PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The ice is breaking up. Presidents are under pressure—in America from Senator Eugene McCarthy, with a 41 per cent poll in the first of the presidential primary elections; in Czecho- slovakia from party and country, both ip fer- ment. In Poland 10,000 students fought a pitched battle with the police and sacked the Ministry of Culture.
Central bankers came to Basle and announced their confidence in the present price of gold. A new wave of speculation announced that others were less confident. By way of fortifying the dollar, General Westmoreland asked for 206,000 more soldiers in Vietnam, and Mr Secretary Rusk rallied the ranks: 'I do not see any basis on which we can say the position is hopeless by any means.' But he declared the United States ready for peace talks, or for 'peace by infiltration.'
For British influence abroad, a poor week. Mr Ian Smith bad two more Africans hanged. defying a rebuke from the Vatican. The Inter- national Commission of Jurists said this was not far removed from murder; but too far, as it proved, for Mr Norman Burns. He asked the Bow Street magistrate for a murder warrant against Mr Smith, his henchmen and his hang- man, but didn't get it. Mr Norman Wisdom had more success: he had bought silver as a currency hedge, and warded off the Revenue, who had tried to levy tax on his profit.
Meanwhile Sir Con O'Neill's third resignation from the Foreign Office seemed likely to stick; and the head porter of the Plaza-Athena e Hotel threatened Mr Charles Forte with the wrath of the General if he persisted with his takeover plan: Mr Rothschild and Mr Rockefeller, said the hall porter, would not be pleased, either. The trade gap widened to £70 million in February, with imports reaching a new record at £664 million.
At home, the usual week of numb terror in front of the Budget; relieved by the usual rush to buy anything which might carry more tax. The Greater London Council hopes to tackle its own revenue-raising problem with a lottery; first prize £100,000.
The Prime Minister asked Mr Fay, Qc, who eight years ago inquired into the Munich air disaster, to do it agaih with different terms of reference. On the previous day he celebrated his fifty-second birthday with a dinner to the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Mr Edward Heath, and Mr Harry Secombe; but none of them was acclaimed Showbiz Personality of the Year, an honour which was reserved for Mr Engelbert Humperdinck.
On the sporting scene, Liverpool put the holders, Tottenham, out of the FA Cup: Terra Verde and Wayward Angus ran good trials for Cheltenham; and Mr Christopher Lennox-Boyd bought the originals of 1,600 Donald MacGill seaside postcards for £2,000.
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