PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
High Society Mr Douglas Brand, jailed for 'spying' in Iraq, was freed by Saddam Hussein following secret negotiations with Mr Ed- ward Heath. The number of unemployed rose by 76,000, the 14th consecutive monthly increase. Graduate prospects were said to be the worst for ten years. Inflation fell to 5.8 per cent. The Con- servative Party published accounts showing a deficit of £5 million. Mr John Major seemed to rule out a general election this year. The Government gave British Rail £185 million. British Rail drivers threatened a summer of industrial inaction. Sir Ninian Stephen, the former Governor General of Australia, was appointed chair- man of all-party talks in Northern Ireland. The Government ruled out emergency tax relief to help Lloyd's underwriters. The director of the Incest Crisis line charity was cleared of blackmail. Rosemary Aberdour, former deputy director of the National Hospital Development Foundation, who is alleged to have pretended to be the daugh- ter of the 22nd Earl of Morton with a £20 million inheritance was returning to Eng- land to help police in their inquiries to trace a missing £1.7 million. Leslie Bailey was jailed for life for murdering a six-year- old boy after a homosexual orgy in the Kingsmead Estate, Hackney. The Church Commissioners reported that they had lost £500 million of the value of their assets, and asked churchgoers to make it up. ICI gave its employees legally enforceable redundancy terms in the hope that it would make the company less attractive to Lord Hanson. The first female RAF pilot, Flight Lieutenant Julie Gibson, received her wings. A Wren and a Royal Navy officer who were found naked in the male officer's cabin on HMS Brilliant, the first ship of the Gulf fleet to carry female sailors, were severely reprimanded by a court martial. Dame Peggy Ashcroft died aged 83, as did Bernard Miles, founder of the Mermaid theatre. A survey found that 30 per cent of publicans serve drinks in dirty glasses. Sir Alastair Burnet announced his retirement from ITN, which is to sack up to 150 staff because of a financial crisis.
ON HER American tour Mrs Thatcher refrained from criticising Mr Major but stepped up her attack on European feder- alism, for which her predecessor, Mr Heath, attacked her as 'ignorant' and 'a liar.' Boris Yeltsin won Russia's first pres- idential election. Voters in Leningrad chose St Petersburg as their preference for their city's name. President Gorbachev said people had shown support for real steps towards reform. The homes of half a million people were threatened after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philip- pines and the death toll rose to more than 200. The Congress party appeared to have won power in India. Sikh militants killed at least 85 people by firing at two passenger trains in the Punjab. Unemployment in Czechoslovakia jumped by 14 per cent in a month. An Iraqi nuclear scientist warned the West that Saddam Hussein is still trying to build an atomic bomb. Thousands of Kurds demonstrated in Iraq against the withdrawal of allied troops. Italy gave Albania £30 million additional aid and returned hundreds of Albanian refugees. Albanian thugs looted British food and medicines sent to a children's hospital. There were reports of a massacre of 150 Tamils by Sri Lankan troops. Sweden announced its wish to join the European Community. Swiss women demonstrated for equal pay for equal work. The ANC threatened mass action unless its demands for an interim government were met. A man died after being struck by lightning at the US Open golf championship at Minne- sota. Thousands of Wall Street financiers were said to have taken up croquet to hone their competitive skills.
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