INSIDE DOPE: LSD IN BRITAIN

The history of LSD has been the subject of numerous studies in the past and the subject of a number of previous posts on The Generalist (see below). Andy Roberts new book 'Albion Dreaming' is a welcome addition to the literature as it breaks new ground by concentrating on the significant effects LSD had on British culture - the first such book to do so.

It is distinguished by a high-level of original research, including numerous interviews with key characters and material from previously unresearched government documents. The book is well-referenced throughout, has a interesting 16pp black-and-white photo section, and will prove a useful and reliable source to researchers and historians in many fields.Roberts writes from a counter-culture perspective in a readable non-academic style which makes his book also accessible to the general reader.

The book, he says, was written to redress the balance in what he sees as an American bias in previous LSD historical accounts and to restore 'Britain's status as a major crucible of LSD culture.'

He writes: 'In fact, LSD is a European export to America. The drug was discovered in Switzerland, the British pioneered LSD psychotherapy and military tests, and much of the counter-culture's underlying philosophy stems from British expatriates such as Aldous Huxley and Alan Watts. On a more fundamental level, at certain times, the bulk of the world's LSD was manufactured in Britain.'

The author has provided a useful chapter-by-chapter commentary on the book's contents, reproduced below, to which I have added additional thoughts and comments, based on my close reading of the text.

1. Turn on, Tune in, Drop Out: Introduction
The author refers to several interesting books of which I was previously unaware: 'Psychedelia Britannica' by Tony Melechi, 'Acid' by David Black and Paul Devereux's 'The Long Trip: A Prehistory of Psychedelia.'

2. Hofmann's Potion: Albert Hofmann's discovery and the history of LSD worldwide up to1952. Unusual facts about Hofmann's spiritual life prior to the discovery of LSD. Early distribution to the CIA and other military sources.

Sources the origins of the idea of putting LSD in the water supply to a conversation between Los Angeles psychiatrist Nick Bercel, the first medical professional in the USA to work with LSD, and the CIA. He told them that the chlorine in the water would make the drug innefective. Roberts recommends 'Acid Dreams' by Martin Lee and Bruce Shlain as the most comprehensive book on the history of the CIA's involvement with LSD in their search for the ultimate 'truth drug'.

3. LSD: The Cure of Souls?: The coming of LSD to Britain in late 1952. Development of LSD/ psychotherapy at Powick and elsewhere. Unusual government connections with LSD psychotherapy unit at Powick. Interview with Dr Ronnie Sandison etc. The demise of LSD as a therapeutic tool. Dr Sandison's wife wrote to tell me (Ronnie is aged and unable to write) that this chapter was 'The best treatment of R's work I have seen in print'.

Centres on the above-mentioned interview with Sandison, who became Consultant Psychiatrist to Worcester's Powick Hospital from Sept 1951 to 1964. During this time he was supplied free LSD by Sandoz; he had met Hofmann there who had given him a present of a box of ampoules of LSD, making Sandison the first person to bring LSD to Britain. Sandison and colleagues carried out LSD experiments on 36 patients with very difficult psychiatriic problems over the course of a year in 1953. Their report was the first article about LSD to be published in Britain. The results were encouraging: 14 of the subjects recovered; 3 showed moderate improvement. Sandison's work was expanded and a special brick LSD unit was built, with the help of Dr Joel Elkes; Sandison was not aware at the tijme that Elkes had close connections with the Ministry of Defence (MOD). All this work was secret. Sandison believes that, by the mid-1950s, there were more than 10 centres in Britain practicing LSD psychotherapy experiments; by the 1970s, therapy with LSD in Britain had ceased completely.

Chapter also mentions Frankie Howerd's and Sean Connery's experiences with LSD, introduces Ronnie Laing and Syd Barrett.

4. LSD: A Cure for the Common Cold: LSD experiments by the SIS (MI6) in the early 1950s. Continued experiments by the Ministry of Defence in the 1960s. Links with US intelligence.

The fascinating story of the LSD experiments at Porton Down (1953-54), instituted by MI6, and kept secret until 2002. Volunteers were duped into taking LSD without their informed consent. Lab testing resumed in 1961-62 followed by field trials with troops in 1964 and 1966. In March 1971, Porton Down traced soldiers involved in the '60s tests but the details of these follow-up interview have been lost. A detailed police investigation named Operation Antler into a wide variety of experiments carried at Porton (including the LSD tests) was initiated in 1999: its findings were submitted to the Crown prosecution Service (CSP) who concluded that nobody would face criminal charges. Three LSD test veterans waged their own legal compensation battle and settled out of court with the MOD for a reported £10,000 in February 2006.

