Reading Evening Post from Reading, Berkshire, England • 14

14 EVENING POST Thursday, November 30, 1978 -POSTOPINION 'Bike peril A campaign is being launched today, with which the Duke of Edinburgh and Mrs Thatcher are associated, to save the lives of motor-cyclists. Scientists are to investigate the efficacy of crash-helmets during a three-months' inquiry. That is good news. But it is shutting the door after the horse has bolted. Of course everything that can be done to bring new inventions to the aid of the injured is welcome, but the more important necessity is to prevent people being injured.

The latest report of the Thames Valley police on accidents shows an alarming increase in deaths among motor-cyclists, especially those riding the less-powerful machines. The lesson is fairly obvious. These machines are the ones used by youngsters without experience of motor-cycles. There is nothing to stop them venturing on the roads without any instruction. It is natural for young people, thrilled by the possession of such a machine, to 'show-off' and take risks that experienced riders will avoid.

The way to reduce the number of accidents and deaths is to insist on these new riders having training before they are allowed on the roads. It could be done by making the issue of licences conditional upon the production of certificates showing that they have had instruction. Can Nixon return? Mr Richard Nixon THE European diplomat was adamant: "I would like to see Richard Nixon back in the White House." "It doesn't matter whether he is honest or not. What matters is that he was strong and the western world needs a strong man in the White House not a pious peanut farmer." The sane sentiments have ushered forth from the mouths of hundreds of thousands of Americans who believe the ex-president was the victim of a leftwing Press. At carefully organised rallies and conferences in the vast and strongly emmervative bible belt of the mid- West, huge crowds have recently presented him ear-shattering, ego-boosting standing ovations at the beginning, middle and end of his speeches.

DO If they catch him ma the beach near his home at San Clemente, California, they rush up, squeeze his hand and exclaim: "We were with you Dick, and still are." A British national newspaper earlier this week declared: "He was foolish rather than criminal." Fickle, ever-changing public opinion is swinging slowly back towards ex- President Richard Milhous Nixon, the man at the top of the Watergate scandal. The question is: How far will the pendulum swing and what role is there now for the disgraced politician? No one seriously believes that Nixon will ever be President again except perhaps Nixon himself. Not only because of the Watergate cover-up, er the laundered money, or the deleted expletives. but because he brought the office of the presidency to borrow a phrase from the Football Association into serious disrepute. There is also a question of age.

Nixon is now 'Sand in two months' time will be dd. Even a man who has thwarted all the political pundits cannot thwart Father Time. Nixon is being cagey about the role he would like to see for himself. Since his resignation in disgrace 1,74 he has closeted himself away in San Clemente. venturing forth only for the occasional public appearance.

DO The seclusion appears to have been a deliberate tactic. To sit, quietly as becomes a guiltless ex-president and world statesman, waiting for the storm to blow over and the inevitable swell of sympathy develop. Nixon's trip to Europe is his first major visit out of America to test international waters. His lecture on foreign affairs before the Oxford Union tonight DISGRACED ex-President Richard Nixon has stopped licking his Watergate wounds and is strutting the international stage again. As he prepares to address the Oxford Union tonight TOM ARMS asks: Can Nixon come back? will be his first major Policy-type speech since resignation.

The visit and his talk could be a key to the role Nixon sees for himself: That of roving ambassador for America, or. if America won't have him, general commentator om the world scene. He certainly has the credentials for the job. Whatever else is said of hint. he was one of the most brilliant foreign affairs strategists and tacticians ever to sit in the oval office.

Detente. the foundations of Sino- American reconciliation and withdrawal from Vietnam are all the fruits of Nixon's labours. More importantly, he was the man who recognised the talents of Dr Henry Kissinger and was wise enough to promote him to positions first national security adviser and then Secretary of State where he could influence world events. But a foreign affairs specialist needs access to the people at the top. Past experience is useful.

but he must keep in touch with diplomats, heads of government and leading businessmen in order to comment authoritatively. So far the Chinese have welcomed Nixon. and that as Wert the death of Chairman Mao and tin. mayor leadership changes. When the ex-president sisited Australia earlier this year 19 promot his bosh he was told be could not stay Government House as he requested ne tt would any Australian leaders me ai.

