Transport secretary Paul Channon flies back from his West Indies holiday into a hail of criticism for being absent in the aftermath of the Lockerbie air crash
Transport secretary Paul Channon flies back from his West Indies holiday into a hail of criticism for being absent in the aftermath of the Lockerbie air crash

Our affectionate night and early start shopping in Oxford Street were going well until I had the onset of a migraine, having been burning the candle at both ends. We continue to shop in Selfridge’s, John Lewis and then, after a taxi ride to the Dillon’s bookshop, for a book on tropical plants by the Kew Gardens curator and other publications. Transport secretary Paul Channon flies back from his West Indies holiday into a hail of criticism for being absent in the aftermath of the Lockerbie air crash as the search for debris and survivors goes on. 4,000 drink driving offences were detected over the Christmas holiday period and Britain’s outgoing European Commissioner, Lord Cockfield, has been openly critical of Thatcher’s lack of commitment to the European cause

We slept very well last night, and Di’s slinky nightie helped by exhausting us to start with. The only problem was the lack of a clock for me to see the time in the early hours of darkness. At 7:30am, we ordered early morning drinks in our room and then were having breakfast in the restaurant by 8:30am. Off by taxi to Oxford Street and then we started our sales shopping in Selfridge’s. The glory of shopping by 9:30am was that the stores were so empty. It was working out all right until we had an attack of something that was quite worrying. My vision started to become patchy as a migraine was coming on. Di guided me to the store coffee shop and I sat and drank for a while and, despite a slight headache and temperature, it soon went away in 10 minutes or so and I was able to carry on shopping. After Selfridge’s, it was John Lewis and then between the two I bought two hats, a scarf, seed packets and super sexy underwear for Diana to wear.

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We had lunch at the John Lewis store and then took a taxi across town to the bookshop, Dillons, where I bought a good book on tropical plants by the Kew Gardens curator, a comprehensive dictionary for my history project and another general gardening book.. By taxi back, shattered, to our hotel room were read my books and made out a plant list and Diana had a nap. This evening, we had a very nice meal in the hotel restaurant which was well presented, cooked and served. The main news today continued in the vein of the Pan Am air crash disaster. Transport secretary, Paul Channon, flew back from the West Indies into a hail of criticism for being away and for his department’s handling of the airline security enquiries. The Americans are critical of British security and the UK political opposition join in the clamour. In recent days, a theory has been advanced that it was US military mail put on at Frankfurt without security checks that contain the bomb. The rescue and recovery teams are still finding wreckage and debris from the hills unlocks up to 40 miles from Lockerbie including Kilder Water in Northumbria. The Russians and the PLO are both pledging public support the efforts to track down the terrorists responsible for the bombing. Sir Geoffrey Howe is called upon the Israelis to talk to the PLO and get peace negotiations going. The Christmas holiday period, and despite a £2 million ad campaign, there were over 4000 positive alcohol breath tests; up 4% on the year before. Britain’s outgoing European Commissioner, Lord Cockfield, has been openly critical of Thatcher’s lack of commitment to the European cause and criticises non-membership of the EMS.