PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Parkinson's law Nelson Mandela visited Britain to meet the Prime Minister amid controversy over his statement that the Government should hold official and unconditional talks with the IRA. Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, called upon Mrs Thatcher to respond. The number of recorded crimes rose by 15 per cent in the first three months of 1990, with high increases in . theft, burglary and vandalism. The number of children born to unmarried women without a partner was reported to be rising rapidly. Arthur Scargill, the miners' leader, was found to be in 'breach of duty' for having opened 14 secret bank accounts. A leaked report disclosed the biggest drop in reading standards among English and Welsh seven- year-olds for more than 40 years. The Prince of Wales broke his arm playing polo. The father of one of the dead in the Lockerbie air explosion exposed the con- tinuing lack of security by flying with a fake bomb to the United States. Britain is to be prosecuted by the European Commission because 39 beaches are polluted by sew- age. Tests found that 60 per cent of London water has toxic pesticides. Mr Colin Moynihan, the Minister for Sport, said 246 England fans deported from Italy comprised football's 'effluent tendency'. Applications to the Wrens have gone up by 20 per cent since women were allowed to serve on fighting ships. The Court of Appeal ruled that the Government was entitled to cap community charges. The house price index showed a fall of more than 5 per cent last year, or 14 per cent after taking account of inflation. Deaths from meningitis were reported up by 18 per cent, and fatal farm accidents last year numbered 61, the highest figure for four years. At the Royal Show, the Samaritans were on hand to console farmers suffering from financial pressures. Joe, a homing pigeon, beat a fax machine in a one-mile race. The Common Cold Unit closed after 44 years, without finding a cure.
MONETARY UNION was achieved be- tween East and West Germany, as the East German currency, the Ostmark, was aban- doned in favour of the deutschmark. The speaker of Israel's parliament refused to receive his counterparts from the two uniting Germanies in the Knesset, telling them that a mountain of ashes and bones surrounded by a river of Jewish blood and tears was between them. America prop- osed to halve Nato's nuclear arsenal on the Continent. The 28th congress of the Soviet Communist Party began with a speech from President Gorbachev warning that a
return to the old ideology would lead to 'dark times'. More than a thousand pil- grims to Mecca for the Haj were crushed to death, a disaster described by King Fahd of Saudi Arabia as 'the will of God'. The Sri Lankan government bombed and machine- gunned civilians in the northern city of Jaffna in an attempt to defeat rebel Tamil Tiger troops, who were besieging 250 Sri Lankan soldiers in a 17th-century fort. A new cabinet was appointed in Czechoslova- kia, apparently of free market ideologists who favour immediate economic change. They also demanded radical changes to the Warsaw Pact if Czechoslovakia was to remain a member. About 150 dissidents sought refuge in foreign embassies from disturbances in Tirana, capital of Albania. Iraq sent Iran a plane-load of emergency supplies for its earthquake victims. Presi- dent Doe of Liberia agreed to step down when rebel troops surrounded his house in Monrovia. Imelda Marcos, described by her lawyer as a 'world class shopper', was found not guilty of helping her husband, the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, to loot the Philippine treasur) of $220 mil- lion. Adnan Khashoggi, the Saudi arms dealer, was also acquitted of conspiracy. Burmese, the Queen's mare, died, aged
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