After trying to progress my building work and seeking permissions for content to be published in my book, I hosted a meeting of Mill Lane residents with Mike Pope to hear of their concerns about Paper Mill expansion and to forward these to our respective councils. USSR leader, Gorbachev’s, visits outgoing US Pres Reagan and incoming President-elect Bush, the preoccupation at Westminster is of the new Anti-Terrorism Bill provisions of detention without trial flying in the face of the European Court of Human Rights, Edwina Curry is in even hotter water over her egg claims and Morgan Grenfell closes its market-making business shedding 450 people.
I awoke early again this morning and showered, shaved and dressed so as to get to my office for half an hour before breakfast. Unfortunately, Di is not used to this and I did not get a call for the meal and so my only company was Della as I ate. I checked my conservatory this morning and my fan heater seems to be drying out the concrete floor quite well and so I chased the builders to try to get the floor contractor back for Thursday or Friday. I spent the morning preparing the contents of a letter and list of addresses to contact all of those people who had supplied photographs and other material my book to ask for their permission for publication there-in. After lunch, I changed and took Michael Pope, the County Councillor, along with me to a meeting of the residents of Mill Lane. Just about all of those residents met at the house of Mr Roberts at number 12, to examine the plans I took along for the proposed St Neots Paper Mill expansion.
It was a good session and they all undertook to write their own letters of objection to the plans and I undertook to back up their efforts with the councils. Michael fielded questions on the Mill Lane lorry and traffic problems and explained how he had been trying to help to get a lower lorry weight limit. This evening, I continued working on the correspondence to be sent to a range of other societies and organisations that it also had to approve inclusion of the material in my book. Headlines this evening concentrate on the USSR leader, Gorbachev’s, visit to see outgoing US Pres Reagan and incoming President-elect Bush. The Russian has arrived in a 45-vehicle motorcade and remote to have offered a unilateral 30% reduction in conventional armaments. He leaves behind the growing ethnic violence in the southern territories of Armenia in Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh-the intermediate region. The two states population has been polarising with mutual refugees from one another’s countries. The preoccupation at Westminster is with the new Anti-Terrorism Bill which still flies in the face of the European Court of Human Rights criticisms of the seven-day detention of suspects without trial. The Labour Party’s attempt to oppose the terms but approve the outline of the bill has failed in that a 50 to 60 Labour MP backbench revolt is expected on the vote this evening. In the Irish Republic, the opinion of the Dale is against caving in to British pressure on extradition and so Thatcher’s strictures have been counter-productive. The Sunderland/Wearside shipbuilders will close with the loss of 2500 jobs due to lack of support from central government who just wanted to sell it off but could not find any takers. Junior health minister, Edwina Currie, is in trouble again after claiming that most egg sources are subject to salmonella food poisoning. There has been contradictory views from other health ministers but she refuses to resign or withdraw the remarks. Thatcher had scrambled eggs for lunch to try to allay the fears of the public as a health scare. Morgan Grenville, the city banker, has closed down its market-making business making 450 people redundant.