Around the sun leaving a bright trail behind. For more than

According to a recent survey, a large majority of Americans are in favor of retaining the present 55-mile-an-hour speed limit. This speed limit was imposed in 1973 when fuel shortages became crucial. Seventy-five per cent of the persons surveyed think that the law is a good one. They point to the decrease in the highway death rate or to the saving of fuel as reasons for their opinion. Easterners and older people, rather than young adults, are more likely to argue for retention of the law.

Only twenty-three per cent of the people surveyed favor a higher speed limit for trucks. Their view is supported by the trucking industry, which contends that truck engines work more efficiently at higher speeds, and that trucks traveling at higher speeds reach markets more quickly, thereby saving consumers money. However, some of the persons polled argue that trucks on certain highways are already involved in a disproportionate number of fatal accidents.

154

THE TORNADO

One of the most feared occurrences in nature is the tornado. The area most frequently the target of this violent windstorm is the Great Plains, the region extending from the Rockies to the Mississippi, and from Canada down through Texas. When warm, moist air meets with cooler, drier air at low levels, a tornado often occurs. Prior to the formation of the familiar funnel-shaped cloud, the sky is very clear. Then, a black line suddenly appears. As this black area moves in, the fast wind becomes hot and moist and a deep stillness encircles the landscape. Because the air pressure drops steadily during a tornado, breathing becomes difficult. Insects fall to the ground, unable to balance themselves in flight. Suddenly, a black funnel resembling a giant whip dips down out of the sky, destroying whatever it touches, and then retreats. Although a tornado usually destroys property rather than lives, an average of 120 people die yearly As a result of these violent storms. It is obvious why the tornado is feared throughout the Great Plains.
155

TRAVEL INSURANCE

On their way to southern Spain last summer, George and Jean Glover stopped outside the city of Seville for a lunch-time picnic. They left their car by the road and walked down to the cool waters of a river for a very pleasant meal. When they returned to their car, they were horrified to discover that the back window had been forced and smashed. It took a while to sort out what had gone, mostly small things like their camera, tape player and tapes, a few clothes lying on the back seat - fortunately, they hadn't bothered with the suitcases.

It suddenly dawned on Jean that she had left her handbag in the car, contaning their passports, travellers' cheques, cash, ferry tickets, car keys and front-door keys. "It was appalling. How could I have been so stupid? In London, I'd never have left my handbag in the car," recalls Jean.

Initially, they both felt like driving back to the ferry and going home. But they knew they had to report the theft to the police. And they had to call their motor insurance company to arrange for a new back window. The travel insurance company, which ran a 24-hour emergency assistance service, advised them to call a neighbour, who had a key for their house, to ask her to get the locks changed. They were also advised to speak to the local Consular Office to arrange emergency passports.

The travellers' cheque company arranged an immediate replacement of their holiday money.

Bit by bit, they realised that all was not lost, and they managed to continue with what turned out to be a very enjoyable holiday. "But if we hadn't had the help and advice available through our travel insurance company, we'd have been totally lost."

Incredibly, there are many people like the Glovers who run into trouble abroad, yet have no travel insurance. That's why these days people taking a package holiday are normally obliged by the tour operators to have travel insurance; if they don't take the policy offered in the brochure, then they have to show that they have made alternative arrangements. There is no such safety net for people travelling independently, but, thanks largely to newspaper horror stories of uninsured tourists having to sell their houses in order to meet £100,000 bills for medical treatment in the States, most travellers abroad appreciate the need to take out insurance.

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156

MEETING THE CAPTAIN

(adapted from "The Captain and The Enemy" by Graham Greene)
I am now in my twenty-second year and yet the only birthday which I can clearly distinguish among all the rest is my twelfth, for it was on that damp and misty day in September I met the Captain for the first time. I can still remember the wetness of the ground under my gym shoes and how the blown leaves made the courtyard slippery as I ran recklessly to escape from my enemies between one class and the next. I slithered and stopped abruptly while my pursuers went whistling away, because there, in the middle of the courtyard, stood our formidable headmaster talking to a tall man in a bowler hat, a rare sight already at that date, so that he looked a little like an actor in costume. He carried a walking-stick over his shoulder at the slope, like a soldier with a rifle. I had no idea who he might be, nor, of course, did I know that he had won me the previous night, in a backgammon game with my father

I slid so far that I landed on my knees at the two men's feet, and when I picked myself up the headmaster was glaring at me from under his heavy eyebrows. I heard him say, "I think this is the one you want

- Baxter Three. Are you Baxter Three?"

