PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Dr Brian Mawhinney, the chairman of the Conservative Party, went on a grand tour of Britain to encourage prospective parliamentary candidates. He announced his intention to attack 'loony Left' Labour councils. Meanwhile, Tony Blair, the leader of the Labour Party, announced that he would suspend a `loony Left' Labour council in Walsall. Perhaps in response to a Spectator article, Stephen Dorrell, the Health Secretary, said that competent doctors will have to report incompetent doctors to the Gener- al Medical Council. Six people were mur- dered in Glasgow last weekend. Factory output in June increased by 0.2 per cent over that in May. Siemens are to invest f1,100 million in making microchips on Tyneside. Barclays announced half-year profits of £1,100 million. Makita, the Japanese power toolmakers, is buying 23 acres in Shropshire. Whitbread bought 16 hotels one day and a sportwear chain the next. The British Safety Council withdrew a poster campaign showing the Pope wearing a hard hat after it was described as 'deliberately and gratuitously offensive' by Cardinal Basil Hume, the Archbishop of Westminster. Public houses were allowed to open on Sunday from noon to 10.30 p.m. Jonathan Edwards, an English- man, did terribly well in the hop, skip and jump, beating the world record twice in one day; Linford Christie, an English run- ner, hurt his hamstring and lay down on the track. Eric Cantona, the French foot- baller and would-be philosopher, has declared he has no future in English foot- ball and requested a transfer from Manchester United. Lord Lever, a former Labour economics expert, died, aged 81. A lorry shed its load of rat-poison near Cossall in Nottinghamshire; another its load of sugar near Andover in Hamp- shire.
THE CROATIAN army conquered the Serb-held Krajina region. When its major city, Knin, was shelled, all but 1,000 of its 35,000 population left as best they could. Altogether, perhaps 200,000 people fled the region, heading for Serb-held Bosnia or for Serbia, but thousands were trapped by Croatian and Bosnian government forces. Croatian and Serbian troops then moved in on Eastern Slavonia, an area of Croatia held by Serbs. Dr Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader, failed in an attempt to demote his army com- mander, General Ratko Mladic. Three United Nations soldiers died in the new fighting; staff of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees struggled to help displaced civilians. Food depots for refugees in Rwanda were converted into jails to house some of the 50,000 people awaiting trial on charges on committing war crimes. Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, reputed as the second most important leader of the Cali drug cartel, was arrest- ed by Colombian police. Rival factions of Iraqi Kurds announced peace talks in Dublin. The cost of running the Irish gov- ernment has risen by three times the rate of inflation over the past three years. Brigid Brophy, the novelist, died, aged 66. Ida Lupino, the film actress, died, aged 77. A volcano erupted on the island of Montserrat, an elephant trampled an Ital- ian tourist guide to death in Namibia and legionnaire's disease killed a man in Mankato, Minnesota.
CSH
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