PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Anid growing unease over the state of the economy, both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer strongly reaffirmed their commitment to maintain- ing sterling at its current parity within the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. As the pound fell against the deutschemark the Chancellor appealed to Germany not to raise its interest rates fearing that Britain would have to follow suit. The Transport Secretary, Mr John MacGregor, announced plans to split British Rail into two, with the track staying in public ownership while pri- vate firms are invited to bid for its freight, and passenger service, and for its stations. MPs defied the Government and voted themselves a 38 per cent increase in their allowances. Mrs Virginia Bottomley, the Health Secretary, published a White Paper outlining Government targets for reducing, amongst others, deaths from lung cancer by 30 per cent, the incidence of suicide by 15 per cent, and the number of pregnant 16 year olds by half. Controversy followed when the Independent revealed that Mrs Bottomley had herself been an unmarried teenage mother in the 1960s. Mr Neil Kin- nock stepped down as leader of the Oppo- sition. The Archbishop of Canterbury
promised a close examination of the Church Commissioners' handling of funds, following suggestions that the Church may have lost £500 million in the property mar- ket's collapse. Eight-year-old Luke McShane became the youngest chess mas- ter in the history of the game by winning the World Under Ten Championship in Germany, and Ganesh Sittampalam, aged 13 and four months, became Britain's youngest graduate when he was awarded a first class BSc degree in maths from the University of Surrey. Nigel Mansell won the British Grand Prix, the 28th victory of his Formula One career, beating the record held by Jackie Stewart. In the Isle of Man a 22-year-old was sentenced to death for murder. Albert Pierrepoint, Britain's last hangman died peacefully in a nursing home, aged 87.
THE FRENCH lorry drivers' strike that had paralysed the country's road system for ten days ended. The US Democratic Con- vention in New York endorsed the choice of Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas as the party's presidential candidate for this November's election, together with his vice presidential running mate, Senator Al Gore. For the first time in weeks, opinion polls showed Mr Clinton pulling ahead of Mr Ross Perot, the independent candiate, and coming level with President Bush. Mr Christopher Patten, the former Conserva- tive Party chairman, was sworn in as the 128th and probably last British Governor of Hong Kong. The Croatian government said it could no longer cope with the flood of refugees from the war in Bosnia; in future new arrivals would be sent directly to the borders of neighbouring countries. In Sara- jevo the future of UN relief flights was threatened when several came under fire as they approached the city. In Rome, the Pope underwent an operation to remove a tumour, thought to be benign. Israel's new Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin offered to fly to Arab capitals to try to revive the flag- ging Middle East peace talks. In Miami the ousted Panamanian dictator Manuel Norie- ga was sentenced to 40 years in jail for drug offences. In Indonesia it was reported that the Libyan leader Colonel Gadaffi had said he did not wish to stay in a hotel during September's non-aligned summit in Jakar- ta; instead he has asked for enough space in the city centre for his tent and two goats. KLE
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