Tuesday January 30, 1979

_. Slightly more mild. No more ruddy snow. Up at 7:30. Read Mum's Daily Mail and had a black coffee. The Duke of Gloucester says that members of the Royal Family have to be professional ignoramuses, and reckons that the round of royal duties do not allow them, the royals, to speak their minds. The British constitution prevents royals from showing any signs of brightness or initiative. A prince cannot dabble in or discuss public affairs. The Royal Family, is compelled by tradition to appear dull, ignorant and insensitive & I'm not surprised that some members of the family are crying out to be granted the right to speak out. It may be undemocratic but I do feel that Prince Philip and several other royals are perhaps capable of bringing this country from the abyss of Hell. We have to be saved from James Callaghan.

It looks as though the Times newspaper is in its death throes. Thomson Newspapers will undoubtedly sell out and this great English institution will go forever. No Daily Telegraph was published today, which is miserable. The fabric of the country is gradually disintegrating , don't you think?

Home at 5:30. T-bone steak for dinner with Mama, Papa and Susan. David calls in with a ton of empty lager bottles from Burley-in-W. He went off at 6:30 to play Badminton with 'the lads' at Yeadon.

Saw David Attenborough on the BBC. Life On Earth. If the whole of time was scaled down into one year, then man wouldn't put in an appearance until very late on New Year's Eve. Not even a blade of grass or the smallest living organism appeared until early November, and so you can imagine what a quiet Easter Bank Holiday it was.

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