

Jermyn invertor f i t can just run the te l l

a few lights) and y ou can at least be

entertained while yo u freeze to de ath

during the forthcom ing minerslgas wor

electricity workers1 pin ko com mie bast

next blackma iling wage battle.

e

Markets are B ris ka nd the Prices are

Ie . No t a slogan one wou ld have expect-

d t o see o n the Chinese pavilion. Has the

umerist ro t really set in even in China?

'ntaining Independence and Keeping t h

at ive in our own Hands and Re ly ing on

r ow n Ef forts That 's a bi t more l ike


13/54

sheeting instead of glass, and in having

tosi te the roof in a position where

it

is overshadowed by a steeply rising

hi ll for a good part of the day.

Doubting sceptics have only t o put their

hands in the trough at the roof base after

only half an hour or so of sunshine to

realise the potential of solar power.

The gentle trickle of warm water over

your fingers i s highly sensual and

highly recommended.

Next on the Biotechnic agenda is a heat

pump. John Clemeau reckons i t might

just be possible to develop

a

heat p

on the evaporation, rather than the

vapour compression, principle .wh

would have the advantage of no mo

parts.Theoretically, the efficiency

ore traditional heating system. a Jotu

od burning stove, made in Norway

ry efficient, but costs about 70

n water trough where rain f

side of roof glass gets caugh

ain water collection has been

t BRAD this year, as the farm's

has dried up. Woe betide the

who flushes a lavatory

omposting toilets havent been

ailed yet, though a rustic privy

in the garden does the same job,rnore

draughtilyl

oof space behind the solar collector.

espite 3 inches of polystyrene,

it

get

BRAD, the 'Biotechnic Research and

Development' community set up by

Robin Clarke and a dozen or so friends

in

1972,

prefers to be known these

days as 'Eithin-y-Gaer' -the name of the

Welsh farm where the group has settled.

The change of name symbolises the

change of emphasis which the community

has undergone over the past couple of

years, a change which culminated in

Robin and Janine Clarke's withdrawal

from the community a few months ago.

Robin apparently felt that the group's

role should remain largely as he originally

envisaged

it

at the beginning as a

communal research centre, aiming to

develop a new kind of science and

technology that would be valid 'for all

men and for all time'.

The others, however, felt that they

needed to get their heads and their own

inter-personal relationships straightened

out a good deal more before they would

be ready t o start telling the world what

to do.

Those, at any rate, seem to be the two

sides to the conflict concerning

BRAD'S uture. But the issues

are complicated by the frictions that

arise in any closequartered community,

and are probably impossible for any

outsider either to understand or explain.

Robin and Janine, however, seem

eager to start out onanother similar path

soon as possible only this time they're

hoping to avoid some at least of what

they see as the 'mistakes'of the BRAD

experiment

Meanwhile, back at the Farm, the

community's huge solar roof has

become a major symbol of success,

following the cover story wnteup in

New

Scientist

by Philip Brachi

be evaded somehow. Any ideas?

View looking down the mountains, to

the side of Eithin-y-Gaer.To the right

s

a tw in Savonius rotor 1 oil drum type),

which spins merrily but which wi ll need

another type of pump to drive if it is to

do

t s water lifting job properly. The

,

present Archimedes screw system

isn't too satisfactory.

John Wood's lit tle black box, which

controls the solar roof.

t

compares

temperatyre of water at the roof with

temperature in the storage tank, and

when the former

i s

greater than the

turns the circulating pump below)

John will be giving fu ll circuit detail

of a simplified version of the Box in

the next Undercurrents.


14/54

Undercurrents

8

The

National Centre

THE SO CIETY fo r E nvironmental Improvem ent Lim ited, a registered Charity,

was set up in the A utu mn of 1972

in

the ro le of l i nk orqanisation between big

business and the e nvironm ental m ovemen t.

t s

Chairman i n Gerard Morgan-Grenville; other d irectors include Michael Bray,

wh o controls Stua rt Wrightson Ltd., reputed to be the second-largest

insurance compan y i n the world, Diana Eccles, and T im ot hy Jones.

Gerard Morgan-Grenville i s an industrialist who, w it h his brother uns a

stainless-steel processing plant, Chichester Stainless Steel, and a co mp any

dealing in fancy glassware and china, De xam Intern ational.

The So ciety has managed t o attra ct q uite a few famous names as its patrons:

Lo rd Annan, Provost of Unive rsity College London, Lor d Robens, form er

Chairman of th e Nationa l CoalBoard, Sir Bernard Waley Cohen, forme r Lor d

Mayor o f Lond on and R oy Jenkins, the H ome Secretary, are just a few of

the notables who d ignify

i t s

letterheads.

The Society s b rief history has no t been with ou t incident, however. t s

f irst full-t im e Director eter Whiteley

(

ex-Cassells publisher an d husband

of Lady Angela Whiteley) qu it in

1973

because of a disagreemen t

w ith Morgan-Grenvil le. And in June 1974 Steve Boulter, the Society s

Technical Manager, was fire d b y Morgan Gre nville ,alleged ly because

he had, according t o Morgan-Grenville, lost the confidence o f his fell o

workers at the Centre, and because he had taken u p a part t im e

at University College, London, while

s t i l l

workin g for the Socie

Bou lter contends th at he was dismissed because he expressed di

w it h the direct ion i n which the Centre was moving at the t ime -- towards

a more inwa rd-looking commu nity, instead of the outgoing technical advice

centre wh ich he had envisaged. Thot tr en d has no w been reversed.

Boulter also says he too k his part-t ime lectureship w ith Vorgan-Grenville s

permission, and th at

it

gave the Society access to valuable University

facilities in an y case.

The dispute, wh ich a t one stage became so acrimonious th at B oulter was

offered a one-way t icke t t o the States ( he i s a US ci t izen) i n l ieu of his

no tice m oney, no w appears to have been settled -.at least financia lly.

But Finance lies at the heart o f the Centre s problems at the mo ment.