Earlier this week Nixon was in Paris Charles De Gaulle's widow, to'd Nixes she was too sick to 111.11 I salon French premier hira( lOM not see him because of a broken The C.S. Ambassador was con, OCI The only official recognition accoided the ex-president by the French which sent the chief of proto4 ol to greet Nixon as he stepped off Concorde the bare minimum. Despite the groundswell of supoon. Nixon remains tainted by DAtergate. and any politician who is asked to meet runs the other way for fear of being tainted by the same (expletive deleted( brush.

I may be tired, but IF THERE is anyone left in the English-speaking world who has not yet heard of Mrs Mary Whitehouse, this highly unlikely state of affairs should end abruptly very soon. For the lout (anions and controversial female antiporn campaigner of them all is planning a series of highly-prblicised mus meetings from the New Year. It will put an end to the growing rumours that lady is not only down, but positively For good. To which Mn Whltebouse replies: Mathias could be further from the truth. I may he tired.

but that's just temporary. I shall be in the thick of the fight as usual!" Mrs Mary Whitehouse Normally, would eves dream of discussing the DON'T KILL OFF YOUR POT post and packing (recommended retail price £4.95) YOU SAVE £1.95 HOW MUCH WATER SHOULD YOU GIVE YOUR POT PLANTS? Too much or too little could kill them off I With a Plantcare Moisture Meter you can be sure you're giving them just the right amount to keep them alive and healthy. All you have to do is insert the probe down to root level and the meter will tell you at a glance how much moisture there is in that vital area. The probe is long enough to measure the moisture content of pots as large as 15 inches. No batteries or electricity are needed.

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Office as above 41 remotest possiMlity that this hwiddabk fee of TV sez sad violence might have had enough of the fierce crusade which she begs. just IS years ap. But these have not bees times, for whirlwind Ss-year-old Mary Whitehouse, who thrives on conflict sad She is well used to abuse and ridicule. But, she has bees on the receiving end of what she sees as a deliberate caespalp of It has bees a sew expertrace. It was sew whew.

I. Brisbaae ea a tour Australia, she was pelted with pies filled with red dye and shaviau ereuu It was weir and when, during a speech at Southampton University, she was bit hard by a tennis ball flung from the audience. Fighting back "I was really extremely normal. Quite a tomboy, in fact. I was always in trouble fee mot keeping a ribbon IN ay hair.

I was mad on sport and camplag and Nature A la fact, a boot of her detractors try to portray Mary Whitehouse as anything but imormal." She has been called a kill-jay and fashioned. hopelessly old- Certainly, she is net afraid of saying that aim earnestly believes her campaign against explicit sexuality and Mame, in the media is "God's work." And she scarcely worries accessdoes that she is swimming against the moral tide. She declares: "I want sexuality to he understood, not seen. To me. the most erode moment is when a' man reaches set his band to a Getting nowhere This determined.

middleclass housewife with three sees, also declares: -I am against sex outside marriage." But what really stings her sharply is the allegation that she is unfeeling. She says: "I lost twin habits. They died st birth. Don't tell me I know 'maim sheet suffering." Mrs Wltildmuse started her campaign origiaally beealsc she believed that She says: That particular incident hart literally. My doctor told me that if I didn't rest I'd he forced to." She bowed to that advice largely, it is said, on the insistence of her devoted husband, Ernest.

The couple met before the war, when she was a student, at a Moral Reanimates( meeting aid they get married a few mouths later. The cogle have faced set- backs before during Mary's highly committed campaign, but she has a way of fighting back. With Mrs Whitehouse. whose gram, the National Viewers' sod Listeners' Assoetados, claims mambo yrs Is the daughter of a Cheshin cattle-food representative. She and her sister and two brothers were brought up as Church of England Christians.

