Portrait of the Week
THIS week has seen the beginning of colder weather in this country and of the pre-Geneva cyclones in the international scene. The suggestion made in a Times leader that the question of German reunification should be Shelved for the time being brought a visit from the German ambassador to the Foreign Office and a denial on its part that this was official policy. However, the Germans have reason to remember the relationship existing between The Tithes and official policy at the time of Munich, and they may not be wholly reassured. Elsewhere in Europe the imminence of the vote on the Saar statute, while having a steadying effect on French politics, may be in part responsible for the decision of the BHE (expellees') party to withdraw from Dr. Adenauer's coalition. Islamic countries still continue to provide a large proportion of the trouble-spots. In Morocco, after the setting up of a four-man Council of the Throne, Ben Slimane, Pasha of Fez, has been asked to form a government, while operations in the Riff are continuing to the accompaniment of mutual denunciation bandied to and fro between Madrid and Paris. In fact, since one of the French posts attacked was an enclave in Spanish territory, it seems fairly certain that the Moroccan rebels have been helped by Spanish connivance, if not actual aid. In France M. Faure has got his vote on Algeria, but the position of his government still remains shaky. In this part of North Africa the week has, indeed, been marked by one of the worst fellagha incidents, involving an attack on 'h bus in which thirteen were killed, including seven Europeans. In the Middle East the Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Moshe Sharett, has made' a dramatic appeal to world Jewry to come to the aid of his country by purchasing arms to answer the Egyptian threat. He also stated that he would like a defence pact with Britain and America. Meanwhile, President Eisenhower's special envoy has been trying to persuade Israel and her neighbours to agree on the question of the Jordan waters, but it seems unlikely that any progress will be made in settlement of outstanding prob- lems as long as arms from the Soviet Union continue to be hawked around the area.
Meanwhile, colonial problems are still with us, but with a happy ending for once. The Kabaka of Buganda has returned to his capital to the sound of his ancestral war drums and the acclamations of his subjects. The agreement with the .United Kingdom has been signed and everything looks like being setene for some time to come. In Malaya, too, meetings have been arranged between Communist leaders and representatives of the Federation Government with a view to bringing about a truce. This has not prevented Communist pamphleteers frail denouncing 'national reformist running - dogs,' or guerillas from killing three British soldiers in the jungle. Kenya has been the scene of unexpected raids from Ethiopia into the northern provinces, while in Mau-Mau-land the Court of Appeal has changed the fine inflicted on a police officer for brutal treatment of an African prisoner into a prison sentence. The British Parliamentary delegation has been displaying great activity round and about the island of Malta, investigating the Maltese Government's demand for integration within 'the United Kingdom.
Elsewhere in the world news is scrappy. President Eisen- hower, getting better every day, has answered Marshal Bulganin's letter on disarmament. There is a deadlock about the election of a new member of the Security Council, though Jugoslavia seems likely to win. Britain has announced the allocation of £7 million for the Colombo Plan during the seven years following 1957. The Emperor Bao Dai has dismissed his Prime Minister, M. Ngo Dinh Diem, but this hardly seems likely to be put into effect. In Eire the denunciation of heathen J ugoslav footballers by the Archbishop of Armagh has led to the decision of the President of the Republic not to attend the match and the military band is also being withdrawn. A judicious compromise has thus been reached, which will allow the match to take place, while not endangering the electoral prospects of the Government. In Hamburg twenty-three people were taken into custody after a performance by Mr. Louis Armstrong had led to rioting. The visit of the Russian sailors to Great Britain and vice versa comes under the head both of home and abroad. Apart from the unpleasant prospect of the Triumph's having to navigate backwards down the Neva at dead of night, the visits have been a success.
At home the most important news is the announcement that Mr. Butler is to introduce a supplementary Budget next Wed- nesday. The Labour Party conference at Margate closed in a united glow, with Mr. Attlee, so it is said, looking spryer than ever, and Mr. Zilliacus making a touching appeal for him not to desert the party. The press, of course, has been engaged on other things and has been waiting for a definite announcement from Clarence House in an atmosphere of unseemly hullabaloo. BEA are ordering a large fleet of double-decked ninety-three- passenger Vanguard aircraft. At the Guildhall there has been an impressive ceremony of farewell to the Bishop of London. The mine-workers are sending someone to Coventry again and, as usual, this disgraceful bit of infantile malice seems to be con- doned by their union.
The death has occurred of Dr. Thomas Jones, for fourteen years Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, and of Senor Ortega y Gasset, liberal and humanist.
For the miscellany there are the following items. The Ameri- cans have been experimenting with crewless trains. New York is to have a new opera house and Vienna's Burgtheater has been reopened for the first time since the war. Dr. Albert Schweitzer is in England to receive an honorary degree from Cambridge. At Oxford they are still far too busy with the traffic row to worry about little things like this. However, the shortage of coalheavers in the older foundation is such that dons may soon have to give their time and attention to this more down-to-earth problem rather than to the dubious advantages and digadvan- tages of Christ Church Mall.
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