Portrait of the week
Every week has its quota of bloody violence; about accidents people are less blasé. An Iberia Airlines Caravelle crashed in Sussex, killing thirty-seven passengers; the flight-recorder was found, but in a damaged condition. The death toll in the Hither Green train disaster was esti- mated to be fifty-one, and since thin eight more track defects have been found; a week previously British Railways' chief inspecting Officer had given a warning about broken rails.
The Oovernment licked its wounds after three disastrous by-elections: a Tory gain at Leicester, A narrow Labour survival at Gorton, and—most spectacular—a Scottish Nationalist triumph at Hamilton. In the House of Commons, Mrs Castle had a difficult time explaining her new transport plans: she promised a direct grant of £50 million to several hundred unprofitable but socially neces- sary railway services. Mr Callaghan was rough with left-wing back-benchers With his speech on the economy, when he echoed Sir Leslie O'Brien's call for a higher margin of 'unemployed, and there were new signs of left-wing mutiny. In Moscow, the fiftieth anniversary of the revolution was celebrated with a. monster mili- tary parade, plus fairy lights. Sir Alec Douglas- Home was worried about Britons left in South Arabia, while in Aden itself over a hundred people were killed in internecine fighting between the NLF and FLOSY. Mr George Thomson arrived in Rhodesia and met Mr Ian Smith, and Presi- dent Kaunda of Zambia expressed his fears of an Imminent sell-out; Mr Thomson had lunch with the South African Foreign Minister in Pretoria.
Oxford decided to divide the second-class Honour Schools into upper _ and lower sections. Mr Hugh Scanlon was supported by communists to become the new president of the AEU, and foot- and-mouth outbreaks spread, with 29,459 animals slaughtered so far. Radio Leicester, the BBC's first local radio station, went on the air. The new Polaris submarine 'Repulse' was launched with a bottle of home-made elderberry wine and subse- quently ran aground. Guy Fawkes Night was quiet enough, but a man stripped stark naked in Trafal- gar Square and was fined £2 for piddling.
Previous page