She says: "There was faaatieal abowt it. That is just bow were is ear fasaib. lie metals of teenage girls. She bad pee bade to teaching art at a setseadary seeders school, but was put is charge of sea educate's. She visited the BBC, the eassercial televhiss aratherity and the Mis of ankh with her cats but felt she was getting Theo she sad a rector's wife wrote and published a manifesto criticising the IBC.

A public meeting In the Midlands sprang from that. Mary Whitehouse had Imam a one-woman pressure greip Tales of flying saucers FORGET Flash Gordon. 2001 Space Odyssey and Star Wars. Reading's John Searl can offer you some close encounters of a weird kind. Loan him that empty shed at the bottom of your garden and the part-time flying saucer inventor might be willing to share the unearthly secret of how he plans to fly at 19 times the speed of Concorde Unfortunately.

Mr who's boasted of a discovery which threatens to drive Russia and America back to the SALT talks. hasn't got enough room in his Mor- Mr John Seed Want to have a battle STANDS to reason if you Volunteers will either be wear a plumed hat, knee- soldiers or camp followers. length breeches and a fighting as pikemen or musleather jerkin you're likely keteers, artillery men or to get your head smashed in serving as drummers, messooner or later. sengers, chaplains or one of Well, if you're that way theinany other roles in supinclined you'll be pleased to port of the troops. know there's a group in Members of the King's Berkshire who want to hear Army and its rivals the from you and they'll teach Roundhead Association you how to defend their Parliamentary oppoyourself.

nents spend weekends They're a bunch of loonies taking part in mock battles who call themselves the all over the country. Kings Army, reconstructing If you're interested the battles fought during the man to contact is John Civil War 300 years ago. Lynch, of 21 High Street, The enthusiasts are form- Hatchet. ing a Thames Valley unit Ironically, the last time I Lord Hopton's Regiment interviewed that particular modelling themselves on a gentleman he was in a hos- West Country Royalist outfit pital bed in Windsor having which was in the thick of the been almost blinded by a fighting in the 1000's. pike in a mock battle The regiment already has Still, you'll be glad to about 20 members from the know that the King's Army Slough and Windsor area tries to be as authentic as and is looking for more possible and awards a recruits to set up a local badge to its soldiers company.

wounded in action timer council house to build his giant frisbee So he's appealing to readers to let him use their spare premises as a workshop to develop his three-seater prototype time-machine. Mr Searl, a 41-year-old father of six, claims he's already been offered a site for a factory abroad but would like to get his project off the ground locally. According to our records he's got to make a start soon because the first flight a half-hour hop from Reading to New Zealand has been scheduled later this year But the night-shift setter at Vandervell Products in Maidenhead reckons that land of opportunity is providing a boost to his scheme He says a consortium of New Zealand businessmen is raising money towards his CllO.OOO target fund to allow his flying saucer to take off from the realms of imagina tion. Meanwhile. Mr Searl is planning a trip to Hawaii where he claims a firm specialising in advanced structural technology is investigating the problems of antigravity machines in flight Landings The cost of the visit will, of course, be footed by the company who will throw in expenses as well Mr Searl, who lives at Stephens Close, hopes to iron out a lot of the prob, lems of space-age travel by Defending metal detectors REGARDING the article referring to Treasure Hunters (Post, Nov 25), what a hypocritical bunch these archaeologists are! Their constant ravings about metal detector users' disturbing the strata' is rubbish by an insecure body trying to preserve their antigusted jobs for posterity.

They berate the detectoruser whose machine penetration is between two to ten inches, depending on soil mineralisation and disregard the fact that the ploughshare turns the soil or "disturbs the strata" to over a foot in depth. Yet they used a bulldozer to remove the topsoil at Silchester, on the site of the Roman town of When anything declarable as treasure trove is found by "irresponsible it is reported to the police and museum to be adjudged by a coroners inquest, these facts are then used by the archaeologists who claim it as one of their sites, do a dig and any treasure trove resulting under the laws of treasure trove, is theirs as the finders. It is no wonder that is never mentioned. There are a reputed 400,000 detector-owners in this country, including such "irresponsible people" as well-known celebrities, lawyers, doctors even some enlightened archaeologists. These are people who have found and contributed to the country more in the last five years than the archaeologists will in the next 500! It has taken a detectoruser to find the largest hoard of Roman coins, the site of a small Roman town on the edge of Savannake Forest.