Big Industry, orig ina lly envisaged as the source of most of th e So ciety s

funds, c ould h ardly be shorter of cash these days. The in iti al 50 00

which started the Society o ff t w o years ago (sup plie d by a backer

who s t i l l insists on an on ym ity) w il l h ardly last much longer.

And w i th a f igure of 200 00being talked ab ou t as the sum needed to

renovate all the qua rry soutbuildings, set u p engineering workshops and

provide living accomod ation on site, the Society for Environmen tal

Improvement wi l l need a lo t

of

money soon i f any of i t s original

grandiose ambitions

i s

to be realised.

In this interview, Gerard organ-Grenville the aims and ~h ilo so o hv

What are the historical antecedents

the project? How d id y ou yourself

interested in the environme nt and in

alternative techno logy?

Well, I came through industry I

ed in industry for twenty odd ye

became involved i n questions o

trial p ollut io n and then, on the

n g side, became involved i n tr y

make m arketing forecasts. As a resul

of this I began to feel that a n u

of factors were going to in f luen

pre tty decisively the b uying pat

of people in the Western world T

led me to lo ok at the whole resourc

syndrome. I hink - o n a s light1

parallel course - came to the t

through conservation. I m a paint

by hobby and I constantly perha

have a slightly over-sensitive eye

things that have been spoiled. T h

a straight way in which quite a lo t

of people have come in to the envir

mcnt movement -t he y have just

been concerned by pieces o f l it te r

they have seen o n the stree t and

gradually they equate that paper with

no t be ing Just a visual eyesore b ut

with a waste of paper. Then they

realise that paper in fac t requ ires an

incredible qu an tity of t imber

lust to

produce Then they see that it i s not

recycled, and one thin g leads to

another. B ut one of the things we ve

found at this centre

i s

that almost no

tw o pe ople have come here for the

same reason.

The industrial activit ies that y ou were

involved in led you to realise that

there was going to be a resource shortage?

Yes, i t made me realise that we were in

for an apparently endless period o f

steeply rising prices. This gave one i f

for no o ther reason, because one s

livelihood depended on it

a fair ly

vested interest in actually de term inin g

whdt wds going to happen in the futu re

How d id this concern of yours fo r the

environment and the rapidly-approach-

ing resource and energy crisis o f ind ustr

cohere in to the National Centre, and

ini t ial ly to the Society fo r Envir

tal Improvement how did tha

Before: the o ld quarry outbuildings

were in a chronica l lv-di la~idated tate


15/54

vas at about th et im e w hen

on your letterheads these days -h o w

Gerrv Leach was oublishine his me mor-

did these people get involved i n your

society?

ceship Earth . That woke up a

people to some o f the facts and

T h u s in my case

i t

gave a great

petus to a feeling th at was p robably

Iready there, and I star tedlook ing

rou nd and reading things and talk ing

people and travelling about a b it and

t some funds, and as you know got

me Then we spent abou t a year just

oking at the whole environmental

ce suddenly and th is centre was

n as an idea and very sh ortly after-

or were there any other people at the

beginning who got involved.

did s tar t i t , but I

regard myself as part -

me conductor of the orchestra. I have

fair ly si lent role in the thing he

eople upo n whose skill on e depends

any sort of success are the players

he orchestra and most of the wo rk

en done by other people -such a

ge number of people that I th ink i t

Gerard Morgan-Grenville stands outside one

o f the disused cottaaes. t o

e

converted

Well, i t was a deliberate policy. A lo t

a large number of people who head

industry, government, large organisa-

tions, who are every bit as aware as are

which are perfectly obvious, they are

,,

sort of frozen in their particular

positions, and ca n t easily move. So

one of the things that we set out to do

.,

-

walk. T o try to make this a bit more

the mo re effective, more intelligent

people i n various departments. This

pohcy

i s

construed by some people

to m ean that we get huge hidden

subsidies, or t ha t we are a sort o f

professionally-infiltrated department

of the Establishment, or even that

we re funded by the CIA - a ll sorts

of funny ideas..

.

Furthermore, I

thin k one needs to realise that the

people towards the top o f the pyram id

are vastly more effective

in

lerms of

what i s done than the people at the

bot tom o f the py ramid - th is i s

absolutely obvious. Therefore if you

can enlist the sup port of the people

at the top , you ve got a chance of

achieving, by conventional means,

really worth while things. I t would be

naive to think that someone l ike the

Duke of E dinburgh isn t an incredibly

powerful figure in the country. N o

small, experimental solar water heater.

This small Pelton wheel may soon

be

harnessina one of the waterfalls

a t

the

matter und t anyone s I C * S might

o

on the munarch\ and

i t s

o\crtunes,

I in nK most pc-up In [he cou ntr i

rcalisl- that nc.

s

an i n d \ i u ~ a . ,s

simpi\ ij man c:ugn[ n d pos:tion

who

is

tr) :ng to do the best ih:ng oy

to (oh h c i g i ~ t , n

ch

i s

a

pri tty

~ n ~ n v : a b i cne. Thcrcfori; he

i s

snmconc wnose 5\ mpatny s most

iijluaolc to the uhu.c A T muiement,

i n d he someone who i s w a l i n g

across this pr etty delicate bridge

which we are in the process o f pu t-

View fr om one of the Ideal Home windows.

ting up.

There i s possibly a greater measure

of responsibility shown a t managerial

level by peop le who wo rk in business

than i s generally appreciated..

.

thin k that people perhaps at the lower

end o f today s pyramid fai l to apprec-

iate tha t some of the people who

contro l industry are in fact highly

intelligent and fairly wise, fair ly far-

seeing individu als.

