Portrait of the week
Cr take your point about frankness!'
wrote Mrs Thatcher, accepting the resignation of James Prior as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. He was re- placed by Mr Douglas Hurd in the most important change in the autumn Cabinet reshuffle, and is expected to become chair- man of GEC. Mr David Young, the chairman of the Manpower Services Com- mission, was made Minister without Port- folio, with a peerage and a place in the Cabinet. The NUM and the NCB held fresh negotiations in Edinburgh. What little was known of the substance of nego- tiations seemed discouraging. Confusion increased in the dock strike after the Port of London Authority organised a ballot of striking dockers at Tilbury. 1,398 men voted to return to work; 41 were in favour of the strike; just under half the workforce did not vote at all. After the results were known only 213 men crossed picket lines to work. A strike on London's public trans- port was called off. The chairman and the board of British Airways announced that the Government would have to sack them if it wished to transfer routes to British Caledonian before BA was privatised. The freighter Mont Louis, sunk in the Channel with a radioactive cargo, broke up in a storm. None of the 30 full containers has been recovered; 12 empty ones have washed up. An all-party committee of the Commons announced that much must be done about acid rain, and called the CEGB's evidence 'trite and evasive'. The pound fell even further against the dollar, then recovered.
Marshal Orgakov, chief of the Soviet General staff, was abruptly sacked, and replaced by his deputy, Marshal Akhromeyev. This was generally thought to be very significant; exactly what it meant was less clear. President Chernenko appeared on television, presenting medals to astronauts. This proved he was alive, if only just. Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kas- parov (ne Weinstein) started their match for the world chess championship in Mos- cow with a draw. Todor Zhivkov, the Leader of Bulgaria, announced that he, too, was cancelling a planned visit to West Germany. The first anniversary of the shooting down of the South Korean airlin- er was celebrated by both the Russian and American governments repeating their versions of the story. An American jour- nalist pointed out that it would be almost incredible if the American military had not known the plane was off course before it was shot down. Billy Graham visited Mos- cow. The Pope toured Canada. Father Leonardo Boff was invited to Rome to answer criticisms of his book expounding 'liberation theology'. Violent unrest con- tinued in South Africa: a bomb was found
in the Rand$upreme Court; power lines in Transvaal were destroyed by explosions; rioting continued in the black townships round Johannesburg. In Israel it appeared that, the Likud and the Labour Party had after all agreed to form a goVernment of national unity, with a post in it for General Sharon. Elements of both parties expressed dissatisfaction with the deal. President Chun Doo Hwan of South Korea visited Japan. The Emperor (and former god) Hirohito said: 'It is indeed regrettable that there was an unfortunate past between us for a period this century, and I believe it should not be repeated.' This was regarded as an apology for Japanese behaviour in the war. Two Moroccan soldiers boarded a Spanish fishing boat to see that it sailed to Agadir to be punished for fishing illegally. Over- come by their generous lunch, they slept, and woke up in the Canary Isles. The resulting impasse puzzled diplomats.
A"-year-old widow in South London was so outraged by her rates bill that she knocked down two thirds of her house to reduce its rateable value by the same proportion. But it was a listed building, and she now faces a statutory obligation to rebuild it. The brewers Greene King announced that they would brew a special light ale to celebrate the 80th birthday of their family connection Graham. Fistfights broke out in Barcelona between competing factions among the friends of Salvador Dali, 80, who is in hospital suffering from burns and malnutrition. His estate is sup- posed to be worth 23 million dollars. ACB
'1 will strike . . .
1 won't strike . . .
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