PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The Northern Ireland Executive was res- urrected, with Mr Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein once more as education minister, after the man who is now once again First Minister, Mr David Trimble, the leader of the Ulster Unionists, succeeded in securing 53 per cent of a vote by his party's 863- member ruling council in favour of working with Republicans. Mr Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said it was an `absolute scandal' that Miss Laura Spence, an applicant from a Tyneside state-funded school, was not admitted to Magdalen Col- lege, Oxford; she has been given a scholar- ship by Harvard. Mr Brown was under the impression that she had 'the best A-level qualifications you can have', although she has yet to take A-levels. The strange attack on Oxford seemed to be a new initiative against the 'forces of conservatism'. Mr Brown's remarks were 'fully endorsed' by Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister; Mr John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, made a speech about 'life chances taken for granted by the privileged few'. Another sudden idea from the government was to allow victims of crime to make statements to courts which judges will consider when sentencing. Mr William Hague, the leader of the opposition, had his own idea, which was that the Conser- vatives, if elected, would increase old-age pensions, and restore war widow's pensions to 2,500 women who had remarried. Mr Lock, Stock and Smoking Class War
Brown then sketched out how a Labour gov- ernment would spend perhaps an extra £40 billion over four years: some would go to families unable to find work, some would go to welfare, education and transport. A refer- endum in Scotland funded by Mr Brian Souter attracted 1,094,440 votes against the repeal of Section 28, which prohibits local authorities from promoting homosexuality; the No votes represented 27.56 per cent of the Scottish electorate. The World Intellec- tual Property Organisation ruled that Miss Jeanette Winterson should be allowed to register a website in her own name after Mr Mark Hogarth had acted 'in bad faith' by registering a site with her name among 130 others named after other authors. A group of pensioners decided to have cataracts removed in Madras because it is cheaper and quicker. Three Britons were arrested in Cadiz after Spanish police found a ton of cannabis resin being loaded on to a lorry.
CHRISTIAN villagers fled Muslim soldiers of the group Hezbollah as they took control of southern Lebanon, from which Israel had hastily withdrawn; Palestinian refugees in Lebanon met long-lost relations at the border-wire with Israel. Martial law was declared in Fiji, and Commodore Frank Bainamarama, head of the Royal Fiji Mili- tary Force, took control and named a new Prime Minister, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, while leaders of a coup continued to hold Mt Mahendra Chaudhry, the official Pri Minister, and 30 other hostages; Ratu Sn Kamisese Mara, the President, was said t° have resigned. Ethiopia bombed Asmara' the capital of Eritrea, and then declare' final victory on the day peace talks between the warring, famine-stricken countries bee! in Algeria. Mr Jorg Haider, an influential member of Austria's right-wing Freak°. party, admitted that he had visited Libya in May and met Colonel Gaddafi. The Enr°' pean Commission approved plans to bre' the monopoly of the Royal Mail and other European postal services. France Telec0 bought Orange, the mobile telephone W.A.°, pany, from Vodafone for £25 billion. Jack Straw, the British Home Secretary' made an agreement with the French Whet by British officials will be able to denlari passengers' passports and visas at Gale o r Nord in Paris, at Lille and at Calais Eurnsrciao stations; French officials will be able to the same at Waterloo and Ashford. Authon., ties in Rio de Janeiro are trying out a stra,vv,e berry-scented liquid intended to neutrall's the strong smell of stale urine that batigd about many of the city's 1,400 parks o{ squares. Egon Krenz, the former lead. e.t is East Germany serving six years in Jall,' ds being allowed out each day to sell false leg on behalf of a prosthetics company. CSfl
Previous page