5. The Joyous Cosmology: Intellectual precursors of the LSD generation focusing on British ex-pats: Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard as well as David Solomon, Timothy Leary and co. How the counter-culture's philosophy was formed.

Much of the material on Huxley is well-known including his experiences on mescaline with Dr Humphrey Osmond, who later coined the term 'psychedlic. This led to his book 'The Doors of Perception', a line from William Blake. His first LSD trip was in October 1955. Less well-known characters are Captain Alfred M. Hubbard, credited with turning on 6,000 people to LSD and Michael Hollingshead, who similarly made it his mission to spread LSD widely. Huxley introduced Hollingshead to Timothy Leary, who first tripped out with trumpeter Maynard Ferguson and his wife in December 1961 on acid supplied by Hollingshead, who was also present. American writer David Solomon was literary editor for Playboy in the early '60s and published material by Leary and Osmond. Huxley he described as his 'guru extraordinaire.'

6. The Foggy Ruins of Time: Early recreational use of LSD in Britain 1959-late 1965: Trocchi, Hollingshead, the London Psychedelic Centre etc. Government and media interest.

A valuable chapter much of which was new to this reader, particular the central role of Scottish writer Alex Trocchi,
best known for the heroin memoir 'Cain's Book', here revealed as one of the first major importers of LSD into Britain. His flat in Notting Hill Gate was one of five main LSD pads of the time, the others being 101 Cromwell Rd (where Syd Barrett lived for a while and where Jagger, McCartney and Donovan visited), the luxurious residence of antqiue dealer Christopher Gibb in Cheyne Walk, and 25 Pont Street, both in Chelsea. Hollingshead pops up throughout the narrative as does R.D. Laing. Retells the story of Vince Taylor, the first LSD rock casualty, the man on whom David Bowie based Ziggy Stardust and who Joe Strummer called 'the beginning of British rock 'n' roll.'

7. Strangely Strange, but Oddly Normal: LSD in Britain in 1966. Early users and trials. John Esam. LSD in development of London's counterculture. 'London Life's exposure of Hollingshead's activities. Terry Taylor and the Notting Hill LSD cult. The legislation against LSD and on what basis it came about.

1966 was the year when police arrests began in earnest and the national press began infiltrating the scene and publishing banner headline scare stories.Britain's first successful legal prosecution of freelance photographer Roger Lewis for LSD possession resulted in a £25 fine. Michael Hollingshead was sent to prison for 21 months, during which he took acid in Wormwood Scrubs with the Russian spy George Blake, who escaped from prison to Russia shortly afterwards. New to me was the story of Teddy Taylor, the model for Colin McInnes novel 'Absolure Beginners'; his 1961 novel 'Baron's Court, All Change' contained the first fictional refernce to LSD in Britain. In 1966, the UN called for world governments to put in place controls to prevent the manufacture, sale or use of LSD. In June the British Medical Journal called for LSD to be made illegal in Britain. On July 21st, Roy Jenkins presented to Parliament a draft order calling for LSD to be incorporated into the Misuse of Drugs Act. On September 9th, LSD became illegal to possess or distribute in the UK, followed by the US a month later.

8. Senses Working Overtime: LSD in Britain in 1967. Pop stars and LSD use. The 101 Cromwell Road scene. BBC and LSD lyrics. The first LSD chemist and manufacturing and distribution network in Britain.

Largely concerned with the crossover with LSD and the music scene. Documents the Stones' bust at Redlands, the News of the World's expose of Donovan's LSD lifestyle and LSD links to the Move, the Moody Blues and the Beatles. Also details of Victor James Kapur, the first LSD chemist to be busted in Britain.

9. All You Need is Love?: LSD in Britain 1968-73.Trial of first outlaw British LSD chemist. Tim Leary in Britain. LSD and spirituality in Britain. More on early LSD chemists. Hollingshead and the Isle of Cumbrae commune. Early sightings of Operation Julie participants.

This period saw LSD move from being a consciousness changing substance linked to the movers and shakers of the '60s to a cheap and widely available drug. Emphasises the importance of the 1971 Glastonbury Fayre festival, LSD's infiltration into the squatting movement, continued legal prosecutions and the early roots of the Free Festival movement and what was to become the biggest LSD manufacturing business in British history.

