— Portrait of the Week— A FEW INCHES OF SNOW, one
degree of frost, and Britain wilted. Trains were stopped, planes were grounded, tempers were frayed, sport was can- celled. power stations were overloaded, car workers were laid off, and the press agreed this vas the worst winter since 1962.
INS1 SEAD OF CHRISTMAS CARDS, New Year mes- sages flooded major political leaders. Mr. Khrush- chev's mantelpiece is filled with messages of good and bad will from Dr. Adenauer, Herr Ulbricht, Marshal Tito—and Eric Lubbock, MP. Dr. Adenauer was told by Mr. Khrushchev to listen to what the Pope said, advice the doctor did not pass on in his note to his 'dear friend' Mr. Mac- millan. President de Gaulle spoke to the French nation. and made English ears burn by remark- ing he wanted England in the Common Market— some time, and on his terms. Mr. Gaitskell sent a New Year message to his loyal party workers, saying the- Conservatives would be remembered as the most dishonest government ever. Mr. Macmillan sent a message to his party workers saying exactly the opposite. Messages of general ill will to all men were put out by Chiang Kai- shek, Chou En-lai, and the Prime Ministers of Malaya and of Singapore.
AS HIS OWN CONTRIBUTION to the season Of goodwill, Mr. Maudling dropped purchase tax On pop-culture goods, especially records, record- Players and TV sets. Meanwhile he raised salaries for top culture by 10 per cent.. by • giving the University Grants Committee an in- crease in its own grant. Down by 10 per cent. came road deaths during the Christmas holidays, a success blunted by a massive rail disaster on the safest piece of track in Britain. Keeping to a safe track is the Prime Minister, who steered clear' of causing any by-elections in the New Year Honours. Knighthoods went to Gerald Nabarro, Bill Carron and Geoffrey Lawrence, and a motley selection of minor decorations went to cricketers, footballers, rugger players, but not to Graham Hill, who this week won the world's motoring championship.
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THE CONGO ERUPTED—again; United Nations officials in Elisabethville hurriedly carried out orders and, presumably, filled in their diaries for future publication. After fleeing from Katanga to Southern Rhodesia, Mr. Tshombe threatened a Policy of scorched earth in retaliation, and eventually agreed to negotiate--if promised safe conduct by trustworthy officials in Elisabeth- ville. Meanwhile in Britain the Foreign Office said that it was not sure exactly what was hap- pening in the Congo, but whatever it was the Foreign Office didn't like it. Except for the Congo, relations were far friendlier to see in the new year: England and Russia announced an accord over exports—we are to eat their tinned crabmeat, they are to taste our white fish: China and Pakistan came to a hurried agreement over border disputes, and Indian officials spoke less gloomily about Kashmir talks. General Franco, anxious to improve his public image, gave an in- crease to the lowest-paid workers and denounced those who criticised his government (especially the International Commission of Jurists) as Com- munist-inspired. Algeria was promised its first free austerity budget, Joshua Nkomo was freed and President Kennedy was rumoured to be about to visit de Gaulle so that they can argue as to who really is the man of destiny.
`TRIBUNE,' JUMPING ON the satirical bandwagon, printed a supposed letter from Chou En-lai, only to be publicly denounced by Peking as shoddy cold warriors on a par with the Pentagon. Mean- while, as a New Year celebration, everything was shooting trp—crime figures in London, BBC TV's share of the audience, car production, prices of Potatoes, and the consumption of whisky in West Germany : all almost double those of a year ago.
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