Number Eight October -November 1974

..................................... EDDIES.. 1 .................... ...... Eddie Currents .. .a ca 5

Letters..,>.ç.toc.Èii...oç<it.oooç.ç<iooo<i.ooo<i 6 ........ COMTEK: a Celebration of People's Tech 8 Consume-it-Yourself o . . o . -. . -. . 10 ........................... B R A ~ / ~ i t h i n - y - ~ a e r 11 Interview: the National Centre, c.. , . . o . , . <, 12 Organic Living ................................ 15

............................... SwardGardening 18 ................. The other London Underground 19

FreeRadio ................................... 21 Building With Rammed Earth o . , , , o,. . , 27 DIY Multi-blade windmill design. n. o. o.. -. o, 29 Wind Generator Theory,, o. o... . o. .... oÈà .... oÈ . 33 ...................... Breaking the Hermetic Seal 35 REVIEWS ...................................... 41 .......... ....... Undercurrents Business News,, .. 46

Yes, yes, we know. UNDERCURRENTS is late again. Why? Well becauseras you'll appreciate if you read Chris Hutton-Squire's tear jerking account of our financial position, the magazine is grossly under-capitalised. This means we have to do things the long, laborious way, because it's the only way we can afford --we're only just beginning to get our subscribers on to a simple, stencilled addressing system, for instance: up to now, we've done it all by hand. Being under-capitalised means we can only afford to pay a half salary to the poor , starved wretch who edits the magazine, with the result that he has to go grubbing around for additional work to keep body and soul together. ( pause for sob).

One additional source of work, and also of capital for the magazine, has been our project to produce a book on 'Radical Technology', for which we have received an 'advance' from Wildwood House in the UK, and Pantheon Books in the States. Radical Technology ( can anyone think of a better title?) will consist of about 290 A4 pages covering Energy , Food, Shelter, Materials and Communications, and quite a bit more. It's due for publication sometime in the first half of 1975, and we think when our readers see what's in it, they'll forgive us for always being late with the magazine.

But lest readers getthe impression that our monetary situation is so precar- ious that we're about to fold, let us reassure them ( a la Court Line) that although the magazine is losing a little money ( say about £ 00 an issue at the moment) the surplus on the book ( when we get all the money from the publishers) ought to be enough to offset the loss on the last few issues. Meanwhile we hope to have built up the circulation near to our break even point. We have always believed in giving readers as much information as possible about why, and how, we produce the magazine : that's why we issue these little explanations now and again. Having explained the constraints we work under, we hope you'll understand i f we don't post out copies to you as quickly as we might or i f we leave letters unanswered for long periods , or if the next issue i s also a bit late in appearing.

Apologies also to readers who expected another instalment of AT-Man: trouble is, we couldn't think of a good story line to get him out.of the dilemma we put him in in UC6. Any suggestions? You may also have been expecting Peter Harper's guide to Sources and Contacts in Alternative Technology to have continued in this issue. Well, it would have, had Peter not been stricken by flu for a week just before publication. Next issue, we're promised.

UNDERCURRENTS is published evev two months ( well, nearly) by Undercurrents Limited, 275 Finchley Road, London NW3, England, a democratic, non-prof it company, without share capital and Limited by Guarantee. Telephone 01 794 2750. Our printers are SW Litho Ltd., Corbridge Crescent, London E2. Our distributors are Moore-Harness Ltd., 31 Corsica St., London N4.

COPYRIGHT. All articles in Undercurrents are Copy right @unies> otherwise stated. But we will give permission free- ly t o non-profit groups who wish t o reproduce our mater- ial, without charge, provided they credit Undercurrents.

Undercurrents is designed and edited by Sally and Godfrey Boyle. Pat Coyne looks after News, Durham takes care of reviews, and Peter Harper keeps thinking up reasons why we ought to keep on doing whatever it is we 're doing. Or not, as the case may be. Chris Hutton-Squire maintains a cheerful despair about our finances, and fatalistically tries to sort us out. Jenny Pennings set the type, except for a few thousand words ( these included1 set on dear ole Aunt Ann Wards composer at dead of night (yawn). Brian Dax screened the pies, and George Bowden kindly helped with the pasting up. Nigel and Mary and the Metro folk handled the incoming mail and tolerated our eccentricities. Among the many other people who 've helped us are: Jerome Burne, Steve Boulter, Alan Campbell, Oliver Caldecott, Charlie Clutterbuck, Roger Cox, Duncan Campbell, Robin Clarke, Alan Dalton, Sotires Elefetheriou, Gerry Foley, Lyn Gambles, Robin Hall, Satish Kumar, Dave May, Mike Muller, Kit Pedler, Chris Roper, Pat Rivers, Chris Ryan, John Shore, Derek Taylor, and Dieter Pevsner. ~ o t forgetting the anwing Monica Hill who moves in mysterious ways and looks after distribution.

On His tour of inspection, Prince Phillip will view a solar roof, a wind mill. and a methane digester, - all built off the site -and will inspect the Centre's work- shops. To crown the occasion, Mr. Sehastian de Ferrinti has

has, until now, been largely Pilkingtons. Transport of the agreed to use the occasion unaware of the jewel that has Royal Person round the for the unveiling of a new been nestling in its bosom. The AT -crowd from the Centre have spent most of

renovating the out- buildings of the old quarry where the Centre has its home

They have had tittle opportu-

ks' breath away. by Royal Train. No doubt the nology "movement" in Brit

bject is not even confined local Mayor, John Beaumont Yet very little is known ahou to British Royals, as the - w h o also happens to be the the Society in AT circles - visit of Queen Juliana of the owner of the National apart for the vague general Netherlands t o Sietz Leeflang's Centre's quarry - will be there impression that it has hidden rather similar "Small Earth to greethim. From the station, wealth and considerable Est-

ay or another wit a few weeks ago and talked singly frequent o he Establishment

ment and may even bring in a buck o r t w o . . . Suppose a hunch of AT-frea

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

in the province with the at Chequers . . . hauled off . exception of areas desigua- to the nearest Fuzz House ted as National or Provincial screanling 'Expedient in th

national interest'. . . it's a lovely thought.

Details of the act are still it bare and give it the 'lunar' thus virtually a Licence of Geological maps arc

the extent that a whole lotta ical Museum. Inhibition

the hills armed with rock pick or from Stanforcis on Lon

live on their claims in log

WE ALL KNOW how consumer ~roduc t s are created to give anufacturers a market rather than to fulfil a real need.

d reluctantly accepted. But what is not often 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 I different to that with which we are already so familiar in machines 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 as much t o generate future dependence on the company -and and scientific uses in ICL 's latter high in view thus further business - as 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 be operating on the principle used by 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 ii the consideration of future at present is the nature o f o must be persuaded to enhancement rounds. It any new 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 must be fine enough to deny to once in ei&t shifts.

At the lower level of the ancement 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

Undercurrents 8

grammes needed for this self- the desire to co-operate in diagnosis and reconfigura- setting up rational standards tion will be one o f the keys for the benefit of the t o the success or failure of , computer user. the top end of the market. 'We should try ha And. as this is ICL's first bid strain IBM'sfreed t o get into the markets which tion arbitrarily to change demand these facilities, it their own standards to

monising proce on at least one

rds issue, 1CL has misleading its cust

ers or years. The compan has been consistently c

alphabetic and other c replacement ofirrecover- acters in terms of bina ly corrupted entities, such bits) substantially diff hardware modules, by from that chosen b y t e

gree of system service, to the telecommunicatio

Standards Double-Talk

talk dealing with public policy statements and private

licy 'It is important that Corporate Futures should have a coherent ICL's credibility is perhaps

policy t o present to ICL the most important issue at customers' notes the com- stake with the introduction pany in a briefing .tocu f the New Range. Many oh- on the attitude t o be take ervers will be 1ooking;not t o various international much at the details of the standards organisatio nee, but at its likely im- ' hough not all aspec .t i n the market. This is ur policy need be d e rhaps ICL's last chance t o

publicl) keep its place as a major big- It will he easier to put across oininuter manufactnrer. Over to our customers if our the past few years, despite cieclarerl p-rlicy statements the support of the UK govern-

e a true subset of the ment through its policyo

share of the British mark falling steadily.

At one time, ICL could compete with IBM in the open market. Yet last year ICL failed to get any o f the

vernment sector. And spite the £4 million aid eived since 1968 is still,

cording t o Eric Moonman, P, 'a critical company in a

In this context, the release

READERSOF New Scientist no doubt were intrigued by a piece in the May 9 issue entitled /.noking for electron hungrv explosives in Ulster ( ~ 3 1 0 ) which described two new electronic 'sniffers' capable of detecting hidden explosives and outlined the problems involved in making such devices differentiate between everyday substances (like perfume) and the real thing..What they will not have realised was that the article was altered by a bit of subtle pressure from the Ministry of Defence, includ- ing the threat of a 'D Notice'.

The sniffers, Pye Dynam- ics, model L1A1 and the Analytical Instruments (AI) model 47, both work on the 'electron capture' principle which depends on the fact that explosives give off large, electron- hungry, molecules which will reduce a known current in a detector. Both pass a stream or argon over a radioactive source which ionises the gas, which is then mixed with the vapour to be tested. If enough electrons are pulled off the ionised argon, the alarm is sounded. The article explains how other substances, such as the musk in perfume, the freon in aerosols, and tobacco smoke, can also trigger the detectors but what did not appear, be- cause it was cut from the original, was a paragraph which read:

Virtually all explosives contain nitro compounds, and the @e unit apparetrt- ly has a substance which absorbs these compounds a t ambient temperatures 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- led into the ionised Argon. The whole process takes

long for a mail check. Accord- ing to At , the 1,lA 1 responds only to nitroglycerine-based explosives - - gelignite and dynamite (which are 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- tor will respond to 'co-op sugar' (sodium chlorate weedkiller mixed with sugar) because it is not electron-capturing and has no nitro compoun

The actual contents of the paragraph, while inter ing, are hardly ( to make bad pun) dynamite and a most certainly would n tell the IRA anything t h did not already know - r had not found out by exper- ience. But leaving aside the morality, or the wisdom, of making false claims ah anything - even weaponry - the actual manner of the request by the MOD to dro the paragraph is instructive as an example of how the establishment deals with the situation when the un conscious self-censorship, that'is assumed t o be part of every journalist's mental- ity threatens t o break do

At New Scientist rece' the news of the Ministry's displeasure in a telephone call at 5.30 on press day, Monflay before publicatio There was no outright order merely an announceme that the MoD did not like the offending paragraph, with the implication tha the Ministry had powers act if nothing was done voluntarily. It was a seco order D Notice, as one N journalist put it.

Since all copy had to be at the printers by 6 pm th evening, the question bee one of expediency not principle. The offendin paragraph was dropped that the issue could appear on time. New Scientist had been out-manoeuvred and the bland fdcdde of the

16 sec. uti aaepiahlc lime British e'.tablishnifnl 'o search \i person but I V J O ri.'iiiainei.l unJisIiirhcd

FRIGGIN ' ON THE RIGS , ~ I

say that it could easily be First there was that 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 t o be discovered) and mark are properly the pro- the Frigg gas field, no pipe- vince of the Government o f line is being constructed t o 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 matter never been part of Scotland t o the Privy Council, where and do not consider them- no doubt Mr Maxwell will selves so now. This point has get the comeuppance he not been lost on the British deserves for presuming to Government, which has

been remarkably accommodat ing t o the Shetianden, and

Now the recent upsurge their ideas on how the 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 50 million tons a

But keen students of 'respect the wishes of the

certain people are beginning limes in the past and indcf to suspect that 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~gerald 's reactio Voe in the Shetlands which when he heard the news, is destined to become the and he announced that his

THE ECCENTRICITIES of 200 million tons of oil a the Celtic fringe are making year - larger than any pro- life extremely difficult for duction figure for the entire the eager visionaries directing UK North Sea so far releas-

Radio 88 is an illegal Swedish present one gets taken Radio Station that broadcasts We have had 60 to to Stockholm and its suburbs. police cars chasing us si Three members o f 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 the fierce Stockholm we'll try an police reaction to them and get a long interview wi a lot more people became the workers concerned interested and started work- cover home and inte 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 j 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 stuff 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 just from anyone who h

lost three sets t o them in

Spy in the Sky

you're wondering what ndon will be like in a uple of years' time, when e CITRAC system of veillance TV cameras e UC7) has gone into

peration above the city reets, you can get a pretty

good idea by looking at what's been happening in Sweden lately. Sixty tele- s ion cameras have been

ailed in the underground way network o f central ckholm. The TV cables verge at a church.in the city, which is now the

eadquarters of a 139 strong special branch unit.

The TV network was instal- led for crime prevention, particularly drug dealing. Fach

1 ohone tapping in the last

'igure 5. Catastrophe theory applied to the behaviour of a dog A free bone is offered to the first reader who can correctly determine the function which generates this surface, with- out looking at the October '74 issue of Futures in which it appears. Entries (on the back of a dog meat wrapper, please) t o Maior Canis. Phi Do. our veterinary correspondent,

theory applied to physical Foxed! education'. In a survey is manned by two officials,

video tapes of 'suspicious In Berkeley, California, 55 " are frequent'y education experts, school

evidence. administrators and psychol- e initially installed the Qgists listened to a

meras in public places without government permis-

scholarly lecture by a Dr FOX

n, although the govern- on 'Mathematical Game

ment subseouentlv authorised 'rv camera watching you. They're so powerful that you can read the time on some-

this TV network, and one's wristwatch storeys 3 the figure was 4651. below on the street'.

Radio 88 also says there re convicted. According t o have recently heen reports in

the Swedish dailies about : 'Everywhere you go police plans to coordinate

their 'security' activity with that o f various other groups.

afterwards 45 of the 55 said they found the lecture clear and stimulating. 'Dr Fox' then announced that he was an actor and had been talk- ing a load of rubbish.

the plans involve the large numbers of security men employed by hie Swedish firms. Some reports say tliat the plans entail the unifica- tion of all these groups into a regularised unit with its own hierarchy and informa- tion pool. Colonel Stirling and General Walker, please note.

.. - Undercurrents, you won't be surprised t o hear that overseas phone calls from the United States are syste atically monitored by the National Security Agency (NSA). What is surprising is that, according t o informa- tion leaked to intelligence Report, a Washington maga- zine, the NSA now has a computer programmed t o switch on to cue words sue as 'dope', 'marijuana' 'Mao' for evidence of radic political or drugs activitie We didn't think their voice recognition Systems wer quite so well advanced. According t o Intelligent Report'scorrespondent (a former NSA worker, Wins1 Peck) NSA has been cave - dropping on private lines the late 1960's but until recently, the decision t o record was made on the bas of who was calling whom an what country the call was placed to. The monitorin transoceanic telecom tion began as part of programme to collect c mercial intel1igence.wh now considered t o be eq importance to miiitar diplomatic informatio

PROPERTY SPECULATION

tion or Nuclear attack? Alas, it almost certainly is not.

Dedicated army watchers

lies buried on the Northerly ds, sewage compressors

Still, the Depots would

ntion a total of mo say, the world's first noise- free underground pop festi-

nothing in a positive t o either Socialism or Ca

Ill, Anarchism, the Albion

The Customs, who I don't see getting a knocking review in UC - I'll do one free - charge w f t y £ for exactly fuck all. The V A T mothers here in Britain 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 a lot o f

constructing the world's

s good. How about Plutonium sniffer

an check out the

own private market, so the then I can get either Scienc Soviet Union uses Eastern

Smialism=Marxism? Europe and Cuba.

As for internal repression, Dear Undercurrents the Soviet Union indulges in

n o pun intended) of Marxist

in that meaningless expression currents entitled 'Behaviour 'class struggle'. Modification' was an eye-open-

For the purpose of this r , check out the far more missive, I am going to make barbaric and inhuman treat. some assumptions which I hope ment That seems to be prevalent

e appears to be a misap- do not strike people as being in Soviet mental hospitals. ension on the part of one too outrageous, indeed too (Contact: The Working Group

for some of the most ' magazines ever t o pop t my letter box. There isen in the few I've got t o keep busy if I retired today!

Your enthusiasm is itfw-

theory only, you would be l iquid columns i n each case. playing into the hands o f re is one exception to this people like Aims Of Industry and that is the use that can zine. spoiled a l i t t le f o

made of the hydraulic ram :us on Socialists who

ion is an untenable o nV good people can't that has to be done to v alienate prospectiv

uld learn further about amateur ectronics or TV.

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 TS17 7JP

BE 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 of speech which r magazine seeks to under- e. In a democracy a man peak his mind. The time subversion is under a repres-

r Schofield is presumably erring to the letter in UC7

advert in UC6 for a community based on the ideas of BF Skinne

wouldn't have printed that letter. Perhaps Mr Schofield

it? Surely free speech logical! implies freedom even for those who advocate its abolition?-Ed

give AT a bad name. Maybe my definition

us having a license and a sta ion in the Mothercolumn

ut Well are needed for along with some basicinf mtor duty, and to I,0 tion. This list will be acc

t speakers (either in t h panied by the following ck or via phone patch).

