PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The Blue Angel Lady Thatcher said that Mr Major was the 'right Prime Minister'; 'We must all get behind John,' she added. Her support was regarded as of some help to the Prime Min- ister in the wake of Mr Lamont the late Chancellor's attack during a Commons statement on the Government as being 'in office but not in power'. Mr Kenneth Clarke, the new Chancellor, hinted at pub- lic-spending cuts rather than the increase in taxes urged upon him by Mr Michael Hes- eltine, the President of the Board of Trade; but in his Mansion House speech at Guild- hall the Chancellor made no specific com- mitments. Mr Peter Viggers MP fell off a boat in the Channel during a storm without a life-jacket, but survived; 'I shut my eyes and thought of John Major,' he said. The Cabinet decided in principle to tax invalidi- ty benefit. The Independent claimed that Mr Asil Nadir, the fugitive bankrupt, gave half a million pounds secretly to the Con- servative Party in the hope of being given a knighthood. Timex, the electronics compa- ny, said it would close its factory in Dundee at the end of the year unless the long-run- ning dispute there was ended. Mr Terry Venables lost a High Court action to pre- vent Mr Alan Sugar dismissing him as chief
executive of Tottenham Hotspur football club. James Hunt, the motor-racing cham- pion, died of a heart attack, aged 45. Les Dawson, the stand-up comedian, died, aged 60. Bernard Bresslaw, the character actor, died, aged 59. The Duchess of York became a 'goodwill ambassador' for the United Nations. The Prince of Wales missed Ascot because of a back injury brought on by playing polo. There were bad floods in Cornwall and Wales following five inches of rain in a few hours.
MR BOUTROS GHALI, the Secretary- General of the United Nations, proposed that 7,500 troops be drafted into Bosnia to guard the so-called 'safe areas'; he would have liked thousands more, but admitted that member nations would not provide them. President Clinton suggested that Bosnian Muslims should perhaps be sup- plied with guns after all. Lord Owen thought his map of Yugoslavia might have to be redrawn. Meanwhile the Serbian bombardment of the Muslim safe area of Gorazde continued; so did shelling of Sara- jevo; Croats fled from renewed attacks by Muslims. There were talks between Serb,
Muslim and Croat leaders at Sarajevo air- port. The United States under a UN resolu- tion bombed Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, several nights running. It was attempting to harm the forces of General Mohammed Farah Aidid, credited with having killed 23 Pakistani UN troops the week before. In the meantime other UN Pakistani troops succeeded in shooting dead about 20 Somalis during a demonstra- tion; UN spokesmen in New York vigor' ously defended the Pakistanis. There was 9 large majority for the end to the 'life presi- dency' of President Hastings Banda in the referendum held in Malawi. Women became prime ministers in two countries: Mrs Kim Campbell, aged 46, (Conserva- tive) in Canada and Mrs Tansu Ciller, aged 47, (True Path) in Turkey. Anti-commit' nists massed in Bulgarian cities demanding the resignation of President Zhelev. Pres? dent Clinton nominated Judge Ruth Gins' burg, aged 60, a noted feminist, as 2 Supreme Court justice; tears brimmed ni the President's eyes as she spoke at a press conference of her mother, who died young. The dollar fell to another low against the yen. Yemen asked for international help _yte fight a plague of locusts.
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