From the archive: The week in history

OJ SIMPSON HITS OUT AT TRAIL DISTORTIONS

4 October, 1995

IN HIS first public statement since his acquittal on murder charges, OJ Simpson lashed out angrily on Wednesday night at those he accused of twisting and distorting the facts in his sensational year-long trial.

Mr Simpson’s comments came in a surprise phone call to CNN’s Larry King Live show while his lead defence lawyer, Johnnie Cochran, was being interviewed. Both host and guest appeared to have been caught off guard.

Mr Simpson said: “Throughout this case, there’s been these misrepresentations _ People come home and they hear the pundits elaborating on these misrepresentations.”

The former American football star singled out Marcia Clark, the lead prosecutor, for giving rise to public confusion about the testimony of key witnesses. “My basic anger is these misperceptions,” he said.

However, Mr Simpson also had praise for his lead lawyer.I want to thank that man, Mr Johnnie Cochran, for believing from the beginning, listening and putting his heart and soul on the line to send me home to give me the time I’m spending right now with my kids.

He added: “I haven’t had a chance to grieve. My kids don’t have a mother. People don’t seem to understand that I loved that woman.” Asked by King whether he felt relieved or angry, Mr Simpson said: “A little bit of everything.”

Earlier in the day, Mr Simpson had been reunited with his children Justin, seven, and Sydney, nine. He had slipped past camera crews massed outside his Brentwood estate for a planned meeting in a secret location, but when he saw his children on a street near his home he bolted from his car and ran to embrace them.

Mr Cochran confirmed the reunion during his Larry King Live interview, praising the family of the Mr Simpson’s former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, for setting it up.

After Mr Simpson’s acquittal of the murders of Nicole and her friend, Ronald Goldman, the Brown family - which had been caring for Justin and Sidney - decided not to fight to keep custody of the two children.

Meanwhile, jurors have spoken out for the first time, citing lying witnesses and “planted” evidence as the keys to their verdict. Their decision continued to fuel an angry nationwide debate, largely between blacks who believe justice was served and whites who think a killer was allowed to go free.

In Washington, the attorney general, Janet Reno, said the Justice Department’s civil rights unit had begun investigating allegations of police misconduct raised during the trial.

It has been reported that some of the jurors, who took less than four hours to find Mr Simpson not guilty, are negotiating to sell their stories to tabloid newspapers and television for as much as $100,000 each.

US INVESTMENTS IN SCOTLAND

3 October, 1950

About 80 per cent of the American investments in the United Kingdom is located in Scotland, said Lord Bilsland, chairman of the Scottish Council (Development and Industry ) at a press conference in St Andrew’s House yesterday. Speaking on the Council’s work in solving the dollar problem, he said that one aspect was to interest American corporations in setting up plant in this country. About 80 per cent of the American investments in the United Kingdom was located in Scotland and the Scottish Council had been pursuing actively efforts to solve the problem of absorbing our pockets of unemployment. Questioned about this percentage, Lord Bilsland said the Scottish Council’s propaganda had had a considerable influence. Dr Christopher Macrae, the secretary, pointed out that they could act as factors for all kinds of inquiries from American firms instead of sending them from one government department to another.

WAR-TIME CONTROL

4 October, 1943

Mr Herbert Morrison, Minister of Home Security, speaking at Dundee yesterday, said if we are to avoid social and economic catastrophe after the war, we shall have to continue some form of war-time control, while both taxes and savings might have to remain well above pre-war normal. “The challenge of the peace will be as great in its way as the challenge of war,” he said. “We shall have to meet the one as we have met the other. During the war we have learned to cope with many problems by a system of control and an organisation which puts the resources of the community at the service of the national effort. If we are to avoid social and economic catastrophe after the war we shall have to continue this system of control, subject to suitable and sensible modifications, for as long as abnormal conditions persist. After this war we should face a situation in many ways resembling that of 1919.”

NEXT YEAR’S NHS COSTS

5 October, 1950

Health Service costs in Britain during 1951-52 of between £600,000,000 and £700,000,000 “more than the whole British Budget before the First World War” were forecast in Glasgow yesterday by Sir William M Marshall when he presided at a meeting of the National Health Executive Council for Lanarkshire, and presented estimates of expenditure for the county, including a figure of £1,776,000 in respect of 1951-52. In a reference to the chemists’ dispute he quoted figures which showed, he said, the position with regard to drugs and medicines was rather alarming. If the figures were persisted in, the cost of drugs and medicines in Scotland would rise to £1 per head. The burden had become almost intolerable. Sir William at the outset stated instructions had been received on payments to doctors who had excessive lists. The Act stated that a doctor was to have a maximum of 4,000 patients on his list.

CRIPPS EXCEEDED HIS BRIEF

6 October, 1949

New Delhi: Dr Matthai, the Indian Finance Minister, opening the debate on devaluation of the rupee, said the decision by Sir Stafford Cripps exceeded the brief that the Commonwealth Finance Ministers’ conference gave to the British Chancellor. India was first informed of Britain’s devaluation decision two days before the public announcement, and decided to devalue the rupee mainly as a defensive measure. The Finance Minister said Pakistan’s decision not to devalue the currency was lacking in economic justification and had resulted in a drastic break in economic relations between the two Dominions. Mr Shah, Independent, a Bombay economist, said India had been betrayed. Britain’s devaluation could only be described as an act of bankruptcy. He suggested British assets in India be taken over as a guarantee that there would be no further “monkeying” with sterling balances.