S tephen Byers resigned as Secretary of State for Transport, though
it wasn't clear for which of his misdemeanours he was taking the jump. The Prime Minister said, pointedly, that Mr Byers had 'endured a huge amount of criticism, much of it unfair'. Earlier, the Commons select committee on transport attacked the government's ten-year plan on transport for failing to present a 'coherent picture'. Civil servants at the Department of Trade and Industry appeared to announce a ban on arms exports to India and Pakistan; ministers then backtracked as it became clear that such a ban would put at risk an order by the Indian government for 66 training jets from the British Aerospace plant in John Prescott's constituency. The government decided that a ban on women soldiers fighting on the front line will not be lifted, on the grounds that they could constitute a distraction. A plane supposed to fly to Glasgow was dispatched on a route to Cardiff in the latest of numerous mishaps blamed upon faulty computer screens at the new air traffic control centre at Swanwick in Hampshire. A mother jailed for failing to prevent her daughters playing truant was released, saying her sentence had been justified. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that a gangland murderer whose crime inspired the film Get Carter was illegally held in prison for the last two years of his 'life' sentence because an elected politician, Michael Howard, rejected the Parole Board's recommendations that he be released. The
murderer was awarded £10,500 in damages and £17,865 in costs. Frances Lawrence, whose husband Philip was stabbed to death outside the London school where he was headmaster, was rung up by a probation officer and asked to apologise to his killer: Mrs Lawrence, said the officer, had criticised the youth, but an apology would make the youth feel 'much happier'. The Bank of England suspended the distribution of its new .f.5 note after discovering that the serial numbers can rub off. Several members of the governing body of St John Ambulance resigned, complaining that Lord Slynn, who has just been re-appointed as its prior, is 'grumpy'. Two hundred gypsies encamped on playing fields belonging to Eton College. Christians attending a prayer meeting in Norwich on the theme 'thou shalt not steal' deposited several thousand pounds of cash, jewellery, watches and CDs in an honesty bin.
PAKISTAN and India prepared themselves for war over Kashmir, possibly a nuclear one. Pakistan tested three ballistic missiles, while India sent five warships to the Arabian Sea, and rejected an invitation by the Russians to attend a summit with Pakistan on neutral territory. So far, the only weapons deployed have been herds of wild boar, which India accused Pakistani soldiers of chasing across the border to do havoc in the fields. Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin signed a treaty in Moscow limiting their coun
tries each to 2,200 strategic nuclear missiles — though it will allow them to keep an unlimited number of nuclear warheads in reserve, President Bush had earlier addressed the Bundestag in Berlin, where Democratic Socialist MPs unfurled a banner protesting against American foreign policy. The French government suggested that it might close the Red Cross camp at Sangatte near the Channel Tunnel rail terminal, but only if Britain agreed to accept 1,300 asylum seekers who reside there. The European Union decreed that 8.5 per cent of Europe's fishing fleet must go, with British boats taking the biggest cut in terms of tonnage; the Spanish fleet appeared to escape more lightly, after intense lobbying. A barge ran into a bridge in Arkansas, killing at least 20 motorists. A China Airways jet crashed into the sea off Taiwan, killing 225 passengers and crew. A railcrash in Mozambique killed 205 people. A Jewish astronaut consulted rabbis as to how and when he could observe the sabbath while orbiting the Earth in a space shuttle. Football teams preparing for the World Cup in Japan and South Korea engaged in a series of friendly matches and some rather unfriendly team politics. A couple of Swedish players engaged in fisticuffs on the training ground, while Roy Keane, the Ireland captain, was sent home after a row with his manager. England played a couple of lacklustre draws with South Korea and Cameroon.
RJC
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