Portrait of the week
Thirteen workers were sacked by the BL car factory at Cowley for deceiving the company on their job application forms. The workers, promptly dubbed 'moles', were suspected of being Trotskyist agitators. They were distinguished from other workers by the close interest they took in union affairs. Later one of the 'moles', Miss Stephanie Grant, revealed that among the lies she told on the application form she had concealed four 'A' levels. A struggle was reported to have developed in the Cabinet between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Minister of Defence over government spending cuts. The Chancellor, who defeated the Minister on the occasion of a previous disagreement, was said to be questioning Britain's com- mitment to increase its NATO spending by 3 per cent a year. In Washington Mr Reagan rebuffed an appeal made by the President of Mexico to cancel the United States's show of military strength in Central America. Mr Reagan then took refuge from the growing volume of domestic criticism of his anti-communist stand by addressing a highly enthusiastic meeting of army veterans. In Nicaragua the anti-Sandinista rebellion, which is funded and armed by the United States, was reported to be on the point of failure following a string of defeats. Back in Washington the FBI sought permission to administer a lie- detector test to the director of the rival CIA following inconsistent testimony during an FBI investigation into the theft of ex- President Carter's stolen briefing papers. In an unconnected investigation the US Justice Department reported that US intelligence officers had arranged the escape to Bolivia of the Lyonnais war criminal Klaus Barbie in 1947.
In the central African state of Chad Libyan forces and Libyan-backed rebel troops captured the northern town of Faya Largeau. There was no hint of an eventual outcome to the struggle. which has been continuing on and off for 15 years since Chad's independence. From Afghanistan heavy fighting was reported around Kabul and Russian troops were said by diplomatic sources to have sus- tained heavy casualties. In Saudi Arabia a bankrupt British businessman imprisoned for debt since 1981 was said to have suf- fered torture despite the intervention of the Foreign Office. A Saudi spokesman said that he would remain in prison until someone had discharged his liabilities which amount to £1 million. In Italy the lawyer representing Licio Gelli, the powerful freemason who has escaped from a Swiss prison, said that he was believed to be dead. Swiss authorities later said that they were sure that he was still alive. In South Africa an appeal was lodged on behalf of the British housewife who has been sentenced to death for the murder of her husband. A decision is due within a week. In England police searching for Mrs Diana Jones, the wife of an Essex doctor, appealed for any man who had had a love affair with Mrs Jones in the last two years to come forward. So far they have compiled a list of a dozen names. The grouse season opened to reports that there were very few birds about, and animal lovers disrupted several drives. In Lincolnshire 15,000 little chickens died of suffocation during a heatwave despite attempts by firemen to hose theta down.
Peace women camping outside Greenham Common were reported by local health authorities to be the victims of an outbreak of dysentery. Other peace women were advised to boil their water and sterilise their cooking pots. Later a peace woman denied the report and said that there had been no more than a little gastro- enteritis. Many tourists travelling to Greece and seeking typhoid injections were told not to bother as they had left it too late. Pope John II became the first pope to visit the Marian shrine of Lourdes in south-west France. While there he advised the French people to remember how lucky they were. Panda skins from China were found to be on sale in Taiwan at £34,000 each. Mr Joshua Nkomo flew home to Zimbabwe after five months of exile in Britain. The death occurred of Lord Wigg, former Paymaster-General, who had played a leading role in initiating the Profumo scan- dal in 1963. Fears were expressed that lunacy and alcoholism in doctors were dif-
'I've always voted Conservative.'
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