10. Bring What You Expect to Find:LSD and free festivals. How free festivals were focussed on and motivated by LSD. Glastonbury Fayre 1971 and LSD. Watchfield, Windsor, Meigan, Trentishoe, Wally Hope, Bill Dwyer, Sid Rawle.

A useful short history of the Free Festival movement, beginning with Phun City in 1970.

11. The Mind Alchemists: Operation Julie. This chapter analyses the Operation Julie LSD manufacturing and distribution ring. Contains recent information given by one of the main participants.A look at the events leading up to the trial, the trail and its aftermath from a counterculture perspective.

Little to add. Roberts points out that those interested in the fine detail of this story should consult 'Operation Julie' by Dick Lee (the head of the police operation) and Stewart Tendler and David May's 'Brotherhood of Eternal Love.'

12. Coming Down Again: LSD in the 80s and 90s. The rise of rave culture and ecstasy

Begins with Julien Cope of Teardrop Explodes and the Liverpool Club Eric's, the further rise of the Free Festival Movement, its untimely end in 1984 at the Battle of the Beanfield, the rise of the Peace Convoy, the emergence of Ecstasy and the rave culture, the Criminal Justic and Public Order Act 1984, the reemergence of blotter acid and the court case brought by participants in LSD medical experiments in the 1950s and 1960s against the NHS, who eventually paid out £195,000.

13. Revolution in the Head: LSD and the future of drug laws.

At the beginning of the new century, public interest was low, legal cases were small, siezure rates falling. Account of the case of the Brighton-based LSD chemist Casey Hardison, who was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. A two -year investigation funded by the Royal College of Arts, published in March 2007, called for the legal status of all drugs to be reclassified in line with their potential for actual harm. In October that year, Richard Brumstrom, then Chief Constable of North Wales, called for a radical overhaul of the Misuse of Drugs Act. Prohibition, he claimed, causes five harms: increasing crime, overloading the crininal justice system, economic harm, undermining public health, destablisation of countries producing drugs, the undermining of civil rights. The book ends with the death of Albert Hofmann on 29th April 2008 and a quote from Aldous Huxley, in a letter he wrote to Hofmann:

' Essentially this is what must be developed: the art of giving out in love and intelligence what is taken from vision and the experience of self-transcendence and solidarity with the universe.'

PREVIOUS POSTS:
FATHER OF LSD ALBERT HOFMANN DIES AGE 102
LSD and THE BROTHERHOOD
INSIDE DOPE: OPERATION JULIE REVISITED
What the Dormouse Said: Counter-Culture and Computing

THE GODDESS

It was one of the great pleasures during my work producing the programme for the London Festival of Tantra (see Previous Posts) to discover the work of Jennifer Esperanza on the theme of the Goddess.

This Santa Fe-based photographer has a beautiful, sophisticatedly simple eye and her photographs of women are quite simply superb. They manage, by turns, to be strong, emotional, erotic, graceful and elegant, playful and serious.

She has a wonderful sense of colour and composition and it is clear that the images are infused with a deep spirituality and social commitment; the book includes peace activists and pictures Esperanza took India after the tsunami.

She has now produced a wonderful book 'Tears of Venus' through print-on-demand company Blurb, which you can buy directly from them. The images in it are stunning on the pdf she sent me. On the phone, she tells me the print quality in the book is first-class.

In the introduction she writes: ' The women in this book are like wild flowers that grow between the cracks in the sidewalk, strong and free. They are living aspects of the Goddess. Working with each of them was an honour. I enjoy to photograph and work with other women. To share with them an appreciation of their own bodies and souls, as they help me to heal my soul. We made these photos toether to control the world of control and shame; to shake and shift time. We worked together to pull back the walls and free ourselves in the act of worshipping her, the Goddess.'

You can also get a look at her work on Flickr, where she has a portfolio of images, entitled Its All the Goddess In Me, some of which are included in this book.


The theme of this post also gives me a chance to recommend some previously-published books from The Generalist's library that address similar themes.

I have had Return of The Great Goddess for years (first published in 1986) and have often gone back to it for further investigation. It is a beautifully produced pocket-size anthology of images and quotes on the theme of the title. The images include photos, sculptures, illustrations, artworks of all kinds accompanied by literary extracts, pithy spiritual thoughts, poems, short essays. The combination is inspiring, eye-catching and food for thought.

