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Socialist Organiser1981 1981-09-24Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 3 →
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Whether it's due to overexposure to Royal Wedding fever, or too much Coronation Street, I know not, but Shirley Williams seems to have gone into the business of matrimonial counselling.
She has come up with this gem - "a marriage followed by a tiff is usually followed by a great many babies" — especially if you share Shirl's opposition to abortion, even for offspring, as in this case, that are likely to be severely brain-damaged.
The tiff in question is the decision of the Liberal Assembly to call for the banning of Cruise and Trident and for Britain to take a lead in making Europe a nuclear-free zone. Her comrade-in-arms Bill Rodgers does not entirely share her optimism, he says he'd find it difficult to be Defence spokesman for the Alliance if it was saddled with this policy.
Poor Bill, he's having a hard time of it. Fancy leaving the Labour Party because it looks like thwarting your dreams of blowing up the world, only to find you're marrying into a clan of raving peaceniks Fear not though Bill, for yonder stands the blushing bridegroom David Steel with that tried and tested remedy for ailing marriages, the "I won't take a blind bit of notice of Conference policy" formula. Phew! It's not really like the Labour Party after all!