DIARY OF THE YEAR
Wednesday 31 March: Sir Keith Joseph an- nounced the sting in the Budget's tail—higher national insurance contributions to finance the higher pensions and social service benefits. An immediate seventeen per cent pay increase and more in the next two years seemed likely to end the nine-weeks-old Ford strike and infuri- ate the PM. The jury at Fort Benning sentenced Lt Calley to jail for life, while police in Lon- don impounded all undistributed copies of The Little Red School Book.
Thursday 1 April: Reports from E Pakistan of heavy slaughter by Bengalis of Punjabis in the town of Jessore. Pig Lane, in St Ives. Hunts, became Eastfield Road after the police ob- jected. Messages protesting against the Calley sentence flooded into the White House. and its occupant allowed Lt Calley to leave prison; American medicine-bottle labels will soon have to state how effective their contents are.
Friday 2 April: The RAF began to remove Britons from Dacca while a Swedish tanker began to remove oil from the-Liberian one stranded on the Goodwin Sands. Libya ensured a new petrol price rise under a new agreement
with the oil companies, but the British Govern- ment told the Steel Corporation' to cut their proposed price increases in half.
Saturday 3 April: Lord Melchett clung limpet- like to his job as head of the est:. despite yester- day's clash with the Government. Mr Heath reprimanded employers for their weakness in fighting inflation: the Cover:in-tent had done its share, he said. Oil from the stranded tanker coated Kent beaches as Specify won at Aintree in what was once again 'the last' Grand National. One-hundred mice were let loose in a London theatre where the Red Army Ensemble was appearing.
Sunday 4 April: The Liberian tanker was re-' floated but she continued to leak oil. The rm. visited Berlin before flying to Bonn to meet Herr Brandt. More blackouts seemed probable following the rejection by another power union of an 8i per cent pay offer. Militant Ford workers seemed unlikely to return to work to- morrow, despite the union's recommendation. Monday 5 April: Commuters were delayed when the BR work-to-rule began—so was re- newed production at Fords, when workers failed to work. Desmond Donnelly, the former Labour MP, turned Tory. James Mossman died.
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