PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
London is to get riot cars.
Labour MPs shouted 'U-turn' when Mr Paul Channon, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, announced that the Government had abruptly dropped the idea of selling Austin-Rover to an American-owned company, Ford: a deci- sion taken in Cabinet, where Mrs Thatch- er, supported only by Mr Lawson, had to give in to other ministers. Mr Alan Bris- tow, largest private shareholder in West- land, claimed to have been offered induce- ments, including a knighthood, to drop his opposition to the bid from the American company Sikorsky. The Government strongly denied that it had offered any inducements. Mr John Biffen said that 'Toryism is not a raucous political faction', which was taken to be a rebuke to Mr Norman Tebbit for sounding raucous. Mr Tebbit, addressing the Young Conserva- tives' conference, appealed for unity and for a hearing to be granted Mr Hese!tine, who used this opportunity to appeal over barracking for a 'caring capitalism'. Scot- land Yard considered the use of Hotspur armoured vehicles similar to those used for riot control by the police in Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland, a policeman and a barman were murdered. The English Bar decided to take the Lord Chancellor to court because he will increase legal aid fees by only five per cent. The High Court ordered the sequestration of the assets of Sogat '82, amounting to £17 million, because it had ignored an injunction to stop blacking Mr Murdoch's news- papers. Prince Andrew was said to have decided to marry Miss Sarah Ferguson, who went skiing with the Prince and Princess of Wales. The novelist Graham Greene was awarded the Order of Merit. Christopher Gregory, fined £56 for speed- ing near Gloucester, claimed he had accelerated in surprise when his mother addressed him for the first time since leaving Manchester.
BABY Doc fled from Haiti to France in an American military plane, ending the 29- year rule of the Duvalier family. It was unclear whether President Marcos's rule was ending in the Philippines: both he and Mrs Aquino claimed victory in the pres- idential election. The two sides announced wildly varying estimates of the numbers of votes they had won, 30 woman resigned from the state-run electoral commission in protest at fraud and Cardinal Sin said that violence against those trying to protect the sanctity of the ballot was obstructing the rebuilding of democracy. An exchange of spies took place in Berlin between East and West, including also the release of the Soviet dissident Anatoly Shcharansky, who was welcomed ecstatically in Israel. Mrs Winnie Mandela said she was sure her husband, Mr Nelson Mandela, would be released from prison, but she had no idea when. In Palermo, the trial began of 474 alleged members of the Mafia. The Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury met for 29 minutes in Bombay. In Egypt, an English and a Dutch archaeologist disco- vered the tomb of Maya, treasurer to Tutankamun. The tomb was last disco- vered by a German archaeologist in the 19th century. In Northumberland, a Leis lees bat, woken from hibernation by work- men, was fed on dog food while a licensed bat handler tried to coax this rare bat back to sleep. Lambeth council announced plans to rename 28 places in honour of eminent blacks: Streatham baths would become Mangaliso Sobukwe Pool. AJSG
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