Portrait of the week
At the weekend the war ended, after only six days; and Israel savoured a stunning triumph. But the troubles of the Middle East were far from at an end.. The squabbles about the future developed; Nasser dramatically resigned and even more dram- atically.withdrew his resignation; Egyptian soldiers wandered lost in the .Sinai desert without water; and threats to exclude British and American ships from the Suez Canal indefinitely Were heard.
" At home, there was a great commotion over the D Notice affair, with Lord Radcliffe's com- mittee saying the Daily Express hadn't broken the rules and the Government issuing its own White Paper to say that it had. There was a deal of ex- citement, too, about the Independent Television Authority's allotment of six-year commercial Tv contracts, with three new companies fin one of which the soccialoa has a 1 per cent interest) drawing lucky numbers and an old one (iww) being dropped altogether.
Mr Michael Foot announzed his intcntion to oppose Mr Callaghan for the Labour party treasurership, which caused some Government per- turbation. Meanwhile, more than thirty Labour backbenchers abstained when the new Prices and Incomes Bill had its second reading. Sir Cyril Black. MP, collected 'substantial' damages from Private Eye, and an all-party move to stop the Stansted airport proposal began at Westminster. The Liberals produced a plan for a 72-seat parliament for Wales.
Lord Moon was picked by Mr Wilson to visit Rhodesia to 'take the temperature' yet again, and in the United States there was racial violence, with bayonets used to control negro crowds in Florida. President Johnson made Mr Thurgood Marshall the first negro ever to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
Summer weather arrked at last in England, and Mr Callaghan refused to promise any increase in the 1.50 travel allowance next year—it was 'adequate for the holiday needs of most families,' he opined. There was also a campaign to stop people smoking in telephone kiosks, a new system of coloured flags to mark dangerous bathing places, and a plan for flashing light signals on doctors' cars.
Mr Harold Macmillan, musing on his progress with his memoirs, disclosed his reason for avoid- ing current political controversy. When.you retire you should stay out of things,' he said. 'It's more artistic.'
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