"Yes, sir,” I said.

The man, whom I would never come to know by any more permanent name than the Captain, said, "What does Three indicate?"

"He is the youngest of three Baxters," the headmaster said, '^tbut not one of them is related by blood."

'¹That puts me in a bit of a ~ Captain said. “For which of them is the Baxter I want? The first name, unlikely as it may sound, is Victor. Victor Baxter - the names don't pair very well."

"We have little occasion here for first names. Are you called Victor Baxter?" the headmaster inquired of ~e sharply.

"Yes, sir," I said after some hesitation, for I was unwilling to admit to a name which I had tried unsuccessfully to hide from my friends₆ I knew very well that Victor - for some obscure reason - was one of the unacceptable names, like Vincent or Marmaduke.

"Well then, I suppose that this is the Baxter you want, sir. Your face needs washing, boy."

The stern morality of the school prevented me from telling the headmaster that it had been quite clean Until my enemies had splashed it with ink.

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157

SHOPLIFTING

In the past, most shoplifters agreed that the January sales offered wonderful Opportunities for the hard-working thief. With the shops so crowded and the staff so busy, it ,did not require any extraordinary talent to steal one or two little things and escape unnoticed. It was known, in the business, as 'hoisting'. But the hoisting game is not what it used to be. Even at the height of the sales, shoplifters today never know if they are being watched by one of those mechanical balls (with small cameras hidden inside) hanging from the ceilings of so many department stores, above the most desirable goods. As if that was not trouble enough for them, they can now be filmed at work and obliged to attend a showing of their performance in court.

Selfridges was the first big London store to install videotape equipment to watch its sales floors. Jn October last year, the store won its first court case fdr shoplifting using as evidence a videotape clearly showing a couple stealing dresses. It was an important test case which encouraged other stores to install similar equipment.

When the balls, called sputniks, first made an appearance in shops, it was widely believed that their only function was to frighten shoplifters. Their somewhat ridiculous appearance, the curious holes and red lights going on and off, certai3nly made the theory believable. It did not take long, however, for serious shoplifters to start showing suitable respect. Soon after the equipment was in operation at Selfridges, store detective Brian Chadwick was sitting in the control room, watching a woman secretly putting bottles of perfume into her bag.

"As she turned to go, Chadwick recalled, "she suddenly looked up at the sputnik and stopped. She could not possibly see that the camera was filming her because it is completely hidden, but she probably had a feeling that I was looking at hen For a moment she paused, then she returned to the counter and started putting Everything back. When she had finished, she opened her bag towards the sputnik to show it was empty and hurried out of the store without a sign of regret on her face."

158

ILLEGAL TAPES

British pop stars Phil Collins and Duran Duran are to join an international campaign in London this week to stop the production of illegal tapes of the Live Aid concert for famine relief, held last July in London and Philadelphia. Members of Duran Duran told The Sunday Times, “Producing illegal tapes of something like Live Aid is criminal. These people are exploiting the means that should help feed starving Africans.

The illegal tapes, manufactured by several different companies in Indonesia, have become best-sellers in the Far and Middle East, making profits estimated at millions of dollars. Now IFPVP, the International Federation of Phonogram and Videogram Producers, which represents more than 600 record companies worldwide, is asking the British government to bring economic pressure on the Indonesian government to stop the illicit trade. The packaging of the a unlawful tapes is produced to a high professional standard, bearing the Live Aid logo, a guitar in the shape of Africa, and the words "For Africa famine relief."