;t the word ou ow-scanners willing t o con- ..wjhen rt slides and photos /he foil,, radio amateurs to SSTV tapes are needed would like to o f fà the ufe 0

fly; if you know one ,he,, c~lmp 'doing" people work- otfiers. Certain of them a h

ard a better future in have access to informati eld or other, See if he orem of ititeres

won't as a people with experience The t i c 1 f i e l d If asked,

rdinator of this effort hams _.Ã attempt ,Ã .,,.vide Brink, wA"BKR. If information via radio in the co e t o lend a hand, con- egor ie listed Contact individ on 3898 KHz uals directly to make arrange- and Thursday nights n,erits, ' * acific time, or Sun- ~ , ~ ~ h of us is capable of serv. noons on 14253 at ing miniature, radio acce

;ear of the future, of course, noon. (If ham radio fails You. sed information scrvicc, hi,, n d certificates for those stat- his address is RFD 2, Box 301- ,, the types of informatiou ons who work t o help make B, Port Orchard, Washington you have xm ,,,, mere is he weekend happen. But there 98366.) bound to be at least one or will also be sessions on HE RTTY TECHNICAL two areas of personal know- lmics, Alternative Ener 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 radio, or com- five books? In addition, you Decentralized living, Ham puter access tie-ins via ham probably have access to know- Radio's Future, and Other radio, turn you on, contact ledgeable friends and neigh- 'erns we share. Mitt Nodacker, WA7TFE. Mitt bors. See if they'd be willing t o

One Of the ideas is sent out a newsletter a couple share their info via ham radio. 'pen up Our shacks and of weeks ago o u t l i i the

share this ham radio weekend technial problems to be over. 4 LL -3 7 - 4 1 ~ & 5 , with others. Some sessions will come, mentioning sources ,,f use single sideband-only, and RTTy suggest. some radio teletype, hut many ing a onc..a-week RTTY get. of the sessions will utilize Slow together on the air as soon as a scan to permit Weakers to few people have even a crude illustrate their weekend "open mp, write him at gox 8557, house" to the local ham pocatello, Idaho 83209 and members, and maybe even to him for a copy of the news- the whole town as well. It will

-, (send a be a perfect chance t o show stamped envelope). off what SSTV can do, and t o Copthorne Macdonald (WOORX) show off a serious use of ham INFORMATION AND

STATION SHARING 516 N W First Ave

Much of the New Direc- Rochester, Minn. 55901 USA

~oufidtibie Weft Coast day. 8:mp.m. PDT

Undercurrents 8

IT IS YET another of the paradoxes o f and quality control checks . -a tir mmed up: " Keep the custo our quasi-Orwellian world that Doing-it- and laborious business in any case pendent on us as suppliers; Yourself can simultaneously be Big What DIY ought to be about w e marketing and advertising in Business. summed up admirably on one o f t our hands, and for God's sak But Doingit-Yourself, in the eyes of the slogans in the Chinese handicraft on't let them do too much fo r th vast majority of the companies who pavilion, which extolled the virtu lves, or they might realise that o booked space at September's DIY Exhibit- of "Maintaining independence and refully-packaged kits aren't reall ion at Olvmpia. means little more than the keeping the initiative in our own

. . elimination of the need for final assembly if articulated, could be DIY Exhibitions could ever demonstrate

One of the few genuinely amateur, truly Do i t Yourself. Be Your Own Boss Start DoitYourself canoe building. One other Do-it-Yourself stands at the show. The Your Own Business, Bv the manazine that apparent bastion of amateurism and Popular Flying Association demonstrate ecently told its readers how they nthusiasrn amid a sea of money grub how you, too, can build and f ly your o rofit from exploiting cheap prison product pushers. aeroplane. Not that Iliich would regard labour- the 'Business Ideas Letter'. the DIY-aeroplane as a particularly convivial tool, but the PFA at least seems free of the instant, packaged commercialism of the majority of exhibits. Enthusiastic, too.

It can be pretty lucrative t o prey on the Now here's a piece of DIY-Technology insecurity of strike-worried middle cl the world really needs: the magnetic consumers. Pay £2 for a low power window cleaner that cleans both sides o f thi Jermyn invertor f i t can just run the tell a few lights) and you can at least be entertained while you freeze to death during the forthcoming minerslgas wor electricity workers1 pinko commie bast next blackmailing wage battle.

e Markets are Briskand the Prices are Ie". Not a slogan one would have expect-

d t o see on the Chinese pavilion. Has the umerist rot really set in even in China? 'ntaining Independence and Keeping t h ative in our own Hands and Relying on

r own Efforts" . That's a bit more like

sheeting instead of glass, and in having tosite the roof in a position where it is overshadowed by a steeply rising hill 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 is 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 to start telling the world what to do.

Those, at any rate, seem to be the two sides to the conflict concerning BRAD'S future. 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 is a twin Savonius rotor 1 oil drum type), which spins merrily but which will need another type of pump to drive if it is to do i t s water lifting job properly. The

, , present Archimedes screw system isn't too satisfactory.

John Wood's little 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 I below) John will be giving full circuit detail of a simplified version of the Box in the next Undercurrents.

Undercurrents 8

The National Centre THE SOCIETY for Environmental Improvement Limited, a registered Charity, was set up in the Autumn of 1972 in the role of link orqanisation between big business and the environmental movement. I t s Chairman in Gerard Morgan-Grenville; other directors include Michael Bray, who controls Stuart Wrightson Ltd., reputed to be the second-largest insurance company in the world, Diana Eccles, and Timothy Jones. Gerard Morgan-Grenville i s an industrialist who, with his brother , runs a stainless-steel processing plant, Chichester Stainless Steel, and a company dealing in fancy glassware and china, Dexam International.

The Society has managed t o attract quite a few famous names as its patrons: Lord Annan, Provost of University College London, Lord Robens, former

Chairman of the National CoalBoard, Sir Bernard Waley Cohen, former Lord Mayor of London and Roy Jenkins, the Home Secretary, are just a few of the notables who dignify i t s letterheads. The Society's brief history has not been without incident, however. I t s first full-time Director , Peter Whiteley ( ex-Cassells publisher and husband of Lady Angela Whiteley) quit in 1973 because of a disagreement with Morgan-Grenville. And in June 1974, Steve Boulter, the Society's Technical Manager, was fired by Morgan Grenville ,allegedly because he had, according t o Morgan-Grenville,'lost the confidence' of his fello workers at the Centre, and because he had taken up a part time at University College, London, while s t i l l working for the Socie Boulter contends that he was dismissed because he expressed di with the direction in which the Centre was moving at the time --towards a more inward-looking community, instead of the outgoing technical advice centre which he had envisaged. Thot trend has now been reversed. Boulter also says he took his part-time lectureship with Vorgan-Grenville's permission, and that it gave the Society access to valuable University facilities in any case. The dispute, which at one stage became so acrimonious that Boulter was offered a one-way ticket to the 'States ( he is a US citizen) in lieu of his notice money, now appears to have been settled -.at least financially.

But Finance lies at the heart of the Centre's problems at the moment. Big Industry, originally envisaged as the source of most of the Society's funds, could hardly be shorter of cash these days. The initial £50,00 which started the Society off two years ago (supplied by a backer who s t i l l insists on anonymity) will hardly last much longer. And with a figure of £200,00 being talked about as the sum needed to renovate all the quarry'soutbuildings, set up engineering workshops and provide living accomodation on site, the Society for Environmental Improvement wil l need a lot of money soon i f any of i t s original grandiose ambitions is to be realised. In this interview, Gerard ^organ-Grenville the aims and ~hilosoohv

What are the historical antecedents the project? How did you yourself g interested in the environment and in alternative technology? Well, I came through industry - I ed in industry for twenty odd ye became involved in questions o trial pollution and then, on the n g side, became involved in try make marketing forecasts. As a resul of this I began to feel that a nu of factors were going to influen pretty decisively the buying pat of people in the Western world T led me to look at the whole resourc syndrome. I think - o n a slight1 parallel course - I 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. Th a straight way in which quite a lot of people have come into the envir mcnt movement -they have just been concerned by pieces of litter they have seen on the street and gradually they equate that paper with not being Just a visual eyesore but with a waste of paper. Then they realise that paper in fact requires an incredible quantity of timber lust to produce Then they see that i t is not recycled, and one thing leads to another. But one of the things we've found at this centre i s that almost no two people have come here for the same reason. The industrial activities that you were involved in led you t o 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 other reason, because one's livelihood depended on i t - a fairly vested interest in actually determining whdt wds going to happen in the future How did this concern of yours for the environment and the rapidly-approach- ing resource and energy crisis o f industr cohere into the National Centre, and initially to the Society for Envir tal Improvement - how did tha

Before: the old quarry outbuildings were in a chronicallv-dila~idated state

vas at about thetime when on your letterheads these days -how Gerrv Leach was oublishine his memor- did these people get involved in your

society? ceship Earth'. That woke up a

people to some o f the facts and T h u s in my case it gave a great

petus to a feeling that was probably Iready there, and I startedlooking round and reading things and talking

people and travelling about a bit and

t some funds, and as you know got me. Then we spent about a year just oking at the whole environmental

ce suddenly and this centre was n as an idea, and very shortly after-

or were there any other people at the beginning who got involved. did start it, but I regard myself as part- me conductor of the orchestra. I have fairly silent role in the thing - the eople upon whose skill one depends

any sort of success are the players he orchestra and most of the work

en done by other people -such a ge number of people that I think i t

Gerard Morgan-Grenville stands outside one of the disused cottaaes. t o be converted

Well, i t was a deliberate policy. A lot

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 can't easily move. So one of the things that we set out to do .,

- walk. To try to make this a bit more

the more effective, more intelligent people in various departments. This pohcy is construed by some people to mean that we get huge hidden subsidies, or that we are a sort of professionally-infiltrated department of the Establishment, or even that we're funded by the CIA -a l l sorts of funny ideas.. . Furthermore, I think one needs to realise that the people towards the top of the pyramid are vastly more effective in lerms of what i s done than the people at the bottom of the pyramid -this i s absolutely obvious. Therefore if you can enlist the support of the people at the top, you've got a chance of achieving, by conventional means, really worthwhile things. I t would be naive to think that someone like the Duke of Edinburgh isn't an incredibly powerful figure in the country. No

A small, experimental solar water heater.

This small Pelton wheel may soon be harnessina one of the waterfalls at the

. matter undt anyone's \ I C * S might oe on the munarch\ and i t s o\crtunes, I in'nK most pc-up c In [he countri rcalisl- that nc. as an i nd \ i u~a . , is simpi\ ij man c:ugn[ 'n d pos:tion who is tr) :ng to do the best ih:ng oy toe (oh hc' i g i~t , wn ch i s a pri'tty ~n~'nv:abic one. Thcrcfori; he is snmconc wnose 5\ mpatny s most 'iijluaolc to the uhu.c AT muiement, i nd he 'someone who is wal ing across this pretty delicate bridge which we are in the process of put- View from one of the Ideal Home windows.

ting up. There is possibly a greater measure

of responsibility shown a t managerial level by people who work in business than i s generally appreciated.. . I think that people perhaps at the lower end o f today's pyramid fail to apprec- iate that some of the people who control industry are in fact highly intelligent and fairly wise, fairly far- seeing individuals.

Sebastian de Ferranti, for example, who's the chairman of Ferran

wish to come here and help, and we've cot his solar cells simply because he believes in what we're doing. His brother, Boswell (sic) de Ferranti, has actually spent a lot more time and money than anyone else trying to develop heat pumps, because he thought they were a good thing. I wouldn't deny his competence, or his intelligence or his sincerity. What I would be worried about i s that he will seek solutions t o the problems o f society in such a way that those solu- tions will continue t o imply Fcrranti and roughly the same kind of industrial structure that there is now. For instance, a structure with 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 kind o f possibly municipal or local ownership.. small cooperatives and that kind of thing. Sebastian de Ferranti will want t o see tots o f solar cells coming off the Ferranti production line. Sincerely, he may believe that it will be better for society -and i t might be a bit better -bu t it won't be as good as i t could be if the people were working on these things themselves. Even though that might be less efficient. I think that you've got to remember that high technology develops from high technology, and somebody like Ferranti i s a high technology wizard. Now, we agreed earlier that high technology is in principle, desiriible because i t can free a lot of people from nastv reuetitivc lobs Solar cell-i , , ~ ~~~~

are in the forefront of today's technol- ogy, and i f a firm like Ferranti which has the resources can produce these things by means o i high technology, I think there's a place for them. I'd be delighted if people like Ferranti make solar cells, provided that the people who are working on those solar cells are not exploited in any way,provided that their jobs are interesting and they can see the end product of their work, and that the

far as I 'm concerned, i f we can show that there are alternative ways o f living which are socially good, and environmentally good - that just in terms of the science o f the environ- ment they are sustainable -then the more intelligent people at the top of the pyramid will start to take a real interest. I think that there's far too much talk at the moment and not enough doing. There arc thousands of communes around the country, far more than are recorded. But they are unbelievably fragile, and they don't really add up to a saleable philosophy for man- kind in the latter part of the 20th century. Some new and obviously workable way of living in a community has got t o be discovered. But some commun- . . ities probably have discovered it, just by having the right combination 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 throughout the centuries - tend to be the religious ones. I think a very important point to realise i s that we've got an external interest here at the centre whereas most com- munities are internal - they're interested in their own survival, doing their own thing. Of course we're interes- ted in that too, but we are also here in order to serve people outside, a fact which has already been very valuabl in producing solidarity among the people here. There's a crvine

see yourselves starting t o manufactur these things on a small scale? Yes - we have done just that, The problem now i s to find so with prototype facilities to ac make it, and maybe we can then i t to a small manufacturer - it's th sort o f thing in fact could be mad a garage for a royalty. We migh ourselves that way. But basically, hope to f ind ourselves by 'gate money', and through publications.

Straight as a die. The old quarry railw been re-laid, and i s now used for trans building materials round the site. And

production of solar cells itself isn't piece of wood or getting on with Old fashioned slate cutting guillotine, a an ecologically-wasteful process that each other. legacy from quarrying days. Still works, uses up too many natural resources - though. and isn't inordinately profitable. To turn towards the future of the I think these are the dangers. But i t must be a more intelligent approach to try to devise an alternative system for living which i s valid, before you throw away everything that you've got dt the present time I t would be very naive to think that out of the chaos, phoenix-wise, a wonderful new era will arise, where everyone can do their own thing, I t just doesn't happen that wav, and history shows that the

Centre, dre you hopiiiy that i t will become rcldtively ¥iclf-sufTicient Yes totally in energy, and as for food, well, by virtue of the fact that we haven't any money, we're vegetaria and we'll grow most o f our vegetables We hope to get a piece o f land in due course where we can grow wheat We want to make quite a lot of things ourselves all our outbuildings, and so on

or land classified as agriculturally non- Architectural Association, 1974) that according to recent studies, 'nude

vegetables, calculated from in England and hill-land in Wales. I am irrational technology like non-use not suggesting everyone lives on little employment, can only continue i f rectangles. Our natural resources could cheap energy substitutes are availabl never be equally divided i n this way: through the exploitation o f overse they are the common wealth of the

Controversy report I mentioned is incon- people. We must share the access to energy like coal and oil. Such expl and the care and use of these resources, tion cannot be justified. Some people grow food better than There is no need for able-bodied

shoes better than the ga access to land -either o f their own o important point is tha rented from the community at minim be close to their resou charge. The most direct way o f solviri communities, and awa our current economic crisis is for peop

to demand an increase in the s i ~ e an

the British seem increasingly incapable community decision to end the

el, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, of producing at home. The country's distribution of all such primary

e feeds, medical supplies and drugs present economic strategy, based on es. (See Lawrence Hills' proposal

for livestock - is as difficult t o cal- the assembly o f energy-extravagant Fertility Gardens in J u ly l August's culate as is the health value o f the luxuries, cannot continue t o support Association {ournai, 1 974). exercise, nutritional quality and sheer our nation in a world where more Individuals have more power

pleasure of growing your own. than half the people are poor and

are now beginning to be experienced n analysis o f the statistics in Dudley by the industrialised countries, and The feeling o f isolation, political imp

mp's The Land of Britain (Long- mass unemployment is forecast. tence and the practising of double- ans 1948), suggests that of the com-

Use of Land for Food Product! nother method is to divide the land According to the figures already strips; a continuous cropping se- (and Shewell-Cooper in The Complete quence for 3 years on one strip might be: Vegetable Grower; Faber paperback, Beetroot in May, followed by Spring 1974) two people can grow their fruit Onions in October, Cabbage in April, and vegetables they need on 418m2 of Swedes in mid-August, then Broad beans land. (approx 40m x 1 Dm). in mid-Nov, April sown Tomatoes plant.

Shewell-Cooper describes the cropping ed out in June, and in October either of the plot and suggests that cultivation Broad beans again, or winter greens will take 288 hours a year (an average and lettuce, early Potatoes in Feb, after of 5% each week). which we can start again.

Since these figures refer to a diet The Henry Doubleday Research where protein is supplied by meat, the Association's experimental 'Survival area will have to be cropped very Garden'at Booking, Braintree, Essex, intensively if enough protein is to be should reveal important information grown from vegetable sources (legumes on the rotation, cultivation and harvest- and cereals). The experience needed t o ing o f highly productive and nutritious 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 from weeds, and pest to produce and store enough food. Food production varies greatly with environmental conditions such as climate, extremes of weather, soil fertility, pests and disease, as well as the skill and knowledge of the cultivator.