Edited and created by Burleigh Mutén, the Introduction begins: 'After a five-thousand-year reign of malee icons in the Western world, we have the exhilarating privilege of witnessing a global re-appearnce of the Divine Feminine in the arts and in religious ceremony. Women's history suddenly reveals a legacy of authority, leadership, and wisdom, dating back some thirty thousand years, inspiring a new integrity in the women of this cendtury and in our daughters and sons and their daiughters and sons to come.'

The Intro is prefaced with a quote from Rilke, one of my favourite poets: 'You must give birth to images/They are the future waiting to be born.'

(Left): The artist and sculptor Louise Bourgeois by Annie Liebowitz

Another favourite of mine is Women, a photobook by Annie Liebowitz with introductory essay by Susan Sontag, published in 1998.

One of the world's most famous women photographers, who carved a career at Rolling Stone and is now top photographer at Vanity Fair, Liebowitz's work is of course extremely well-known and largely celebrity driven. Her pictures demand attention. 'Women' is my favourite of her books because she draws together images of women of all ages, ethnicity and social situations to construct a book that challenges our notions of the feminine.

In the intro, entitled 'A Photograph Is Not An Opinion, Or Is It?', Susan Sontag writes: 'This celebration of variety, of individuality, of individuality as style, saps the authority of gender stereotypes, and has become an i9nexorable counterforce to the bigotry that still denies women more than token access to many occcupations and experiences. That women, in the same measure as men, should be able to fulfill their individuality is, of course, a radical idea.'

Leibowitz and Sontag had a decade-long relationship and the photoshow of this book in Washington DC contained many personal pictures of Sontag, including some 'showing her battle with cancer, her treatment, and ultimately her death and burial.' [Wikipedia]

Finally, mention should be made of the fine, seminal work done by Whitney Chadwick into the history of women in art. Two of her key books are 'Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement' and 'Women, Art and Society.' Also important is 'Significant Others: Creativity and Intimate Partnership' which she edited with Isabelle De Courtivron, insightful profiles of famous artistic partnerships, including Rodin and Camille Claudel.

This is an extremely good set of links to Women in Art sites
It includes the National Museum of Women in the Arts

LONDON FESTIVAL OF TANTRA: 27 SEPT 08

LEWES MUSIC OF INDIA CONCERTS

Fresh from exploring some of the mysteries of Tantra, THE GENERALIST is now engaging with the Music of India on behalf of Krishna's Flute, a music promotions company with a difference – a partnership between artist Andrew Wood and prop maker Russell Beck, who share a common interest in bringing the best of world music to a wider audience. This series of concerts at Pelham House in Lewes will be the chance to see and hear some world-class virtuoso musicians at first hand. Should be exciting.

GAURAV MAZUMDAR, who will be accompanied by Shahbaz Hussain on Tabla grew up in a family of well-known musicians from Allahabad and later studied and trained under the legendary master Ravi Shankar. He has subsequently built a global reputation as not only one of the premier sitar players of his generation but also as one of the world’s foremost and versatile Indian musicians.

As well as performing recitals with other leading Indian players, he has also collaborated with the composer Philip Glass, composed and performed with the English Chamber Orchestra and written the music for the ballet 'Siddhartha', based on the book by Herman Hesse.

He became the first Indian musician to perform at the Vatican, where he played his raga ‘Akanksha’ during a concert to celebrate the new millennium. His album ‘Orion’ was recorded live at a concert in the Acropolis in Greece to commemorate the Olympics in 2004.

Other albums featuring his classical, collaborative and compositional works include ‘Echoes from India', 'In Search of Peace', 'Neemrana', 'Soul Strings' and the Grammy-nominated 'East Meets West'. He devotes a substantial amount of his time teaching disciples from all over the world. He is currently composer in residence at MILAP (Liverpool Festival of Culture).

See: 'Raga Charukeshi' with Gaurav Mazumdar (sitar) and Broto Roy on tabla on YouTube

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 8th /7.30pm Tickets £15/concs £12

Popularly known as the NIZAMI BROTHERS, Shakir Ali, Tahir Ali and Mahir Ali Nizami Qawwal got their childhood training from accompanying their famous father, the late Jaffar Hussain Nizami, and are now considered amongst the leading Qawwali musicians of today.

They will be performing in Lewes with a choir of 11 singers from Delhi.

Showered with numerous awards, titles and medals in India and Pakistan, the Nizami Brother’s recordings are best-sellers throughout the Indian subcontinent. Following in the footsteps of the late great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who first introduced Qawwali music to an international audience, they have become world ambassadors for this 700-year old musical tradition.

