10 JUNE 1966, Page 3

- Portrait of theWeek-

ALMOST A MONTH after the British seamen's strike began, the court of inquiry into the dis- pute offered an interim compromise proposal on Wednesday; this the strikers instantly re- jected, having already called for help from unions all over the world. The economy was showing signs of strain, with the pound under heavier pressure than at any time since the 1964 crisis. Britain decided to resign from the Euro- pean space organisation, a decision coinciding with new space triumphs for the United States —a soft landing on the moon, resulting in un- exciting pictures of moon pebbles but presag- ing much more; and a two-hour 'walk' in space by astronaut Eugene Cernan, alongside the Gemini 9 vehicle, during which Cernan was heard to say, 'It's a strange world out here.' In Brussels, the French were discussing their retirement from the NATO organisation and arguing lengthily about the future of the French troops in Germany. India devalued the rupee by 36.5 per cent. In the United States Mr Edward Heath indicated support for Presi- dent Johnson over Vietnam, and in Peking demonstrators beat drums and clashed cymbals outside the university in protest against the 'bourgeois royalists' suspected of plotting within.