DIARY OF THE YEAR
Wednesday 24 March: Fresh from his brief Belfast visit on Saturday, Government trouble- shooter Lord Carrington was sent off to Wash- ington for his Task of the Week—to finally make or break the RB 211 contract with Lock- heeds. Sir Laurence Olivier was introduced into the House of Lords, which was relishing the prospect of lengthy debates over the Industrial Relations Bill; today the Commons finished the report stage and the final division for the third reading was called after thirty hours of almost nonstop debate and division. During the last stages, Mr Pym, Tory Chief Whip, was accused of drunkenness by a Labour MP. Frank Sinatra is retiring.
Thursday 25 March: President Yahya Khan left Dacca for Karachi after the collapse of talks with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Mr Bhutto. Mr George Woodcock left the C1R chairmanship —apparently not in protest against the Indus- trial Relations Bill, though he described it as 'misconceived' all the same. Lord Carrington left for London to report to the PM on the RB 211. Mr Bryan Forbes left as head of the EMI-MGM studios at Elstree. Sir Sally Zucker- man will have left the post of scientific adviser to the Government by next Wednesday. No political group however was left out of Mr Faulkner's Stormont Cabinet, which was a mixed bag containing politicians from the Left, Right and Centre.
Friday 26 March: Heavy fighting began in East Pakistan as the Army enforced the full rigours of martial law. Sheikh Mujib declared the area an independent republic—President Yahya Khan declared him a traitor. £458,240 in bank notes was snatched from a Security Express an which had stopped outside a public
lavatory. BOAC's profits dropped £26 million. Our ambassador in Uruguay sent his wife a
letter for the first time in eleven weeks. During that time he has been a captive of Tupamaro guerrillas. Mrs Castle's brother was allowed to enter South Africa by mistake.
Saturday 27 March: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was both imprisoned by the Army and directing
resistance against it, according to conflicting reports from Pakistan, All journalists were ex- pelled from Bengal. German trade unionists offered financial support to Ford strikers, and President Kenyatta freed his former deputy, Mr Oginga Odinga, who has been in prison since 1969. The 117th Boat Race took place and Cam- bridge won yet again. Mr Anthony Barber strolled through his home village in Yorkshire
with his family, giving the usual picture of the Relaxed Chancellor before his Budget. Mr Powell attacked the press for failing to dis- tinguish between news and editorial matter.
Sunday 28 March: East Pakistanis continued to do battle with the Army which was struggling
to gain control of the main cities of Dacca, Rangpur, Comilla and Chittagong. Palestinian guerrillas did battle with Jordanian government troops and Mr Yassir Arafat said the situation
was 'very dangerous'. Egypt was poised to do battle with Israel because of her 'arrogance and conceit', said President Sadat in Sudan. Guinean
troops were poised to do battle with any troublemakers in Sierra Leone intent on bring- ing down Dr Siaka Stevens's government. Mr Wilson did verbal battle with the Government at Scarborough; not surprisingly he wanted un- employment and prices to fall and pensions to rise.
Monday 29 March: Sixty commercial local radio stations were proposed in Mr Chataway's White Paper. They are to be controlled by the ITA (to be the Independent Broadcasting Authority), The BBC will keep the twenty they already have. The East Pakistanis were fighting for their seaports to prevent supplies reaching the Army. In the My Lai court-Martial in Fort Benning, Lt William Calley was convicted of murder, but the story is not over as he is to appeal. Meanwhile, in New York, a machine to prevent drivers from starting their cars when drunk was being demonstrated. A Bill to cut some state benefits to strikers was published. Tuesday 30 March: Today Mr Barber presented his budget to Parliament. He promised far reaching tax reforms, including the abolition of SET and purchase tax in favour of VAT In 1973, the merging of income and super tax, and the reconstruction of 'corporation tax. Mean- while, SET is cut by half, old age pensions go up by £1, income tax exemptions are raised and the monthly top premium bond prize will be doubled to £50,000.
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