The Week
First the crucifixion, then the second coming. After months of what he considered a Campaign of persecution by the Press, and what had certainly been a story relished by Fleet Street, Mr Jeremy Thorpe resigned. Mr Russell Johnston wanted him to stay, adding that he had known a rough soldier called 'Cuddles', Mr Wainwright urged him to go, Mr BesseII threatened to Tell All, Mr Scott began libel proceedings against Mr Thorpe. The only thing all Liberals seemed United on was a desire for Mr Jo Grimond to return as party leader. To the outside Observer it seemed that even with him the Liberal bunnies can (and will) go to pieces before the next election. Will we miss them? In Frankfurt the anarchist Frau Ulrike ,Meinhof, on trial for terrorism, was found flanged in her prison cell. The ensuing riots ,,were the worst seen in Germany since the n'ar.ln Beirut sixty-six MPs braved mortarfire to assemble in a quorum and elect a new president for the Lebanon, Mr Elias Sarkis. A World Health Organisation report found that health treatment in the Israelioccupied territories was more than ade9nate. The Israeli government ordered Jewish settlers from the West Bank. George Davis was released by the Home Necretary, to the delight of headline writers, and the groans of others. The Spectator is bored
by that line OK? Robert Reif was sent to prison for refusing to take down a notice advertising his house for sale to
nglishrnen only. The Sheriff of West Sussex Mr David Blacker, whose authority had come a cropper over the two Malawi Asian families, whimsically hoped that in :uture such newly-arrived immigrants would ;etrlade as uncomfortable as possible'. An A ITiari was sentenced to life imprison:bent in Southampton. He had been detected because he had forgotten how to spell his assumed name. The earthquake in north-eastern Italy 4n"ed more than a thousand and made ,,,'"'°00 homeless. But the Italian government (which is facing a general election) '.'°I.Inted a rescue operation with unFharacteristic energy and resource. In easily the government surprised itself by Where winning a by-election in Tours, di the communists did very badly. A er s "trent political battle was fought on a Princes hillside between two brother itZinees---Charles-Hugues de Bourbont,ar,n-le and Sixto Enrique—both claiming u. _be the rightful Carlist claimant. betr. Vorster said that Dr Kissinger had A en b hind South Africa's involvement in a. Dr Kissinger visited President .card d'Estaing. A Franco-African sum
41 it Was held in Paris. President Nyerere of Tanzania visited Finland. President Tito of Yugoslavia visited Greece. Mr Crosland returned from Japan where he had said something silly about Grimsby fish, and had shyly asked the Japanese to stop selling so many cars and television sets to the British. Mr Brezhnev was made a Marshal of the Red Army. The Bolivian Ambassador to France, once responsible for killing Che Guevara, was assassinated in Paris.
The latest episode in the strange symbiosis between the Labour Government and Mirror Newspapers saw Lord Cudlipp appointed an honorary advisor on antiinflation measures to the government, thus enabling Mr Geoffrey Goodman to return to the Mirror. A Labour Party committee declared void a meeting of Newham NorthEast constituency party at which Mr Reg Prentice had been thrown out. Mr David Ennals went to hospital for a hernia operation. Mr Charles Irving, MP for Cheltenham, complained about the bad language used in the House of Commons.
St Januarius's blood failed to liquefy in Naples cathedral, an ill omen for Italy. A fire-eater was banned from driving after a breath-test: he had inadvertently swallowed his trick fuel. A woman who had reported to the Soviet authorities about drunkenness in a Lithuanian brewery was understandably beaten up by the brewers, and a twoyear ban on alcohol was proposed for Greenland where excessive drinking is rife.
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