See the Nizami Brothers on YouTube

Qawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music, its name deriving from the Arabic word Qual meaning “utterance (of the prophet). Its central themes are love, devotion and longing for the Divine. The Lewes concert will be a rare chance to see a Qawwali performance of what has been memorably described as ‘14th-century soul music’. It is an experience not to be forgotten, as the musicians steadily build up hypnotic sounds and high energy rhythms that produce trance-like states in audience and players alike.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 21st /7.30pm. Tickets £18/concs £15

Krishnamurti Sridhar , who is performing with Sanjay Jhalla on tabla, is a leading virtuoso on the sarod, which is considered one of the world’s most complex instruments. He began training on the instrument when he was five, became the youngest member ever of Ravi Shankar's orchestral group seven years later, and started performing solo whilst still in his teens.

His musical mastery and training in both of India’s leading classical music traditions allows him to bridge the gap between the Hindustani music of the North and the Carnatic of the South to create profound and illuminating music that enriches both. Sridhar gives his Sufi guru the main credit for giving his music a quality he describes as “an aspiration towards spiritual bliss."

Since 1982, he has given hundreds of concerts worldwide, many under the auspices of WOMAD, and has made 13 recordings for European, Middle Eastern, and American record companies, including the album ‘Shrinigar’ on Peter Gabriel’s RealWorld Label. In the process, he has forged exciting links with musicians of many disciplines including Arabic, African, jazz, flamenco, Persian and European classical.

He has also composed numerous film soundtracks - including that for the 1968 French short, ‘Pondichéry, juste avant l'oubli’, which won the prestigious Jean Vigo Award in 1988 - and has conducted seminars in many parts of the world on the art of improvisation and musical creation. He currently divides his time between the USA, Europe, and India.

See: Sarod by Krishnamurti Sridhar 2 on YouTube

SATURDAY DECEMBER 6th 7.30pm. Tickets £15 concs £12

[Tickets from www.ticketweb.co.uk Tel: 0844 477 1000]

PINK FLOYD IN LEWES/RICK WRIGHT RIP

The recent death of Rick Wright, the keyboard player of the Pink Floyd, took me back to the rock 'n' roll history of Lewes.

For years I had heard rumours of that a number of famous bands had played at the Town Hall during the '60s but information was scarce. Certainly the Pretty Things had been there (they replayed the venue some ten years ago). Others said Paul Butterfield Blues Band had done the gig. And then there was the rumour of the Floyd, which I managed to confirm in 2007 when I discovered Vernon Fitch's extraordinary Pink Floyd Archive, which includes a complete list of Floyd concert appearances.

This is where it began to get interesting. For January 1968, he lists the following dates:
12 - University of Aston, Birmingham, Warwickshire,
13 - Winter Gardens Pavilion, Weston-Super-Mare, Avon, (Saturday Dance Date)
19 - Town Hall, Lewes, Sussex (two shows)
20 - Hastings Pier, Hastings, Sussex

What makes these special is that these were the only four gigs which featured the following line-up: Syd Barrett, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, Rick Wright. In other words, Syd and Dave Gilmour on-stage at the same time. By the following month, Syd had left the band and the rest is history.

There the story might have rested were it not for the recent publication in our local magazine Lewes News, of the above signed poster. LN had been contacted by the promoter of the concert Norman Ashdown, who still lives in the town, and still has many original posters, tickets, account sheets and photos from the series of gigs he put on to raise funds for Lewes Football Club. Of such stuff are legends made.

THE NEW BATTLE OF LEWES

In recent years Lewes, like many towns around the country, has been plagued by a rash of unseemly and unsightly development projects which threaten to damage the fabric and nature of our small historic town. Small but vociferous protest groups grew up to challenge each of the major projects in turn but despite their best efforts, it seemed that the little could be done to challenge a planning system weighted towards development and a District Council that refused to acknowledge the important objections raised by the town's citizens.

The spark that started a much bigger protest movement within the town began when illustrator Jenny Mumford revived Glenda, a character loosely based on Private Eye's Glenda Slagg, who had been a figurehead of previous protests against development many years before. Jenny put up a big Glenda protest cartoon frame on the outside of her house and the Council threatened her with legal action unless she took it down. Within days and weeks, Glenda posters sprouted on windows, doors and walls throughout the town. See: Friends of Glenda

In fact, the Council backed down but it was too late to stop Glenda. She became the figurehead of a big protest march which had the effect of uniting all the disparate anti-development groups in the town. Since then, all the groups have formed a Lewes Coalition, who now meeet every month to compare information and discuss strategy and tactics. This has proved extremely effective and we now have tabs on every single development in Lewes and have managed to create a much broader awareness within the town about the scale and nature of the problem.