Sebastian de Ferranti, for example,

who s the chairman of Ferran


16/54

wish t o com e here and help, and we ve

cot his solar cells sim ply because he

believes in what we re do ing. His

brother, Boswell (sic) de Ferranti, has

actually spent a lot m ore tim e and

money than anyone else try ing to

develop heat pumps, because he though t

they were a good thing.

wou ldn t deny his competence, or

his intelligence or his sincerity. What

I

would be worried about

s

tha t he w i l l

seek solutions to the problems o f

society i n such a way th at those solu-

t ions wi l l continue to im ply Fcrrant i

and roughly the same kin d of industrial

structure tha t there s now . F or instance,

a structure wit h companies owned by

shareholders rather than owned by the

people who work for them, a structure

where you have private enterprise

rather like we have now rather than

some kin d o f possibly m unicipal or

local ownership.. small cooperatives

and that k in d o f th ing.

Sebastian de

Ferranti w ill want t o see tots o f solar

cells coming off the Ferranti production

line. Sincerely, he may believe that it

wil l be bet ter for society -a nd i t might

be a it bet te r -bu t

it

w on t be as

good as i t cou ld be if the people were

wor king on these things themselves.

Even though that might be less efficient.

I

think that you ve got t o remember

that high technology develops fro m

high technology, and somebody like

Ferranti s a high technology wizard.

Now, we agreed earlier that high

technology

i s

in principle, desiriible

because it can free a lot of people

from nastv reuetitivc lobs

Solar cell-i

,

~

are in the fore front of today s tec hnol-

ogy, and if a f irm like Ferranti which

has the resources can produce these

things by means o i high technology,

I thin k there s a place for them .

I d be delighted if people like Ferranti

make solar cells, p rov ide d that the

people who are work ing o n those

solar cells are not e xplo ited in any

way,prov ided that their jobs are

interesting and they can see the end

product o f their work, and tha t the

far as I m concern ed, if we can show

that there are alternative ways o f

living which are socially good, and

environm entally good that just in

terms of the science o f the environ-

ment they are sustainable -t h e n

the more intelligent people at the

top of the pyramid wil l start to take

a real interest. I hin k that there s far

too m uch talk at the mom ent and

not enough doing. There arc

thousands of com munes around

the country, far more than are

recorded. But they are unbelievably

fragile, and they don t really add

up to a saleable philosophy fo r man-

kind in the latter part of the 20th

century.

Some new and obviously workab le

way of living in a commun ity has got

t o be discovered. But some comm un-

.

ities probably have discovered it just

by having the right co mbination of

people. .

.

I ve done a round-up, and they re very

rare. The ones that survive .-funnily

enough, the same ones that have

survived through out the centuries

tend to be the religious ones.

I

h ink

a very im porta nt poin t to realise s

that we ve got an external interest

here at the c entre whereas m ost com -

mun ities are internal - hey re

interested in their ow n survival, doing

their ow n thing. O f course we re interes-

ted in that too, but we are also here in

order t o serve people outside, a fact

whic h has already been very valuab l

in producing solidarity among the

people here. There s a crvine

see yourselves starting t o man ufactur

these things on a small scale?

Yes we have done just tha t,

The problem now s to f ind so

with prototy pe facil it ies to ac

make it, and maybe we can then

it to a small manufacturer t s th

sort of thing i n fact could be mad

a garage for a roy alty . We migh

ourselves tha t way. But basically,

hope to f ind ourselves by gate

money , and through publications.

Straight as die. The old quarry railw

been re-laid, and

s

now used fo r trans

building m aterials round the site. And

prod uctio n of solar cells itself isn t

piece of wood or gett ing on w ith

Old fashioned slate cutt ing guillotine, a

an ecologically-wasteful process that

each othe r.

legacy fr om quarrying days. S till works,

uses up t oo many natural resources -

though.

and isn t ino rdina tely profitable.

To tu rn towards the future of the

I hink these are the dangers. But it

must be a more intelligen t approach

to try to devise an alternative system

for living which s valid, before you

throw away everything that you ve

got dt the present time

It would be

very naive to think that out o f the

chaos, phoenix-wise, a wonderful new

era w il l arise, where everyone can do

their own thing, I t just doesn t happen

that wav, and history shows that the

Centre, dre you h opiiiy that i t w il l

become rcldtively iclf-sufTicient

Yes

totally in energy, and as for

food, well, by virtue o f the fact that

we haven t any mo ney, w e re vegetaria

and we ll grow m ost o f our vegetables

We hope t o get a piece o f land in due

course where we can gro w whe at We

want to make quite a lot of things

ourselves all our outbuildings, and

so on


17/54

or la nd classified as agricu lturally non-

Arch itectura l Association,

1974)

that

according to recent studies, nu de

vegetables, calculated fro m

in England and hi l l - land in Wales. am

irrational techno logy l ik e non-use

n o t suggesting everyone l ives on l i t t le

employment, can only co nt inue i f

rectangles. Ou r na tura l resources could

cheap energy substitutes are availabl

never be equally d ivided i n this way:

through the exploitation o f overse

they are the common wealth of the

Controversy repo rt men tioned is incon-

people.

e

must share the access to energy like coal and oil. Such expl

and the care and use of these resources,

tion cannot be justi f ied.

Some people grow food better than

There is no need for able-bodied

shoes better than the ga

access to land -eit her o f their ow n o

impo rtant poin t is tha

rented f rom the commu ni ty a t m in im

be close to their resou

charge. The most direct way o f solviri

communities, and awa

our cu rrent economic crisis is for peop

to demand an increase in the s i ~ en

the British seem increasingly incapable

com mun ity decision to end the

el, chemical fertilizers, pesticides,

of producing at home. The country s

distr ibut ion

o

all such prima ry

e feeds, medical supplies and drugs

present economic strategy, based on

es. (See Lawrence Hills proposal

for l ivestock s as diff ic ult to cal-

the assembly o f energy-extravagant

Fer t i l i t y Gardens in u l y l August s

culate as is the h ealth value o f the

luxuries, cannot continue t o support

Association {ournai, 974).

exercise, nutritional quality and sheer

our na t ion in a world where more

Individuals have more po wer

pleasure of growing you r ow n.

than ha lf the people are poor and

are n ow beginning to be experienced

analysis o f the statistics i n Dudley

by the industrialised countries, and

The feel ing o f isolation, pol i t ical imp

mp s

he

La nd of B r i ta in (Long-

mass une mp loym en t is forecast.

tence and the practising of double-

ans 194 8), suggests tha t of the co m-


18/54

Use of Land fo r Food Product nother method

is

to divide the land

According to the figures already strips; a continuou s crop ping se-

(and Shewell-Cooper in The Complete quence for

3

years on one strip mig ht be:

Vegetable Grower; Faber paperbac k,

Beetroot in May, followed by Spring

1974) two people can grow their fru it Onions in October, Cabbage in April,

and vegetables they need on 418m 2 o f

Swedes in mid-Au gust, then Broad beans

land. (approx 40m x 1Dm). i n mid-Nov, Ap ril sown Tomatoes plant.

