Viewing 143 acres of arable and meadowland in Great Paxton after getting Daniel and Pete going on resuming laying the Games Lawn Turf and then offering money to Godmanchester to restore the old Recreation Ground before late to take Debbie for her Christmas Party riding party and games and phoning my dad to help him with his tax liability for his valuable index-linked pension. The Poll Tax Bill introduced by Secretary of State Nicholas Ridley, passed second reading today with 35 Tories voting against or abstaining in defiance of Thatcher, a Consultant Obstetrician is ‘in despair at the way the NHS is going’ after they cannot any longer guarantee the safety of mothers in labour or their babies without resources and the BBC is still hog-tied by the government injunction
Slept well enough last night and we had our slight lay in that seems to be a feature of the school holidays. I went through my full routine that made me slightly late for a breakfast of boiled duck egg and buttered toast fingers. My next task was to get Daniel out there helping Pete to lay the turves. He did so with some reluctance, but worked in two sessions today, so that they had laid half of the entire area by dusk. Pete takes so long when on his own and really shows up just how unfit he really is. Even so, it is a rotten and messy job. The large 2/3 sq yd turves are heavy and muddy, as a result of all of the rain we are getting. It poured again today and the river is coming up again. After getting this good work started, I then set off to rendezvous with Peter Lewis of Ekins at Manor Farm, Little Paxton. We walked around 143 acres, 100 acres down to arable and the rest meadowland.
It was pouring with rain as we walked round, at the end of a wet season. It was interesting, but the owner bought at a time of higher prices and may not be prepared to sell at today’s value of £1,100 an acre. It is set up for wheat and rape, with a grain store and drying plant. Home for a latish lunch, then some time in my office. I had dropped round my letter about the playground to the Godmanchester Mayor and, having got another call from the redoubtable Dr Middlemas, I gave him some extra copies, which he proceeded to distribute around the village. I have offered £1,000 to restore the old recreation ground, to try to solve the problem. I called my accountant and arranged to see him later. I had received agreement to last year’s forestry accounts by the Inland Revenue, a strange rebate on my Business Expansion Scheme Investments, and several other matters besides that needed discussion. I also talked over the agricultural investments I had been considering and found his advice most helpful. My ‘quick’ visit turned out to be an hour and a half! Late home to tea, which left me only 15 minutes to eat, before taking Debbie off to her horse riding. It was the pre-Christmas week, where the children all donned fancy dress and were judged for a prize. Then they played Christmas music and had a series of horsey games; relay races, sack races, ‘musical’ horses and several others, so that they all enjoyed themselves. Debbie controlled Dylan and succeeded in doing his girth stirrups and mounting by herself, thus earning a mint surprise for her efforts. Home to have a little time to plan my agricultural investments, before writing up my journal and turning in. I phoned my Dad this evening and ran through his income tax position with him, finding it in order. His main problem is being in receipt of an index linked government pension, which is becoming quite valuable. The main news today was of the second reading of the Poll Tax Bill in the House of Commons. Deprived of a chance to consider the announcement, 17 Tory MPs voted against the entire Bill and a further 16/17 Tories abstained. This was much more than seemed likely earlier today. Unemployment has fallen to its lowest point in 10 years – 2,685,583 claiming benefit, down 65,801, but this is still a measure that excludes many and is still only a reduction of a quarter of the amount by which it had risen under this government. In the latest on the Health Service row, doctors at Royal Berkshire Hospital have warned that they cannot any longer guarantee the safety of mothers in labour or their babies. A couple, Tony and Vicki Davies, have officially complained that their baby died by lack of oxygen, due to lack of staff and facilities. The Consultant Obstetrician is ‘in despair at the way the NHS is going’. The High Court ban on the BBC’s radio programme, ‘My Country Right or Wrong’, still remains, despite the appeals and the responsible way in which the programme was intended as a debate on the Security Services role and accountability. The BBC’s Director of Editorial Policy said the result was a defeat for decent, honest, journalism. The stock exchange is still edging nervously up to the 1700 mark on FT100, but I am a seller at the moment and wait for the next fall to buy any more.