Diagram 1 shows a possible way of using a one-third acre plot which I hope to try soon. An area 1 Om x 16.5m i s taken for the dwelling, which will be described in a later issue of Under- currents. Next to this i s a small orch containing bush and tree fruit and, t help supply protein regularly, free- range laying hens. To the south of dwelling is a crop rotation scheme four 130m2 plots. South o f the orchard are another four 1 30m2 plots which can be cropped with grass and clover, or with potatoes followed by wheat. Wheat harvested from this area (just under 1/8th acre) at an average yield ( 1 % tonslacre) should be enough for 500 one-pound loaves. As a reeuiar supplier of protein (milk, yoc$urt and cheese) a goat would be useful but

L experiment progresses. (See the

feeding would be a problem on one- Association's Dig for Surv/voi leaflet, eighth of an acre though goats can price 3p). be fed on comfrey, kale, swedes, turnips fodder-beet, mai~c, nettles, docks, No-Digging and Sward Gardening Systems hedges and a small pasture of herbs There i s evidence that regular inverting and white clover. (See David or digging damages soil structure and Mackenzie's Goat Husbandry, Faber disturbs beneficial soil organisms to such and Faber, 1970). an extent that neither may ever get a

chance to settle down into an optimal CROPPING AND ROTATION state. James Gunston's Successful The aim of crop rotation is to prevent the Gardening Without Digging (Stanley build-up of pest and disease and to balance Paul, 1960) though not organic, has an out demand for plant nutrients over the interesting section on intercropping, is land. Diagram one shows a rotation where only possible if the soil can be kept rich the legumes are grouped together on one with plenty of fertility and humus, and plot. The following year see root crops this means regular applications o f on this plot and brassics the year after. compost. But can a closed system However this type of cropping may not garden supply sufficient compost? make best use o f your land. The conservation of all oraanic .

Try to keep the land productive materials (faeces, urine, vegetable ecessary overlap the harvesting and trimmings etc) will make iin important anting of crops, but try not t o gro contribution, but additional mdterial e same tvve of crou on the same la mav still be needed.

fertility is by Sward Gardening, develo ed by Tony Farmer from suggestions ' Andre Voisin's Better Grassland Swar (Crosby Lockwood 1960). This tech described in greater detail in an acco panying 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 cut or mown, iust like little strips of lawn, nitrogen is released into the soil when the roots die off. Associa- ted with the clover are large numbers of earthworms, which benefit the soil by adding secretions of carbonite of lime to the leaves and soil that they digest and excrete. Even better results are obtained i f a surface mulch o f leaves, animal manure or compost can be applied. (Lawrence Hills wrote an article on sward gardening in the Aug/ Sept 1974 issue o f the Ecofoqist.)

Aerobic Composter Toilet Experiments My own attempts to design a toilet to recycle organic materials for garden fertility began in June 1972. Aerobic composting (ie decomposition in the presence of air) seemed to be the simple and natural way of conserving these materials safely.

A small PVC-lined hardboard con- tainer was constructed along the lines of a miniature Clivus unit. It was 20" high and covered 1 % x 4 feet o f floor. The top had an air outlet 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 row o f invert- ed channels, cut from plastic pipe supported the compost materials and allowed air to flow below, around and through the mass, drawing off nloisture and any odour through the vent pipe to the outside air. The unit was divided into two compartments by a bulkhead, one beingthecompost- ing part and the other the receiving part for finished compost. A layer of soil was laid in the bottom o f the toilet to absorb excess urine. I t was intended to l i f t the squat-plate end o f the toilet after use, so that the bottom sloped, allowing the compost to move slowly downwards. In practice this unit was found an unsuitable shape and size, but the problems experienced taught one more about the process than could be learned from a more perfect proto. type.

The Cornposting Process Though every human produces faeces and urine, a certain amount of care i s needed in their handling. Our intestines - and faeces contain large amounts of hdctcr~a such as E coii, Barriers within the body retain these bacteri

twice in one year One alternative way of building soil they are normal and useful.

stinal parasites such as worms can to each unit of nitrogen, a compost extent to which we waste energy and mass with a 30:1 ratio i s ideal and will nutrients must be considerable. Food quickly break down. Plant and vegetable i s a scarce and valuable resource.

Fortunately, many foods do not require cooking (though meat. fish

and increase their surface area. and potatoes do). Haybox cookery - As the decomposer organisms use the placing o f the heated pan and con- carbon for energy and nitrogen (plus tents into 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, i f cooked a t all,

should be steamed over almost boiling water to conserve their vitamins.

he purpose of the cornposter i s to higher than 30:l will take longer Though people say that foods are easy in these materials safely, to (more generations of micro-organisms to cook in vacuum flasks, I have ofte

but without much satis

My first composter was used from February until September 1973 (1 10 times). In April, analysis of a sample of compost from the unit revealed a

s after defecation risks infection rather wet but useful end product -. faecal diseases, whichever form moisture 64%; Nitrogen 1.82%;

toilet they use). The compost must Phosphorus 3.94%; Potash 1.75%; and a C/N ratio of 9.1: 1. Two more com- posters have been built and are present- ly in use. Composter 2 (see diagram 2) is installed in a friend's flat at

floor space. Steps are needed to mount the toilet. Inside, four 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 to neutralise the avidi

Composter 3 (see diagram 3) i s a smaller toilet, 19" high, 16" wide, 20" deep and like C2 is made from 12mm chipboard. C3 is used by a number of people in a Covent Garden water i s 60° and the eggs are studio. It incorporates a stirring

a cold composter will be slow. To encourage them, I am writing a In the composting process, micro- composting manual, which should be

organisms (bacteria, fungi and moulds) published soon. Pathogen destruction a flask so that such water can be feed on the materials, transforming' in low-temperature cornposters and them through molecular changes into prevention of fly-breeding are two nutrients suitable for uptake by plant aspects which need study. There are

of carbon to nitrogen in the materials their own units. Old fridges, surprisingly, grated roots and apple, shredded make ideal composters, once you've cabbage and runner beans, sproute

nts require nutrients with about 10 added a seat, cover, air venting and , wheat and legumes, chopped nuts, tomato and lemon, with

Energy, Economy, Nutrition

/ s shelters from Zeppelin bombing ttacks was hit upon. At the time, the

tunnels were com~leted bv 1917. The11 e s t i l l exists and, inter aha, i s used L

il. The so-called les, other art treasures, and

disnitarie'i cowered in these tunnels \ 0 -- 2

as Zeooelins elided above. In 1917. one of the twin tunnels of the Piccadilly

e branch from Holborn to Aldwych s closed. 130 feet beneath the street,

s used as shelter accommodation IPS. After the First World War,

al stations were closed, or rebuilt. These were: Piccadilly Line, Dover Strect, Down

treet, Brompton Road rthern Line, City Road, South

ntral Line, British Museum In the second world war, Down Street tion was used for the Railway Execu-

Committee's bunker. I t was also by Winston Churchill and his family

o s umber whilst the blitz destroyed the workers' homes in the East End.

t Dover Street, London Transport's gh-ups resided, 80 feet down. Control

> staff of the Great Western Railwa in a bunker in the Bakerloo stati Paddington, whilst the Emergenc Engineering staff of London Tr used part of the uncompleted Dist express tube beneath South Kensington. The War Cabinet used a 'citadel' beneath Hampstead in the old, never completed tation of 'North End' or 'Bull and Bush'

at the deepest part o f the tube network, between Hampstead and Golders Green stations - I t is, however, the new sections built 1940-43 that need further scrutiny, as these formed the core of the svstem now in existence The deep shelters built on the Northern Line, and used for public shelters were'- Clapham North, Clap ham South, Belsize Park and Stockwell. Those constructed for government use, and retained to this day, were: Clapham Common, Goodge Street, St Paul's, Chancery Lane, and the

'--/" I'm; spir i t 01 Spies for Peace lives on. Undercurrents recently received a pamphlet r o m a arouo called Anarchist?

details the secre t Government bunkers and tunnels under London, and explains their counter-revolutionary role. This ar t icle i s a slightly

Just part of the Post Office's intricate tunnel network that runs under London. the Postal railway from paddington t o Whitechapel via Mount Pleasant

they were connected up anyway, either on initial construction, or sub- sequently. A new station was built at Highgate (Archway) for the extension from insb bur^ Park on the Northern

government had built 4bunkers - known as 'Citadels': The Admiralty Blockhouse, Pall Mall; Citadel telephone exchange near St Paul's; The 'Rotundas' in Horseferry Road, Westminster, the ground floor of the Department of Education and Science in Curzon Street. Also erected at the time were a number o f steel framed office build- ings in New Oxford Street, and between the Strand and the Embank- ment. These were intended to be bomb-proof strongholds, and were connected by tunnels - on the admis- sion of Winston Churchill himself.

The Post Office constructed a net- work of cable tunnels, beginning in 1939. The first 'run' was 100 feet below the surface, to the south of and parallel with Holborn, linking Holborn telephone exchange with St Martin's Le Grand and Faraday House. At the eastward end i t divided, the southern branch ending beneath Citadel telephone exchange, at the north east corner of the Faraday build- ing. Citadel has walls of solid concrete 7 feet 5 inches thick, i t s own artesian well (like Kingsway underground exchange), and was built in 6 months in 1940. The tunnel was 7 feet in diameter, lined in the main with concrete. The 'experimental' use of concrete for tunnels made great publicity when London Transport bu i l t ' the Victoria Line 20 years !at (see below). Another GPO tunnel ra from Trafalgar Square (where they are building another 'new' undergr railway, the Fleet Line) to the Ro at Horseferry Road. Post Office tunne grew in length continuously. In 1941 there was 1 mile; 1942, 1% miles; 1945, 3 miles; 1967, 15 miles. In the Line, and tunnels were built at Alden-

ham. These sections, planned in the 1935- early 70s, a new tunnel was driven 40 otan o f London Transport, were beneath the Thames a t Waterloo, and

special underground telephone exchange never opened, on the lame excuse that at Kingsway. Goodge Street is closely these areas were now green belt and did Tunnels, connected t o the bunke

connected with the complex of tunnels not need underground stations. network, run from Croydon in th

beneath the GPO tower, and was used Nuclear War south to Hampstead in the North

shima and Nagasaki, war was different, a cable run, later expanded for p

formed war into the annihilation of tunnels were enlarged in the 19 th the platforms of existing whole cities at a stroke. The govern- Bicycles are used in the small bore

erground stations. The ostensible ment, having constructed shelters for tunnels, and electric cars in the lar

was to connect them up to form itself, dared not allow them to be used bore tunnels for rapid communica for express tube lines, let alone shelters Intimately linked with

Undercurrents 8

ment has been constructing tion between Office Blocks and subter- own tunnel system since the ranean government establishments i s

nd world war. There is good evi- well-defined. Hampstead stations both had e that the Victoria Line tunnels Centre Point, empty for near- rebuilt in the 19405, the old 1

e constructed,in 1942, not 1960, ly ten years, is strategically placed above the concrete lining adopted the tunnel network. Thousands o f

(releasing vaiudbie metal for the war gallons o f oil were delivered t o i t at effort) is a pointer to this. I t links the height ot the fuel crisis, ostensibly many important telephone exchanges, to 'heat i t to stop condensation'. It University of London and possibl including the GPO tower and went straight down into the bunkers. British Museum, both nearby. In t Buckingham Palace (which is linked A similar block exists at London Bridge early 1950s, tunneling was carried by tunnel with Heathrow Airport). railway station, built directly above a from a shaft near Tavistock Square. The GPO tower, though over 600 tube station, which was rebuilt at the Several Government departments exist feet in height, is not built in the same time. This links up with the old conventional manner, on piles driven City and Southwark Subway t o the city deep into the ground - it rests on a o f London. Other blocks and complex- to Tottenham Court Road undergro concrete 'raft' - a necessity caused by es are connected t o the tunnel system. station, where i t links with the tunn the multiple tunnels beneath it. Chap- Government ministry and police offices from Trafalgar Square. Centre Poin man Pincher, in the Daily Express in are all connected. At the end of the 1959 reported (2811 2/59) that the Whitehall system is the Citadel in government were building a new bunker Horseferry Road, and a massive com- in the country to replace the ten miles ulex of offices. For example, the constructed after WW3 below London, Police National Computer Unit, as those could no longer withstand the Romney House, Marsham Street, the latest H-bombs. Thus, the system was Home Office Police Department,

Horseferry House, Dean Ryle Street, admitted 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 attempt was This complex is connected by tunnel made to abandon the Piccadilly Line with 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' 10 Downing Street in the passengers made representations to 1960s. From Whitehall, a tunnel runs London Transport, and the plan was to the Waterloo Complex (the Shell dropped. In 1965, an act o f Parliament Building, etc) another to the Victoria was made authorising the construction redevelopment, via New Scotland Yard. of an extension of the Aldwych 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 northward Waterloo, and part of the abandoned to Trafalgar Square, where i t connects "

f l %s? ?&2' S~.PAUL

MUTS. HALL WMN

Mrfriuuo

U v a l i v W f KOAD

Diagrammatic plan of tunnels known to Anarchists Anonymous with localities. .

with the Fleet Line bore, constructed K .City of London

beneath in Square the 1950s. underground the Post The Office tunnel station, t o runs Leicester where from the L .Waterloo Complex

Northern Line Central Supervisory Control Room i s situated. The Leicester Square tunnels were built in 1940-43. From Leicester Square, the tunnel runs to connect under Centre Point with the tunnel from St Paul's t o Euston. This tunnel begins somewhere around Eastwards from Holborn, the tunnel Euston. The evidence points to i t s runs under the air-conditioned office commencement at Camden Town block 'State House', the Meteorological where the standard twin 16'6" sh office, near the Daily Mirror building, tunnels were driven in World Wa to St Paul's, where i t loints the Post The tunnel, if connected, run Office complex. A northward branch

Kingsway Tram Subway at Aldwych Euston via Mornington Crescent runs to the Barbican, connecting with was converted into a road underpass. station, which narrowly avoided various abandoned parts o f the North- In theearly 19705, the Post Offic closure in the mid '60s. Half o f the ern city underground railway and the built a tunnel for 'cable runs' und tunnels at this station are not used for offices of the Department of Health theThames at Waterloo, connectin passengers - at least. Euston station was and Social Security at Finsbury Square. up the 180-feet deep emergency te completely rebuilt 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 built, but never opened, this time, and the Victoria ~i~~ was for meat at Smithfield The southward include the Bakerloo Line extension, connected up The tunnel runs from tunnel from St Paul's connects the commenced at the Elephant and Castle Euston to the GPO tower, whose main (literal) Citadel telephone exchange in 1950 southwards to Camberwell, as a purpose i s microwave commun~cation with the Central Electricity Gencriiti replacement for the heavily trafficked from Museum telephone exchange, to Board's national grid control Len tramway routes Subsequently, massive the Sub-Regional Controls (see below), at Bankside, the Supplies Di air-conditioned office blocks have been military basesand bunker networks. the Department of the Envir

io station: the most practical' methods of operation ethics of independent radio - what are you broadcas

need sound equipment as good a

then discusses the general desirability and practicality of operatin can get, and a good transmitter o

communications systems in a 'post-industrial' low-technology environment. ting on VHF, of course. Unfortunate the VHF transmitter described in UC7 won't do - it needs to be more stable, for a start and unfortunately, that means more complicated equipment. You'll probably need upwards o f £2 OPENING UP electronics unless you have industry. ,ome A mates broadcast-quality in the transmitter can be constructed around a stable 10.9MHz (or thereabouts) tuneable oscillator, followed by a phase

THE AIR WAVES modulator, doublers and amplifiers up to the final frequency of 88-97 MHz or so I n my opinion, there is no point in using the VHF band unless you want to do i t properly, and that means using the best there is available. My advice would be to stick to the Medium 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 minute corn- a good deal of bread too. But i f you are There are numerous r munity news service. The trouble is, prepared to go into this side of 'People's to communicate; let 's the Post Office won't like you doing it, Radio' You could bring a very large them. and you'll probably end up do i ng t number of people a great deal of pleasure, 1) You are part of a P nt on Sundays only. A Medium Wave information --and, in return, their and you want to corn station i s the obvious choice, as lone support when the time comes. A power subversive plans to your mates. Well, as you choose your frequency carefully. as low as 8 Watts will cover London 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 i f you see later). This leads to another question use narrow-beam UHF and microwaves, have to -because there are few things but the practicality of this is low .-- more likely to put your listeners off What Area Do You Want to Cover? unless you work for a big communications than a variable frequency radio station If you are on Medium Wave and living company. that starts on 300 metres and five on a housing estate, you can quite easily 2) More sensibly, YOU just want to talk minutes later is on 255. Apart from cover the estate with a simple aerial like to your friends, but You don't see why which, it's unethical . because you the 'Emergency Aerial' described in UC7. you should have to use the telephone cause interference to other people who You may also appear on everyone's network, or you 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 principle (who have. occurs, or i f you find the signal i s travel- does?). In this case, your best bet is 4) The last possibility I am going to ling too far, tune the transmitter probably the Short Wave bands. You can consider i s that you want to set up a tuning for theminhimum dip valu communicate over long distances with radio station playing good music of meter. Then tune up again until a very low power - in fact, the €1. whatever sort, with some attempt a t either at the required power, or transmitter in UG', with a couple of drama, news, documentary presentation just before the interference starts. This modifications, (reducing the number of ~erhaps. , . with the accent on Qi/&v. type of interference is due to Harmon; turns on the coils by about one-third) Sound ouality, nrogramme quality ie, multiples of the broadcast freque works very well indeed. You obviously basically trying to meet, and beat, the cy - that happen to fall within the TV need a short-wave receiver for this, but once you're down there on the short- wave band, you'll probably find a lot o f other people with the same ideas. At one time there was a network of stations all over the country, ail illegal, on about 6MHz. However, they got raided, this being the biggest problem involved in the use of radio in this country. 3) Alternatively, you want to provide, with the help o f a few friends, an independent radio service for the ge public, and especially for people l ik yourselves who resent 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 is a lot of demand for an 'all-dav

50-watt transistor VHF transmitter and cassette machine.

