—Portrait of the Week— WHEN ONE DOOR SHUTS, another opens.
The amnesty terms for members of EOKA were pro- mulgated, the line was drawn beneath the last item in the Suez account, and in Central Africa violence flared, states of emergency were an- nounced, political parties banned, plots discovered, minorities of agitators denounced, dissidents arrested, deportations carried out and contradic- tory statements issued. The House of Commons spent most of the week discussing these develop- ments, and the Prime Minister's return from Moscow with (or, as some would say, without) something to show for his visit was pushed farther and farther down the page as the days went by. Other places where business was as usual included Cape Canaveral, the latest moon-rocket from which was lost for some time and eventually turned up 30,000 miles off course.
MARCH CAME IN LIKE A LAMB with the warmest days and nights since last 'summer.' But the sun- shine could not illuminate the darkness of events in the Central Africa Federation. The deportation by the Federal authorities of a Labour Member of Parliament from Northern Rhodesia, while the Governor of Nyasaland was prepared to allow him there, caused considerable stir in this country, but the shooting-down of at least twenty Africans in Nyasaland speedily made it clear -that there were graver events taking place. There was no sign on the part of anybody, from Sir Roy Welensky to the Colonial Office, of any policy save that of screwing the lid down tight and sitting on it.
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THE LESS EXPENSIVE NEWSPAPERS, having been bending over backwards to sympathise with Mr. Macmillan in the failure of his mission to Moscow, suddenly fell flat on their faces in de- claring that it: had been a wild success. In fact, it seemed unlikely that anything practical had come out of the talks, though the Russians finally agreed to a Foreign Ministers' meeting to discuss the future of Germany. Since they showed no signs of budging from their position on the subject, it was not expected that the meeting, if it ever took place, would have much to show when it was over. But President Eisenhower greeted the returning Prime Minister with an invitation to visit the United States.
ARCHBISHOP MAKARIOS returned to Cyprus amid a triumphant welcome from upwards of 150,000 Greek Cypriots. He paid tribute to the courage and devotion of EOKA, many of whose members, released a matter of hours previously, were there to hear him. In the course of his speech he pro- moted Colonel Grivas to General, and Grivas, whose movements had for some days been uncer- tain, is said to have agreed that he would leave Cyprus for Greece, as a return for his amnesty.
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THERE WAS No SIGN of an early end to the Ford strike at Dagenham, where something like 10,000 men were now not working as a result of the strike by some ,300 'of them. The leaders of the unions concerned met with little response to their call for a resumption of work, and there were requests for the strike to be declared official. The Amal- gamated Engineering Union. in the throes of its presidential election, grew; more and more em- barrassed.
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THE CONTROVERSY over the ITA space-drama con- tinued. The resignation of the Director of Drama of the Company concerned was given sift months ago for personal reasons. In fact, it, had no con- nection whatever with this production,, as pre- viously implied. He remains as Director of Drama until September next, when his resignation takes
effect.
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