supervising the use of the pool which upset Diana and Daniel with Di calling me a "bad-tempered bully",
supervising the use of the pool which upset Diana and Daniel with Di calling me a "bad-tempered bully",

After a night of coughing, I had a lay in until Diana woke me with a tray of breakfast at 8.00am and little Della came and sat in bed with me. I then recovered by resting and watching snooker before supervising the use of the pool which upset Diana and Daniel with Di calling me a "bad-tempered bully", which probably summarised my struggle to get well.

I managed to update my financial matters and re-typed my action list, making some phone calls before giving up work for the day after before 9.00pm.

By the admission of its own senior ministers, the government faces its worst three weeks ahead with heavy losses expected in the local elections as Labour have a 25% opinion poll lead

I was coughing for much of the night but then got comfortable and had a lay in until Diana woke me with a tray of breakfast at 8.00am. Little Della came and sat in bed with me, having evidently had a row with Di and she sat and said how glad she was to have me. I did not know about the row and thought that she was worried that I had been too ill and tired to come to breakfast! I was in something of a groggy state today and worked casually at my journal this morning and again after lunch whilst watching the world snooker championships on television. I always want Steve Davis to win and he was fighting a classic game with Jimmy White.

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At lunchtime, I called my two weaker election candidates and gave them information, guidance and encouragement for the campaign. The outcome is still in the balance for both of them. I had to intervene with the pool this morning which upset both Diana and Daniel. In fact, Diana is very upset with me at the moment for being a "bad-tempered bully", which I put down to my irritation over having this cold and yet so much to do. In fact, I feel much fitter this morning, though groggy, but I have left myself a lot of work to do and I will try to nibble away at it over the next few work sessions without taxing myself too hard. I carried on in the same vein this afternoon and again this evening and managed to clear up quite a few things so that I could see the wood for the trees. I updated as much of my financial matters as I could and then re-typed my action list, before giving up work for the day after making some phone calls before 9.00pm.

The news tonight was still dominated by economic news as senior ministers warned that the government faces its worst three weeks ahead. This week's sharp deterioration in the trade figures is going to be followed by heavy losses in the local elections and then the inflation rate is going to surge to well over 9% and close to double figures. Labour has a 25% lead in the opinion polls after previous estimates that their led would start falling. Now Barclays has become the latest bank to warn of high interest rates swelling their volume of bad debts. In the Commons, the Prime Minister and Home Secretary defended their handling of the prison riots with a new criminal offence of prison "mutiny" being considered as a palliative for the Tory right-wing members.