~ n d w r e nut an the dir long enough I t will also he useful 11, h.ivi.' on? or for detection tu be I kel\ in thc tuo q o ~ p s of two pcop c 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

A medium-wave transmission 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 is by fitting 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 worth 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, but preferably not 27 MH

i f 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 i t 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'll 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'l l 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 i t 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~ DC 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'll gain listeners, purchased via ads, or home construct- means (as Ions as neither of you are 'on lc may initially mistake you for ed - see 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 i f 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; but ide eventually to increase the power, sistorised throughout, so this pro on't be nasty to them either. Most of

nd show the rest o f 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 i f you are Manchester. But beware! Don't tr portable cassette mach nice to them, they will 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 is low iust go out to close you down ( ie 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 cfi

ce of dedication, plu don't worry too much about getting ace a few risks. Remc this distance bang on, as the 'pi-network' Van - - R f ~ - - - are breaking the law; on a MW transmitter will tune almost

Id be fined up to £40 ything Preferably wt up the aerial 6V6 O,OIÇ months for a first offence. T few davs in advance. Choose a site 100K

see them, take tiic gear and scram; they go home after looking round a bit) as New monitoring vans have been introduc- o~onsed to raidina vou fvou see them ed by the Post Office

This i s to ensure thatthe signal leaves the aerial in a horizontal plane with

" , ,, 'horizontal polarisation' because at take the "ear, are met by 20 policemen least 75% o f your potential listeners rapidly converging on your spot from requires a splitter box to feed the two have receiving aerials every corner of the fieid, with your look. aerials from the transmitter; it also horizontally polarised too. BBC outs all rounded up. You are led to requires a certain distance between the V ~ F is polarised this way and rtey

olice station, hot transmitter in hand, chose this method because i t travels

which reflects bacbradiation from the ããtfi a transistor radio with a a commercial station, God rest his radiator into a forward direction. This moveable teiescopic piace

oul) devised a brilliant VHF drive reinforces the forward signal and aerial horizontal and tune to a BB unit, along the lines 1 described reduces the signal wasted in tke oppo-

oughly earlier, hi^ was subsequent. site direction. A simple dipole, the

y upgraded to produce a lovely radiator without the reflector, radiates which arks either way --

ompact unit running off 12 volts in a niore-or-less figure-of-eight pattern.

the set for best reception. Now move the aerial until i t i s in a vertical position. The signal will almost vanish

vew unusual to find usable high <faces (unless you live down the road fro,,, available, all from transisto in the centre of towns. However, Radio trdn5mittcr,, This is difference from 1 2 volt car batteries. nvicta, a London-based VHF soul your listeners will experience i f you

aring equipment and staff. They all they almost certainly know more or t up a group called the 'London

one night per station) until quite recently, hi^ is a fundamentally good his previous lines, he'll be on to you like

method of running a VHF station a shot. It can take him as little as 25

because pooling of gear and bread can minutes on a good day (medium waver'

lead to a very sophisticated setup. daylight). VHF at night can take up to

(The group hopes to return soon 1 hour or more. Anyway, don't be

with stereo - that's practical, too). tempted to use the same location twice,

I was part of Radio London Under- although you may get away with a

ground -. as far as I know we were the 'mobile' site more than once if it's

first to use Dolby noise reduction dark and you're on VHF,

on radio in the UK. We also specialised Depending on the site, you will need

in a varied format; trying to get as to get your VHF aerial high up. In

near to the aims described in section 4 some place5 YOU can get away with slick- ing the pole in the ground and tying i t to a fence to keep i t upright, as long as the pole i s at least a couple of metres

London for a night each a long to minimise interfering with the

2 years. This i s how we beam path (otherwise the radiation will

commercial radio. Many static have any ideals at al l , and were

form of a visit4rom the Postman and L \

~ ~ ~- . -. f i ~ a 1 a stiff fine. A t anyrate, there aren'

many of them left now. (presumabl the centre of a town, but no good if with a large multi-element aerial on they all grew up). you want to 'beam in' from a hill on top (the more elements, the narrower Let's assume that the people running the outskirts. the beam width). These vans are usual. acommunitY radio station are doing so

I,, ~ 4 0 with windows in the side, out of a desire to be of some service to r . . sues The actual site you choose for VHF will obviously depend on your locality, but a main criterion is to get as high up as you can. A good rule is: 'You should be able to see the entire scrvice area on a good day - from a suit- able site,' even if this i s the top o f a tree. VHF is very much a line-of-sight business, and even a small hill in the way will throw a large 'Shadow'. The BBC publish technical data sheets for all their local stations and VHF trans. mitters, and i f one of these is in your area, a study of the appropriate sheet will give a good idea of VHF propa- gation. These sheets can be obtained free from BBC local stations; or from Local Radio Information, BBC Broadcasting House, London.

The Rest Time to Broadcast Broadcast at night; it's less obvious. Although a VHF aerial i s relatively com- pact, compared with metres of MW aerial wire, i t still looks strange peeping out of the top of a tree. The PO can't get very close to your station on bearings alone, either on MW or VHF. In the former case their receivers get swamped, and in the latter case they pick up al l sorts of confusing reflections from nearby trees, buildings, etc. Either way, they will arrive in the area and look out for your visible signs; aerials, lookouts, etc. They will probably find your particular tree more by luck than judgement, and in the dark they might not find i t at all. Trouble is, of course, that you can't see them very well either or at least you wouldn't but for the fact that they use large torches and make a hell o f a lot

They are painted green or yellow. They may come on their own, but if you're particularly successful they may well have some private cars as back-up vehicles, so look out for them too.

the community the people of their area - by giving them the sort of pro- gramme that they want to hear in a way that i s non-commercial, non-profitmak- ing (you'd never make a profit out of it, anyway), and controlled bv the

Equipment listeners. This means an efficient system

As I said earlier, I personally don't of feedback between the listeners and

believe VHF i s worth considering unless You, the operators, I t is no trouble to

you are ready to do i t properly. RLU ask a friend to act as a mailing address used to produce programmes which some of the 'free radio' organisations

even surprised BBC monitoring station do this also (though only some;

staff (one of them used to write to us) keep the Free Radio AsSoc- who assumed we used expensive reel ation, for example; they can get ' to reel recorders on site whereas we raided and lose important data to the

in fact used chromium diox' PO - like your addresses, for example). replayed on a cheap Philips I f a friend is running your mailing

Generally-speaking, these m address, i t is very unlikely that he will

are excellent for on-site repi be raided (I don't think it's ever

visible in the photo on p21) as Ion happened to anyone yet) although

take the output from the low 1e they may steam your letters open (no

socket and not the external spea matter; you'll probably be reading

socket, as the amps in the speaker them over the air anyway) and possibly

drive stages aren't quite up to standard. even listen to his phone (they're in

This means that you need high quality rather a good position to do it). So

audio stages in the transmitter, but don't just ring him up and tell him

the average phase modulator requires you're broadcasting from the common

very little power so this i s no problem. today and how good does i t sound?

Basically, i f you produce good quality If your friend wants to sit at home

programme and record it on during the broadcast (or your staff can

good quality cassette recorder, you d o i t in rotation), then why not give

will be able to use minimal equipment out a telephone number? This will give

on site, which is, of course, a big your listeners an immediate means of

advantage when i t comes to an telling you what they think, plus

emergency. invaluable instant reception reports. But don't keep any transmitting gear on any premises that they know the

One unfortunate fact about the address or might know the address of. 'pirate' radio scene (at least on the And don't do dnv tests or broadcasts entertainment front, excluding 'revolu- from there either. Keep your names tionary'stations) has been that almost secret too, use pseudonyms on the without exception the stations have air an'd k e e ~ vour real names unknnwn

of noise crashing around in the bushes. Lookouts should be stationed as des- cribed for Medium Wave. and the same .~ ~ ~

generally apply. You can spot the HF tracker vehicles quite easily e they cannot track you with a

ercurrents 8

I to anyone outside the group. You may get contact from other, similar roups; solidarity is the name of the ame, but be careful at all times;

them on neutral ground, and when you are sure they're OK,

t tell them unnecessary informa- Similarly, any potential new

embers of the group should be nown personally by at least one of ou. I suppose all these precautions e standard practice to most 'under- ound' groups, but the point i s that

lectromagnetic communication offers st opportunities for information, ucation, entertainment and even vernment; not only today but even ore so in the society of the future hich would presumably be in the

m of small villages or similar-sized al self-sufficient communities. But the present methods of com- nication (Radio, T V or Telephone

I require very sophisticated techno- gical processes to provide the active mponents (valves or transistors:

gh quality contacts, etc). o we can only have our radio and ision if we feel that its great use.

ess justifies the equipment and ocesses involved in the manufacture nf live components. My personal opinion

at, taking into consideration the fact one small plant could not only pro-

e standard parts for the entire untry, but also make things like light- Ibs (especially if valves rather than

sisters are chosen as the standard e electronic element -- which is a approach in view of the less corn.

ex procedures involved), the processes Id be justified. Radio, certainly, d be the backbone of community hing, information, and some aspects

ertainment. Television is less easily ed; its visual functions could

ly be covered by printed or

u what if society collapses catas- phically - perhaps, because of

s famine? would electromagnetic unication he possible in a society

no high-technology industrial base? asicaily, yes. I f you can s l i l l make the ts, that is. Wire is no real problem - ere may well be a lot of i t lying about d besides you can easily recycle the f f - i t only has to conduct electricity; oesn't necessarily have to be of ular cross section. Hence you can

aKe coils, insulated with paper or organic varnish Resistors are little

--

Certainly, too, telephones would be in this part of the operation. HI-tech practical; a small hand-operated modern valves use adevice called a 'exchange' running out to self-energised 'getter' to remove the last bit of air transducers or carbon microphones after the envelope has been sealed; this would work very well in a small consists of a small amount of Barium community. which is ignited by baking the tube

When i t comes down to it, the only after sealing. The Barium combines problem about radio i s the active with the remaining air and condenses components; the valves or transistors. to form the characteristic 'silvering'

Transistors require the production of often visible on the inside of the a pure crystal of Silicon or Germanium. envelope of a 'good' valve. I doubt i f This is usually done in a very high this is practical, so low-technology vacuum, and this fact, plus the necessity valves will not be as efficient as they of extracting the silicon or germanium are today. But they will work. In fact, in the first place makes such devices the radio valve manufacturer may well imnractical. Valves, however, are a be a craftsman, producing wonderfully different matter. They again need a intricate fine-wire electrode assemblies vacuum, but not so intense. Some in a remarkably small space though friends of mine are trying to construct not as miniaturised as today because a workable vacuum pump entirely out the poorer vacuum requires greater of natural or easily-processed materials electrode spacing to avoid flashover. I will be interested to learn if anybody They would probably last almost else manages to do this. I assume glass indefinitely, merely requiring a return will be available; experiments would for re-evacuation every few months or have to be made in the field of metal/ a new envelope if dropped. glass seals, but I see few difficulties

would certainly work, as w o ~ ~ l d

continued from page 20 -.the Regional Seats o f Government. Subregional Controls known t

several Stationery Office buildings and hen the RSGs were exposed by the Anarchists Anonymous

the Rampart trunk telephone cxchan spies for Peace in 1962, they were in .Warren Row, Kidderminster,

One branch runs cast to London their infancy. Bunkers at Portsmouth, Hatch, Bawburgh; York; Presto

Bridge Station,and connects with Dover and below Wentworth Golf Kingsbridre; Cambridge; Readin Course had been used in the war as Dover; Tunbridge Wells; Carlisle;

way tunnels. The other, wester1 communications centres for co-ordina- Lincoln; Macclesfield; Mexborou

branch runs to Waterloo and th ting military activities. The bunkers Bishop's Waltham; Melton Mowb

Greater LondonCouncil's head were intended to be seats o f Government at County Hall. From Waterloo, after the nuclear holocaust had wrecked Possible Other Subregional

beneath the river i t goes back to the status quo. In a way, they were a Potter's Bar; Watford; Bath,

Whitehall, from which another tunnel protection for the government against In London, the tunnel system runs to Victoria (see above). This links the people, a haven of the old order in , expanded, and i s til l being improv the Foreign and Commonwealth the wreckage created by that same Not for abandonment was the syst Office's Communications and Elec- order.'In the worst possible situation, I t is useless in a nuclear war, so its ironic Security Department, Scotland the inmates would be the Sole ~urvivors existence cannot be justified on the Yard, London Transport Headquarters, - a country of policemen, soldiers and grounds of National Security. The Westminster City Hall and the Board civil servants! As well as the RSGs (now only war in which it would be use{ of Trade. renamed Sub-Regional Controls), there i s a civil war, when the governmen

were 'hardened' telephone exchanges could dive and batten down the RSG's - at Birmingham (Anchor), Cambridge, hatches whilst the army came out In 1959, i t was discovered that, due Manchester (Guardian), Coventry, of the underground military vehicl to the vast progress made by the Nuclear Tunbridge Wells, etc. These were sup- park beneath Hyde Park and dealt Powers in atomic weaponry develop. posed to be operational even if a near with the rebellion. In direct comm ment, H-Bombs were now large enough miss had been recorded from an H- ication with the military bases outs1 to wipe out the London tunnel system. bomb. Along with those, the micro- London by the sabotage-proof GP The Government pumped more o f our wave communications system, code- tower microwave system, they money into creating a system of under- named 'Backbone' was to link all these be virtually-invulnerable, excep ground bunkers throughout the country together. continued on page 45

Continued from page 17 as from milk. vitamin C increased by 60%; B1 by 3 and Wokes, in Plant Foods For Human Phytic acid in wheat, oats and B2 by 100%, B3 by 90%; B6 by 1 OOOo Nutrition (May 1968) point out that maize make calcium and iron unavail- Pantothenic acid by 80%; Biotin giotrongenic substances in the Brass- able but this disadvantage can be 100%; and Folic acid by 700%. icas and sulphur-containing vegetables overcome by 'sprouting', as I will To sprout, put a handful of, say combine with iodine and inhibit explain in a moment. The tryptophan wheat (use only organically grown thyroid gland function. Soy-beans inhibitor Trypsin' in soy-beans pre- food; do not use seeds that have a are also associated with thyroid vents the digestion of proteins. All mercury dressing) into a jar, cover problems. But seaweeds such as kelp, imported soy-beans are steamed at water and soak overnight. Next m and to a lesser extent onions and high temperature to destroy trypsin - . drain off the fluid (it contains usefu cabbage, contain useful amounts of but again, sprouting will also do the vitamins;'only soy-beans must have t iodine. The oxalic in Spinach, rhu- same thing. water discarded) and transfer thesee barb and beetroot leaves are known to a tray, rinsing and draining well to combine with calcium, making i t Sprouting for Nutrition each morning and night for 3-4 days unavailable to the body. So much for Sprouting greatly increases the vitamin, when they are ready to eat. Sproute Popeye. Iron i s also affected. i n mineral, fat, enzyme and protein con- wheat can also be crushed and baked Turnip greens, on the other hand, tent of seeds and legumes. Researchers into biscuits in a solar oven. calcium availability is almost as high found that after 3-4 days sprouting of wheat,

Continued from page 18 Another benefit to be gained from Previous to applying the sward a living sward is increasedporosity. system my garden required about t

times as great as that of the next best The of the turf grow round weeks in the spring to prepare - - t host . - good meadow grasses. A and through a piece of soil and compact clear and sow. bacterium living in symbiosis with i t to such a degree that i t resembles a Now i t requires five days. the clover produces nitrates which are soft pebble, ThEn the hair roots die Maintenance during the year (clipp stored in the clover roots. When the off and decompose leaving fine pores etc) is about the same as i t would take clover green is clipped, a certain per- in the pebble or 'crumb' as the soil to hoe a garden of this size growing centage of the root mass is thrown off, would have it. ~h~~~ pores exhibition vegetables, and last year's complete with nitrogenous sacs - a sort have a power y.ary effect as, of underground fertiliser. once they fill with water, it requires can be expected to continue.

