DIARY OF THE YEAR
Wednesday 6 January: From Paris, the news that the us Secretary of Defence believes all American ground forces will be out of Vietnam by the end of the year, and that the us Ambassador believes the peace negotiations will have made no progress at all. An additional order for eighteen more vertical take-off planes now brings Britain's dollar earnings from this plane up to £25 million. British cars, however, fared less well in two national surveys con- ducted by Which? and Drive: by general agree- ment they were found to be less reliable than foreign cars. Mrs Anne Melville, the commuter jailed for refusing to pay British Railways a surcharge of £2 6s was released after eight hours because someone, much to her annoyance, had paid her fine. 'I have been mysteriously wafted out of prison,' she said. 'I am enraged.'
Thursday 7 January: Nineteen military officers, mostly British, dismissed from their posts in Zambia. No reasons were given, but it was interpreted as further moves in that country's process of `Zambianisation'. England football captain Bobby Moore, discovered last week in a nightclub after midnight before an important cup tie, was fined today and dropped from West Ham's team. In Pakistan there were anti-British demonstrations over the publication in London of The Turkish Art of Love. The book re- portedly contained an account of the sexual exploits of the prophet Mohammed. Friday 8 January: The British Amdassador to Uruguay has been kidnapped in Montevideo by Tupamaros, local urban guerrillas. He joins a Brazilian diplomat and an American agrisul- tural expert held as hostages against 150 poli- tical prisoners. The Appeals Tribunal have up- held the Home Office decision to expel Ruth Dutschke. He 'had not abided by assurances not to engage in political activity'. Dr Jarring arrived in Jerusalem to attempt to break the deadlock in the Arab-Israeli peace talks; the Qii2 arrived on the scene of the blazing French liner Antilles, grounded on the Caribbean island of Mustique, and rescued 500 passengers and crew. The Soviet cultural mission in Washington was bombed.
Saturday 9 January: The search for the kid- napped British Ambassador in Montevideo goes on, but the Uruguayan government has refused to deal with the Tupamaros for his release. In Amman, renewed clashes between the Jordan Army and Palestine guerrillas, in Kashmir riots on the eve of parliamentary elections over the expulsion of two Plebiscite Front officials, in Italy a lowering of the bank rate (after similar moves in the us and France). Release, the or- ganisation set up to give legal aid to drug offenders, announced that it was in serious financial difficulties, and that its confidential files had been 'liberated' by White Panthers.
Sunday 10 January: On a day when the highest January temperatures on record were experi- enced in London and Manchester, the Cub- lington Crusade het() its biggest anti-Roskill rally, blocking roads for five miles, letting off 3,000 balloons and being led in their battle hymn by Cleo Leine. In Belfast an outbreak of tarring and feathering was believed to be the handiwork of the itta. The TUC informed the Government that wage settlements of approxi- mately 14 per cent were 'rational response to the present economic situation'.
Monday 11 January: Mr Barber warned the TUC that the nation 'had been held to ransom too often' and that the Industrial Relations Bill would go through. An eleven-mile oilslick was threatened in the Channel after the sinking of a 22,000 ton tanker. The Government put a ban on short-term borrowing from foreign funds by British firms. In New Delhi Mr Heath was heckled in protests against his South African arms policy.
Tuesday 12 January: The first mini National Strike of the year turned out to be something of :a disappointment to the militants. There were scattered walk-outs and demonstrations by car- workers, dockers and some railwaymen, but rather more workers decided to toe the TUC line than had done so in the same circumstances last month. Another ship disaster in the Chan- nel today. A German freighter sank two minutes after hitting what was believed to be part of the tanker which sank yesterday. Twenty-one passengers and crew were dragged down with the ship. Parliament reassembled and Mr Selwyn Lloyd was formally nominated as the new Speaker,
Previous page
