—Portrait of the Week
SIX WEEKS. AFTER HIS NINETIETH BIRTHDAY, Sir Winston Churchill's life drifted gently towards its close. Because of his illness, the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of Parliament--an institu- tion that Sir Winston served for sixty years— were postponed.
SIMILARLY, A POLITICAL TRUCE that wasn't was agreed between the parties. Party broadcasts were Postponed, but bitterness crept into Commons' scenes. Tory MPs were told that Sir Alec Douglas Home was to stay as leader, so there was no leadership problem. 'I feel aggressive,' he said on leaving a nursing home, and promptly went down with 48-hour 'flu. According to the Daily Tele- graph, Labour's Gallup lead slipped to 84 per cent, Sir Gerald Nabarro was made prospective l'ory candidate at South Worcester, and Mrs. Wilson told the Observer. that the next Labour
X Prime Minister would be xxxxxx.
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CHAOS IN THE AIR WORLD CONTINUED, with every paper guessing that the UK would buy different US planes. The Concord received a go-ahead, the TSR-2 stays in mid-air, and Mrs. Kerr, MP, just returned from Cuba, said that Fidel Castro wanted to buy a VC-10. Britain's trade gap narrowed, with exports reaching a record level, and sterling was stronger : The Times undertook its own de- valuation by leaving off three noughts when con- verting $500,000 million into sterling. Lords Franks and Gladwyn resolved to sit on the Liberal bench in the House of Lords, home loans went up, a fourpenny post seems likely, and Mr. Brown accused the last Government of 'robbing the till' and 'cooking the books.'
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U THANT REVEALED to the UN the true state of its financial crisis, with hardly enough in the batik to pay salaries. But Russia did offer to make a 'substantial voluntary contribution.' President' Johnson told the US of its new weapon, the Poseidon, eight times as deadly as the Polaris. Turkey dropped out of the MLF stakes, while prospects on the ANF front are none too bright— with Bonn reported to be rapidly losing interest. Mr. Wilson is to visit Washington next month, but any hopes of a visit to Paris dwindled into diplomatic confusion with France. Messrs. Brezhnev and Kosygin went to Warsaw, Ireland's two Premiers met for the first time, and the Burundi Premier was assassinated. Rising costs 11119, bring a hasty end to Europe's space pro- gramme, and British Guiana is to repay a compul- sory savings levy that led to a general strike. The levy was introduced on the advice of Dr. Kaldor.
THE BBC AND ITA STILL DISAGREED over viewing figures : TAM researches gave the BBC 37 per cent against 63 per cent. The Corporation in- sisted that it had 45 per cent of viewers. An Observer survey revealed that 49 per cent of Daily Sketch readers voted Labour and that 41 per cent of Guardian readers voted Conservative: Wine is to go on sale in plastic disposable bags, the remains of a royal child bride from the fifteenth century were found on a building site. and a Foyle's lunch to mark a book on Roman Catholicism received the reply from Evelyn Waugh that he would 'gladly attend an auto-da-fe at which you and your guests were incinerated.'
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IN MANY WAYS, AN UNUSUAL WEEK : a bisected half of a twopenny blue stamp was sold for £775, Wales defeated England at rugby, and a Times ad. appealed for a 'stuffed lion. Condition im- material but must be impressive.' TV boxing commentator Harry Carpenter received threats against his life, and a bus driver was fined for dawdling along the Kingston by-pass so slowly that forty-eight vehicles had to crawl behind him.
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