PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
After 30 years at the front of British politics Lord Whitelaw retired on the advice of his doctors and family. He was succeeded as Leader of the House of Lords by his former deputy, Lord Belstead; Mr John Wakeham took over as Lord Presi- dent of the Council; the Prime Minister said that there would not be a replacement for Lord Whitelaw as Deputy Prime Minis- ter since, as Mrs Thatcher told him, the position 'was unique to you for your unique qualities and comes to an end with your service'. The Government made a suprisingly swift response to chief fire officers who voiced their concern over the number of deaths caused by some types of polyurethane foam in furniture. It announced that such materials would be banned next year. Lord Young announced a White Paper to reform regional aid and make the Department of Trade and Indus- try 'the Department of Enterprise'. Twenty-five nurses and 13 auxiliaries be- longing to the Nupe union in Manchester went on strike for their night shift: this was believed to be the first shift strike in the history of the nursing profession. National industrial action was taken by workers in the blood transfusion service dissatisfied with their meal allowances. The Archbishop of Canterbury was found to have paid £12,000 to a businessman who offered to help free Mr Terry Waite. Nothing came of it. Inspectors from the DTI were sent into the Burton group apparently to continue their inquiries into the takeover bid for Debenhams in 1985. Trevor Howard, the film star, and Prince Petros Palaeologos, who claimed to be one of the last direct descendants of the Byzan- tine emperors and lived in the Isle of Wight, died.
THE Gaza Strip continued to be a battle- ground between Palestinians and Israeli troops; more Palestinian youths were shot, one by an Israeli settler. At Westminster, Mr David Mellor, the Foreign Office minister, received all-party support for his condemnation of Israeli policy in their occupied territories. After weeks of slow improvement the New York stock market experienced its third biggest drop with a fall of 141 points in the Dow Jones indust- rial average. Mr Alexander Dubcek, the leader of Czechoslovakia during the 'Pra- gue Spring' of 1968, spoke publicly for the first time since he was put out of office by the Soviet army and its tanks. He said that he gave 'sincere, loyal and unequivocal' backing to Mr Gorbachev's reforms; he added, 'I think of the time we have lost.' The Chinese government turned down a Soviet offer of a two-power summit. The Soviet Union announced that it would be sending athletes to South Korea for this year's Olympic Games; the North Koreans announced that they would not. A leading Moscow commentator said that Soviet troops could start leaving Afghanistan as soon as 1 May. Japan completed a project to link its four main islands by train with the completion of the 22 mile road/rail suspension bridge between Honchu and Shikoku. A federal judge in the United States ordered the Amoco Corporation to pay $85 million in damages from the wreck of the supertanker Amoco Cadiz in 1978. Frank Sinatra returned to Australia where his last tour in 1974 was cancelled after he referred to local journalists as 'bums and parasites', and tuck-and-a-half hookers'. When asked if he was a 'nicer guy' now he replied, 'I don't think I am an un-nice man. It's just a matter of what kind of questions I'm asked.' In Washington, President Reagan, when asked if the US navy force in the Gulf was to be reduced, replied, 'I don't answer questions, but that one's easy — no.' MSOT
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