Cold Comfort
In the December
2nd 1986 issue of Red
Rag:
the Public Order Bill is passed: the police will have the power to ban
or to determine the size, time and place of any demonstration; it will
be an offence to organise a demonstration without police approval, and
simply being a participant on an illegal march could mean a fine of up
to £400. DHSS payments to Supplementary Benefit claimants for extra
fuel costs in periods of severe weather are the latest area of the
Welfare State to be "streamlined" by a government out to get the poor,
the elderly, and the unemployed. BANC stop funding the Greenham Food
Van; a free festival is planned near Reading next summer; the council
did consult the public about the improvement and expansion of the
Museum and Art Gallery but with loaded and inadequate information; and
Reading is still Between the Lines.