And here lies One key lhe temperatures greater than 100 degrees What the long term results will which a sward-harbours while naked Centigrade, or centrifugal force amount- can only guess. soil does not: the bodies of the bacterial ing to atmospheres to drive the Whether the sward will ever sup

f drought could accomplish this. The once the soil has reached a h id fertility, of continuous croppin

Undercurrents 8

EARTH

is achieved by the addition o f a sufficient

. No fuel i s required for processing particles throughout the mix, producing

. - which i s another point i n favour a homogenous mass of differing particle ' ing the earth wall, now that sizes.

will no longer be a cheap com- In this issue 1 intend to deal With

monolithic earth walling technique and ich consists of compressing soil

ost conventional materials. Simple 'unstabilised' metho

match the perfurmanc stone. However, with

This i s no ordinary suburban house: i t ' s a fine examp lithic earth walls, built by the Ministry, 1919.

puddled methods and also because o f its relative ease and speed of erection.

Building constructed using Pise are found in abundance in the province of Lyons. France, where i t has been used for centuries, but i t i s not very well established as a traditional walling material in other areas of Europe, with the exception of Catalonia in Spain, and Germany's Rhineland. Improve- ments in Pise techniques have been made by a few pioneers who have ex- perimented by deviating from tradition- al lines, testing new types of shuttering, implements and material.

To build economically in Pise, suit- able soil must be found on the site, and the equipment kept as simple as possible. The speed o f erection depends on the ease with which shuttering can be taken down and reset in position. Consequently much of the work of improvement has been concentrated in this direction, particularly in the USA. 1. Shuttering Traditional varieties of wail formwork have been heavy and cumbersome, requiring a lot of bracing, and alignment. Having to use these forms is more than enough to discourage anyone from building a monolithic earthwall, but recently a number of improvements have been made.

At Texas Agriculture and Mechanical College lighter weight plywood has been substituted for the heavy planking usually employed. And the Common- wealth Experimental Building Station in Australia developed a roller form with detachable wooden clamps, after finding that the old types of shuttering required three men working for one and a half hours to dismantle, reset and 'plumb'. Their roller shutter averaged eight minutes for the entire operation, and required only one man.

A combination o f these two improve- ments is shown in Pi", wish the addcd improvement of detdchdblc hinges which allow thc construction of corners at any angle using only one set u f shustcring. Contractors Dan and John Magdiel, again in the USA have developed an all-metal form for their own use ,tnd now manu- facture i t for sale. The shuttcrinsiis

;d after the completion

Undercurrents 8

- ~~

(a layer o f walling) by a lever which I be inferior and will require a larger loosens the sides o f the form. The M die1 system also eliminates the bothe and expense of having to use a swiv ould be a sandy clay loam cont corner form. One straight section i s rounded pebbles passing a 25mm siev simply rammed at right angles to and n be commenced as soon as th with 18% colloids (clay) 6% silt, 33% over another, in much the same wa sand and 43% gravel passing a 25mm

a 'quoin' of brickwork. 2. Method of Construction. The walls are built off an impervious to the lower courses. although above this point stre base wall to prevent rising damp and As soon as the walls are erected to goes down. the splashing of rainwater from damaging a height to receive beams, joists or the base of the wall. The formwork i s rafters, these may be placed on the placed in position, taking care that i ewly made walls the instant they ash a sample in the following way:

aligned and true, and the prepared s re completed. The work may be A large tin 15 to 20 litres capacity i s placed between the shutter s filled to a third of its depth with of about 100mm. The layers the sample. Sufficient water i s added

are then thoroughly 'tamped' to be able to stir the sample, without

use of a ramming iron. spilling, to form a soil suspension. The first strokes of the rammer I t i s left for 1 minute and water con-

should be given close t o the sides of taining soil particles i s poured off.

the mould but afterwards should be The procedure i s repeated until the

applied to every other part of the sur- , best results, because the fine soil era'

face. The ramming stroke should leave fi l l in between coarse particle>, sample is sand. This test i s crude but

hardly any imprint on the soil when the soil is properly compacted. Soils with too hiyh a percentage of

The shawe of the iron will varv with one particle size (clav, silts or sands) the type of work. For rammed chalk are considered unsuitable unless they work a 'heart' shaped rammer i s

' are blended with other soils or recommended, but for most types of 'stabilised'.

Fig 1 Rolling Formwork. (from Ken Kern's Owner Built Home.),

soil flat rammers weighing between 3.2 Too much aggregate (g and 5.5 kg are generally used. The soil sand) wil l produce crumb1 should be moist but should not contain the bindinvgent i s clay, t

t i i n in a soil. The-sample is generally taken from a twice quartered heap ensure that it is representative.

Another test for good ramming soil is to make a series of blocks 400mm x 200mm x 100mm from the soils to be used. When dry and hard, place them on t h e ~ o u n d at an angle of 4S0 so th the rain washes the long surface. Afte a couple of weeks the hocks are chec ed and if they have not disintegrate or cracked excessively i t may beta that the soil is satisfactory for ram A soil that does not pass this test mus be mixed with a stabiliser or blended with a suitable soil before i t is used.

A minimum working strength for soil to be used for rammed earth allowing a liberal factor of safety, i s 1 .97/mm2.

Tests after 30 days on soil sped of varying compositions to be used rammed earth construction (mixed with 11% water content by weight) gave the results shown in Fig 2.

Compressive Strength

sand 2 clay 1 shale sand 2 clay 1K shale

too high a percentage of water, as this binder will produce shrinkage and sand 4 clay 1 shale

produces swelling under the blows cracking. Generally clay is responsible 1 sand 1 clay 0 shale

of the rammer and a stroke i n one place for the compressivestrength of a soil, makes the soil rise in another, making while sand reduces shrinkage and Preparation of the Soil for Building

The soil should be extracted from about 600mm below the surface and thrown

to exclude particles larger than tho the'soil dries out in the shutter. used without the addition of stabilisers passing a 25mm sieve. Make sure th ing between the shutters each layer are preferred. All soils with between the mixture does not contain clods,

40%and 75%of sand will be suitable, the best results being obtained with

Undercurrents 8

Here i s another in the 'Systeme D' range of French windmill designs. Numbers 6 and 9 in the series were described in Undercurrents 6, and in this issueDerek Taylor gives details of windmill number 1, a multi-blade machine which can be used either as an aerogenerator or for pumping appli- cations. But even t o those interested in building a different kind of windmill, the information on tower construction wilt probably come in handy.

- --

Many Blades make

height have to be slit with a saw on with cable ties stretched between each one side of the angle iron, 500mm from module of the tower, in diagonals on one end, so that they can be bent t o the face of the structure (we Fig 3). form the box at the top of the tower. For these tension wires, holes need to (Figs 1 and 2). Two o f the posts are be drilled in the angle iron and the then joined at the bottom by a 1.500m wire well stretched. cross-beam, the ends of the cross The base of the pylon ciin be fixed; beam being drilled to f i t the bolts or but to be able to maintain the dynamo,

perates the pump. rivets for assembling (Fig 3). lubricate the bearings or carry out The third post i s bolted to the repairs, it i s more satisfactory to have

other two cross beams in a similar a system that will hinge down. For manner. Because of the inclination of this reason the foot of each post i s the angle posts the bolts should not be extended by adding a piece of f lu fully tightened during assembly but only when the three posts have been joined so as to obtain a perfectequi-

e tail vane or rudder. posts at the level of the slits secured with bolts or rivets.

The intermediate cross beams, of

fixed like the others between the posts (these could also be fiat iron).

The bolts are then fully tightened and the whole structure is tensioned

slot fitting onto the rim and the strap riveted to the disc. Th inclination i s shown on fig 6. o f the bicycle hub is replaced steel axle (A) about 400mm lo will have to be turned on a lathe that i t will f i t the hub.

Turntable The dynamo (D) or alternator in an aluminium, or mild steel wood box reinforced by two 'U' sh flat irons (U) fig 8 on which the ax of the wind wheel is fixed by two " 8

iron drilled with one hole at the The Rotor bottom and two more holes for rivet- The motor system of the windmill can ing it on the end o f the post. These be made either from scratch or from pieces of iron f i t between two similar a bicycle wheel with hub, spokes and pieces placed in parallel and immersed rim intact. A rear wheel is more suitable in a concrete pile. These two pieces so as to have a hub with a cog wheel. of flat iron are also drilled so that a The first job is to fix to the wheel a

pin or iron rod will f i t through the three holes. This will behave as a hinge joint as well as anchoring the foot. (see fig 4). Remember to make all the hinges turn in the same direction (fig 3). This will enable you by releasing one of the legs of the tower by with- drawing the pin, to swing the tower downsthe other two legs forming a hinge. Two ropes are fixed to the top, to manoeuvre the pylon up and down.

circular lat iron ( C , Fig 5 ) of some 300m diameter, 20mm thick, by bra~ing i t On to the spokes. Onto this diqc will be fixed the ends of the blades (P) which will be slit togrip onto the rim (1) .

The blades are made of sheet alumin- ium or iron 8 to 10mm thick, cut as shown in fig 7,600mm long and 400mm wide at the blade tip and 10Omm wide at the hub. A strap 20 x 20mm i s fixed on the hub end o f each blade to fix i t to the hub disc. Make 12 identical blades, curve them, fold over the fixing strap

block bearings (C) riveted or bo the box. The box i s drilled in l (E fig 9) for the passage of a v axle (F fig 8 ) , rotating betwee bearings (B). Fig 9 shows the con tion of the box, the dimensions o will depend upon those of the dy or alternator used. The reinforcin 'U' i s also drilled at pointsT. The s metal forming the box i s riveted or we ed to the 'U'and will have two rem able or hinged sides to allow for in tion of the dynamo. The front of will have el hole at point P (fig 10) permit the passage of the end o dynamo axle. Under the box, a point where F goes through an i ring or disc made of rubber or P i s glued (with something like Aral a brass ring rotating contact, whic connected to the positive of the d ( i f the system i s 'negative earth' The top of the pylon i s capped b riveted sheet iron triangle in the cen of which i s the bearing (Fig 11) sup ing the orientation pivot (F) . A spri contact (K) or brush (preferably car and in an insulated case) is fitted so a to ensure contact with the slip ring when the box is fixed on. An insula wire is connected to the contact (K and from there to ground level and t the positive connection on the batte Remember to connect the negati\ the dynamo to the structure, and. structure to the negative battery terminal

The cog wheel on the bicycle wheel i s connected via a bicycle chain to a cogged wheel fitted to the axle of the dynamo or alternator. The ratio of the number of cogs on cdch wheel will depend on the rotation speed of dynamo used (This type of windmill i s not idedlly suited for electricity production so a low-output dynamo will have to be used. I f a car alternator or dynamo i s chosen, i t will have be rewound to 'cut in'at a l ow r r otherwise, an increased blade diam of about 4 metres will have to be used, with additional strengths to the blades towards the tip ing of say, a couple of ho

has riveted additional rib X, which also supports the second bearing for the shaft B, on the end o f which is a crank l ~ h i c h activates the lever of the pump. The reinforcing metal 'U' is centred on the cap o f the tower.

The axle or drive shaft A o f the wind-wheel rotates between two pillow block bearings as before and the drive is still transmitted by cog wheel chain to the cog wheel on the end of

The crank wheel at the other end of B consists of a flat metal disc, welded or riveted to shaft 8, which has a lug D riveted to it. This lug, as

this plate, rivet, bolt, or weld 1.250 metres long pieces of

gle iron, so that the overall length the tailplane is 1 650 metres

g 12). The front 150mm of these ieces are sawn as in Fig 12, and hese ends are riveted, bolted or elded to the bottom and top of e protection box.

DMILL NO 1 RIGGED TO RIVE A PUMP

e o f windmill is best utilised as owered pump because its

e flat blades will respond to very ind speeds, but do not perform

I in higher wind velocity. windmill as described so far e to be slightly modified in

to drive a reciprocating suction p Fig 1 shows the modified

i t i s rotated by the wind wheel via the chain drive, activates a rod E, made of a round or flat iron and drilled at the end to allowfor the passage of the lug, which is shaped fo fit. The other end of this rod is coupled to a stirrup flexible coupling F, which is mounted on the end of a transmission shaft or rod G, which slides in a sleeve coupling or rolling contact bearing P , mounted on a plate at the level M on the pylon. This rod G can be of hardwood, bamboo, or light metal tube. In the case of a wooden shaft G, the section that reciprocates i n P should be clad in a metal tubular sleeve,

One of the more difficult problcms in this construction, i s to allow

axis to cope with changes in wind direc- tion. The difficulty is overcome by using as support for the rotating section a ball bearing with a large enough inter- ior diameter to allow for the movements of the rod E. In this situation the exter- ior ring of the bearing wilt be fixed to the upper cap on the tower. The interior ring i s fixed to the fiat iron U, in which a circular hole has been cut.

The pump itself should be in the centre of the triangle formed at the base of the tower, and i s supported by a frame K fig 2a. The piston o f the pump I, i s extended by a bar H, which is then joined to the flexible stirrup coupling F fixed to the bottom of shaft G.

The pump I is kept upright and in the centre of the base of the tower by three timber members at level N (fig 2a) locking i t in position. The pipe or tube I from the well or water source has its outlet at the tap L to which is connec- ted the pipe for distribution to the domestic water supply system, reservoir or irrigation scheme.

Fig 3a shows the whole system modified for water pumping.

(translation from the French original text by Diseree Liewellen).

74 Eoliennes, Systeme '0' by J Raphe Societe Parisicnne d'tdition, 43 Paris Xc, France. ( In French and now out of print).

inued from page 28 between courses. Another met

Id be carefully regulated as i t con- to lay barbed wire in a zigzag trots the durability and resistance to cracking. A simple test i s to sift a sample of soil into a pan and oven dry it. Place 10kg of the dry soil into a flower pot or similar container having a hole in the bottom. Place the pot in a pan containing 1.2kg of water. Through capillary attraction the earth ance. Inequalities of expansion will absorb all the water. The uniform- contraction in the earth and co ly moistened soil will now contain about are likely to cause cracks, When 12% moisture, which is the maximum are exposed the weather will enter amount of water allowed. Light sandy soil of low colloidal content should contain from 7% to 10% water. The have been developed to stabil' water should be added gradually to

thick to secure good thermal waterproof earth walls after t distribute i t evenly throughout the

properties and protection against the mix. When soils are to be blended or passage of water - although this may stabilisers added these are mixed dry

before the water is added. ~ l t h o u g h as be reduced with the use of a stabiiiser. with Pise de Terre: - Since Pise walls require this kind o f 1) Shuttering should be simp

a general rule vegetable matter of any thickness, they are generally not used easy to take down and reset.

kind i s excluded from the mix, some for internal partitions.

2) Projections should be avoided authorities suggest that 12% o f straw this complicates the shuttering. may be added cut to 75mm - 100mm Chimneys and Openings etc 3) Organic matter should be ext lengths to reduce cracking. This might Chimneys have been built in the past from the soil before ramming. be adopted where excess shrinkage is anticipated.

work should be covered along with the min

contain a mixture o f gravel and clay. The ideal soil wou

soils may be blended or stabilise

as soon as the walls are comple 8) A wall about 2.4 - 3m high

REFERENCES

the shuttering used, and the speed of ised Earth' Country Life, 2nd Edit i not dry out too quickly. erection goes down drastically. Openings 1947. Describes traditional techniq Vegetable Matter are formed as the work proceeds and Szcelkun, Stefan: Survival Scrap A German writer on the subject recom. timber fixing grounds are rammed into mends a mix consisting of 1 part of s t i f f the jambs t o form fixing for door and clay, and 1 part sharp sand, 2 parts of window frames. The lintels are placed List. Brief summary of traditional

broken stone (the size of a small apple, over the openings and the wall is carried fOrms~ Of testing Of making

The stone i s used to restrain shrinkage across, although adequate bracing cement blocks and in situ.

to take the place of straw as a binder. should be inserted to support the lintel Patty, Ralph L & Minium L.

Burnt clinker i s an alternative to stone while the wail is rammed over it. I t i s Rammed Earth Walls for Farm

as i t i s inert and will not react chemically possible to cut openings out o f Pise with the soil. No parot's or organic walls which i s useful when carrying out matter should be tolerated as this renders alterations.

Inter-American Housing:

his was done by embedding planks

by Cliff Collins

Y DIFFERENT types of windmill ave evolved through the ages, but ith the development of the aerofoil opellor for aircraft in the 1920's, and e commercial availability o f storage tteries, came the 'low solidity' mills

he solidity i s the ratio of total blade rd to circumference at any given us), used for the generation of

ectricity, The blades or rotor were ed by the actual wind Id exceed i t by 6 to

in such 'aerogenerators'

ially for the more sophisticated er mills, accurate and detailed ed measurements are necessary.

he fact that the power in the wind i s rtional to the cube of its speed this a prime consideration in nerator design. Otherwise, most

ormation (such as wind roses, prevail- g winds etc) can readily be found in

any good Atlas or fromthe Meterological

Power Obtained Wii~dmill performance may be investiga- ted under the Betz (Gottingen, 1927) momentum theory, which deals with the decelerations in the air travers- mg the windmill disk. The column of air arriving at the windmill with a veloc- i ty V is slowed down, i t s boundary is an expanding envelope as shown below.

