PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Mr John Major, the Prime Minister, announced that Britain would agree to a voting scheme in the EC to which he had announced `no surrender' a few days earli- er. Mr Major's own position was put into doubt, to say the least. The nation was cheered when five British and Hong Kong soldiers were unexpectedly found alive after becoming stranded in a jungle-ridden gully on a mountain in Borneo. The rescue was thought to have improved troubled Anglo-Malaysian relations, since the Malaysian army assisted in the operation. A man in a balaclava helmet with a gun stabbed a girl to death in front of her schoolmates in Middlesbrough. Your Pocket Guide to Sex, endorsed by the Health Edu- cation Authority, was pulped after Dr Brian Mawhinney, the Health Minister, found out what was in it. The Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard, suggested that convicted murderers of policemen should be kept in prison until they died. His ideas were not accepted by the Government. Mr John MacGregor, the Transport Minister, said that not so many roads as had been planned would be built. The Government is to subsidise wood-burning power stations, fuelled with willow and poplar. Television weather forecasts are to warn people of sunny weather lest they get skin cancer. Mr Neil Kinnock, the former leader of the Opposition, was fined £140 and banned from driving for a week after being convict- ed of driving at 103mph. Graham Taylor, the unsuccessful manager of the England football team, was appointed manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers. Lord Lovat's heir, Simon Fraser, died of a heart attack; one of his brothers had recently been gored to death by a buffalo. Frances Donaldson (Lady Donaldson of Kingsbridge), the biog- rapher, died, aged 87. Donald Swann, the seriously minded revue presenter, died aged 70. Kenneth Robinson, the broadcast- er, died, aged 68. Inga-Lise, née Daphne England, the trapeze artiste, died, aged 56. England lost the third Test against the West Indies with a disastrous collapse.
VIOLENCE IN South Africa left more than 30 dead in one day — mostly Zulus killed by supporters of the African National Congress. The interim constitutional com- mittee called for a state of emergency in Natal and KwaZulu. The Right won the Italian elections. Mr Silvio Berlusconi's new Forza Italia party got the most votes, and, with the help of the Northern League and the neo-fascists (who did well in the south), easily beat the socialists and their allies. There was a high turn-out in the Ukrainian elections, but most candidates will have to go through a deciding second ballot. Tornadoes in the south of the Unit- ed States killed 19 in a church in Alabama and a dozen more elsewhere. Israeli sol- diers killed six Palestinians in the Gaza strip, putting strains on peace talks. Presi- dent Clinton of the United States was accused by a woman of having harassed her sexually, and by a former CIA agent of hav- ing helped with the supply of arms to Nicaraguan Contras. Thousands of refugees fled deadly violence in Burundi. Luis Donaldo Colosio, the prospective can- didate for the next Institutional Revolu- tionary Party President of Mexico, was shot dead, aged 44. Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, the head of the Catholic movement, Opus Dei, died aged 80. Giulietta Masina, the actress wife of Federico Fellini, died, aged 74. Eugene Ionesco, the absurdist play- wright, died, aged 81. A 30-year-old woman sued the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington when she was sacked for wearing a mous- tache. A 12-inch chunk of the Leaning Tower of Pisa fell off.
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