This was helped a lot by the publication of the New Battle of Lewes map (above) which showed people for the first time the scale and range of developments currently under consideration.

This fact has not escaped the attention of the authorities, who are beginning to realise that their every action is now under scrutiny. Also working in our favour is the economic downturn which looks set to scupper at least some of the grandiose schemes for more unsightly high-priced apartment developments.

What's happening in Lewes is a microcosm of the development picture throughout the South-East in particular and the rest of the country in general.

The issues concerned include: the loss of community buildings to commercial development; the failure of the planning system to protect the historic fabric of the town, which is designated a conservation area; allowing development on the flood plain, in a town that was severely damaged by flooding in October 2000.

One of the big focuses now is to ramp up the campaign to get Lewes included in the proposed South Downs National Park. This will automatically raise planning standards and require that any new developments meet much more stringent planning requirements.

One of the concerns amongst many about our District Council's planning system is that an increasing amopunt of planning descisions are being made, not by elected representatives who are, in principle, answerable to the electorate, but by planning officers. There have been many breaches in legal procedure which we are carefully documenting. There also appears to be a much too cosy relationship between the planners and developers.

We have also brought pressure to bear on our local civic society, the Friends of Lewes, who in their younger days were a vibrant and active force who prevented potentially catastrophic developments in the town but who in recent years have allowed projects to pass through without a murmur.

We are not against development per se. There are many things our town needs, not least affordable housing for young people and other facilities that would add value to the existing infrastructure. But part of the problem is that all planning applications are considered individually without reference to the broader picture of the evolution of the town as a whole.

The Council is currently meant to be preparing a proper overall Development Plan but their deliberations are moving at a snail's pace.

We believe that poor planning regimes flourish in the absence of active citizens, prepared to devote their unpaid time to opposing them.

THE LEWES POUND

At a time when the world money markets are in free fall and world headlines are full of news of bankruptcy and recession, the successful launch of £10,000 worth of the Lewes Pound has attracted news stories across the globe. Why this should be is another matter. It has certainly touched a media chord.

Today the BBC News reported that Dozens of pound notes issued in an East Sussex town to encourage shoppers to support the local economy have been sold on an internet auction site.

As of tonight there were 28 sellers of this local currency on Ebay. Two consecutive numbered notes had reached a sale price of $55.48.

The Times reported that 'The Lewes pound became the largest currency launched in Britain for more than a century this week as cheese shop customers, German numismatists and a ten-year-old boy buying a chocolate bar were among those who snapped up all 8,500 available notes in less than 24 hours. '


Lewes' local brewers Harveys have created a special beer to celebrate the occasion.

The town has also had its own currency once before, between 1789 and 1895.

The Hindu Times reported the story this way: 'The East Sussex town of Lewes in England has always been a contradictory sort of place, probably ever since the barons demanded a say in government and defeated Henry III outside the town in 1264. It was here too that Tom Paine, whose pamphlets fanned the flames of revolution in America, honed his polemical skills at the Headstrong Club in the White Hart during the 1760s. They still burn the Pope and sundry politicians in effigy every bonfire night. And on September 9, just along the high street, the Brewer’s Arms was displaying a sign warning Chancellor Alistair Darling that he was barred. Now, the town is going one step further along the road to contrariness by issuing its own pound notes...It is an attempt to boost local spending in the local economy.'
Lewes is following on from the Totnes Pound which was launched a year before by a Transition Town organisation which Lewes also emulated.

See also:

The "Brixton brick"

Berkshares Inc

'Slow Money Revolution: the global growth of local currencies.' by Cliona O Conaill. New Consumer magazine.

See Previous Post: Paine In The Net

Also the following review from The Generalist Feb 2006:

The Trouble with Tom: The Strange Afterlife and Times of Thomas Paine by Paul Collins [Bloomsbury.2005]. This extraordinary and wonderful book follows the author through space and time as he unravels the journey of Tom Paine's bones [dug up by the radical William Cobbett and shipped to England] and gives us a wonderful picture of the radical life and times of the 1700s. [The information in this book supersedes the 'bones' story given in my previous Tom Paine posting.] See reviews here: Bookslut, The Telegraph,

DOLPHINS REVISITED

Back in the late 1980s when I was Editorial Director of Greenpeace Books, I was fortunate enough to be involved in the production of what, on second glance, is still a lovely book for all those who love dolphins and desire to know more about them. Also to be aware of the threats to their survival.