/-n

Because of aerodynamic imperfections in any practical machine and mechanical losses, the power extracted is less than that calculated above, so that in practice, the multiplying factor may not be greater than about 0 4 rather than 0,593

The Rotor Reduced to its simplest terms, the propellor-type windmill consists o f a

-- number of blades disposed radially

~ (1 -2o ) around a shaft, to which they are attach ed, and which lies parallel to the wind

AIR TM'EQSING direction so that the blades rotate in a -'--y WINDMILL DISK plane approximately normal to this -

The diminuition of the velocity at the windmill disk may be expressed by the use of an 'interference factor', a From energy and momentum considerations, i t can be shown that. behind the wind- mill, the factor increases to an ultimate value of 2a.

Energy i s obtained from the wind by slowing down the air. Disregarding rotational and drag losses, the work obtainable from i t per unit time P, is:

P = 2ilR2. pV3. a (1 - a)2 where V = velocity o f the wind R = disk radius p = the mass density o f the air

(air pressure) The power originally contained in a cylinder of air of radius R isgiven by.

Po = /;.pAV.V2 = '/;pAV3 where A = an area through which the wind

passes thus

P = %WR* O V ~

direction. The rotor i s carried aloft by a supporting tower and provision is made for i t to orientate or 'yaw', so that i t can be held into the wind, and for its rotational speed to be controlled, The power developed by the rotor then has to be transmitted to the machine to be driven.

The blades of the rotor are usually shaped to follow one of the conven- tional aerofoil designs whose aerodynamic characteristics are known - such as the one below (adapted NACA 4415).

~ " 1 ~ L ~ ~ " s " ~ p *,,,""a:, .r.,? 4 L *:.,.:: ""d Ley."

--A

. . . ¥-. , ',G! i t can be seenthat the power obtained .,.J ,#.*$I -

isa maximum when a = Vi , in which .," .,,: :35 : case P i s 16/27 (or 59.3%) o f the power oriy,iiially in the air. R , , ' , . > , 6 >

R' : , Wf; %

This is the total power ava/loble in the wind for extraction, but actually Having decided upon the chord length, only a traction can actually be extracted, multiply nand D by this figure (eg

The density, p, of the air varies a little multiply by 100mm to give the acrofoil with and with the atmosp~cric section dimensions fo6,a blade width

-.-- conditions but i t is reasonble'to acceot (chord] o f 100mm). Note, one side of

The important lactors to determine . the highest wind speed (and

crefore the maximum stresses upon he rig), the duration of calm spells, he prevailing wind, and ihe mean annual

. the value of 1290 g/m3.

Using a multiplying factor of 0,593 (59.3%). the general formula for dcter- mining the maximum amount o f power extracted by an ideal aerogenerator i s

P(kW) = 0,593.k.~.V3 P = 0,593.0,00064.~.V.3

ie P = 0,000364:ffR2.~3 where

R = radius o f swept area by

the blade i s flat. The blades may vary in number from

. two to twelve or more, may be tapered or o f the same chord width throughout, and, may be of plane form or twisted. Their pitch may be fixed or variable and they'may either be rigidly mounted or allowed to 'cone' or 'drag' to relieve the stresses set up by rapidly changing wind speeds. Aerodynamic considerations

wind speed. The underlying theory assumes that the = wind velocity (m/s)

whole of the active surface is moving This article is an edited versit

at the same speed v, when met by d wind eaflct published by the Polytec

V. The combination of the two speeds of Central London's Department o P . P . ~ . m f S *I . crt $la tork d i a d t o ?.rt results in a relative wind speed VR making Architecture, for the National

. ~ . an angle of att; or the Development o f Alternative ickgwith the surface 1.5

,.r34 >,B, :..,> and producing l i f t (L) and draa (D) , 3,ã ,,, forces perpendicular and parallel respec-

ich are available from scrapya i t is important to check the perf

the speed v for an elemental section ance curves of these, for often t of the blade at radius r isgiven by: RPM's needed are far above thos

along the blade to i t s extremity at radius R when v = 2mN. Thus, for a wind speed V, uniformly distributed PC _. over the rotor surface, both the magni- tude and direction of the relative wind velocity will vary with radius r. This means that the useful l i f t force L, per unit of the blade surface wil l vary with r. 220-240V at 50 Hz, and one m

careful to ensure that there i s n

mission lines. To gain versa the 12V system i t is necessary

be kept proportional to the wind speed, loss o f energy,

optimum power would be obtained, The difficulty in using AC equ but this is impossible to achieve in ment i s that the alternator 'needs t practice, firstly because the inertia of run at constant RPM's in order to the rotor is high and secondly, the wind speed varies over the swept area.

...----- ms to exist between solidity at 0.7 the blade tip radius and the tip

speed ratio for maximum power co- efficient, a rotor with a low solidity There are two basic types of battcri

having a maximum power coefficient 1. Lead-acid; as used in cars, these the least expensive and have a typic lifetime o f 750.1 200 cycles. The

possible lift and the smallest possible can discharge or charge at high r drag. To extract optimum power at they should in fact never be mo each succeeding section along the where n = number of blades blade, it i s thus necessary that both i t s c = chord at 0.7 o f the blade shape, and the blade angle which its t ip radius is the case with: principal axis makes with the plane D = diameter of swept circle 2. Nickel-cadium batteries: these of rotation, shall be varied to suit

the peripheral speed X r N , the greater laminar-flow blades (DragILift ratio the angle which, for any given wind = 0.005 approx) i s about 0.51 with an does not damage them. speed, the relative wind will make open rotor hub and about 0.535 i f the Batteries should hold a reservoi with the plane of rotation. It follows, hub i s 'fairedS ie enclosed by a stream- for 12 times the hourly output of the therefore, that to maintain the best line surface o f revolution which enables generator. angle of attack, the blade angle should power to be extracted from the wind All batteries store DC only. The con. vary continuously along the blade meeting this hub area. The maximum version of DC to AC (to use standard and should be greatest at the root and occurs at a tipspeed ratio of about equipment) requires the use o f rotary or least at the tip. 1) .5 although the loss o f efficiency static inverters. Rotary inverters are in

general cumbersome and unreliabl can easily be made up) compared

A = tip angle of attack R = tip radius (f> =angle of attack for radius r highly efficient, they are very expe

(eg 2kW output: £75 approx). Some form of voltage regulator will

the air is proportional to the Power be necessary, to ensure that a constant

to the batteries. The regu prevent any flow of curre

Hermetic seal , '

by AY, SOMEONE will t ry and show

that the education given t o most o f us in the West has been designed t o suppress any notion o f transcendance i n our world- view. Slowly some of us are attempting to fight our way out of our 'intellectual heritage' without losing all contact with what we fondly describe as reality. It's not all that easy.

My own intellectual training encourag-

Peter Sommf r ed me to see the analysis of words and their meanings as the supreme skill - the only way to really understand the problems involved in understanding how the world can be 'explained'. I was encouraged to become a cosmic exile, a brain apart from the rest of nature, carefully and rationally observing and hypothesising. But, it doesn't always work like that . . . in 1962. Then came Jacques EllulS which this will happen, I ' l l suggest, will

t distinct cultural formulations: fiercer political critique in The Technolo- not be at all 'scientific'.

MAGIC =SCIENCE gical Society, published here i n 1963. I 'm increasingly persuaded

CIENCE = MAGIC, In the light of these and many other that i t i s our worship o f science itself -- criticisms, i t may be thought that we the belief that, given enough talent, have now liberated ourselves from the time and expenditure, most things can

MAGIC = TECHNOLOGY idea that science is value-free. But just as be explained and the mechanism of those scientists whose sole concern was the way the world operates revealed -~ . 'pure knowledge' and those technologists that i s the real source o f nonsense. This

magic: science: technology relationship. I n the past few months I've had to own up to myself that there is, on many occa-

mechanistic explanations of everything, An allowance in one's world view for mystery and magic, I've discovered, can

trap. A dedicated band of scientist- greatly enrich i t and even permit a fuller technologists, with their ideals firmly 'explanation' of whdl it i s ail about. Until fixed on the concept of spaceship earth recently, my problem hasalways been

that the great 'modern mystics of our time. whether Asian or Ccntral

own magic alternative technology Amcricdn gurus, zappcd-out ex-scientists er half o f the western world. These offers alternative progress. or drop-out academics have never ngs, because the majority o f users do It is because this notion of progress been able to articulate to my satisfaction

This arlicle i s an historical and has long carried articles worrying that modern view of magic and

might have i s whether, individually A T has no coherent core. I would argue i n particuldr one of the collectively, the items are good or that i t cannot have, because A T i s great suppressed sysiems of world- .. white magic or black. about technique. The most i t can offer explanaliun H m e t k i s m . I could n t i l the early sixties science and is that Lhrough its application by have started from 'I number o f beginn. nology were seen as the magic that individuals, by action, sume of the i n s : during the prucs-ss o f trying to re-

adjust my idei.ss I looked at .-ittitudcs towards fringe science Kirilian

whether one should even attempt to photot;riiphv 2nd ESP in particular. create a steady-state 'ideal' lifc-style, Whilst writingreviews of 'M Kowak's

uum for total knowledge by the as opposed to devising a temporary Where the Wustc~/urid Ends (which I gent application of a faultlessly logical strategy for existing, evolving, and probably over-condemned) and David

Di~kson'5 AUa'nulh,e Tvchnolouy, I

, First Lewis Hcrber's Our of this article I'll be conjecturing that AT may have, ior certain individuals, have been (he p l ~ ~ e i t > d book review

i t i i the iiuihor, not the reviewer who

Lndercurrents 8

discovery of what has been happening the notion is also implicit in Bronowski's to the History of Science lately., The Western Intellectual Tradition-and

Richie Calder's Man and the Cosmos. I t seems that a redefinition As. a result, they all go back through of 'science' has led recorded history looking foractivity to a redefinition of the concerns of the that is recognisab~y -rheY in their original settin 'history of science' and that has led to then pass that off as a true picture of

of great figures from the past who'are to control it. usually labelled as 'scientists'. This sort of history of science These new developments are what persuaded me that our own tests of what we bclievc in are false. Alter- look shows that this sort of history is native technology and PCOPI~'~ Science only an account of unalloyed success their activities and comment on the needs to know about the quality of if one chooses to ignore certain move- In a completely different area of transcendentalism i f i t i s not to prove ments and activities which operated history o f ideas, Norman Cohn's unsatisfactory closely to what we would now recognise splendid Pursuit o f the Millenium d

cribes the great waves of peasant

'Until recently, the history of science i fonly because it created a was a story of success', begins Jerry Ravetz in his remarkable article in the ~ronowski'sAscent of Man, was the 1974 Encyclopaedia Brittaflica. "The fa^ that Newton wrote far more on triumphs of science represented a cumulative process of increasing knowledge and a sequence of victories over ignorance and superstition; and from science flowed a series of inven- tions for the improvement of human life".

But i t ' s not only scientists who are Inherently interested in the new and in 'progress'. Historians of science, who only really started chronicling the'main the 11 th century Christian, where events in man's discovery of the 'excommunication' was not just a physical and biological world in the late 19th century, have also been cur- iously concerned with validating the belief that, once scientific method had to return for a Millenium. Hopes fo been propounded (an achievement better,life could only be rcalised thr ascribed to Francis Bacon), progress was smooth and automatic. Even Thomas Kuhn offers only a modifica- tion of this idea in his notion of paradigms. Scientific discovery isn't Religion and magic are scarcely a altogether even-coursed affair, he few decades dismissed from our wor says. Ordinary scientists work within a view, but where are the historians of framework of beliefs - theparadigm . -

and essentially all they do is to provide a n elaboration on the basic idea. How- as an aberration or'patronisingly say might have lived in a world almost a ever, after a time, certain inconsistencies that he had an 'enquiring' mind, but remote as that inhabited by the med in this world-view appear and, after a that wouldn't really be good enough. eval millenarian who would give up a period of paradigm confusion, a rcvolu- Walter Page! sets the criteria for on the rumour that a Saviour was to b tion takes place, ? new paradigm a 'new'approach to the history of found in Antwerp, or perhaps Leyden emerges and scientists continue to science: or Budapest.. .? elaborate on that. The usual example "Instead o f selecting data that quoted is the breakdown o f Newtonian 'make sense' to the acolyte of explanations for planetary motion and modern science, the historian gravity and their modification and should try to make sense of the replacement by Einstein's Special and philosophical, mystical, or religious General accounts of Relativity. 'side-steps' of otherwise 'sound'

Most histories of science aren't even scientific workers of the past - 'side- Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Over th as sophisticated as this. What they near- steps' that are usually excused by the last eleven years she has published fo !y all do i s to assume a certain definition spirit, or rather 'backwardness', o f the amazing books on some o f the 'side- of what science is and what scientists do. period. I t is these that present a steps' o f the Renaissance, concent Bernal, in his Science as History and challenge to the historian: to uncover on the chief one, Hermeticism. Lo

movement, from which so many of at today passes for 'the occult' seems

o stem, and which was one of the pre- eit an inconvenient one, o f

four books have to be taken r: they are not a coherent se-

ence in that they do not present a aightforward exposition o f her views d conjectures, but represent a

eveloping stream of interpretation. he books are: Giordano Bruno and the rmetic Tradition, The A r t of Memory,

eatre o f the world, and The Rosicruc- n Enlightenment.

ss Yates's approach seems to be ct, obscure, and scholarly in the

of the word, and one reason spect she i s so little appreciated side a fairly limited, though influen-

I, academic sub-community is the fact t her main concerns in each book are immediately obvious and her very

areful marshalling of evidence seems t first sight trivial. Theatre o f the

id, for example, appears to be an mpt at reconstructing Shakespeare's

tre - a worthy but limited reject for a historian to work on. The

ening chapter takes us straight into examination o f the records o f the rary o f Dr John Dee, the English

naissance magus, best known popular- s the court astrologer and magician,

Elizabeth I. Frances Yates has taken s man, who in his time had the

eatest library in England at his ortlake house - he had gathered iscarded books and manuscripts fro

monasteries purged by Henry V travelled extensively, and had

ore books than the Queen, an obleman, or Oxford or Cambri

iversities - and sets about se knew anything about the classic ter on architecture, Vitruvius. Vitruvius was the man who codified the classic precepts o f architecture -

hat buildings should offer not only helter and places for ceremony, but hould also be an image to man and be

oportioned accordingly. Enough i s known about the plans for Globe Theatre to say that i t was

intended to have more than a purely functional appearance in relation to building techniques then available. It was to be some sort of metaphor for the world - hence its name.

But really Dr Yates i s hiding her main concern, which i s to give some hint of the character of Dr John Dee himself and t o rescue him from the category into which sensationalists have placed him. She i s inviting the - reader to admire her scholarly 'sound-

game which most o f us play on first entering someone's home. By the device of apparent obscurantism, albeit written with more excitement than one might believe possible in the circumstances, she gives us an insight into the preoccupations o f this remarkable man.

Dee was interested in the Cabala, in al- chemy, and in summoning up angels. He obviously saw the theatre and masque as some form of magic. But he was also the author of a Preface to the 1570 English translation of Euclid's geometry in which he ranges over all the mathe- matical sciences and strongly encourages their further development as being basic to the advancement of science. Dr Yates claims that as a manifesto for science, Dee's Preface was much more important than Bacon's Advancement of Learning published thirty-five years later, which, together with his New Atlantis, i s traditionally regarded by historians of science as the basis of the Scientific Age.

I t i s at this point that the obscurant- ism disappears and.although I never thought that the all-powerful view o f

an apparent footnote in theatre history, in fact for me i t has. How does one reconcile the image o f a half- crazed lunatic juggling with occult rubbish with a powerful prophet o f science? Theatre of the World goes on to make i t s conjectures on the likely appearance o f the Globe (it did mirror the world, but the astrological and hermetic one'of Robert Fludd, not anything else) but i t also shows us how far traditional historians of science have misled themselves, the public, and us, by being unwill- ing to examine inconvenient facts,

I n the traditional exposition, the Middle Ages were dominated by the Church's upholding of Ptolemy (which gave, among other things, an earth-centred view of the universe) and a suppressed belief in sympathetic magic. Then came the Renaissance, scholars read Plato, looked in the heavens, saw that i t was more likely that the earth went round the sun, and the scientific age was born . . .

The inconvenient element in this exposition is the total absence in i t of any account of the Hermetic Tradition ness' as she takes us through a form

of the 'know your host by his books' science would crumble in the face o f of knowledge. i t was withm this that

Dee worked, as did Kepler and late on, Newton. Almost everything th today passes for the western 'occ i s a degeneration o f Renaissanc cerns and dates from Macgrego Mathers' "Golden Dawn" mov of the 1880s. The Hermetic traditi interposes between Mediaevalism a Modernism but i s important sti because i t attempts to cope wit mysteries that still remain.

The Hermetic Tradition was avowedly the cult o f the lost know- ledge of Hermes Trismegistus thrice great Hermes, the Egyptian priest-god, Thoth. To appreciate his cul l one ha to dispose of the,nution that man has always looked forward in his search for knowledge. In the later Mediaeval

material, which was regarded as being contemporaneous with Moses. In fact, later textual criticism of the Corpus reveals that theindividual pieces were probably assembled between 100 cc and 300ce by the Gnostics, though Dr Yates has obviously changed her view over the last few years and now thinks that the actual sources and ideas almost certainly have Hebraic, Chal- dean and Persian elements. Modern occultists, of course, have no doubt.