Shewell-Cooper describes the cropping

ed out in June, and in O ctober either

of the p lo t and suggests tha t cultiv atio n

Broad beans again, or win ter greens

wi ll tak e 288 hou rs a year (a n average

and lettuce, early Potatoes in Feb, after

o f 5 each w eek).

which we can start again.

Since these figures refer to a die t

The Henry Doubleday Research

where protein

i s

supplied by meat, the

Association's experimental 'Survival

area w ill have to be cropped very Gar den 'at Booking, Braintree, Essex,

intensively if enough protein i s to be

should reveal impor tant info rma tion

grown fro m vegetable sources (legumes on the rotatio n, cu ltiva tion and harvest-

and cereals). The experience needed t o

ing of highly product ive and nutr i t ious

do this successfully may take years to

crous from small areas of land, as the

acquire, and i t may be impossible for a

beginner with a garden suffering fro m

weeds, and pest t o p roduce and store

enough food. Foo d prod uctio n varies

greatly with environmental con dit ions

such as climate, extreme s of we ather,

soil fertility, pests and disease, as well

as the skil l and knowledge of the

cult ivator.

Diagram 1 shows a possible way o f

using a one-th ird acre p lot which I

hope to tr y soon. An area 1Om

x

16.5m

i s

taken for the dwelling, which will be

described in a later issue of Und er-

currents. Next to this i s a small orch

con tainin g bush and tree fru it and, t

help supply pro tein regularly, free-

range laying hens. To the south o f

dwelling i s a crop ro ta tio n scheme

four 130m 2 plots. South o f the

orchard are another four 130m 2 plots

which can be croppe d wi th grass and

clover, or with potatoes follow ed by

wheat. Wheat harvested from this area

(just under 1/8th acre) at an average

yield

( 1

tonslacre) should be enough

for

500

one-po und loaves. As

a

reeuiar

supplier of prote in (milk , yoc$urt and

cheese) a goat would be useful but

L

experiment progresses. (See the

feeding wou ld be

a

problem on one-

Association's D ig for Surv/voi leaflet,

eighth of an acre though goats can price 3p).

b e

fed on comfrey, kale, swedes, turnips

fodder-beet, m a i~ c, ett les, docks,

No-D igging and Sward Gardening Systems

hedges and a small pasture o f herb s

There

i s

evidence tha t regular in vertin g

and white clover. (See David

or digging damages soil structure and

Mackenzie's Goat Hu sbandry, Faber

disturbs beneficial soil organisms to such

and Faber, 1970).

an extent that neither may ever get a

chance to settle dow n in to an optimal

CROPPING AN D RO TA TIO N state. James Gunston's Successful

The aim o f crop rotat ion

i s

to prevent the

Gardening Witho ut Digging (Stanley

build -up of pest and disease and t o balance Paul, 196 0) though no t organic, has an

ou t demand for plan t nutrie nts over the interesting section on intercropping ,

i s

land. Diagram one shows a rota tion where only possible if the soil can be kept rich

the legumes are grouped together on one wi th plenty of fe rtil ity and humus, and

plo t. The foll ow ing year see ro ot crops this means regular applications o f

on this pl ot and brassics the year after. compost. Bu t can a closed system

However this type of cropping may no t garden supply suff icient compost?

make best use o f you r land. The conse rvation o f all oraanic

Try to keep the land prod uctive materials (faeces, urine, vegetable

ecessary overlap th e harvesting and

trimmings etc) will make iin impo rtant

ant ing of crops, but t ry not to gro

contribution

bu t addit ional m dterial

e same tvv e o f cro u o n the same la mav still be needed.

fert i l i ty

i s

by S wa rd Gardening, develo

ed by To ny Farmer from suggestions

Andre Voisin's B etter G rassland Swar

(Crosby Loc kwo od 1 960). This tech

described in greater detail in an acco

panyin g article,

i s

being tested at the

Henry Doubleday Research Associatio

Rows of vegetables are surrounded by

complete ground cover of white clove

When the leguminous, nitrogen-fixing

clover i s cu t or mown, iust l ike lit t le

strips of lawn, nitrogen i s released in to

the soil when the roots die o ff. Associa-

ted w ith the clover are large numbers of

earthworms, which benefit the soil by

adding secretions of carbonite o f l ime

to th e leaves and soil th at they digest

and excre te. Even bette r re sults are

obtained i f a surface mulch o f leaves,

animal manure or compost can be

applied. (Lawrence H ills wrote an

article on sward gardening in the Aug/

Sept

1974

issue of the Ecofoqist.)

Aerobic Composter Toile t Experiments

My o wn a ttempts to design a toilet to

recycle organic materials for garden

fert i l i ty began in June 1972. Aerobic

composting (ie decomposition in the

presence o f air) seemed to be the

simple and natural way o f conserving

these materials safely.

A small PVC -lined hardboard con-

tainer was constructed along the lines

of a m iniature Clivus unit.

t

was 20"

high and covered 1 x

4

feet o f f loor.

The top had an air outle t at one end

and a squatting plate, cover and air

outlet at the other. The whole top

could be removed lor inspection.