The book was published in 1990 by Century Editions in the UK and Sterling Publishing in the US and thus it is inevitable that a lot of the information is now dated. However, during the production of the book, we managed to pull work together from almost all the leading dolphin photographers in the world. In addition, the illustrator Martin Camm produced a unique and wonderful set of wildlife drawings, anatomically exact, including species that had never been illustrated before. Similarly, the evolutionary tree of dolphins was at the time bang up to date with fresh information incorporated. We also used Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion projection for the background maps of global distribution.

The main text writer on the book was Kieran Mulvaney and the designer was Andy Gammon. Many experts contributed, as did all the global Greenpeace campaigners.


Since the book was published the Baiji or Yangtze River dolphin has been declared extinct. In a piece written for us by Mark Cawardine he reported: 'There was no effort to determine the number of surviving dolphins until 1979, when a three-year survey estimated a maximum of 400 along the entire length of the Yangtze. There has been a rapid reductions in the numbers in the years since. Today there could be as few as 200 baiji left.' Sadly conservation efforts came too late.


The New Scientist Environmental blog recently reported in a story entitled 'Dolphin Serial Killers' that: 'Scientists who autopsy cetaceans that wash up dead on British beaches have come to a grim conclusion: some species are being killed by bottlenose dolphins.' The photo (left) shows the rake marks on a harbour porpoise caused by a bottlenose dolphin.

Activists stage dolphin die-in at Japanese embassy in US [Sept 3, 2008] WASHINGTON (AFP) — Environmental and animal rights activists dressed as dolphins Wednesday staged a die-in in Washington to protest what they called the

"horrific butchering" of thousands of dolphins by Japanese fishermen every year. Animal welfare activists accuse Japan

of brutally slaughtering some 20,000 dolphins and small whales every year in the "biggest massacre of its kind in the world," said the Animal Welfare Institute and Humane Society International, which organized the protest in Washington.

This post was triggered by my friend Luisa who sent me a link to this fascinating video entitled 'Dolphins play bubble rings'

On Google News I discovered the following story by Ednal Palmer, published in the 9th Sepetmber this year in the Solomon Star, the Solomon Islands leading daily newspaper. 'THE Government is urged to seriously consider resolutions reached in a recent workshop in Samoa on dolphins. Local environmental campaigner Lawrence Makili said at the moment the number of dolphins in our waters remain unknown.“Ignorance over this issue risks us giving away our natural riches and beauty, not knowing that one day we will desperately need them,” Mr Makili said.

He said the Samoa workshop, attended by marine scientists, concluded that live dolphin capture for international trade of indo–Pacific bottle nose dolphins threatened the survival of local dolphin population. The meeting was convened by the World Conservation Union.
This was in response to the international outcry by scientists and conservationists last year over the capture and export of 28 dolphins from Solomon Islands to the United Arab Emirates.

Scientists say there’s lack of scientific knowledge on local dolphin population. They say until an accurate account of the number is made, the removal of any of those mammals can threaten the survival of the species.

The Samoa meeting noted the rate of dolphins capable of leaving the Solomon Islands waters can reach 500 a year. “This is because 5 permits have been issued to individuals to export up to 100 each year and this was prescribed by the fisheries minister,” the workshop noted.

It says this would require a local population of at least 5,000 animals if the long-term survival of the population were to be ensured. Mr Makili said the government must understand these recommendations are aimed at preserving the nature and resources of the country.

THE END OF PAPER ?

The race to develop electronic reader devices that may well supersede the book, the magazine and the newspaper quickened yesterday with the unveiling of Plastic Logic's reader device at the San Diego tech conference DemoFall08.

The product – scheduled to reach stores next year – uses the same electronic ink technology used in Sony's Reader Digital Book (below) and Amazon.com's Kindle (bottom). It also weighs the same (less than 1lb) but has a screen that measures 8½ x11ins - more thantwice the size of either of the other devices - which is made of flexible plastic rather than the glass used in the others.

The device, which has yet to be christened, has roughly the same cover dimensions, thickness and weight of a typical issue of Newsweek, can store hundreds of pages of content and can be updated wirelessly. The prototype displayed a rotating loop of text and images switching from magazine cover to office documents and then a newspaper page formatted to fit on its screen. Its price will be revealed at the International Consumer

Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2009.

