Happy 1974

3 January 2005



Britain Declassifies Documents under 30-Year Rule

One of the lesser-known joys of the New Year is finding out just what the heck Whitehall and Downing Street were up to three decades ago. Britain, lacking the First Amendment that makes America such a bureaucrat’s nightmare, traditionally locks up most government papers for 30 years. Of course, to release everything exactly 30 years to the day later is problematic. So instead, the files are opened at the Public Records Office in the London’s suburb of Kew at the start of every year. This year, the world is treated to the secrets of 1974.

The most amusing story was an attempted kidnapping of Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth, in March of 1974. Two police officers were shot, but the story’s humorous side came out this year. Ian Ball, a 26-year-old burglar with mental health problems, jumped into HRH’s car on the Mall one March evening, and asked her to come with him “for a day or two” as he wanted £2 million. HRH told him it wasn’t "bloody likely, and I haven't got £2m". She added, “It was all so infuriating; I kept saying I didn't want to get out of the car, and I was not going to get out of the car. I nearly lost my temper with him, but I knew that if I did, I should hit him and he would shoot me.”

More serious, and under the heading of “the more things change the more they stay the same,” the Labour government in 1974 considered introducing national identity cards in an anti-terrorism effort. The idea was shelved as too expensive and ineffective. Mr. Blair’s current policy will also be too expensive and ineffective, but one doubts if he will rise to Prime Minister Wilson’s level of wisdom on the matter.

At the height of the trouble in Northern Ireland, government ministers were encouraging contacts between the Orange and Green terrorists. Thirty years later, Gerry Adams, MP, and the Reverend Ian Paisley are still holding out. However, in 1974, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada proposed that he would, as self-proclaimed King of Scotland, help broker a peace deal in Northern Ireland. Instead, he murdered thousands of his own people.

Meanwhile, the documents have come out proving that the Israeli intelligence and covert ops gang killed a Moroccan catering worker by mistake. They thought he was Ali Hassan Salame, who masterminded the killing of the Israeli Olympians in Munich in 1972. Yesterday, Abu Abbas, the front-runner in the Palestinian elections to be held Sunday said he would protect those who attacked the Israelis from assassination. Happy New Year -- it’s 1974 again.

© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.

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