PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The storming of McDonald's Mrs Thatcher repeatedly rejected de- mands by the Labour Party for an exten- sion of the inquiry into the sacking of Colin Wallace, the former army press officer, to cover allegations he made of an attempt by senior civil servants to discredit Labour ministers in the mid-1970s. The Ministry of Defence signalled a reassessment of the size of British Armed Forces in Europe, while in Bonn Mr Hurd, the Foreign Secretary, said that an 'orderly transition' to German reunification could lead to a more stable Europe. The Government announced a 7 per cent pay increase for nurses, teachers, doctors and members of the armed forces; an award below the rate of inflation, which stands at nearly 8 per cent. Mr Salman Rushdie, the author condemned to death last year by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, re-emerged in print to rekindle the controversy over the possi- ble publication of a paperback edition of his novel, The Satanic Verses. It was announced by the Post Office that the entire country would be covered by the re-introduction of Sunday collections by the autumn. Floodwaters crept towards Gloucester city centre. Oxfam announced that it is to ban the sale of furs from its charity shops due to complaints from `animal rights' groups. Marina Ogilvy, the pregnant daughter of Princess Alexandra, was married in black. Itlwas revealed that a set of gallows at Wandsworth prison is still tested every six months in preparation for any wrongdoers convicted of treason or violent piracy. The English cricket team appeared set for an unstoppable victory against the Leeward Islands.
IN AN address to the South African Parliament, President F. W. De Klerk unbanned the African National Congress and confirmed that Nelson Mandela will be released from prison as soon as formalities can be completed. The South African Conservative Party demanded an immedi- ate general election and the police attacked a crowd of celebrating black activists in Johannesburg with tear gas. Mrs Thatcher invited both Mr De Klerk and Mr Mandela to Britain for talks in the near future. At an extraordinary plenum of the Central Com- mittee of the Soviet Communist Party, President Gorbachev suggested that the party would soon be surrendering its monopoly of power. This came five days after Mr Gorbachev denied rumours put out by the US television station CNN that he was about to relinquish his post as general secretary of the Party and retain only the role of state President. Many thousands of ethnic Albanians in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo demons- trated for political reform. The Slovene Communist Party voted to dissolve itself and to reform as the 'Party of Democratic Renewal'. The first branch of McDonald's, the hamburger chain, to deface the Soviet Union opened on Pushkin Square, Mos-
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