E-Ink developed the technology used in all three devices. The e-ink technology uses tiny, encapsulated balls, black on one side and white on the other. Electronic charges control whether the black or white side is displayed thus determining whether a black or white pixel appears on the screen. Electronic ink displays reflect light instead of emitting it. This makes them more visible in strong light and reduces power consumption.

Both E-Ink and its competitors Qualcomm have demonstrated colour versions of this technology.

Source: 'Plastic Logic's screen stars at tech conference' by Jonathan Sidener. Photos by John R. McCutchen
[San Diego Union-Tribune. Sept 9, 2008]



UPDATE: 'Scientists aim to deliver e-paper in full computerised colour' The Guardian 2 October 2008

GREEN GURUS UPDATE

[Illustration by Andy Potts]

Two of The Generalist's favourite gurus have made a recent appearance in the mainstream and academic media.

The Economist's latest issue contains a Science and Technology supplement which profiles Amory Lovins, one of the world's leading exponents of energy efficiency as a fast-track solution to our current energy situation. 'The Frugal Corncucopian' is an interesting piece which acknowledges how far ahead Lovins has been in his thinking but also gives space to his critics and their perceived weakness of his arguments. Its a good read.

The Generalist first met Amory Lovins in 1996 and 1997 and was inspired by his thinking. [Use the search box to find full accounts of the two interviews I did with him at that time.]

His ideas lie behind my Earthed postings on this blog which provide irregular reports on the new industrial/energy revolution of green, efficient, low carbon technologies. It's happening even if the mainstream press is still blindsided on the subject.

Fascinating read is the 1977 Plowboy Interview with Lovins from the archives of Mother Earth News.

Another man who had a great influence on my thinking was of course Jim Lovelock, most famous for being the author of the Gaia hypothesis. Lovelock is always worth keeping an eye on.

I had the privilege of going to his house in Devon to do an interview back in the early 1980s. I have since written a piece critical of Lovelock, not about his coming out in favour of nuclear energy per se, rather the fact that the British press had failed to realise that Lovelock has been a long-term nuclear supporter from the get-go, rather than as green whose changed his stripes.
Read this Previous Post: James Lovelock: Man of the Moment

In the current issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Lovelock is talking about the fact that planetary engineering as the only way we are going to be able to have a chance of controlling climate change. Read about it in the excellent Daily Galaxy

The Generalist was onto this subject early, writing in PLANET NEWS in Sept 2007 about The Climate Engineers, an excellent and detailed essay by James R. Fleming in the Wilson Quarterly

MAGAZINE REUNION EXCLUSIVE

UPDATE: NOV 19: Press Release today announes that Noko will step into the late John McGeogh's shoes for Magazine's upcoming gigs. 'McGeoch played a Yamaha SG1000 + MXR flanger + a few other bits. Noko is substantially duplicating this equipment set-up, enabling him to create and re-create much of Magazine’s original dynamic with a lick of his fringe and a switch.' Ipso Facto have been invited to open the shows with a short set of their own making and later will join Magazine on background vocals for several numbers.

Magazine, one of Britain’s most influential bands, who have not played live together since 1980, are to reform for just two concerts in 2009 – at The Forum, London on February 13th & The Academy, Manchester on February 14th. Tickets are due to be released on Monday 15^th September. The concerts will be recorded for possible release later in 2009.

Original members Howard Devoto, Dave Formula, Barry Adamson and John Doyle are to be joined by an as yet unnamed guest guitarist, who will replace the departed and sadly missed, John McGeoch. [Johnny Marr anyone ?]

Considered one of the most influential British bands of all time, they have been frequently name-checked by the likes of Radiohead, Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker.

Magazine mainman Howard Devoto co-formed the Buzzcocks with Pete Shelley after the pair had seen The Sex Pistols in early 1976 and promoted the now legendary Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall gigs. Devoto left in 1977, after the seminal “Spiral Scratch” EP had been released, and created Magazine. Their first record was the post-Punk anthem “Shot By Both Sides”.

Four ground breaking albums later and the band had parted company, leaving behind an influential body of work which was re-released by Virgin EMI last year to critical acclaim.

See also:
myspace.com/magazineofficial

www.shotbybothsides.com
Howard Devoto's MySpace site
Magazine on YouTube

Thanks to General Specialist Nigel Proktor, proud wearer and collector of Mambo shirts, encountered by chance at the Lewes Arms.