18 FEBRUARY 1966, Page 3

THE SOVIET UNION staged a massive nuclear test underground, and

doubtless wished it had been able to stage the trial of the writers Daniel and Sinyaysky underground, too : even the Communist parties 'of the west broke the habit of a lifetime and criticised the trial. America's Vietnam policy was also on trial, with even greater publicity, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Australia intro- duced decimal coinage, and there were imme- diate complaints that the new money was changing colour, thus adding to the confusion : sterling was looking a bit off-colour, too, as the trade gap widened and exports shrank.