The point here, though, is that these texts were believed and a t precise ly the same time and in the same way that Plato's ideas were spreading among Renaissance scholars, the Hermetic ideas were also gaining currency. Ficino himself wrote interpretations o f Her-

meticism and his contemporary Pico della Mirandolla brought in a revised contemporary Cabala from the Hebrew

forms of truth in the ancient Latin mystic tradition. By 1533, HC Agrippa and Greek texts and wondered i f there had produced a widely influential guide were not truths to be found in Hebrew to this new combined philosophy in mystical writings like the Cabala, they De Occulta PhJiosopbia which i s today also had great hopes of the Corpus regarded as one uf the great occult Hermeticum which was said to be of source books. Dee, of course, had a l l ancient Egyptian origin and hence these books in his library, but there i s older than any other known source of little doubt that it was not only tradi- knowledge. Hence Cosimo di Medici tional 'occultists who knew about them. ordered Ficino, already about to I t is this aspect which interests Or Yates, translate the works of Plato, to tiicklc me, and I hope anyone who really wants Hermes first, which he did in 1463. to examine the nature o f scientific and The Pimander which is a Hermetic religious belief. Crfriesi'i was taken as evidence of the Hermeticism divides the universe into

and the intellectual. Agrippa says eac world receives influences from the on above it, 'so the virtue of the C e descends through the angels in intellectual world, to the stars ' celestial world, and thence to t tial elements and all things composed them'. Magicians aim to make the s progress upwards, and draw the vir o f the upper world by manipulating lower ones. Agrippa says they try discover the virtues of the element world by medicine and philoso celestial world by astrology and mat matics, and the intellectual world study of the ceremonies of religio

The Renaissance magus i s thu magician and occultist of sorts, b is trying to manipulate the world good effect - hence Dee's concern summoning up angels is not real 'equivalent'of the witchtwarlo summoning up a familiar. Dee summon up angels because he w t o find out about the upper world. T Hermetic world-view i s thus ab series o f animistic corresponde and many o f the early discove 'science' can now be interpret attempts at validating this worl Here i s an extract from The Em Table which gives some idea o f hermetic mystery:

True and not false, exact an true, what is below is analagous what i s above, and what i s above analagous to what is below, f o r t fulfillment o f the miracle o f the unique whole. Similarly, as all thin arise from the unique Beginning, by means of that One. so all thin born arise from the Same one, thr the processes of adaptation.

His father i s the Sun, his mother t Moon, the wind bore him in its w and the Earth was his nourisher. I him the source of every form in th whole universe. His power i s comp if i t i s turned'to the Earth. Th wilt separate Earth from Fire, subtle from the dense, quickly and with great ability. He goes from Earth to Heaven and returns ag to the Earth, and receives force from higher and lower sources. 1. In this way you will possess t glory o f the whole world. 2. And darkness will fly from yo 3. In this lies the potent power o strength. 4. I t will conquer everything sub and i t will penetrate everything dense. 5. So is the whole universe creat 6. From i t comes all miracul adaptations, based on the sa 7. That is whv I am called Herm

the idea of science that he acquired during his education is only one of many and that i t is a product o f temporary circumstances. The latter include the presence o f nearly autono. mous centres o f research in universities, large scale application o f scientific results by technologists, and the inde- pendence of scientific research from politics and religion . . . the dominant style of work o f the early twentieth century was reductionist: investigations were concentrated on the artificially

Newton's concern with gravity and the achieved in the laboratory. . . almost attraction of bodies came from the same all the philosophy o f science in this inspiration as that of Gilbert.. . it all period assumed that a real science is

one modelled on theoretical physics. The prestige of this style i s shown by the many attempts to extend it to the human sciences (see Liam Hudson's engaging Cult of the Fact for its applica- tion in psychology). Its limitations, as now seen, were centred in a dangerous ignorance of the facts and principles of the behaviour of the natural envir-

Ravetz might have gone on to point out that theoretical physics is presently going through an enormous upheaval. The investigation of sub-atomic particles has now revealed so many conjectural forces that we are. in practical terms, not much better of f than John Dee for an understanding f how the world works.

So the equations about Science and Magic, and Technology and Magic

concile ourselves that we will never derstand' or 'control' ourselves or

from science or f r ~ ~ a l t e r n a t i v e restatement of an ancient Hermetic technology; 1 rely more on instinct

14 and 161 5. The Rosic and feeling. Only, unlike some, I'm not a later form of Hermetici This has been a whirlwind tour. Dr going to try to write about it. Roszak,

iilly, ~ e a r i and Castenada have tried to

history, of Renaissance politics, and the My intellectual 'training' came in the History o f Art are good aids, though analysis o f words and their meaning.

Millenium. Bacon's contem- fortunately she writes well enough to My curiosity is undiminished, but now I know certain things cannot be articulated.

to change one's beliefs in Science and I have yet to find a satisfying form he earth is a giant lode-stone in about the period during which 'imper- o f mysticism, yet my contempt (be-

cause that i s what it was) for those who have has become much less strong. I 'm still unlikely to take a crash course in Indian or Chinese mysticism, devote

I'll conclude by going back to Jerry myself to podgy boy gods, attend Ravetz and his Bfitannica article. sabbats, or try to improve my mastery

of Hebrew to ascend into the Cabalistic

Here haue yoii(;>:ccrJ'lnx to my pron~i i l~ t l ic Groundplx of rnrMATL4E%$ArlCALL P & : w d e E d d < ( - G * " >

,,iLlhd,.lBlh,.atlu.Bl Ã..,, '+ ,.

hf",,.-."-+AA"+.+ L \ C L , , > , S , , r v , "

c",mp%phm<,- -..,.'.m"...L%-,,.- ----."--*

tree, but I've found my own certainty and humanist scepticism sorely tried in the past few months. And all because, like those readers of exploitative occult books and followers of new religions, I too feel cheated -cheated because what I believed to be true about my historical intellectual antecedents i s manifestly false. 1 don't believe in the value of alchemy, practiced today, any more than I ever did, but now I trust my own scepticism less and realise that ment. know about Dr Yates's work, you my anxiety to f i t my perception of the read her books not take my word world into the mechanical 'scientific' worid-view too eagerly has possibly consist of a series o f promiseswhich I cut me off from certain things. . . you through a series of locked doors. Which in a bizarre way brings one to Alternative Technology. One of the

effect i t has on those who become ist, an alchemist, a Yogi? In the end involved with it. The process o f think- there i s no longer any mystery, there ing about and creating practical l i f e never was one anyway, but the process rench: Routled styles that are alternative to the 'con- of investigation of the mystery has sensus' without the aid of the conven- caused a succession of self-questions tional 'alternative' dogmas, and the which have so changed the individual questioning of almost all one's that he has now achieved what he s fundamental beliefs, seems to guaran- tee an inner change of some sort. The starting points may be different and matter what he calls himself or that at was 'the Scientific Rev01 the end-products, in terms of human beings with varying world-views may what he needs to know for his own be different, but changes (and in some satisfaction. cases transcendance) are common. Are we all really on a mystery trip. and when you've read some of th The individual concerned with conserva- Have a good time building windmills. Objective Knowledge: An Evolut tion of the environment discovers his solar traps and shit-houses..You never political perceptions are taking him know where i t may lead . . . towards anarchism, the disaffected 8 o f Scientific Knowledge, Ka scientist moves from shunting psyche- delicised rats through m a m to hydro-

tried to invite you to read a few books

. . the good wholly overwhelms the bad. ' I

ex o f Possibilities, Volume 1 and Power

Published lointly by Clanose Publishers, 2 Blenheim Crescent, London W11 and Wildwood House, 1 Wardour St. London W1. Paperback (£2.50 or hardback (£5.95')

ntic Work, whichever way you took at it. Physically, it measures 13% inches (343mm) by 10 inches (254mm). The paperback (ersion is over half an inch thick, and [he hardback proportionally larger. It has taken a large number of people ivery long time to prepare, and whilst it has its shortcomings (about which more later), the overall impression is that it was welt worth the effort.

The aim, as the Introduction states, was 'to reassemble and cross-reference information. comuare and contrast

Undercurrent, 8

. . devising ever simpler ways of monitoring hazards, more human production syste

Bread: an assessment of the British bread industry. The TACC report (Technology Assessment Consumer- ism Centre). £1.2 (including p&p in UK only) from Intermediate Publishing Ltd, PO Box 6, Kettering, Northants.

GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING: WHITE BREAD MAY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH You've never sen that on a packet of bread, but arguably the warning ought to be there, and advertising of white bread on T V should be banned.

The caseagainst white bread is still in its infancy, perhaps at about the stage the cigarette argument had reached 20 years ago. But even the suspicion that white bread is going to give me gut cancer i s enough to put me off. Like a lot of people, of course, I've known for years that wholemeal bread is better for you. I've even followed the research of Burkitt and Painter as they linked one after another of the diseases of affluence with our low-fibre diet based on refined flour and sugar. But until I read the TACC report Bread I was quite happy to eat what they call 'technological bread' whenever its convenience, its lack of messy crumbs, and its suitability for electric toasters recommended it. I now can't bite into a womble sandwich without thinking of a long list of additives which, though they're probably not exactly poisonous, are revolting to think about.

Considering the strength of TACC's scientific case, the actual proposals they make are pretty mild, with phrases like 'requires review' and 'further research'. Where TACC calls for a Monopolies Com- mission investigation and for a full

There are also a few questions to which I still want to know the answers Why do wholemeal flour and bread cost more although they have actually been through less processes than their refined equival- ent^ Would they be cheaper i f they were produced and distributed in the quantities that white bread and flour are now? What happens to Happy Monday's loaf when Hdppy Tuesday comes along - i s i t fed to pigs, made into sausages, or ground up and mixed with

local bakers tailor the sup their perishable produc o t demand more accur huge distributors ca

pesticide in 'techno

ful to TACC for a clear sum of the scientific evidence, an also for their sensible handlin that thorny question which cerns not only white bread b tobacco, automobiles and he what do we do when people 11 and want something which obviously isn't good for them?

DANGER: work at men Work is dangerous to your health. human body and i t s responses. kannc Stellman and Susan Daum. also list hazards according to occ Vintage Books, Random House, NY tion. Details are not only given o (Distributed in UK by Pandemic) to control pollution at source, b £1.25 ventilation systems, and The Haifardsof Work. Pat Kinnersley. but also on methods of sim Pluto Press (Unit 10, Spencer Court, measurement and monitori 7 Chalcot Road, London NW1) 90p. and chemical hazards.

I t i s emphasised that this is a Both booksare concerned with attain- struggle, as much as a sci ing proper health standards for wor A brief description of the spe

not just the minimal health requi demands made by the Oil, Chemi to keep The Machine working. and Atomic workers, well with'

To help workers in gaining more context of US legislation, poin control over their working conditions, way for what can be done. and in changing them, both are he same message - to mak as clear, simple manuals. Manuals to demands and to take action train people to deal effectively with equally to the Britain's new & e hazardous work situations, to Health at Work Bill, which i s rep1 knowledgeably with so-called general recommendations, but o and t o assess precautions. Detail no clear definitions of practical I

technical information is presente in an easily usable form. But when you've bought, read

The books differ in the emp digested both of these books, w they give to various aspects. Kinnersley's else can you do? The term liber deals not only with physical and technology applies not just to win chemical hazards, but also with the and telephones, but to devising eve patterns of work, and the legal and simpler ways of monitoring hazard

demanded an immediate ban on certain additives and a positive system, and the personal tragedies scheme of support for small local bakers, involved, his book i s unsurpassed.

Granted, a team largely based, Little more needs to be said; by now People in the US, concentrate on as TACC is, on Manchester Univer- everyone should have a copy - it's need for workers to organise arou sity Business School is not going to been out nearly a year. go beyond liberal, reformist Stellman and Daum concentrate proposals. But even within those much more on the scientific aspects, Aerospace, the Vinyl Chloride issu limits they could have been a lot so although the book i s American, the midwest workers fight, and ho fiercer. Their report begs comparison with the CIS 'anti-reports'and I 'm

native opportunities for ILLING ZOMBIES or SILENT REBELS

e Private Future by Martin Pawley and extortion become Marketing. What hames and Hudson, 1974. developed within feudalism was not a

anus/ F~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ l ~ ~ , ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~d~~~ by consciousness, an ideology, or even an

chael Velli compiled and edited by organised revolutionary movement, but

rraine and Fredy Perlman rather a practice, a form of social

d & Black, Detroit 1972 behaviour which undermined and ultimately overthrew the piety, the

IF YOU TAKE either of these books to gallantry, and the sovereignty of earlier bed, with you, be prepared for a sleep- forms. less night; they both gave my head a And this i s how the detonation o f all

whirl it's not seen for ycars. the possibilities of the productive forces

in private future, pawley looks all in the hands of politically self-determin-

the targets o f contemporary rddical ing individuals is happening - is happen-

criticism and examines them with rare '"9 lhe gradual extension of

freshness and rigour, but his conclusions Powered Practice After laying Out this

are distinctly those of one who cannot thesis 1" a brief historicdl expose, Veil1

separate his wonderment amidst goes on to discuss in two parts how the

modern hiTek Kommodity Kulture revolutionary leader can take over such

from his common love of humdnity. a dangerously detonating situation and

His most tenuous and controversial create the conditions for the instatement

assumption is that people in today's of organised power centres, in the form

western world know what ishappen,ng of workers councils, proletarian dictator- on a profound level and that they ships and the like

understand in secret what they cannot

ted with full colour collages on alternate pages and is - apart from the leaders' quotes which are essentially boring -- full of droll humour and precisely-articu- lated ideas.

To return to Private Future, Pawley i s arguing that what people want (and are working towards achieving) i s a society arranged so that one doesn't take the good with the bad but a non. society where one keeps aloft continual- ly on illusions, ideas, and images. A world of fantasy.

Consumer society i s a form of barter for dreams. Private activity that does not need or lead to any tedious responsibilities (especially social) 15

what is desired. The public realm,the space between the private citizen and the government, i s being evacuated in therush to the comfort o f privacy, and the sector left becomes a wasteland of environmental terrorism. I t is only the previous culture and morality that holds us back from sinking into our own individual euphoric and trouble- free day dreams. Perfect peace, at one without the world. It i s the com-

press publicly They know that the dim mercial that is legitimised by the f a commodity culture i s to smash f l r f id~~c i nnt vire.verw we're AII

1 v.--- - . , . .v . . . - - . - .~- ,

unity and replace i t with isolatio Come the

going our separate ways to super d thisprivatisation i s what they zombieland!

hat i s why they continue to supper r e v o l ~ t i o n . . . such a culture By cataloguing a mass of 1 Personally, I can't take that first

I assumption about everybody knowing where they are s i n g deep down inside, considering the perverted state of our currently available infor- mation sources. But the book certainly

powerful air of reality to some far fetch- 1 1 wakes you up from the daze of imrner- ed ideas that fuelled my adolescent imagina- sion in mass media. tion. He uses such techniques -- expressed Back at the Manual there arc many

i n exciting, journalistic quick-fire prose points Velli makes that clarify a lot o f t o package his thesis and to turn up the the conclusions that are conlinuallv

cropping up in discussions and articles. For example: the point at which state

Without revolutionary leadership, power is classically seized i s the time continually changing responses t o con- in which the populace voa/tate with tinually developing productive forces indecision and fear after the old order

icy represents. The issues are merely a move towards chaos. Without revolution- has been sprung into the air but before ary organisation, attempts of individuals the mighty burst o f independent

In Manual For Revolutionary Leaders, to realise their self powers to the level creative enthusiasm has begun to Hi, on the other hand, makes the made possible by the productive forces explore the myriad possibilities of

ssumption that whilst pcoplc are not on move towards anarchy. modern productive forces, ?hi5 i s the he wholeconscious of what's happening, in the first part Velli takes quotes short period in which people hdve l-o

they are progressing towards a point of from revolutionary leaders and cuts in throw oft' the mass psychology of detonation by practice - practice of passages of his own critique, using a dependence that has p e r --'red the'r individual acts uf rebellion and ofexperi- system o f negation marks and typeface lives for years. Intermediate ., mentation with appropriations o f the changes to drive his point in. The second tcchnologies can be used to illustr?te 1 productive nature o f :i.i-ii:iology. This i s part begins with a lighter and extremely in practice the impermanent nature

1 the way in which the IndustriallCapita! funny scenario of revolutionary situations of this dependence and the enormo Revolution happened: by the gradual (essential reading for al l aspiring lead

1 extension o f bourgeoispractice. and despairing disciples). He then g Only then did Usury become Banking to complete the manual of aversion

!

some material missing right at t beginning. As for further readin

tried in British conditions, and my Methane (Atomic Rooster's Here) guess is that most o f them would by Steven Sampson, edited by Andre produce hardly more power than

Mackillop. £1.60 72pp.

ge scale. There is a free poster-

bridge, Cornwall. version o f LID'S gas-conversion

THERE IS quitea lot of useful ma prints that appeared in Under-

in these books; but there is somethin currents No 6 -n ice ly printed. I f AT is ever to be more than

peculiar about them -apart from th There is less off-the-subject material

orthodox inadequacies, of which more than in the hydropower book, but

anon. I t i s as i f they were written by again there i s an awful lot o f padding.

a team of schizophrenics. They keep umping from one thing to another, and making bafflingallusions ['atomic

I rooster's hire', for example) which left me at least wondering whether I'd missed something along the line somewhere.. .

