PORTRAIT OF A WEEK
The sudden death of General de Gaulle distracted the British for a moment from their perennial national debate over the state of the economy. At the moment the obsession is with inflation, and following the settlement of the council workers' six week strike for a pay rise of 18 per cent there were widespread demands for a wage freeze. The idea was firmly rejected by the Prime Minister in a television interview, when he insisted that inflation must be solved within the context of a free society. Companies which acted irre- sponsibly by conceding unreasonably large pay increases would not be bailed out by the Government, he warned.
• One of the maior characters when the debate concerned itself with the balance of payments, Lord Cromer, former Gov- ernor of the Bank of England, is to become Ambassador to the United States. He will succeed Mr John Freeman.
Mr Enoch Powell led a Conservative backbench revolt against the continuation of sanctions on Rhodesia, and claimed in a television programme that the Prime Minister is afraid of him. The Foreign Secretary announced the start of pre- liminary negotiations aimed at fresh talks with Mr Ian Smith about the constitu- tional future of Rhodesia.
Miss Lillian Board, twenty-one, the Olympic athlete, became ill with cancer and placed herself in the hands of the controversial German Dr Josef Issels for treatment.
Abroad, the Pope was heckled by shanty dwellers and the homeless when he delivered his regular Sunday blessing from St Peter's. Ex-King Peter of Yugo- slavia died in Los Angeles, and his son Crown Prince Alexander declined to be crowned as a king in exile.
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