Portrait of the Week— 'run 21st Congress of the Soviet
Communist Party opened, and the 21st Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church was called; denuncia- tions of the cult of personality,were not expected at either. Churchill College got a master, and the Lancashire cotton industry a facer. More State money for the arts was promised, and more snow was threatened. Mr. Nigel Nicolson stood up, and Sir Alan Herbert stood down.
1st Moscow, Mr. Khrushchev addressed the faith- tul at the 21st Congress of the Soviet Communist Party. A six-hour speech from him included a promise that income-tax in Russia would wither away by the end of the next seven-year plan, and Pie in the sky of a suspiciously capitalist nature was promised. There were hard words for Marshal Tito, the anti-party group in Russia and the United Arab Republic, and soft words for Stalin, the Chinese People's Republic and teetotali- tarianism. There was no mention of the cult of personality, nor of the empty chairs on the dais that at the last congress contained Bulganin, Malenkov, Shepilov,' Kaganovich, Molotov and Zhukov. But there was a suggestion of an atom- free zone in the Pacific; observers who are still waiting for progress towards the establishment of an atom-free zone in Europe decided to wait and sec.
* ' SIR JOHN COCKCROFT was appointed Master of Churchill College, which now only needs staff, students and buildings to be complete. Otherwise, it was not a good week for science; nobody ex- plained why the Preston by-pass had fallen to Pieces so quickly, Sir Robert Watson-Watt let out of the bag a cat shaped like half a pound of botulinic toxin, which he claimed could destroy everybody in the world, and which he further Claimed was being produced at the British. bac- teriological warfare laboratories, and there was a radiation-leak at Aldermaston.
* 171E RESTRICTIVE PRACTICES COURT, in its first Judgment, decided that the price agreement of the Yarn Spinners' Association was contrary to the Public interest. Mr. Justice Devlin made no bones about the unfortunate effects the court's' decisfon might have on the employment situation in the cotton industry, but pointed out that in the long run such schemes must be. harmful, the nation's economy. The decision was received with dismay In Lancashire, but both Government and Oppo- sition were too deeply committed to support of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act to attempt any electioneering on the basis of the decision.
* TRUCE WAS DECLARED at Bournemouth, where Mr. Nigel Nicolson's prospective candidature was to be voted on by members of the Bournemouth East Conservative Association. This solution was the one found by Lord Hailsham after he met the local executive, together with Mr. Nicolson. Mr. Randolph Churchill's participation in the Contest therefore goes into cold storage until the result of the ballot is known„ when, if Mr. Nicolson loses, it may be presumed that the whole thing will start all. over again. At Harrow East, Sir Alan Herbert expressed himself satisfied with Mr. Butler's assurances on the Obscene Publica- tions Bill, and withdrew from the contest, rather Pathetically saying as he went that he would be willing to stand as an Independent Conservative if the local Conservative Association asked him to within three days. Since the local Conservative Association had already selected their candidate, they were unlikely to do so. And they didn't.
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