Where was the expertise of the archaeological field units' Their read tion was a childish outburst on TV about damage to the strata. This latest outburst hap pens to coincide with reports of cuts in Government spending. Is this another ploy to justify overrated, antiquated jobs? It would save public money if these 'field units" were replaced by unpaid amateurs. As for the "Council" when a hobby becomes too popular these days, there are always people in high places who think it must be bad for some reason. I.

G. SMART Abingdon Drive Caversham Park Strikes HOW terrible it is to know that people are suffering mentally and bodily because men are brave enough to work instead of striking. Whole families, including children, are suf. tering needlessly and many will never be the same again. Extra money does not make happiness and contentment.

Union row I read with interest the article (Post, Nov 21), on the cancellation of the pop group, Fabulous Poodles, who were to appear in the Students' Union at Reading University. Paul Salmon, who is leading the protest against the bungling of this affair (which, due to late cancelling on petty grounds, has cost us £500) has considerable cross-campus support. He professes to be the voice of the silent majority who are above the trivia of some aspects of our union, although he himself is seldom silent! He is performing a first-class job as a watchdog over the current executive, who need a watchdog, as this whole episode reveals. One would have expected that by now the entertainments officer at least would have had the decency to resign over the wastage of taxpayers' money in ibis way and I hope he soon will do. Further, I feel that this demonstrates the folly of granting student unions complete sovereignty on the question of finance, as the standard of management is so low.

PAUL H. SMALLEY (Vice-chairman University Conservative AssadMiam) Reading University 'Super nanny' THE headline on the story of Nanny Field "Written off the super nan" and the conclusion in your leader that she is being dispensed with simply because she is 70, imply an unwarranted callous attitude on the part of the social services department, and there is no foundation for it. ful people like Mrs Field the obvious affection of her charges makes it all the more difficult: the department is only too aware of this, and I know the "Written-off" phrase will hurt, unfairly, those who know, the care very much about Mrs Field The acorn of truth which led to the grossly overstated oak tree is that Mrs Field has had it tactfully suggested to her that she ought to do less by doing ho iday-minding. In no way would the department lust "write a person who has given such valuable community service, and thereis no age limit for childminders and foster parents to give up. Each case is judged on its merits, and some people even newspaper editors might I venture to suggest find it difficult to accept judgment on their passing years.

In the case of wonder- Kenilworth Avenue Southeote DAVID SANDERS LAURA HARRIS County PRO Beecham Road Shire Hall, Reading Reading Parents give warning WHEN will the local education authorities overcome the problem every year of comprehensive education? In 1979 it's the turn of the Southcote parents to fight for what they feel will be right for their children for the next six years of their lives. We are going to be, according to the authorities, the only area whose residents cannot use its neighbouring corn. prehensive schools. Our children will have to travel from west to east for their neighbouring school five miles away. I would advise the education authorities to think again this time as parents of Southcote children are united in rejecting their latest proposals and we shall not be moved (Mn) J.

PEMBROKE Peter Marriott competing on the 19110 Paris to Auckland air race For That part icular tun hell have to take the control of a more conven tional plane, something like the Cessna 177 he's been learning to fly at Blackhushe aerodrome He explained I'll gain experience of international procedures which will help to take away the fear avert They will see my landings and talk to us And they Mill ask That Man's a damn good )et Kr Searl. who's been threatening to launfh his flying saucer for the put 10 years. sas is nohe less. pollution-free and in soine unspecified fuhion neutralises atomic mate vials. ANOTHER SLIP UP! READING twoncil's recreation officer has got he writes in a mown report.

himself in a mess over the sticky problem of The tosser should be in ethwatisig the dogs fouling the town's parks. public. Ti say nothing of The oast of appointing a dog warden or 'defeating the Civic Offices typists Still. fencing off certain areas would net reflect in they're not the lint I. slip op es this partiry real terms any great PRACTICLE advantage." far subject.

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