PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
'Give it to me straight, doctor. How long have I got?' Liberal Democrats smashed the pre- vious Tory majority in a by-election in Kincardine and Deeside. Labour won Langbaurgh from the Conservatives and held Hemsworth. Jerry Hayes, Conserva- tive MP, resigned from a Commons select committee after it was found his office had leaked critical pages of a report. Nicholas Ridley advised the country to vote for candidates according to their Euro- scepticism, rather than party. Norman Tebbit said it would be folly to accept closer union in the EEC. Conservative spokesmen attempted to sound optimistic about the coming General Election. The Chancellor said robust recovery of the economy was on its way. John Major hinted that he might, or then again might not, sign the Maastricht treaty on political union and a single currency. A man from Kent went on the run after allegedly shooting and injuring the man who killed his 12-year-old son by reckless driving. A jury which has spent five months hearing evidence about crimes connected with the Brink's Mat gold bullion robbery was dismissed without explanation by Judge Henry Pownall. The cost of the aborted trial is estimated at around £2 million. Crime in London rose by almost a fifth, partly due to the more frequent reporting of wife-beating and rape. Dr Ravi Gupta, of east London, said he would charge £350 for an unproved treatment which may help determine the sex of a baby. A much hyped sale of old furniture and jumble at Castle Howard in Yorkshire made high prices due to a mixture of publicity and gullibility. A 20-year-old man was found hanged the day after he was forced to have his pit bull terrier killed because he could not afford to insure and register it.
THE mediaeval Croatian port of Dubrov- nik was relentlessly shelled by the Serbian- led Yugoslav army. The Prince of Wales turned down an invitation to visit it. President Bush told EEC allies at the Nato summit in Rome that if they did not need Nato any longer, they should say so at once. The supremacy of Nato in the defence of Europe was then confirmed by all, including a reluctant France. The Russian Supreme Soviet rejected a decree by President Yeltsin imposing a state of emergency on Checheno-Ingushetia, a re- bellious region in northern Caucasus. Communists demonstrated in Red Square, denouncing Presidents Gorbachev and Yeltsin as traitors. The body of Robert Maxwell was buried on the Mount of Olives, with impressive Israeli state hon- ours, but there was no explanation of exactly what he had done to merit them. His family were said still to fear that he might have been murdered. Workers con- tinued to hunt for more bodies of 3,400 people who died in floods in the Phil*" pines. The compulsory repatriation of boat people to Vietnam began: some men and women kicked and screamed as they were carried onto the transport. Afghan rebel leaders talked directly with the Russian leadership for the first time in 13 years °f fighting. British and US envoys returned to Cambodia for the first time in 16 years. A Soweto youth who vanished just before the trial of Winnie Mandela for kidnapping and assault, at which he was due to glye evidence, was found in prison in Zambia. Australia's federal court ruled that the Australian government has no right to refuse visa applications from Hell 5 Angels. S13
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