Below the squat-plate a ro w o f invert-

ed channels, cut from plastic pipe

supported the com post m aterials and

allowed air to f low below, around

and through the mass, drawing o ff

nloisture and any odour through the

vent pipe to the outside air. The u nit

was divided into tw o compartments

by a bulkhead, one beingthecompost-

ing part and the other the receiving

part for f inished compost. A layer of

soil was laid in the b otto m o f the toilet

to absorb excess urine. I t was inten ded

to l if t the squat-plate end of the toilet

after use, so that the bottom sloped,

allowing the compost to move slowly

downwards. In practice this un it was

fou nd an un suitable shape and size,

bu t the problems experienced taught

one more about the process than cou ld

be learned from a more p erfect proto.

type.

The Cornp osting Process

Though every human produces faeces

and urine, a certain amo unt o f care i s

needed in their handling . Our intestines

and faeces con tain large amounts of

hdc t c r~auch as

E

coii, Barriers within

the body retain these bacteri

twice in one year

One alternative way of b uild ing soil

they are normal and useful.


19/54

stinal parasites such as worms can

to each un it of nitrogen, a compost

exten t t o which we waste energy and

mass with a

30:1

ratio

i s

ideal and wil l

nutrien ts must be considerable. Foo d

qu ickly break down. Plant and vegetable

i s

a scarce and valuable resource.

Fortunately, many foods do no t

require cooking ( thoug h meat. fish

and increase their surface area. and potato es do). Ha ybox cooke ry

As the decomposer organisms use

the placing o f the heated pan and con-

carbon for energy and nitrogen (plus tents int o a well insulated container

some carbon) for cellular protein,

certainly saves energy but Is no good

the amount of carbon

i s

reduced

for vegetables, which, if cooked a t all,

should be steamed over almost boiling

water t o conserve their vitamins.

he purpose of the cornposter i s to

higher than 30:l will take longer

Thou gh peop le say th at foods are easy

in these materials safely, to

(more generations of micro-organisms

to cook n vacuum flasks, I have ofte

bu t with out much satis

My first composter was used fro m

February un til September

1973

11 0

times). In A pril, analysis of a sample

of compost from the un it revealed a

s

after defecation risks infec tion rather wet bu t useful end pro duc t -.

faecal diseases,

whi hever

form moisture

64%;

Nitrogen 1.82%;

toilet they use). The compost must

Phosphorus

3.94%;

Potash

1.75%;

and

a C/N

rat io of 9.1: 1 Tw o more com-

posters have been bu ilt and are present-

ly in use. Composter 2 (see diagram 2)

i s

installed in

a

friend's flat at

floor space. Steps are needed to mount

the toilet. Inside, fou r grids of ^A dia-

meter tube support compost materials

as they move gradually down to the

Eggs are

a

high protein food which

require cooking t o neutralise the avidi

Composter

3

(see diagram

3)

i s a

smaller toilet, 19 high, 16 wide,

20

deep and like C2

i s

made from

12mm chipboard. C3 i s used by a

number of people in a Covent Garden

water

i s

60 and the eggs are

studio.

It

ncorporates a stirring

a cold composter wi ll be slow.

T o encourage them, I am writing a

In the composting process, micro- composting manual, which should be

organisms (bacteria, fungi and moulds) published soon. Pathogen destruc tion

a

flask so that such water can be

feed on the materials, transforming'

in low-tem perature cornposters and

them through molecular changes in to prevention of fly-breeding are tw o

nutrients suitable for uptake by plan t aspects which need study. There are

of carbon to nitrogen in the materials

their own u nits. Ol d fridges, surprisingly,

grated roots and apple, shredded

make ideal composters, once you've cabbage and runne r beans, sprou te

nts require nutrients with about 10

added

a

seat, cover, air ven ting and wheat and legumes, chopped nuts,

toma to and lemon, with

Energy, Economy, Nutrition


20/54


21/54

/

shelters from Zeppelin bombing

ttacks was hit upon. At the time, the

tunnels were com ~le te d v 1917. The11

e

s t i l l

exists and, inter aha, i s used

il The so-called

les, other ar t treasures, and

disnitarie'i cowered in these tunnels

\

--

as Zeooelins elided above. I n 19 17 . one

of the tw in tunnels of the Piccadil ly

e branch from H olborn to Aldwych

s closed. 1 30 feet ben eath the street,

s

used as shelter acco mm oda tion

IPS. A fte r the Firs t World War,

al stations were closed, or rebuilt.

These were:

Piccadilly Line, Dover Strect, Down

treet, Brom pton Road

rthern Line, City Road, South

ntral Line, British Museum

I n the second world war, Do wn Street

tion was used for the Railway Execu-

Comm ittee's bunker. I t was also

by W inston Ch urchill and his family

o s umber whilst the blitz destroyed

the workers' homes in the East End.

t Dover Street, Lo ndo n Transport's

gh-ups resided, 80 feet do wn. Con trol

> staff of the Great Western Railwa

in a bunker i n the Bakerloo stati

Paddington, whilst the Em ergenc

Engineering staff o f L ond on Tr

used part of the uncompleted Dist

express tube beneath South Kensington.

The War Cabinet used a 'citadel' beneath

Hampstead in the o ld, never completed

tation of 'North End' or 'Bull and Bush'

at the deepest part o f the tube network,

between Ham pstead and G olders Green

stations

I t

is,

however, the new sections buil t

1940-43 hat need further scrutiny, as

these form ed the core of the svstem now

in existence The deep shelters bu ilt on

the Northern Line, and used for public

shelters were'- Clapham North, Cl ap

ham Sou th, Belsize Park and Sto ckwell.

Those constructe d f or governm ent use,

and retained t o this day, were:

Clapham Comm on, Goodge S treet,

St Paul's, Chancery Lane, and the

'--/

I m; spi r i t 1 Spies for Pe ace

lives on. Undercurrents

recently received a pamphlet

r o m a arouo called Anarchist?

details the secret Government

bunkers and tunnels under

London, and expla ins thei r

counter-revolutionary role.

