Up earlier today, supervising the children to tidy their rooms and then receiving Elm Leisure to hold them to task in rectifying the pool boiler installation before writing up my notes and editing my Little Paxton History files as A full-blown security row blows up in the House over the MI5 affair as the leaks might have been authorised by those close to Thatcher and now it seems cash from the US Iran deal was siphoned off to fund the Nicaraguan rebels. The late King’s death was hastened by injections for the first news to appear in the morning papers and Ken Baker is coming to the Commons to seek support to overturn the teachers’ pay settlement
Slept well and up fairly early, after my morning, tea to get my hair washed and rest of my toilette complete before breakfast. Managed to catch the children out and they had to tidy their rooms to an extent that they had not accomplished in recent days. Breakfast of wheat flakes etc., then to my morning paper, whilst I waited for the post. Nothing much of note and so I settled down to tidy up my office, ready for the arrival of Edgar Monks of Elm Leisure. I still had a half hour or so for editing my word processor manuscript for Little Paxton before he arrived. A difficult meeting. I began by running over my view of the entire problem. How the gas board had declared the installation illegal and how it was up to Elm Leisure to rectify it. I pointed out the dangers to a backlog of other pool boilers they must have installed and asked what his plans were. He was very uncomfortable and defensive on these issues, but I gave him a lifeline by saying that, although we could legally hold them to the costs of rectification, I would discuss a contribution to the costs, if they would tend to the matter quickly. With that, he went off and I spent the rest of the morning on my Little Paxton History. Lunch of more salad – and not very much of that either – and so I augmented it with the rest of the cress that was going begging. Back to work after lunch, until it was time for an early tea of braised beef with Debbie and then to leave for Debbie’s first hour-long horse riding lesson. Arrived there just in time for the 5.00pm lesson and Debbie did quite well, considering the fuss and distraction that some of the other pupils were making. She did keep holding on, though, and Barbie did go off on an unplanned canter at one point. Once home I spent the rest of the evening with the word processor, inputting the remainder of my facts on pre- and post-enclosure Little Paxton and the history of Little Paxton Park. I now have a major section on the Reynolds Family and Paxton Hall next; then I need to research more on Prehistoric times and the St Neots Paper Mill history, which are both most promising. No time for Daniel tonight, but I think he was trying hard at his revision. The repercussions of the recent security crisis go on and, in the House of Commons, the Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions are considering criminal proceedings against Lord Rothschild and former MI6 head, Arthur Franks. The opposition MPs are continuing to press Thatcher for answers to the alleged inconsistency of action against security leaks. Mr Wright says that, on the advice of Lord Rothschild (a close friend of Margaret Thatcher) he gave author, Chapman Pincher, details of his work as a spy catcher. All of this undermines the government’s case on MI5 secrecy in Australia and the hearing judge criticises the government for withholding information and evidence. In the US, Attorney General, Ed Meese, revealed that, ‘others were involved’, in syphoning cash from the Iran arms deals to fund Nicaraguan rebels. Reagan himself and his top Cabinet Officers have submitted to questioning by the Justice Department investigators. At Scott Lithgow Shipbuilders on the Clyde, another 1500 jobs are to be axed, with only 700 now staying on; one tenth of its former workforce. Unemployment will go up in Greenock from its present 25%, up to 28%, according to Greenock’s Provost, Sir Simpson Stevenson. The salvage operations go on off the cost of Cork, but the tanker appears to be stuck solid and will soon begin breaking up. A revelation that the life of King George Vth, the Queen’s grandfather, was ended prematurely by his doctor, Lord Dawson of Penn. The claim is based on an article by Francis Watson, Dawson’s Biographer, soon to appear in December’s History Today magazine. Lord Dawson’s notes, verified by Windsor Castle, showed that the King’s death was hastened by injections of morphine and cocaine. This was done with the wishes of Queen Mary and timed to ensure that first news of the death would appear in morning papers. Kenneth Baker is seeking Cabinet approval tomorrow for emergency legislation to overturn the teacher’s pay agreement. It has been a cooler and, at times, very wet day today, but the sky has cleared tonight and a ground frost is expected. It should be bright, if chilly, tomorrow.