The Week
As Parliament ended one session and was reopened the Government showed all the signs of having lost its nerve. Mr Healey at last presented to the Cabinet the IMF's terms for its requested £2,400 million loan. There were varying accounts of what the terms might be but there was no doubt that severe cuts in public spending were on their way.
No mention of cuts was made in the Queen's Speech which confirmed suspicions that what with the Devolution Bills there will not be time for much other legislation in the coming year: the Government plans to re-introduce the Aircraft and Ships Nationalisation Bill, held up by the Lords, adjust the National Insurance scheme, to rationalise water supply and to amend the laws of patent and those relating to conspiracy. Not a word about the Wealth Tax, to left-wing rage.
On his other side Mr Callaghan was given a hard time by the miners who threatened industrial action this winter in pursuit of their demand for earlier retirement : the NUM leaders had apparently been startled to learn how well miners used to be treated in Fascist Spain. _ In Mexico President Echeveria was setting the British an example of creative government: in the last weeks of his presidency he continued to push through a large collection of eccentric legislation and was forced to suspend foreign currency dealings as the peso collapsed. Nothing continued to happen at Geneva where Mr Ivor Richard put forward the British Government's 'firm position.'
At the moment when Mr Rupert Murdoch appeared to have his takeover of the Observer sewn up—at least he thought so-Miss Norah Beloff discovered a Los Angeles oil company, Atlantic Richfield. aPPr°priately run by a 'humanist with a deer concern for communications.' The Greater London Council discovered that it needed some £30 million to rePair council houses erected in the last twelve years. GLC staff made a token stoPPage (how can we ever tell?) at this news, in pro' test against what it was not clear. Mr Geoffrey Drain, the head of the Local Government workers' union, said that he was fed up with 'cheap jibes' against his members.
Other political events rather took the I imelight from Mrs Thatcher's shadow obi' net reshuffle, not that there was much take: Mr John Davies became shad° foreign secretary but Mr William Whitelaw ---it was said--stopped Sir Keith JosePh becoming shadow Chancellor. Mr Maudling finally left the front benches. 'He's 5° sensitive,' his wife said. Mr Brezhnev visited Romania with sonic words of reproach for its government. king Hassan of Morocco visited Paris. The Pres: idcnt of Venezuela visited London. 1-1r1,1' Strauss's Bavarian CSU formally split "It the West German Christian Democrats. Father Martin D'Arcy, England's leading, Jesuit, died, as did Andre Malraux lib` French writer and friend of de Garrible'e Rupert Davies the actor, and Lysenko. ri3O charlatan scientist and friend of Stalin had once dictated scientific thought to in whole Communist world.
Mr Alex Lyon did not believe that BBC could not find any black announee'T: Miss Patty Hearst was released on $1.5 lion hail. Mr Merlyn Rees was sholiteuii down at an anti-racialism march. The lri.sat, Labour Party rejected capital punishrnen,i Italian newspapers were cut to a maxinill"
A 16pp per issue as an austerity measure.11 Greek aeroplane crashed in norther Greece killing fifty people.
lea. The new Miss World, Miss Jai l° ae turned out to be the girl friend of a reggby singer who claims to have nine children o't seven women and to smoke a pound 0f.,,Pus a day. Muhammad Ali broke a pre' the promise and said that he would return t° ring. The MCC team left for India. A P°' hflY pie factory in Leeds was closed after d people had fallen ill and one man had died people
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