PORTRAIT OF • THE WEEK Prince Kong T he Chancellor of the Exchequer
deli- vered his autumn statement on the eco- nomy to Parliament. Falling unemploy- ment and an unexpected cash bonus from the sale of council houses enabled the provision of an extra £2 billion for the National Health Service and £2.25 billion for spending on roads, housing, hospitals and prisons. Mr Lawson claimed that public spending is now below 40 per cent of national income for the first time in over 20 years. Mr Kenneth Clarke, the Health Secretary faced down a substantial revolt among Conservatives in the House of Commons over the Government's plans to impose charges for dental check-ups and eye tests. The two measures were passed with majorities of 16 and eight respective- ly. Mr John Moore, the Social Security Secretary, managed to contain a potential Conservative rebellion over proposals to freeze child benefit; this followed the publication by the Labour Party of a leaked letter from him to Mr John Major, Chief Secretary of the Treasury. The Labour Party also produced leaked gov- ernment papers which apparently showed plans to introduce fees for higher educa- tion. The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee decided to reopen its investigation into the sell-off of Royal Ordnance. British Rail is to put up season ticket prices by more than 20 per cent from next January. The colour television licence will be going up to £66 from next April. A Gallup poll showed that the Conservatives' lead over Labour had doubled in recent weeks to 11.4 per cent. More than a million small investors applied for information about the British.Steel privatisation. Three Irish terrorists were found guilty of plotting to murder Mr Tom King, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and were jailed for 25 years each. 'Imperial echoes', a rousing brass band tune heard for the past 48 years on the BBC World Service, is to be stopped, apparently because it is 'stri- dent and inappropriately imperialistic'.
EARLY results after the general election in Israel indicated that the Labour and Likud parties would hold approximately equal numbers of seats in the Knesset. The killing of a Jewish mother and her children in a firebomb attack on a bus near Jericho in the occupied territories led to calls for
revenge and fears of a right-wing backlash. Michael Dukakis admitted to being a liberal. Two days before Mrs Thatcher's visit to Poland, during which she plans to meet Lech Walesa, the Polish Government announced that it was closing the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk, the birthplace of the Solidarity movement. Former President Galtieri of Argentina and the two other main members of his Junta were each sentenced to 12 years in prison for their mismanagement of the Falklands War. Imelda Marcos appeared in court in New York on racketeering charges; bail was set at $5million. The Soviet Union delayed the first flight of its space shuttle, Buran, due to technical difficulties. President Reagan announced that the almost completed new US Embassy in Moscow will have to be torn down because it was riddled with eavesdropping devices. Two whales trap- ped in the ice near Barrow in the Arctic Ocean were freed following the interven- tion of a Soviet icebreaker. Charles Haw- trey, the comedian, Jack de Manio, the BBC broadcaster, and Pietro Annigont, the portraitist of royalty, died.
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