A cold and blustery day with wintry showers which did not stop me using the new ATCO Club 20 deluxe lawnmower with blade set high to roll the new games lawn. Some time on my accounts and then making election preparations, being introduced to John Matthewman and Bill Walston for laying out and printing my election addresses at Glisson Printers. BA is looking to take over the Rover Group to keep this key car company British and, as the Welsh health service unions holds a ‘St David’s Day’ of protest action over funding of the NHS the All Party Social Services Select Committee, says it has been chronically underfunded and needs an extra £1000 million. The government admits defeat on the Spycatcher injunctions and the Irish Prime Minister has expressed disbelief at the British Army’s explanation of the death of Mr McAnespie being due to an accidental ricochet
Had an unsettled night, feeling cold and uncomfortable. The arrival of Della first thing served to further put me back and I ended up a half hour late for breakfast. In the meanwhile, I also cleared up our en-suite and put all of Diana’s things away in the bathroom cabinet, to make the room tidy for once. Ate a couple of croissants for breakfast and then donned my warm clothes, before going out to use the new ATCO Club 20 deluxe lawnmower on the new games lawn. I set the blades right up high and used it as a roller mainly, going in both directions. Got Pete to patch the edges and replace a few weedy bits of turf that were showing up in places. Back inside, I started doing the remainder of my financial chores – checking my Premier Credit Card statements and querying a transaction. Then my accountant over the Trust taxes and my rebate, before finally turning to my election preparations.
Tried a few channels of approach on typesetting and printing, but soon found the costs exceeded my £211 budget, a legal constraint. Spoke to Percy Meyer, Michael Pope and Moira Biggins on the phone and eventually was put on to John Matthewman, the Gleeson printer and computer buff, who reassured me that we could get 2 to 3 leaflets, posters and all expenses well within the limit. He is contacting a chap called Bill Walston to see if he will do layout work and preparations for us and the problem seems to be solved. All this took most of the day and evening, which left me no time to pursue my history work. I could only fit in the task of taking the last week’s press cuttings from the local papers. This evening I heard from my Mum & Dad, who had missed a call, and Diana brought over the dining table and remaining chairs from her mother’s house. Debbie does not seem to have done very well in her maths test today, being the only one that failed to finish. News today is of British Aerospace approaching the government with a view to buying the Rover Group and them agreeing to exclusive negotiations until the end of April. The advantage is that this national car company would stay in British hands, but the logic of car and aeroplane together in one company lacks commercial logic as far as I am concerned. An all-party group of MPs, the Social Services Select Committee, has recommended the NHS to get an extra £1000 million and is critical of the chronic underfunding of the service. The Government has withdrawn its injunction preventing a BBC Radio 4 programme reporting on the Security Services and the BBC Director General regretted that it was delayed so long. The Irish Prime Minister has expressed disbelief at the British Army’s explanation of the death of Mr McAnespie being due to an accidental ricochet and insisted that there had to be ‘the fullest possible investigation’. In Wales, the health service unions had a ‘St David’s Day’ of protest action over funding of the NHS. Today was cold and blustery, but the odd snow shower did not settle and the ground remained dry.