“Their packaging makes people believe that the money is going to Africa," says Dave Laing of IFPVP. The federation received reports of at least 30 illegal versions of the tapes sold in many countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Portugal, where you~ can, in fact, easily get the real ones. Indonesia has not signed international copyright conventions, and the federation says no legal action can be taken against the people in that country. ^t1It's big business," says Laing. ^ttThe people who manufacture these tapes have large factories and their own relationships with the authorities."

A spokesman for the Indonesian government in London last week denied any knowledge of the tapes being manufactured or sold in his country Although he acknowledged that production of illegal tapes in southeast Asia in general was a major problem. "It is shameful that this is happening in our country," he said. "And our government will take action once the facts have been determined."

159

JORVIK- THE LOST VIKING CAPITAL

A thousand years ago, York was one of the largest, richest and most famous cities in the whole of Britain. In the 10th century, it was described as being packed with a huge population, and traders from all parts, especially Danes. People called it Jorvik, and knew it as the capital of the North of England, and one of Europe's greatest trading r)OrtSe It owed its prosperity to the hard work of Viking settlers from Scandinavia, who had captured it in 866.

Most of the city's buildings were made of wood, and have long since been demolished, or have burnt down or rotted away. In some pans of modern York, however, near the rivers of Ouse and Foss, which run through the centre of the city, archaeologists have found that remains of Jorvik do still survive. They are buried deep below the streets and buildings of the 20th century city. Here the damp soils have preserved the wooden buildings. Whole streets of houses, shops and workshops are found Although not in very good condition. All the rubbish left by the people of Jorvik in and around their homes is still there as well.

Between 1976 and 1981, archaeologists from the York Archaeological Trust dug up a part of this lost and forgotten city and found four rows of buildings. Some of the remains were so well preserved - even down to boots and shoes, pins and needles, plants and insects that every aspect of life at the time could be reconstructed.

The York Archaeological Trust decided to convert the place into a museum and try to tell the story of Jorvik as it was a thousand years ago. To do so, it built the Jorvik Viking Centre in the huge hole created by the archaeologists. Two of the rows of buildings were reconstructed as we think they were. A further two were preserved just as the archaeological team discovered them, the ancient beams set out as they were found in the late 1970's, deep below the new shopping centre, where they have lain for centuries.

In the Jorvik Viking Centre, people from the 20th century journey back In time to the 10th century in cars, which silently move through the place. Meanwhile, modern time travellers watch the townspeople buying and selling, working and playing, in an atmosphere full of the sights, sounds and smells of 10th century Jorvik.
160

CHILDREN AND LEARNING

A child learning to talk notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people's. In the same way, children learn to do all the other things without being taught - to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle - by comparing their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly making the needed changes. Yet, at school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes for himself, let alone correct them. We do it all for him. We act as if we think that he will never notice a mistake unless it is pointed out to him, or correct it unless he is made to. Soon, he becomes dependent on the teacher.

Let him work out, with other children if he wants, what this word means, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not. In mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Our job should be to show only the way to get the right answer when the child tells us he can't find a way himself. Let's end all this nonsense of grades, exams, marks. Let us throw them all out, and let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn, how to measure their own understanding, how to know what they know or do not know. The idea that there is a body of knowledge to be learnt at school and used for the rest of one's life is nonsense in a world as comp,l₁icated and rapidly changing as ours. Anxious parents and teachers say, But suppose they fail to learn something essential, something they will need to get on in the world?" Don't worry! If it is essential, they will go out into the world and learn it.

161

MAKING YOUR WORKPLACE SAFER

Preventing Accidents
Clearly a major way to prevent accidents before they occur is for the trade union safety representative to carry out regular~ and effective inspections of the workplace. Recognised safety representatives have the following legal rights:

*To carry out a formal inspection every three months.

*To carry out an immediate additional inspection

- when an accident has occurred,

- when a disease has been contracted,

- when there has been a change in working conditions,

- when new information becomes available concerning hazards.

* To investigate members' complaints.

Near Misses
All union members should be encouraged to report 'near misses' that happen to themselves or others. Near misses are events such as slipping on wet floors, items falling off shelves and just missing people, loose guards on machinery, and fires that are quickly put out, that could have injured people but which, by luck, did not. Reporting such events to the safety representative may prevent a serious accident in the future.

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