PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Political cartoon Mr John Major, the Prime Minister, told the Commons: 'Events have forced us to raise taxes. I regret that.' Public pay- review bodies proposed wage increases above the rate of inflation and the Govern- ment's own limits. More than 200,000 peo- ple will lose entitlement to sickness benefit under the Social Security (Incapacity for Work) Bill. Teaching about Christianity will be compulsory in school and take up at least half the time allocated to religious education under government-backed cur- riculum revisions, but so will teaching about other faiths. Mr Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, announced that the homosexual partners of convicts will not be eligible for grants to visit their friends in prison. St Pancras was confirmed as the ter- minus for the Channel Tunnel rail route, which won't be completed until at least 2002; there will be some tunnels under London suburbs but not under some Ken- tish areas of beauty, and the fate of Ash- ford is still undecided. Mirror Group Newspapers launched a consortium to take control of the Independent newspaper, with the backing of Mr Andreas Whittam Smith, one of its founders, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica and the Spanish newspaper El Pais. Miss Gillian Taylforth, an actress in a television soap opera, lost an action against the Sun, which had claimed that she had fellated a friend of hers on a motorway slip road: her legal costs were said to run to £500,000. Mr Kelvin Mackenzie resigned as editor of the Sun after 13 years to join BSkyB, the satellite television channel. Miss Jenny Abramski, aged 47, the con- troller of Radio 5, announced plans to appeal to women, ethnic minorities, people from the regions and young people (25 to 44). Brian Redhead the broadcaster, died, aged 64. Matt Busby, the football manager, died, aged 84. A 48-year-old convicted sex offender succeeded in joining a London youth club by claiming that he was a teenager with an aging disease.
PRESIDENT Clinton of the United States nominated Mr William Perry, aged 66, to be defence secretary; his previous nominee, Mr Bobby Ray Inman, had said he didn't want the job. Six children were killed by Serb artillery when playing in the snow in Sarajevo; three more children were killed in Mostar. The British officer, Lieutenant- General Sir Michael Rose, took command of the 13,000 United Nations troops in Bosnia. Mr Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the Russian Liber- al Democrat leader, announced a visit to Ser-
bia. South African troops stood ready on the borders of the independent enclave of Lesotho where rival military factions were in conflict. Left-wing terrorists killed 35 during a political street-party in Colombia. The Euro- pean-owned Ariane space rocket launched from French Guyana plunged into the sea with the loss of two satellites worth more than £160 million; it was its 63rd flight, the last 27 of which had gone off without a hitch. The United States Supreme Court gave leave for laws designed to counter gangsters to be invoked against anti-abortion protesters who disrupt the work of clinics. A jury at Manas- sas, Virginia, cleared Lorena Bobbitt of maliciously wounding her husband by cutting of his penis while he was asleep; they accept- ed that she was temporarily insane. The singer Michael Jackson negotiated an out-of- court cash payment to a teenage boy who has been accusing him of sexual molesta- tion, which he has denied. Maitre Suzanne Blum, the French lawyer who acted as guard-dog to the Duchess of Windsor, died, aged 95. Jean-Louis Barrault, the mime artist, best known for his part in Les Enfants du Paradis died, aged 83. Telly Savalas, who played a cop on television, died, supposedly aged 70. Jaramogi Oginga Odinga the Kenyan politician died, aged about 82. CSH
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