PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
At their annual conference the TUC put off making a decision on no-strike deals, thereby avoiding a major internal confrontation. Mr Arthur Scargill, the NUM leader, failed in his attempt to force the issue against the 'new realists', one of whom, Mr Eric Hammond of the EETPU, told the delegates, 'We are the future and we are not going to go away.' Meanwhile, NUM leaders have decided to go ahead with an overtime ban in protest at British Coal's new disciplinary code. The Educa- tion Secretary, Mr Kenneth Baker, announced that he would not intervene to overrule the decision that parents of 26 children in Dewsbury would have to send them to a school where about 500 out of 590 are of Asian origin. In the run-up to the Labour conference, Mr Ken Living- stone has declared himself a candidate for the party's National Executive. The SDP conference ended with Mrs Shirley Wil- liams rejecting a taunt by Dr Owen that she was a 'chicken'. Three suspected Irish terrorists were charged with conspiring to murder Tom King, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Security measures for the Conservative conference at Blackpool — said to include a submarine — are undergoing an intensive review. At the World Athletics Championships in Rome the British javelin thrower, Fatima Whit- bread, won a gold medal, while Steve Cram could only manage eighth place in the 1500 metres. New Zealander Richard Hadlee steered Nottinghamshire to victory in the Nat West Trophy. His score of 70 not out included 14 off the last three balls. Alexander Solzhenitsyn is to send his son to Eton to study for 'A' Levels. The Soviet dissident spoke at the school in 1983 and says that he was impressed by the quality of the boys' questions.
THE LEADERS of the two Germanys met for the first time on West German soil. East German head of state Erich Honecker played down suggestions that this was the beginning of an attempt at reunification. Many commentators considered that their meeting was in fact the clearest mark yet of the two states' acceptance of German partition. The Secretary-General of the United Nations announced plans to visit both Iran and Iraq to seek a ceasefire in the Gulf war. Both countries have continued their attacks on shipping in the area although American convoys have not yet become involved again. The French armed forces in Chad shot down a Russian-built Libyan bomber with a US-built missile over the Chadean capital, Ndjamena. In an exchange of prisoners the South Africans swopped over 130 Angolans and two Euro- peans for one African army officer. Mathias Rust, the young West German pilot who landed his plane in Red Square in May, was sentenced to four years in a Soviet labour camp. In his trial Rust said that his intention had been to meet Mr Gorbachev `to tell him my thoughts'. The judge, however, said that he was moti- vated, above all, by 'adventurism'. Belgian police stormed a prison in Brussels ending a riot by prisoners angry at the 'favourable conditions' to be given to 26 British foot- ball 'fans' recently extradited by the Home Secretary, who face charges arising from the Heysel Stadium disaster. As parts of northern India suffered from severe drought, up to one fifth of the population of Bangladesh — some 24 million people — are said to be homeless or without food after the worst floods in the country's history. The British bookmaking firm Lad- brokes have purchased the American hotel company Hilton International. M St J T
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