PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Burning the midnight oil at Millbank.
Mr Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, had his spending plans leaked before explaining them to Parlia- ment; he said he would increase spending on health and education by 4 per cent a year in real terms between 1999 and 2002, but the increase would entail public-sector workers — principally doctors, nurses and teachers — accepting low pay rises. The government insisted that spending increases would be paid for by departmental efficien- cy savings: it also promised detailed regula- tion of teaching standards. Headline, infla- tion fell from 4.2 to 3.7 per cent; underlying rates fell from 3.2 to 2.8 per cent — still above the government target of 2.5 per cent. The FTSE share index rose to a new high. Thousands of Orange Lodge support- ers gathered each day at the Army barri- cades erected to stop them marching from Drumcree church to Portadown via the Garvaghy Road, a 'Catholic area; a moat and tangles of razor wire had been constructed to keep them put. The crowd, especially at night, was swelled by violent youths; a nail bomb was thrown at soldiers. Three boys, who went to a Protestant school but had a Catholic mother, died when an arsonist set fire by night to their house in Ballymoney, Co Antrim. An Orange march through the Ormeau Road in Belfast passed off in silence while local nationalists stood quietly at the roadside holding black flags. In London police said they had foiled an Irish republican plot to set off a series of fire-bombs; three of the ten people arrested were released within 48 hours. Mr William Hague, the Leader of the Opposition, mauled Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, in the House of Commons by accusing him of being surrounded by leather-bedding, pocket-lining, money- grabbing cronies'. Lord Puttnam complained about not being appointed a governor of the BBC, let alone vice-chairman; but he was made chairman of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta), which gives away lottery money. Lord Boyd-Carpenter, who rose to become chief secretary to the Treasury, 1962-4, died, aged 90. On the west end of Westminster Abbey ten statues were unveiled depicting modern martyrs such as Martin Luther King, the Baptist black rights campaigner, and Oscar Romero, the assassinated archbishop of San Salvador.
MR RYUTARO Hashimoto resigned as prime minister of Japan after his Liberal Democratic party did very badly in elec- tions for the upper house of parliament. Russia delayed the sale of Rosneft, the state-owned oil company, until October in the hope that oil prices would rise, after Royal Dutch/Shell and British Petroleum said they would not be bidding for Rosneft this month. General Abdulsalam Abubakar, the military ruler of Nigeria, postponed a handover to civilian rule that had been promised for 1 October. More than 20 peo- ple were shot dead in KwaZulu-Natal in a week of violence between the African Natiorkal Congress and supporters of the newly formed United Democratic Front party, led by the former ruler of Transkei, Mr Bantu Holomisa; the government sent hundreds of armed police to Richmond, 280 miles south-east of Johannesburg. Ethiopia has deported 1,000 Eritreans in the past month, and Eritrea has deported 4,400 Ethiopians since May; the two coun- tries are locked in a violent border dispute. Passengers and freight were badly delayed at Hong Kong's new airport, Chep Lap Kok. Sixteen former abattoir workers in Wagga Wagga, Australia, were charged with stealing gallstones from dead cows to sell to Chinese medicine merchants. Eight people died from botulism after eating poultry in Algeria. France unexpectedly won the World Cup, beating Brazil 3-0 in the final; the Brazilian striker, Ronaldo, said he'd had a fit the night before. Chris Boardman went out of the Tour de France when he fell off his bicycle and hit his head on a wall, suffering concussion. Jimmy Driftwood, the writer of the song 'Battle Of New Orleans', died, aged 91.
CSH
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