This art icle i s a slightly

Just part of the Post Office's intricate

tunnel network that runs under Lon don.

the Postal rai lway f rom paddington

t o Whitechapel via M ou nt Pleasant

they were connected up anyway,

either on initial construction, or sub-

sequently. A new station was bu ilt at

Highgate (Archwa y) for the extension

f r om

insb bur

Park on the Northern

government had buil t 4bu nkers

kno wn as 'Citadels': T he Ad mi ralt y

Blockhouse, Pall Mall; Citadel telephone

exchange near St Paul's; The 'Rotundas'

in Horseferry Road, Westminster, the

ground floor o f the Department of

Educa tion and Science in C urzon

Street. Also

erected at the time were

a number o f steel framed office build-

ings in New O xfo rd S treet, and

between the Strand and the Embank-

ment. These were intended to be

bom b-pro of strongholds, and were

connected by tunnels n the admis-

sion o f Winston Church il l himself.

The Post Office constructed a net-

work of cable tunnels, beginning in

1939. The first 'run' was 10 0 feet

below the surface, t o the south of

and parallel with Holborn, linking

Holb orn telephone exchange with

St M artin's Le Grand and Faraday

House. A t the eastward end i t divided,

the southern branch ending beneath

Citadel teleph one exchange, at the

no rth east corner o f the Faraday build-

ing. Citadel has walls of solid concrete

7

feet inches thick, i t s ow n artesian

well (l ike Kingsway underground

exchange), and was b ui lt in

6

months

in 1940. T he tunn el was 7 feet in

diameter, l ined in the main with

concrete. The 'experimen tal' use of

concrete for tunnels made great

public ity when London Transport

b ui l t ' the Vic tor ia L ine 20 years at

(see below). Another

PO

unnel ra

from Trafalgar Square (where they

are buildin g another 'new' undergr

railway, the Fleet Line) to the Ro

at Horseferry Road. Post Offic e tunn e

grew in length continuously. I n 1941

there was 1 mile; 1942, 1% miles;

1945,

3

miles; 1967, 15 miles. I n theine, and tunnels were bu ilt at Alden-

ham. These sections, planned i n the 1935-

early 70s, new tunn el was drive n

40 otan of London Transport, were

beneath the Thames t Waterloo, and

special underground telephone exchange

never opened, on the lame excuse th at

at

Kingsway. Goodge Street i s closely

these areas were now green bel t and d id

Tunnels, connected to the bunke

connected with the complex of tunnels

not need underground stations.

network, run fro m Croydon in th

benea th the GPO tower, and was used

Nuclear War

south to Hampstead in the No rth

shima and Nagasaki, war was different,

a cable run, later expanded for p

formed war int o the ann ihilation o f tunnels were enlarged in the 1 9

th the platforms of existing

whole cities at a stroke. The govern-

Bicycles are used in th e sm all bore

erground stations. T he ostensible

ment, having constructed shelters for tunnels, and electric cars in the lar

was to connect them up t o form

itself, dared no t allow them to be used

bore tunnels for rapid communica

for express tube lines, let alone shelters

Int imately l inked with


22/54

Undercurrents

8

ment has been constructing

tio n between Office Blocks and subter-

ow n tunnel system since the

ranean government establishments s

nd world war. There s good evi-

well-defined. Hampstead stations bo th had

e that the Victo ria Line tunnels

Centre Point, em pty for near- rebu ilt in the 19405, the old 1

e constructed,in 1942, not 1960,

ly ten years,

s

strategically placed above

the concrete linin g adopted

the tunnel network. Thousands o f

(releasing vaiudbie metal for the war

gallons o f oi l were delivered to it at

effort) s a pointer to this. I t links the height ot the fuel crisis, ostensibly

many imp orta nt telephone exchanges, to 'heat i t to stop condensation'. t

University o f Londo n and possibl

including the GPO tower and

went straight dow n i nt o the bunkers.

British Museum, both nearby. In t

Buckingham Palace ( wh ich

s

l inked A similar block exists at Lo ndo n Bridge early 1950s, tunneling was carried

by tunnel wit h Heathrow Airpo rt). railway station, bu ilt directly above a

from a shaft near Tavistock Square.

The GPO tower, though over 600 tube station, which was reb uilt at the

Several Government departments exist

feet in height, s not bu ilt in the same time. This links up wit h the old

conventional manner, on piles driven Cit y and Southwark Subway t o the city

deep into the ground t rests on a

o f London. Other blocks and complex- to Tottenh am Court Road undergro

concrete 'raf t' - a necessity caused by

es are connected t o the tunn el system. station, where i t links wit h the tunn

the multiple tunnels beneath it. Chap-

Government min istry and police offices from Trafalgar Square. Centre Poin

man Pincher, in the aily

Express

in

are all connected. At the end of the

1959 reported (28112/59) that the

Whitehall system

s

the Citadel in

government were bu ilding a new bunker

Horse ferry Road, and a massive com-

in the country to replace the ten miles

ulex of offices. For example, the

constructed after WW3 belo w Londo n, Police Nationa l Computer Unit,

as those could no longer withstand the

Romney House, Marsham Street, the

latest H-bombs. Thus, the system was Home Off ice Police Department,

Horseferry House, Dean Ryle Street,dm itted to be useless in a full-scale

nuclear war.

and the Parole Board, Romney House,

The Government, however, continued

Marsham Street.

to extend the system. An a tte mp t was

This complex is connected by tun nel

made to abandon the Piccadilly Line

wi th the nerve centre at Whitehall

from Aldwych to Holborn (which has

where 3,000,00 was spent on 'reno-

been single track since 1917) . Regular vating' 1 0 Dow ning Street in the

passengers made represen tations t o

1960s. From Whitehall, a tunnel runs

Lon don Transport, and the plan was to the Waterloo Complex (the Shell

dropped. In 1965, an act of Parliament

Building, etc) another to the Victoria

was made authorising the c ons truct ion

redevelopment, via New S cotland Yard.

of an extension of the Ald wyc h line

The Victoria redevelopment tunnels

to Waterloo. This has never been done.

are linked to the Victoria Line. The

More detailed sketch-plan of Gove

Much redevelopment has occurred at main Whitehall tunnel runs northwa rd

Waterloo, and part o f the abandoned

to Trafalgar Square, where i t connects

f l

s?

