Receiving HRO permissions for publishing Little Paxton photos as I start writing up my Stone Age chapter and then watching Debbie canter and jump on Barbie at the riding school and nearly fall whilst Daniel reports some good exam results and others worthy of improvement. Norman Tebbit is in the US trying to discredit the Labour Party Nuclear Disarmament proposal as the CIA Director denies all knowledge of the Iranian arms payments to the Contra in Nicaragua and then great UK embarrassment as Sir Robert has to admit in the Australian court case that the UK were aware of the MI5 disclosures 3 month and not 6 weeks beforehand that weakens their case. Three RAF tornados are lost in accidents at great expense but at least the pilots eject and their lives are saved
A better night’s sleep, no longer intrigued by the nature of further Little Paxton archaeological finds, but this time merely daunted by the task of writing up an accurate, non-technical, account of them for my history book. Received, at last, this morning the written confirmation from Huntingdon Record Office that they have ordered 13 prints for me and that the vast majority may be published at a cost of 50p per photo, which seems very reasonable. Quickly showered and dressed in a white shirt, but old trousers, for a day at home and then, after reading the paper, settled down into my office for a session of further reading. Now that I understand the information, I have to gather it together and write it up. No sign of Di returning from her shopping trip to Tesco’s in Cambridge and so I tidied up my desk, waited until 1.00pm and then made myself a salad lunch and ate it. I then started my Stone Age section for the book and was at least started when I had to break off at 4.00pm for an early tea with Debbie. It was time to go horse riding and I got her to Offord on time and she had an hour’s lesson on Barbie.
She did well – cantering and jumping – but nearly fell off once and had to scramble back from off of Barbie’s neck! Home briefly, changed, and then all out to Debbie’s school in Little Paxton for she was appearing in a school play. A production loosely based on ‘A Christmas Carol’, with Debbie playing the part of a Red Indian Chief. Home after an hour, and some tea there for refreshment, and then a couple more hours on my Stone Age chapter, before it was time to break off for my journal and bed-time drink. Daniel had got quite a good mark in history today, to match his biology and geography, but his chemistry and English has offset his excellent maths and physics results and left him much as before. My Mum hopes to be admitted for another hip operation soon, to relieve her pain. The news today is of the Labour launch of its non-nuclear defence policy, put fervently, despite the opposition of the other political parties. This time Tebbit is in the US putting the government’s view and trying to discredit the Labour Party. William Casey, the CIA Director, claims to have had no knowledge himself of the Iran arms deal payments to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Most of his evidence was classified and could not be heard by the public and so the outside world had to content itself with statements from politicians of opposing parties and views. The British Government are considering the issuing of free hypodermic needles to drug addicts to lessen the risk of AIDS, but there are also calls for other patients, such as diabetics, to get them as well, so that there would be no discrimination. In Australia, the defence in MI5 case has secured admissions that the UK intelligence services were aware of the previous publications 3 months beforehand, rather than the 6 weeks that Sir Robert Armstrong had been claiming. A 15 year old Palestinian girl has been shot by Israeli troops, as the latest casualty of the riots on the West Bank; this time in Gaza. This will only inflame the situation still further. After a recent tornado crash near where my parents live, two more RAF tornados have collided in mid-air, with one crashing in flames. In each case the crew managed to escape by ejection seat, but these accidents are very costly and worrying for householders near to the bases.