PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
`Are we in a Labour manifesto or a Tory manifesto?'
An explosion aboard a Soviet sub- marine lying 480 miles north-east of Ber- muda and 900 miles off New York obliged it to surface. It was, however, so badly damaged that three days later it sank, in 18,000 feet of water. Though it was nuclear-powered, and armed with 16 nuc- lear missiles, no radiation leaks were de- tected. Dr Yuri Orlov was released from exile in Siberia and flown to the West, part of a deal whereby the Soviet Union re- trieved a spy and the United States a journalist. Dr Orlov said: 'I have left my native land, my language and my friends behind.' In Washington, the Senate over- ruled President Reagan's veto on tougher economic sanctions against Smith Africa by 78 votes to 21. In Blackpool, the Labour Party Conference voted in favour of a non-nuclear defence policy, including the closure of American nuclear bases in Bri- tain. 'We should be able to do it within 12 months,' Mr Denzil Davies, the party's defence spokesman, said. Four senior officers, recently retired from the services, said that Labour's non-nuclear policy would damage Britain's ability to defend itself. The Labour Party Conference also decided to phase out nuclear power, but in decades, not months. In Delhi, the ability of the security forces to defend the Indian Prime Minister was questioned after a gunman fired several shots at Mr Rajiv Gandhi. The British Government decided, in an effort to fight- terrorism, to ban all flights by Libyan Arab Airlines to London, but the Old Bailey heard that it was the Syrian ambassador in London who had arranged to shelter a terrorist after a plot to blow up an El Al aeroplane, by using a pregnant Irish chambermaid to carry a bomb, had been discovered at Heathrow.
THE Conservative Party Conference be- gan, held for the first time in Bourne- mouth. Meanwhile the Government tried to prevent a rise in interest rates, liable to be required because of the fall in the value of sterling. Mr Baker, the Education Secretary, announced that 20 new technic- al schools would be set up, and that parents would be given the right to veto sex education lessons. A member of the UDR was murdered by the IRA in County Tyrone. The Bishop of Kingston and 40 other clergymen took communion at Church House, Westminster, from a woman. The Archbishop of Canterbury said he was 'dismayed' and ordered an immediate inquiry. The Government se- cured an injunction to prevent the New Statesman publishing a letter sent by the former British Ambassador in Saudi Ara- bia to Sir Geoffrey Howe. Mr Marmaduke Hussey was appointed chairman of the BBC's board of governors. The Indepen- dent, a new national newspaper, appeared. Leading figures in the world of ballet attacked a Times obituary in which Sir Robert Helpmann had been called a 'pro- selytising' homosexual, Prince Charles's former valet, Stephen Barry, died of Aids, and Dancing Brave won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Gary Kasparov retained the world chess championship by drawing the 23rd of his 24-game match against Anatoly Karpov. Greg Norman won the world matchplay championship at Wentworth, but afterwards attacked British golf crowds: 'They cheered my bad shots . . . and tried to put me off when I was driving.' Luton Town withdrew from the Little- woods Cup rather than allow visiting clubs' supporters into their ground. AJSG
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