?&2'

S ~ P A U L

MUTS

HALL W M N

Mrfriuuo

U v a l i v W f

KO D

Diagrammatic plan of tunnels k now n

to Anarchists Anonymous with

localities. .

wit h the Fleet Line bore, constructed

K

.Ci ty of London

beneathnquarehe 1950s.ndergroundhe PostheOfficeunneltation,ounseicesterherero m the L .Waterloo Complex

Northern Line Central Supervisory

Control Room s situated. The Leicester

Square tunnels were built in 1940-43.

Fr om Leicester Square, the tunn el runs

to connect under Centre Point with

the tunn el from St Paul's t o E uston.

This tun nel begins somewhere around

Eastwards from Holborn, the tunnel

Euston. The evidence points to t s

runs under the air-conditioned officecommencement at Camden Tow n

block 'State House', the Meteorological

where the standard tw in 16'6 sh

office, near the Daily Mirror building,

tunnels were driven in World Wa

to St Paul's, where it loints the Post

The tunnel, if connected, run

Office complex. A no rthward branch

Kingsway Tram Subway at Ald wyc h

Euston via Mornington Crescent

runs to the Barbican, connecting with

was converted i nt o a road underpass.

station, which narrowly avoided

various abandoned parts of the North-

In thee arly 19705, the Post Offic

closure in the mid '60s. H alf o f the

ern city underground railway and the

built a tunnel for 'cable runs' und

tunnels at this station are no t used for offices o f the Department of Health

theThames at Waterloo, connectin

passengers at least. Eus ton sta tion was

and Social Security at Finsbury Square.

up the 180-feet deep emergency te

completely rebu ilt between 1961 and

There may also be links to the vast

phone exchange at Waterloo.

1966 The underground was rebuilt at

underground refrigerated warehouses

Underground lines bu ilt, b ut never opened, th is time, and th e Victoria

~i~~as

for meat at Smithfield The southward

include the Bakerloo Lin e extension,

connected up The tunnel runs fro m

tunnel from St Paul's connects the

commenced at the Elephant and Castle Euston to the GPO tower, whose main (litera l) Citadel telephone exchange

in 1 950 southwards to Camberwe ll, as a

purpose

s

microwave com mun~c ation

with the Central Electricity Gencriiti

replacement for the heavily trafficked

fro m Museum telephone exchange, t o Board's national grid con trol Len

tramway routes Subsequently, massive

the Sub-Regional Controls (see below),

at Bankside, the Supplies Di

air-conditione d office blocks have been

mil i tary basesand bunker networks.

the Department of the En vir


23/54

io station: the mo st practical methods of operation

ethics of independent rad io what are yo u broadcas

need sound equip me nt as good a

then discusses the general desira bility and p racticality of operatin

can get, and a good transmitter o

communications systems in a post-industrial low-technology environment.

ting on VHF, o f course. Unfortun ate

the VHF transmitter described in UC7

won t d o - t needs to be mo re stable,

for a start

and unfortunately, that

means more comp licated equipment.

You ll probably need upwards of

OP NING UP

electronicsnless you havendustry.ome

A

matesroadcast-qualityn the

transmitter can be constructed around

a stable 10.9MHz (or thereabouts)

tuneable oscillator, fo llowe d by a phase

TH

AIR WAVES

modu lator, doublers and amplifiers up

to the final frequency of 88-97 MHz or

so I n my opinion, there

i s

no point in

using the V H F band unless you w ant to

do it p roperly , and that means using the

best there

i s

available. My advice would

be to stick to the M edium waveband

unless you re willing to spend a consider-

able amount of time, and unfortunately,

Why Are You Doing It?

certainly. Or an up to the m inu te corn-

a

good deal of bread too. But i f you re

There are numerous r

mu nity news service. The troub le is,

prepared to go in to this side of People s

to comm unicate;

l e t s

the Post Office won t l ike you d oing it,

Radio You could b ring a very large

them.

and you l l probably end up do in g t

numb er o f pe ople a great deal of pleasure,

1 You are part of a P

n t

on Sundays onl y. A Medium Wave

information - -an d, in return, their

and you want t o corn

station i s the obvious ch oice, as lone

support when the tim e comes. A power

subversive plans t o yo ur mates. Well,

as yo u choose yo ur frequency carefu lly.

as l ow as 8 Watts wil l cover Lon don from

don t use radio, whatever You do. The

And for your listeners sakes, get a

a

suitable location ( it s been done . . .

only potentially secure system would

.. get one made specially if you

see lat er). This leads to a nother question

use narrow-beam UHF and microwaves,

have to -because there are few things

but the practicality of this

i s

l o w .

more l ikely to put yo ur l isteners off

What Area Do You Want t o C over?

unless you w ork for a big communications

than a variable frequency radio station

If yo u are on Medium Wave and living

company.

that starts on 300 metres and five

on a housing estate, y ou can qui te easily

2

Mo re sensibly,

YOU

just want to talk minutes later

i s

o n

255

Apart from cover the estate with a simple aerial like

to your friends, b ut You don t see why

which, it s unethical . because yo u

the Emergency Aerial described in UC7.

you should have to use the telephone

cause interference to other people who

Yo u may also appear on everyone s

network, or yo u don t want to help the

have as much right to be there as you

television sound channels as well. I f this

Post Office as a matter o f princip le (w ho

have.

occurs, or i f you find the signal i s travel-

does?). In this case, you r best bet i s

4) The last pos sibility

I

am going to

l ing too

far,

tune the transmitter

probably the Short Wave bands. You can

consider

i s

that you want t o set up a

tuning fo r theminhimum dip valu

communicate over long distances with

radio station playing good music of

meter. Then tune up again unti l

a very low po wer

-

in fact, the

1.

