PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The Government attempted to use pro- posals by Denmark to renegotiate the Maastricht Treaty to cow rebels before next week's House of Common's debate on Europe. It had earlier been said that Mr Major would call a general election if the debate went against him, according to Gov- ernment sources, widely reported in the press. Opponents of the Bill were unim- pressed. British Steel cut production for the rest of the year by 20 per cent. About 150,000 people marched through the rain in London to protest against coal-mine clo- sures. Mr Michael Heseltine, the President of the Board of Trade, widened the terms of the review of the proposed closures even after the Government won by a majority of 13 a vote in the Commons on the matter. BA bought Dan-Air for £1, leaving the stricken airline's shares worthless. Habitat, the furnishings shop founded by Sir Ter- ence Conran in 1964, was sold for £78 mil- lion to the Dutch-controlled Swedish com- pany, Ikea. Mr Peter Brooke, the new Her- itage Secretary, was obliged to defend in the Commons a plan by the new chairman of English Heritage, Mr Jocelyn Stevens, to hive off up to 200 'third-grade' monuments and make redundant more than a quarter of its staff. Bishop John Spong of Newark, an American Anglican, attended a service in London to celebrate a prayerbook for homosexuals, Daring to Speak Love's Name; dozens of people of the same sex had their
`marriages' blessed. Child-care and social workers were severely criticised by a report of the inquiry chaired by Lord Clyde into the taking away of children in Orkney fol- lowing unsubstantiated accusations of ritual child abuse. The inquiry made 135 criti- cisms. A uniformed Salvation Army woman was raped in a Bedfordshire village. The 1991 census results showed that in North- ern Ireland 38.4 per cent counted them- selves as Catholics and 42.8 per cent as Protestants. A few more IRA bombs went off in London. A policeman's hand, hacked off in Edmonton, was preserved amid frozen vegetables while its owner made his way to hospital to have it sewn back on. Mr Nathaniel Rothschild was fined £2,000 for drink-driving at Horseferry Road magis- trates court; another defendant, Mr Justin Bell, was fined £84 for a similar offence under the new means-tested penalty system sanctioned by the Criminal Justice Act. Sir Alec Guinness said he would never act again in the West End because he hates the `blank faces' of uncomprehending tourists in the audience. A 72-year-old widow choked to death laughing at her great- grandson's haircut, a Birmingham coroner's court was told.
CANADIANS voted overwhelmingly to reject a constitutional change which would give Quebec a new status as a 'distinct soci- ety'; the province is expected by many to
declare unilateral independence. Lithuani- ans gave victory in their elections to the for- mer communists, renamed the Democratic Labour Party. Three alleged IRA terrorists, Donna Maguire, Paul Hughes and Sean Hick, who were found innocent of the mur- der of two Australians by a Dutch court last year, went on trial in Germany for the mur- der of a British major. Chancellor Kohl proposed higher taxes and called for cuts in subsidies and in pay increases, as he announced that the 'hour of truth' had arrived for the German economy. Mr George Soros, a Hungarian-born business- man, was reported to have made £1 billion out of September's sterling crisis. China continued to attack the policy of Mr Chris Patten, the Governor of Hong Kong, 1!I which tactic it was joinespurt theo- ness faction which make abo a hird of the Hong Kong legislature; the stock- market there fell by 4 per cent. Israel bombed and shelled suspected Hizbollah strongholds in Lebanon in retaliation for the killing of five Israeli soldiers. The Pope beatified 122 martyrs for the Catholic faith who had been killed in the Spanish Civil War. Some of the South African press criti- cised Mr Nelson Mandela for spending an estimated £400,000 on the wedding of his youngest daughter, Zinzi, who married a Zulu businessman. Roger Miller, who sang King of the Road and other eve," more annoying songs, died, aged 56. CS'
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