Giles cartoon for this week: the Post Office industrial dispute
The background to this industrial dispute is the expansion of the British economy in the 1950s. The nation was heavily in debt and struggling with a balance of payments deficit. It was essential to boost exports but at the same time the public wanted more (and/or better) housing and consumer goods; this meant there was a competition for labour, made harder by the postwar shortage of manpower (which led to the drive to attract Commonwealth immigration), so wages were rising faster than productivity. The Government tried to negotiate the conflicting demands with a prices and incomes policy.
Also on 5 January: 'Prison inmate Clarence Gideon sent a letter, written in pencil, to the United States Supreme Court, asking them to reverse his conviction for burglary on the grounds that he had not been given the right to an attorney. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and, on March 18, 1963, issued the landmark decision of Gideon v. Wainwright, holding that the Sixth Amendment guarantee, of the right to assistance of counsel, required the appointment of a lawyer for any person unable to afford one.
1 |
Stranger On The Shore |
Acker Bilk |
Columbia |
2 |
Moon River |
Danny Williams |
HMV |
3 |
Let There Be Drums |
Sandy Nelson |
London |
4 |
Johnny Will |
Pat Boone |
London |
5 |
Tower Of Strength |
Frankie Vaughan |
Philips |
6 |
Midnight In Moscow |
Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen |
Pye |
7 |
So Long Baby |
Del Shannon |
London |
8 |
Toy Balloons |
Russ Conway |
Columbia |
9 |
I'd Never Find Another You |
Billy Fury |
Decca |
10 |
My Friend The Sea |
Petula Clark |
Pye |
11 |
Multiplication |
Bobby Darin |
London |
12 |
Take Five |
Dave Brubeck |
Fontana |
13 |
Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen |
Neil Sedaka |
RCA |
14 |
Don't Bring Lulu |
Dorothy Provine |
Warner Brothers |
15 |
Bambino |
The Springfields |
Philips |
16 |
September In The Rain |
Dinah Washington |
Mercury |
17 |
Goodbye Cruel World |
Jimmy Darren |
Pye |
18 |
Walkin' Back To Happiness |
Helen Shapiro |
Columbia |
19 |
Run To Him |
Bobby Vee |
London |
20 |
Take Good Care Of My Baby |
Bobby Vee |
London |