PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The party's over. The Government announced that it was setting up pilot schemes of intensive teach- ing for seven-year-old children who cannot read, and that teacher-training was to be school-based. Neil Kinnock said that only those earning 'well over 00,000 a year' would be taxed at 50 per cent under a Labour government. He said his party had an open mind on proportional representa- tion. Conservatives said the Labour Party could not honour its promises on public spending without high taxation. The CBI said pay settlements were continuing to fall in manufacturing industries and the prospects for better productivity were good. British Steel announced the closure of the Ravenscraig steel works in Scotland with a loss of 1,200 jobs. The European was bought from the rubble of the Maxwell empire by twins, David and Frederick Bar- clay. A loyalist gunman shot a man in his family's butcher's shop in May, County Tyrone. A six-pound Semtex IRA bomb in a green holdall was found by men shooting duck near an army camp in Lancashire. Police appealed for help in finding an IRA gang in northwest England. Dr Kalim Sid- diqui, a former Guardian sub-editor, called for Muslims to withhold some of their taxes until state-aided Muslim schools were introduced. Young offenders in Moorland remand centre were said by the Home Office to have rioted because conditions there were too good. Harrods began its sale on New Year's Day for the first time in its history but denied that the recession was the reason. It was revealed that the vicar of St Saviour's, Hampstead, had accidentally strangled himself in a metal collar after chaining his hands and feet to his four- poster bed. Receivers were called into the Windsor Safari Park. Lady Helen Windsor, 21st in line to the throne, announced her engagement to Mr Timothy Taylor, an art dealer from west London. The Morning Star, the daily newspaper of communism which holds that property is theft, lost most of its computer system in a burglary.
FIVE EEC monitors were killed when their helicopter was shot down by a jet of the Serbian-dominated Federal forces over the Yugoslav republic of Croatia. Prices of pre- viously subsidised foodstuffs in Russia and other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States were allowed to rise to find their market level, producing chaos and warnings of social disorder. The EEC promised to give the former Soviet states a third of their import needs, but initial attempts to give away surplus British beef to St Petersburg were held up by Russian bureaucrats who said they feared 'mad cow' disease. President Gamsakhurdia of Geor- gia fled from the parliament building in which he had been hiding during prolonged fighting in Tbilisi, and sought refuge in Armenia. George Bush was taken ill at a banquet given by his Japanese hosts on his Far East tour. Israel deported 12 Palestini- an activists after an Israeli settler was mur- dered in the Gaza Strip: Arab leaders threatened to boycott the next round of Middle East peace talks, and the UN, with American backing, condemned Israel's decision. There were claims that a 15th 'ceasefire', this time arranged by Cyrus Vance, the UN envoy, was holding in Yugoslavia. Algeria set up an enquiry into allegations of misconduct in the elections which returned the Islamic Salvation Front to power. Germany said it had no more room for refugees because over 250,000 entered in 1992. Mother Teresa, 81, fought to recover from heart and lung ailments in a Californian hospital in order to return to work. Four British tourists were murdered in Angola. A Bulgarian general linked with the murder of Georgi Markov, dissident and broadcaster, was found dead near Sofia. Police were not sure if the general had killed himself or been murdered. Imel- da Marcos said she will try to run for presi- dent in the Philippine elections. The sale of bubblegum was banned in Singapore.
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