PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The Commonwealth Conference opened at Marlborough House, after a torchlight proces- sion by 1,000 Biafrans in London. Twenty people described as writers were expelled from Rhodesia House. Dr Milton Obote, President of Uganda, announced that 40,000 Britons of Asian extraction would shortly be asked to leave his country. Everybody agreed that racial dis- crimination in Britain was more than an inter- nal matter. Mr Enoch Powell said that he would not try to influence his daughters in the choice of a husband.
The Wootton Committee on Drug Depen- dence reported that there was no evidence to suggest that cannabis was more harmful than alcohol, that it was addictive, or that it led to hard drugs, and recommended a reduction in the penalties for its possession. Mr Callaghan was said to be unimpressed. Mr Edward Short announced that the school leaving age would be raised from fifteen to sixteen in September 1972. To accommodate the pupils, £105 million would be spent on extra classrooms. The Cabinet appeared to agree on Mrs Castle's pro- posals for reforming the trade unions. Further faults were found in the ill-fated liner 'Queen Elizabeth 2,' pride of British technological achievement and floating advertisement for Government intervention in industry. It was thought that she might sail again in March, at the earliest. Newly published Cabinet papers from 1938 revived memories of Munich. Sir Alec Douglas-Home said that criticism of his conduct there ran off him 'rather like water off a duck's back.' Later, Sir Alec fell on ice in Berwickshire, badly bruising his back and ribs.
General de Gaulle announced a unilateral arms embargo against Israel, in response to the Israeli reprisal against Arab aircraft in Beirut. The Israelis rejected Russian proposals for a solution to their conflict with the Arab states on the ground that Russia, which had been con- sistently opposed to Israel, was in no position to be an impartial referee. Reports from Prague indicated that Soviet military units had occu- pied factoriq to avert strikes in support of Mr Smrkovsky, demoted National Assembly chair- man. Wall Street reported its heaviest losses for eighteen months. The Conservative Ati. for Weston-super-Mare, Mr David Webster, died.
Russian chess champions were warned for the second time against fixing results at the Hastings chess championships. Cliveden became the British campus of California's Stanford Univer- sity, on a twenty-one-year lease from the National Trust. A Boeing of Ariana (Afghanis- tan) Airline crashed into a house near Gatwick in heavy fog, killing fifty-one people. Mr Grimond demanded a Scottish referendum on the question of Home Rule. Sir Harold Samuel, of Land Securities Investment Trust, put in a £160 million bid for City of London Real Property, taking everyone—including the two previous bidders—by surprise. The trial of the three Kray brothers, on charges ranging from murder to fraud, opened at the Old Bailey. Two English students on an exchange course at Moscow University returned home after com- plaining that the natives made politically moti- vated sexual advances to them.
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