PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
'August. . . July. . . June. . . any advance on 7 May?'
Speculation intensified about the likely date of the general election. Dr David Owen predicted that it would be held on 7 May, then predicted it would not. The Prime Minister said that she would not be rushed. Mr Michael Howard, Minister for Consumer and Corporate Affairs, visited Japan, to seek greater access to the Tokyo Stock Exchange for British companies, and to try to put pressure on Mr Nakasone's government to allow Cable and Wireless to break into the Japanese telecommunica- tions market. Mr Keith Best, MP for Anglesey, survived a meeting with his local Conservative Party Association following the news that he had made multiple ap- plications for British Telecom shares. In a statement, local officers said that Mr Best -retained their support 'for the time being'. Another Tory, Mr Harvey Proctor, the MP for Billericay, was charged with offences involving indecent acts with teenage boys. An attempt by Conservative backbenchers to restore the death penalty was rejected by the House of Commons by a majority of 112. There were riots in West Belfast, where a soldier was shot and seriously injured, and in Co. Londonderry 'loyalist' prisoners took two hostages. It was re- vealed that several of the Queen's cousins, on the Bowes-Lyon side of the family, have been in a Sussex mental hospital since 1941. An announcement from 10 Downing Street brought news of the retirement of Wilberforce, the cross-party cat, who has faithfully served the past four Prime Minis- ters chasing mice. Alex 'Hurricane' Hig- gins, the snooker star, was fined £12,000 and banned from playing in tournaments for six months after an incident in which he head-butted a senior snooker official. The Grand National was won by Maori Ven- ture at 28-1.
MRS Thatcher returned triumphant from her visit to the Soviet Union, saying that during her 13 hours of intensive talks with Mr Gorbachev 'every molecule was en- gaged'. There were also reports that con- servative elements in Soviet society are unhappy with the new model role for women being put forward from the top. In particular, a samizdat videotape showing Mrs Raisa Gorbachev buying expensive furs and jewels in London and Paris was reported to be circulating in Moscow. Off Zeebrugge, the wreck of The Herald of Free Enterprise was righted, and over 90 bodies were removed. In Geneva, Sotheby's sold off the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's jewels and some of their personal effects. More than £31 million was raised by the auction against an estimate of some £5 million. In the United States, further claims about the sexual activities of a television evangelist, Mr Jim Bakker, were made by Miss Jessica Hahn. She said that the former head of the 'Praise The Lord' ministry in South Carolina subjected her to a 'night of Sodom and Gomorrah'. American newspapers pub- lished a photograph of Mr Bakker's wife wearing a 'saucy show-girl corset'. In Por- tugal, the centre-right government fell. In Finland, the centre-left government quit. Mr Ian Smith was suspended from the House of Assembly in Zimbabwe for a year after describing proposals for interna- tional sanctions against South Africa as 'stupid'. A report from Johannesburg said that a South African woman, carrying ova from her daughter fertilised in vitro by her son-in-law, is expected to give birth to grandchildren later this year. M St JT
Previous page