whatever sort, with some attemp t a t

either at the required power, or

transmitter in UG , with a couple o f

drama, news, documentary presentation

just before the interference starts. This

modifications, (reducing the number o

~ e r h a p s . . with the accent on Qi/ v.

type o f interference is due to Harmon;

turns on the coils by about one-third)

Sound ouality, nrogramme quality

ie, multiples o f the broadcast freque

works very w ell indeed. You obviously

basically trying to meet, and beat, the

cy - that happen to fal l wit hin the TV

need a short-wave receiver for this, b ut

once you re dow n there on the short-

wave band, you l l probably fin d a lo t of

othe r people wit h the same ideas. At one

tim e there was a netw ork o f stations all

over the country, a il illegal, on abo ut

6MHz. However, they got raided, this

being the biggest prob lem involved i n

the use of radio i n this country.

3) Alternatively, you want to provide,

with the help of a few fr iends, an

independ ent ra dio service fo r th e ge

public, and especially for people lik

yourselves who resen t the degree o f

control exerted on existing radio co

munication, whether governmental, as

in the case o f the BBC or capitalist as

in the case of the commercial stations.

There i s a lot of demand for an all-dav

50-w att transistor VHF

transm itter and cassette machine.


24/54

~ n dr e nut an the dir long enough

It will also he useful 11

h.ivi.

on? or

for detection tu be kel\ in thc

t uo q o ~ p sf two pcop cruising

beginning. A number of other stations round the area in cars. They will soon

sprang up on another wavelength,

get to know the sort of places where the

medium-wave ransmission in progress.

197m. The 197 metres 'Helen PO hide their vehicles (usually private

Broadcasting Network was organised cars) d o w n quiet sideroads, etc.

band or the TV I F (intermediate Fre-

with, eventually, at leasta dozen Quite often the PO men will be in o

quency) band. The best way of getting

stations doing pre-recorded program- or two cars only (the police prefer t

rid of these troubles i s by f itt ing a further . mes in rotation, every Sunday, for

keep out of radio piracy work unless

coil and capacitor in the anode circuit half an hour at a time. They to they're forced into it, apparently)

of the BufferIDriver stage as shown in

changed 'location' every week,

unless it s;

large raid in which case

Fig 1 and tuning the capacitor for

eventually the 'locations' (as th

your vehicle-borne lookouts should

maximum output. (Substitute Fig 1 for

houses were known) ran out, a prove their wor th by informing you

Fig 4 in UC7). Hopefully, however, this

stations began to use the same plac well in advance. You might try walkie

modification will not be necessary.

more than once, or even for se alkies for this, bu t preferably no t 27 MH

if you just want to cover the block

successive weeks. The PO finall types the PO must have sussed these

you live in or your housing estate, and

struck, and a number of prosec

by now. But you may find that your

you tune the transmitter up until you

ensued. The network eventually

transmitter blanks out the walkie talkie

are using sufficient power fie not more

came disorganised and fell apart,

at close range. Walkie talkies are also

than you need) you will be relatively safe

a number of the stations, including

illegal, which means that your lookouts

from Post Office interference unless

the now-famous Radio Jackie, decided

can all be prosecuted instead of just

you're causing interference and some-

to go it alone, initially from further

wandering away as innocent bystanders .

one reports you. So don't tune in to

locations, but eventually going

The minute the PO are seen (you'l l

another station and try and block it out; 'Mobile', with equipment powered soon get to recognise your local 'Man'

though you may succeed in your back

from car batteries. Consider what

and his various borrowed cars) you

room, it'll only be a nasty whistle next

this, one of the most effective means

should switch off and get the gear out to

door. Not only

i s

it a nasty thing to do,

of high-power regular broadcasting,

a waiting car. You and the driver

but legal stations are often running

entails. A medium wave transmitter,

should know the safest way out. You

5,000 times the power so you won't get

almost always using valves, must h

can sacrifice the batteries they're

very far. Keep an ear open for empty

a device to convert the 12v DC fro

no problem to replace and the PO don't

spaces on the band at the times you

a car battery to 250 350~ C to

want them much anyway. So, with luck,

intend to transmit. Once you've found one supply HT to the valves. Either a

you'll survive. One word of warning,

try and set up regular times of broadcast, rotary converter (inefficient, available

however. Those Post Office officials are

and stay on your chosen spot on the dial. from surplus shops) -o r a transistor

Human. Not only that,sorne of them

Soon you will find the station being inverter (up to 90% efficient; either

are quite friendly. Talkio them by all

Iked about, and you'l l gain listeners,

purchased via ads, or home construct-

means (as Ions as neither of you are 'on

lc may init ially mistake you for ed ee articles in Wireless World duty'). They may ' -he got to know you

o One and, liking what they hear, and similar magazines) can be us

t c well if you've

been slow cnou~h.

n again. I f all goes well, you may

VHF transmitters are usually tra

viously you don' t admit an: thin; bu t

ide eventually to increase the power, sistorised throughout, so this pro

on't be nasty to them either. Most of

nd show the rest of North Cheam what

doesn't arise. Program

em are just doing their job (there

ey've been missing. Or South Lond

recorded, to enable pla

aren't many fanatics left) and if you are

Manchester. But beware Don't tr

portable cassette mach nice to them, they wi ll often be con-

run before you can walk.

You then need to fin siderate to you.

T T ~may, for instance,

oing to try to cover a sizea

For Medium Wave, a site that i s low iust go out to close you down ( i e you

ou wilt have to adopt a far

ore likely to bcdamp) will give

phisticated strategy. I t will t

earth, which

i s

essential in this

ganisation, a good loyal staf

f operation. I t should also be

bly held together in

with two tall trees a suitable

emocratic group str (quarter-wave) distance apart - but fi

ce of dedication, plu don't worry too much about getting

ace a few r

undercurrent n.08

Documents