Trip to de Zoete in the City of London for stock market advice and brief visit to St Catherine’s House for genealogy study and then home to the mess of swimming pool excavation as I also spend time with my children, Thatcher and Brittan are pilloried over the Westland Affair, Unemployment soars even further, Murdoch brutalises his workforce to push through his Fleet Street reforms here and the US licks its wounds over its careless space shuttle disaster
A good, if late, night and then woken up with tea, but no paper to read. Listened to the radio until breakfast and then went straight to shower and shave and just managed a quick look at the FT afterwards. The postman delivered 2 letters for Mr Eaton of No8 and the paperboy his Daily Express! We may own 6&7, but that is all and will have to get some decent signs for the Hayling View to avoid confusion. Daniel took the letters across and I called with the paper to find the daughter in her nightie and dressing gown, but she is a bit podgy for my taste.
I unlocked the changing room door for the builders and then dressed in my sports jacket & trousers for the City. After a false start (and return to find some papers) I set off for the City of London and an appointment with my stockbroker, Nicholas de Zoete. I was nearly half an hour late as the City traffic crawled along in the damp and I thanked my stars several times that I no longer have to drive in London regularly. I was shown into a meeting room that was already being set up for a lunch party for four, but my hopes were short lived when I realised that we were only to use the room briefly due to lack of space. On Nicholas’s advice, we agreed to sell 2 ½ and 3% 1986, some 3% 1987, all our index-linked ’88 and that would clear some £540K – the CGT + £20K-odd to replenish my cash reserves. On by car to Aldwych, where I park and have a snack in a café before spending a couple of hours in St Catherine’s House researching the Birth, Marriage and Death records. Little progress towards tracing John Broad (Snr’s) death, or other family events, and left a little tired, deciding to prepare more carefully for my next visit. The drive home in more traffic and roadworks, but just managed to beat the evening rush. Home before dark to find the garden, verge and road in a mess, as the diggers have carved out another large section of the pool and left the riverside gardens with a large heap. We are lucky in that the soil extends down 4-6ft and so no need to grade the spoil. A message from neighbour Roger Gorringe on the answering machine and I fear a complaint, but it is only a message that our intervening fences have fallen down and that he is planning to sell his house. Some time watching the TV news and videotext and then tea with the family – Diana cooked me a pie by automatic timer, but overcooked the sausages again for the family. Out to the ducks and just managed to get them away before dark. I dropped round to Roger’s and saw the damage, but he was out. A story for Debbie, then to check Dan’s schoolwork before the main news and weather on the TV. News today of another blow for the Thatcher government. Unemployment has leapt by 134,000 to a total of 3.4 million – 1 in 7 of the workforce. They were conceded as being ‘deeply disappointing,’ which is something of an understatement. More school leavers are out of work, just as a new publicity campaign is trying to play down the problem. More rows also on the Westland affair. Leon Brittan refuses to answer questions from the Select Defence Committee and then Thatcher runs into trouble in the House when trying to justify the ban on DTI witnesses attending. In the NI dispute, the TUC decides the electricians have a case to answer, but Murdoch seems to be getting his papers through. Journalists who have refused the move from Fleet Street to Wapping were sacked today and 10 Times journalists have had a final warning. The dismissal letter to the Sun’s longest serving journalist, aged 62, was addressed ‘Dear Sir or Madam,’ which was a poor way to treat a long serving staff member. ‘Murdoch may say that everyone has their price,’ he says, ‘but this old codger is not for buying and has stood by his principles.’ More US memorial services on the shuttle tragedy with sorrow liberally mixed with national chauvinism. This has been a sobering dent to the American self-confidence, but all the ‘America the Beautiful’ outpouring could mean that they miss the chance to realise the need to be pragmatic and more modest in their claims. As the Philippine President’s forces are found out on human rights violations and electoral irregularities, Reagan announces a will to support the President with more military aid.