PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Czechoslovakia's fate hung in the balance. Mr Dubcek, the prime minister, scored a diplo- matic success by getting the Russians to agree that the two countries' leaders should meet on Czech soil; but Russia then ordered large-scale military manoeuvres on the Czechoslovak border: reservists were to be called up and civilian transport commandeered. West Ger- many, which had planned NATO manoeuvres near its own border with Czechoslovakia, can- celled them.
At home, a good week—in quantitative terms, anyhow—for reports. The Newsom Com- mission recommended that half the public schools' places should go to state-supported pupils: the Headmaster of Winchester won- dered whether it would pass from printer to pigeon-hole in a new record time. The Seebohm Committee suggested a unified welfare minis- try and a comprehensive social service. A White Paper from Mr Callaghan, Home Secre- tary, expressed the Government's support for votes at eighteen and party labels on ballot papers. A Green Paper from Mr Robinson, Minister of Health, canvassed a reorganisation of the National Health Service, with the num- ber of authorities reduced from 700-odd to forty or fifty. Mr Greenwood, of Housing, im- posed severe restrictions on councils' right to sell their houses, and provoked fury in Birming- ham's Tory council and tumult in London's.
Though the Prime Minister backed Mr Greenwood, Labour's National Executive smartly snubbed them both, appointing Mr Harry Nicholas (of the Transport and General Workers' Union) secretary of the party, with fourteen votes to Mr Greenwood's twelve.
Steered by Mrs Castle, the Government set off towards equal pay for women, but (at the continuing risk of a strike) opposed more pay for busmen.
On the recommendation of the Committee of Privileges, the House of Commons voted, 244 to 52, to reprimand Mr Tam Dalyell, MP. The committee found that, in disclosing to the Observer confidential evidence given to a select committee, Mr Dalyell was guilty of a breach of privilege and both he and Mr David Astor, the Observer's editor, of a serious contempt of the House.
Arabs with pistols and grenades forced the pilot of an Israeli airliner, on a scheduled flight from Rome to Tel Aviv, to land at Algiers. The aircraft and twenty-two Israelis were de- tained. The Pope let it be known that Vatican- chartered aircraft were defying the Nigerian blockade and bringing help to the Biafrans.
Sir Henry Dale, Om, chemist, Nobel prize- winner and past president of the Royal Society, died at the age of ninety-three.
A £24 million plan to enhance the view of St Paul's Cathedral by knocking down the old buildings on the south side was presented by Lord Holford, planner of the new buildings that obstruct the view of St Paul's Cathedral on the north side.
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