The Hydropower book has some useful material, basically oriented to small-scale installations. I t shows the basis for flow calculations; has plans for DIY dams, and overshot wheel and turbine construction (reprinted from Popular Science); lists River Authorities; gives form letters for ascertaining the legal status of a proposed hydro installation; energy conversion tables; and helpful, if repetitive, remarks from a practicing hydro-engineer. I t has a bibliography of sorts, but i t i s unannotated and is mostly devoted to things other than hydropower Of the 13 items on hydropower, eight are about old watermills, two are sources from which most of the designs in the book arc taken (although i t doesn't say so), two are basically about big-scale hydroelectric practice, and the remaining one is nothing to do with hydropower at a l l , but the autobiography of a Victorian cartmaker

Another complaint that must be made concerns the amount of space 32 pages scattered throughout - which has nothing to do with hydro- power, but i s given over to advcrtise- ments (often repeated over and over again); articles on nuclear reactor safety, oil advertising and solar energy; those schizophrenic cartoons; and more that can only be described as padding.

The Methane Book i s most usefully a zoo catalogue of different types of digestors, agitators w d feed systems, building on two classic articles by Ram Bux Singh and Golueke (alth i t is hard to tell where the original end dnd the editor's additions star

IPECI AL SCANDINAVIAN 1ECTION in honour of the fact that our ild friend Per Janse gave us a l ug in Doyens Nyheter the other lay, and Undercurrents can now ie purchased in Stockholm at the jook-Cafe (BokCafe), Drottning- tan 19).

Jannbaereren No 2 Summer 197< rhis i s a far-out Norwegian freaks' nag covering political/ecologicdl tlternative/mystical topics. It's iery good and there's plenty of i t - 70 pages, without the covers I 'm sorry I don't know what

Vunnbaereren means - can't find he ruddy dictionary anywhere). Most of the articles are local and original, but there are also transla- tions o f important articles from ather languages in many cases probably the first into a Scandi- navian language, which in itself IS a very useful service. The price af a single issue might seem high to Us

(10 NKr) but you get a lot for your money and no adverts (yearly sub i s 50 NKr). This issue had articles On communes and reviews of the COW

mune movements in Norway, Den- mark, Sweden, and USA; several articles on organic and biodynamic farming; others on farm schools; translations of an interview with Murray Bookchin (from Undercurrents, we suppose7 we ripped i t of f from Alternative Sources of Energy - long may i t recirculate') and an article by George Woodcock on Anarchism and Ecology, a prose- poem story; article on making a fibre- elass greenhouse; and two allegorical

VB No 3 i s an AT special - don't 1 miss it. Ekologiskt Byggande 1: Metodi Teknik, Eko-nomi och Levnads ('Ecological building: I: Repo Trip; methods, techniques, e and lifestyles).

Eko-Bygg Gruppen, Teknista kolan i Lund, Architecture Dept BOX 725, S-220 07 Lund, Swed

This is a report (basically writ by Hans Nordenstrom) of a visit Britain in the spring of 1974 by a group of staff and graduate stude at Lund Technical University ¥Eke-Bygg ('Eco-build'). For dinavians. it must be the best g to what's going on in Britai

I t starts with an introdu the principles of ambient-energ design in building, and a descrip of Eko-Bygg's research programm including plans for a test-house.

The account of the visit to Britain covers work at Cambrid and the Architecture Associati Street Farm House (the cover s a picture of Graham Caine's famous sculptured toilet seat, which i s wh. makes peoplelinger so long in the ITDG; the National Centre for Development of AT; BSSRS; a bi communal squat; and a report o meeting o f the UK section of th International Solar Energy Socie much of the material ofwhich is reproduced. There are drawings a photographs, and lists o f address magazines, booksand other pub tions.

PS- Vsnnbsreren m

whom the taxes themselves wrong. When it was realised that the Neston. At Corsham, the largest of being extorted. However, by undcr-city bunkers were no longer safe the four underground factories built ptitious means, the whole against nuclear attdck, the authorities in World War 2 i s still ready for

paratus has been pieced together. made provision for their survival by emergencies, £ 2,000,000 having e majority o f people in Britain building the National Seat of Govern- been spent on i t 1940-43. Important Navy not know o f their existence - ment, deep underground and a long armamentsresearch a'ld administration is y even refuse to be!' eir exist. way from malor city-taigcts Bath or Chelt found at F ~ ~ ~ ~ I I , Bath. Other

ce Yet refusal to be1 mething enham appear to be the most likely NSG excavations may be in the Forest 01 Dean es not make it cease t sites They are both within rapid At Chinnor, in the Chilterns, the rely allows i t to fun

' ss of London by rail and motor- govcrninent i s excavating a massive

e itself unhindered a (Bath M4). At Cheltenham, there new tunnel -ostensibly as an ex- wo possible sites, the Government perlment in tunneling for the Channel

m e against the people, and have Communication Headquarters being Tunnel. i th similar results - the presen t likely candidate, as it backs What You Can Do

limestone escarpment which The concerned citizen will ask 'what let. Undoubtedly, there i s 00 feet of vertical cover in a can I do about this menace to liberty?'

degree o f error, but the nd a half. Even this, of course, is They arc, by their nature, sabotage- nnels are known to be accurately ugh for protection against a 50 proof, even proof against a small cribed. The whole sham of demo- or 100 megaton nuclear weapon. At, nuclear weapon The interested citizen tic government in Britain i s exposed and near, ~ ~ t h are a number of sites should document and publish anything

hollow lie by these bunkers, built which may house the NSG. Box tunnel, he or she can find out, from whatever out the public knowledge, from sambard Kingdom Brunei's master- source is available, Anarchists Anony-

blic money, to Protect public Servants piece of engineering on the western mous hold anti-copyright on this inst those who are conned into the of ~ ~ i t i ~ h ~ ~ ~ 1 , houses many publication. Please republish it whcre- lef that they have elected them The secrets. There are 4 sets of points ever you can write to the local press,

vings of retired Colonels and generals (he tunnel, leading through TV, radio (they all know already, but er the supposed threats to 'public steel gates into the interior o f the hill. are prevented by D notices from er* can be ignored by the govcrw Above, in the village of Hawthorn publishing) - it will show them that

A few strong-arm men are the which had important telecommunica- there is outside knowledge. Complain r of the Walkers and the Stirlings. tions links built in W W ~ , are to your local MPs and councillors

tcning down the hatches is the bomb.proof covers on the ventilation Demonstrate at known bunker entran- swer of government. Five years o f shafts of the tunnel. The RAF base of ces and distribute literature. Explore

rand revolutionary action in Rudloe Manor i s also on the hill, the London underground. There are n Ireland has been weathered complete with its microwave com- many passages you can walk along that

s system, and the forthcoming munication tower. Hawthorn is full o f arc not on normal pedestrian inter- ers predicted by all the pundits many other military establishments - changes. Try doors on the Underground

scist and communist, Liberal and too many for even the incredulous you can always claim you have lost Y, Labour and Monarchist,republi- sceptic to dismiss Near to the village your way. Goodgc Street, Holborn, and anarchist, are well anticipated IS tk H-bomb proof security deposit Leiccster Square, Trafalgar Square are

at Neston, where, in a stone quarry central stations which need investigation. ationai Seat o f Government called Goblin's Pit, Wdnsdyke Secur- The main thine i s to publish and dis.

But .1" rcddcrs are inufi'nni; that ihc ilics stoic lei-nrds ol cumpaniei. ¥icminat infermiltion. Tne marc people fuvcrnmcrn, h.ivc cun-.iruciet.i bunkcr-i Mdsi B i i i i ih ~ imp t i n~es 01 any impur- thdi kr~oi \ , ihc bittcr.

orror prob

LIKE EVERY0 Undercurrents has been knocked sideways by inflation. To try to hold our costs down, printed this issue on much Ii paper. The print bill has still g up, but by 'only' about £8 sine the last issue. T o have printed issue on the same paper as be would have cost us an extra  Using lighter paper also means save our postage (5p instead of Also, as subscribers will notice, we are now using wrappers instead of envelopes for copies sent by post.

WHERE THE M Many readers have told u s that at 35p Undercurrents seems too dear. 'After all', they say, 'it only cost about lop a copy to print so you must be coining it, mustn't you?' We wish it were true: but unfortun- ately 'small' in the magazine, game is not only 'beautiful', it is expen- sive. We have to recover the cost of our overheads from a sale of only 8,000 copies every two months (don't laugh - this is what we plan to achieve next year) instead of - for example - Old Scientist's 66,000 copies a week. So though Old Scien- tists' overheads are, at a guess, twenty times ours, the overhead cost per copy of Undercurrents is four times that of Old Scientist. And at present the disparity, with Undercurrents coming out, er, irregularly and selling only 5,000 copies, is even worse. Nor do we have pages and pages of paid advertising to pad out the paper and contribute to the overheads.

Our aim over the next year or so is a modest one: to establish Under-

searching expose of Undercurrents finances.

The surplus is only about 0.

debts incurred

currents as a motithly niagii/ine ~ i t h a full lime editor and .a .-ir:iilation 01'

Undercurrents Planned Monthly Budget

Income per month Subscriptions 1500 Postal Sales 2000 at 2 8 . 5 ~ per 35p copy Newsagents 2500 at 45% of 35p = 15p Bookshops 2500 at 60% of 35p = 21 p

(weighted average income per copy: 22p) TOTAL INCOME

Costs per month Paper: 8000 copies Print cost for first 6,000 Print cost (including paper) for next 2,000 at 6 Op

PRINT COSTS

Editor's Salary (including national insurance etc) Other Staff salaries " 0 r ,

Contributors' payments Typesetting Promotion and advertising Office Rent and Running Costs Expenses (travel, meals, etc) Postage Other Costs (insurance, legal accountants fees etc)

uickly and with no hassle. We be From the letters we get, in two ways: the marginal cont

exception finance has th hand, however much we 111

ly issues. The problem is that t o even on only a 6,OOOcirculation. nd, we have t o pay 'on the nail'. finance a monthly we need about and we have the use of your £ for present we reckon we need a another £2,00 in working capital. a while, as working capital. Some of i t we may be able to borrow

he gap . A quarter at commercial rates. from our THE PROBLEM OF DISTRIBUTION Many readers write t o tell us of the

of Undercurrents Ud. A

The Other Branch

LEAMINGTON SPA, Warwicks.

Clapham Pk Rd, SW4

Architectural Association Book- shop, 36 Bedford Square, WCl

Freedom Bookshop 84b Whitechapel High St, E l

Mandarin Books New College Pde, NW3

flobinson & Watkins Cecil Court 19.21 (of f Channg Cross Rdl London WC2

Rismg Free 197 King's Cross Rd, WC1

CAMBRIDGE

Arjuna Wholefoods John Carlyle 12, Mil l Rd 36 Albert Rd, G42

OXFORD A F & J Barmt

East Oxfor Advnrt tsr 178 Bvres Rd. G 12 - -- Books 34 Cowley Rd.

LEICESTER Black Flail Books

Maxwells 1 Wilne st. 9-1 0 St Clements Leicestef University Bookshop MANCHESTER University Rd. Orbit Books BRIGHTON

Symposium

ubtic House Bookshop

Grass Roots Bookshop 178 Oxford Rd, M.13

Bookflair Mount St. M.2

EDINBURGH John Selim 23 Launston Place, EH3

Better Books 11 Forrest Rd. EH1

BIRMINGHAM Tapetus Bookshop

OOkShOP The Fourth Idea

BRISTOL 1

Christopher Pitts 27 St Thomas' Hi l l CANTERBURY, Kent

Bogus 21 Princes Avenue HULL. E. Yorks

201 Corporation St O u t of Time Prometheus Books Hvde Park House 134 Alcester Road, King X Road Moseley, B13 King X,

Birmingham Peace Centre HAL IFAX

B,,$t0W 4 Bndewell Alley NORWICH. Norfolk

Mushroom 261 Arkwnght St NOTTINGHAM

Ultima Thule Handyside Arcade Percy St NEWCASTLE.0N-TYNE

Dave Taylor 8 The Crescent PURBROOK Herts

Andrew D Douglas 2 Wellington St Stoke, PLYMOUTH

B m t i f u l Stranger 6a Hunters Lane ROCHDALE, Lanes Cleveland Wrecking Yard 175 Newcastle St Burslem STOKE ON-TRENT Spice Island Osborne Rd SOUTHSEA, Hants John Smith & Son Stirling University Bookshop STIRLING Red Light Books 202 Derby Rd SOUTHAMPTON Rare & Racey 166 Devonshire St SHEFFIELD Conservation Books 28 Bearmod Rd WOKINGHAM, Berkshire Posse Mount Farm

18, Moor St. Rinawav. EJ Archer Escnck - . 632 Bookshop 13 Coronation Walk YORK

632 Bristol Rd, KEIGHLEV, West Yorks EIRE

Sally Oak B29 News From Nowhere Rea's Bookshop

9 Sefton Drive St Stephens Green BATH LIVERPOOL 8

Dublin Seanghts Bookshop L t d Eblana Bookshop 9 New Bond St Place, B1 lnhn tharirlin Grafton Street -- - ". -" Bath Community Workshop 19 Anlaby Rd Dublin l a The Paramon 81 H U L L Eco Shelter Group

Dept o f Psychiatry University College Earlsfort Terrace

their trade comes from only a d o ~ e n titles. They cannot be expected to carry an unknown title except on a So that's why we want you to sub- an issue after we'd come to re1

sale-or-return basis, and then only scribe, dammit! them, that would bankrupt us,

if it is heavily promoted. Even the MR SMUG THE CENSOR large chains like Smiths are only There is one other objection to using really interested in about fifty titles. the retail newsagent system. As it for their imprimatur before

Undercurrents is just too small to, readers of Time Out, Private Eye and print it. Any comments on th

bother with. We are fortunate that Socialist Worker will know, W.H. Moore Harness have agreed to distri- Smith and Son, who own or supply butt the magazine, even on a limited most of the large newsagents in this scale: usually commercial distributors country, insist on their lawyers vetting Northumber'and

don't want to know about a magazine unless its circulation is more than 20,000. These, gentle readers, are ly Distribution Manager of Private the commercial facts of life. The maga- Eye, precisely to get round this zine trade is a free market - if YOU formidable obstacle. Socialist Worker can afford the entrance fee. If. issold on subscription or in the this hour!'

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -am-- - - --- -- ------ SMALL ADS FORM COPY DATE:/ post, MO* OWW.~~XP- 9 Piit>h!A t*\ set/w\. ........... _ I W s e d . . . . . . . ./nft^lf^~r/w,. .... \~)~ds,-tobeUMU+£ LM . .. . . . . . ................-... ....-. f'!AM£ - ADDRESS-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PRINT YOUR AD. I.\ BLOCK CAPITALS,ONE NOW i'N EACH 8 0 X

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ................... SELL UNDERCURRENTS NAME

............... We don't expect anyone to do i t you, we're hoping to get about the ADDRESS. 'just for the money', but we don't same nett amount back as we would see why you should do it for have got from a straight distributor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nothing, either. Selling magazines But i f you don't feel like being requires a certain amount of time a salesperson, why not just take a few . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and effort, and we think such copies round to your local news- 1 enclose a chequelpostal order efforts should be rewarded at agent or bookshop? They'll ask for f .... in Payment for. . .. copies rates comparable to those which a 25 to 33 per cent discount, usual- Of Undercurrents Number .... at prevail in the distribution trade. ly, and they won't pay you until 2 1 ~ a COPY. (Minimum order, 10

So we're offering you a discount they've sold the copies, but the copies). I understand that Unde of 40 per cent if you order more few coppers you'll make on the currents will buyback any copies than 10 copies from us. After we've deal will at feast pay for your bus which I return in good condition paid the cost of posting them to fare. at 2 1 ~ per c o ~ v . - -------- - ------------ -- -------- TAKE OUT A SUBSCRIPTION

/u & fD SubSfdS ~ i h M c u ~ ~ L V T s & /&&a &~49&/~&dwder/~~2 00 ($5 onus w€9 Q Ptfi3se ~ a < 1 <i 00 YSW si fiscfuJhavi I,* dci/7 MVOG mf-,4~-/i~ 00 US ~ ~ f f u ~ o t f r ^ ) (TICK THE /\PP^o@~IATâ fiG^ &SASE START MY S U 6 5 C f l l P T I O N hlITH ISSUE NUMBER /D St\ S f p W t W f & ~ bl-m<>L. \ ISMS p o r n log sM!M! ddS.5 JWSCf' /'W /D C~LWIW

S M A L L A D S . . . . S M A L L A D S . . . . S M A L L A D S . . . . S M A L L A D S . . . . S M A L L ADS. . . . S M A L L

ember for a year - stu

ould like t o hear f rom a

g toqether and who wou

RUNNING PRESS, Nineteenth St, Phila Penn. 19103, for bo

OCIETY - T

crafts, freak science Write for Catalogue.

ivalists who are deeply d t o peaceable chanqe

eds a new home. For details "tact Philip Brachi, Eithin y er, Church Stoke, nr Bishop

from PO Box 6, Ket s:le. Montqomeryshire. Tel: Northants or 6 Call . . ""-

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