Little Daniella joined me for a chat over breakfast before I read all about available Rolls Royces in RREC literature but still found time to transcribe my 4th interview tape before making lunch for Daniel and the girls being with me this afternoon as I worked. A poorly attended St Neots and District Liberal/SDP Alliance Committee Meeting this evening and back home to my journal and the news. Thatcher is backing down over some nurses allowance cuts, after facing critical parliamentary questions about the health service with lack of heart specialists, liver transplant teams out of cash to continue but is now planning cuts to regional and industry support grants as the exchanges continue to be volatile.
Was slow to wake this morning and then sat quite a while before I was ready to get up. I shampooed my hair in addition to all else and came down to breakfast just as all else were leaving. Little Daniella seemed to be at a loose end as Di ran up to do her makeup and so I got her to sit next to me and chat as I ate my first meal of the day. Diana weighed herself this morning and was up at about 10st 10lbs, which is well over her weight limit. This morning I started to try and read the newspaper, but the mail arrived and in it was tons of information on Rolls Royces from the Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club, which I have joined. This kept me busy for the start of the morning and then much of the rest was taken up with making calls and clearing my desk.
I could just start transcribing the fourth tape and did a fair bit before Daniel came in hungry for an early lunch. We made our meals together – tomato soup and bread for Daniel and a chicken salad for me, and we shared a pot of tea to drink. Daniel had been doing some of his school work, but opted to walk into St Neots later for a change. The girls arrived back and made plenty of interruptions for my work this afternoon and I will be glad that the children go back to school tomorrow. After tea I worked a bit more, then went this evening to the St Neots and District Liberal/SDP Alliance Committee Meeting. It was attended by 4 people, plus me, in the way that all these voluntary organisations are, and I wonder how effective the Alliance will be in the District Council elections. Got home in time for the TV news and wrote up my journal until 11.00pm, before joining Diana in bed. The news today is of a back down ‘for the time being’ of plans to change the nurses allowances and has also offered talks to the blood transfusion staff to head off further threats to blood supplies. The nurses are claiming victory, but are also sceptical of the government’s assurances. Thatcher faced the first day back of House of Commons questions on the Health Service and warning bells are ringing. Now heart specialists are saying that lack of heart specialists around the country (1 in 4 districts does not have a cardiologist and supporting equipment) leads to Britons facing more risks than other Europeans. Now the opposition is growing to budget tax cuts in favour of more NHS spending. A Cambridge liver transplant programme has also run out of cash. Confirmation today that the government is planning a major change of industrial support policy. There is an end to automatic application of regional grants and DTI spending has reduced by more than a quarter since Mrs Thatcher came to power. She is a firm believer in laissez faire. She has renamed The Department of Trade and Industry as ‘The Department of Enterprise’. Plenty of murders and rapes in the news. After the Eastern markets rose last night, London and Wall Street turned down today and the movements were very volatile