Portrait of the week
The Trades Union Congress, seeming more irrelevant than ever, embarked on its annual conference in Brighton with Mr Arthur Scargill and Mr Moss Evans both declaring their readiness to go to prison in support of the health workers. The mini `general strike' planned for 22 September could put them in conflict with the law which forbids sympathy strikes. According to a Gallup poll, a majority of the public think that prison would be the right place for them if they did call out a strike. Mr James Callaghan, once a strong upholder of the rule of law, said on television that he wouldn't disagree with law-breaking in this particular instance. Also at the conference, the TUC voted to change the system by which its general council members are elected — a decision which will mean the replacement of leading left-wing council members by others of more moderate per- suasions. This was popularly regarded as a devastating blow for the Left.
The differences between President Reagan and Mr Begin became increas- ingly acrimonious after Israel totally re- jected a new American peace plan for the Middle East. The Israeli Prime Minister said that the President had insulted Israel by publishing the plan which proposed, among other things, self-government for the 1.3 million Palestinians living in Israeli- occupied West Bank and Gaza. It was, said Mr Begin, 'my saddest day since I became Prime Minister'. He then proceeded to pro- voke the Americans further by announcing that Israel would establish 13 new set- tlements in the disputed territories — a decision which Mr Reagan described as 'most unwelcome'. Simultaneously Mr Begin wrote the President a patronising let- ter beginning 'Dear Ron' in which he poured contempt on America for failing to appreciate the value of Israel's actions.
Mr Reagan was also rebuked by Mrs Thatcher for his threat of sanctions against British companies selling equipment for the gas pipeline between Siberia and Western Europe. 'Naturally we feel deeply wounded by a friend,' she said in Glasgow, promising compensation to John Brown Engineering. The Prime Minister's visit to 'Scotland was marred by a couple of unplea- sant incidents. She was rushed upon by a hysterical left-wing Labour MP, Mr Ronald Brown, who when he was hustled away by police, asked: 'Is this Poland?' Next day she had eggs thrown at her by demonstrators in Aberdeen. She rested from these incidents during a quiet weekend with the Queen at Balmoral. p he Polish authorities revealed that they 1 had detained 4,050 people during last week's street demonstrations in favour of Solidarity. The military regime responded to the riots by intensifying its repression. It announced that five leading critics of the present set-up would be put on trial for plotting to overthrow the state. Meanwhile, Mr Wladyslaw Gomulka, the Communist ruler of Poland from 1956 to 1970, died at the age of 77, remembered mainly for the slaughter in Gdansk 12 years ago when troops fired on food rioters. For mysterious reasons, the Soviet Union decided that all telephone calls from the West would have to pass through operators. Direct dialling from Russia to the outside world was abolished last July. Mr Michael Foot con- firmed that Labour would abolish nuclear weapons if it came to power. He also claim- ed that Labour could come to power under his leadership, although nobody else seem- ed to agree.
The Defence Secretary, Mr John Nott, announced that he would retire from politics before the next election in order to seek his fortune in the City. He said he had always planned to stay in Parliament for only 15 years, and his wife confirmed this. Mrs Thatcher regretted his decision, saying that he was 'a person of a very original state of mind'. Mr Nott, who had been busy scal- ing down the Navy, tried to resign his office when the Argentinians invaded the Falkland Islands, but was told by Mrs That- cher that it wasn't his fault. He then stayed on to prosecute the war.
Chia-Chia, the male panda presented to London Zoo by Mr Edward Heath in 1974, finally became a father. The mother of his two cubs was Shao-Shao, of the zoo in Madrid, who was artificially in- seminated. The cubs were the first pandas born in captivity in the West. There was ex- ultation among zoologists who had been trying for years to get pandas to breed. Mr
Heath remained childless. ASC.
'On the plus side, I wouldn't be able to attend the conference unless I was unemployed.'
Previous page
