11 AUGUST 1984, Page 5

By democratic means

Mr Ken Livingstone and three of his colleagues have resigned their seats to fight by-elections, a move uneasily described by Tory leaders as a gimmick, and boycotted by them. Should, however, the first four win on 20 September and in a respectably high poll, we shall perhaps see other Labour councillors resign, four by four, to force by-elections while keeping, by the chairman's casting vote, control of the GLC. Councillors in the metropolitan counties might be inspired by their exam- ple. The Left might have found the oppor- tunity it lacks in Parliament, to oppose the Government by means which it will de- scribe as unimpeachably 'democratic'. Mrs Thatcher would probably not mind if it happened to be extremely cold on 20 September, and raining.

rr he Times of Tuesday carried a photo- 1 graph of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips at the Olympic Games on its front page. On page three, it offered a 'portrait study' photograph of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, On page four, with the caption 'Wreathed in smiles', a third picture showed the Prince of Wales being presented with a garland in Papua New Guinea. Its sister paper, the Sun, refrained from such a shameless effort to chase circulation, and published no royal photographs at all.