A First Class Party in conference

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Abortion rights opponent Shirley Williams to avoid colliding with each communist. other. But there are signs that Its "policies" SO far the SDP cannot continue to announced are based more survive simply on the on "antis' than pros: they vacuousness of its policies -are anti-unilateral disarma- and that even 300 million ment, anti-withdrawal from light years might not leave the EEC, anti-nationalisa- Ioom enough in the Party tion, anti-socialist and anti- for both Williams and THE discovery of a huge void in the middle of the universe - a hole some 300 million light years • in diameter - was announced simultaneously with the opening of the Social Democratic Party's first conference.

The hole is so huge that no less than 2,000 galaxies as large as the Milky Way could be fitted into it without touching each other.

Vacuousness

Scientists have described it as "extremely hard to understand" since the density of matter within the hole is about ten times less than the overall average.

The SDP appears to represent a similar void in British politics.

Within the SDP, policies are about ten times vaguer and further apart than in other political formations.

The very existence of the SDP is a novelty - and its substantial size a challenge to its political rivals.

And its range of top 'stars' have so far managed prudent provision to help out one's mother on whom thousands rely for employment, should not be a source of criticism."

But red stewards in BL seemed determined to jump on the bandwagon. Some of them were ludicrously claiming that if there was money for Prince Charles then there was money for them too..

But St. Michael said, 'I am confident that once again BL workers will see sense and that it is better for the whole country that they accept a moderate increase. Prince Charles does not come into it. If he didn't have a rise, his standard of living would fall."

* Is Prince Charles a Militant Trotskyite? See page 17. NATO's friend William Rodgers Jenkins to make their careers.

There had to be problems in a party built almost exclusively on the personal ambition 1 and careerism of individual MPs, bureaucrats, intellectuals and small business people.

Out of its 66,000 members there can be few who do not have their eyes firmly on an influential post in local or central government - ana there appear to be a least two determined would-be Prime Ministers.

Hence the surfacing of disagreements - over the subscription rate necessary to sustain Roy Jenkins in the manner to which EEC highliving accustomed him; over he structure of the party a ocal level and the need t posts; and - most significant create sufficient prominent _ over the means of selecting the party's leadership.

Patronage

Despite the recent opinion poll showing that a large majority of potential Liberal/SDP voters would favour David Steel as Prime Minister, SDPers still regard their chosen leader as the future head of government - with appropriate powers of patronage.

It is this which seems most likely to polarise the SDP in the coming period, with the cronies of Roy Jenkins insisting that the leader be elected only by MPs, while Shirley Williams hangers-on press for a ballot of the whole SDP membership.

Meanwhile the conference charade continues - travelling from Perth to Bradford to London in an unconvincing display of decentralisation, while "delegates" from outside London moan that they know nothing of how decisions ONE of Australia's richest men, mining tycoon Lang Hancock, has come up with a novel solution to one of the obstacles in the way of his exploiting Australia's vast mineral wealth genocide: "I'm not talking about mass murder but curing people in a miserable situation." His plan is to encourage all the country's Aborigine and part-Aborigine people to a relote area of North West Australia by making their social security cheques payable there. 'When they get there, I would dope the water so that they became sterile ect and ' woult ureed selves out."

No doubt his remarks will get a sympathetic hearing from New Zealand's Prime Minister Muldoon who is in Australia for the Commonwealth summit. Muldoon, who is already none too popular for his handling of the South African rugby tour, has shown just where his racial views lie with his comment on Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Robert Mugabe: 'When you've been in the jungle for a few years shooting people, it's a bit difficult for you to understand."

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