Portrait of the week
As plansfor the TUC's Day of Inaction on 22 September unfolded, it remained uncertain whether trains would be running to carry a claimed 250,000 trade unionists to a mass rally in Hyde Park, or whether they would have to find some other means of transport. Printing unions announced there would be no newspapers on that day, and television unions promised a shut-down of Independent Television for three hours, from 5.30 to 8.30. The Cabinet announced that it stood firm on its 'final' offer of 7'/ per cent to nurses, 6 per cent to ancillary workers, in the Health Service dispute which prompted it all.
After ritual calls for the muzzling of the press, the TUC Conference voted by some six million to four million (on a card vote) to oppose all wage restraint under whatever government, thereby destroying at a stroke Labour's economic policy. Labour seemed set to win the Gower by-election where voters, according to the Labour candidate, had never heard of the TUC resolution. Lord McCarthy recommended a 6 per cent increase for rail workers with some produc- tivity strings but British Rail said it was far too much. Mr Frank Chapple was elected next year's chairman of the TUC despite having opposed the Day of Inaction.
Mr Michael Foot continued to make brave noises against the Militant faction, which held a rally of 3,000 at Wembley, saying that he hoped the Labour Party Conference would proscribe it. The Social Democrat Party and Liberal Alliance (SODPAL) announced that it would not appoint a leader after all, being led by Mr Jenkins and Mr Owen jointly. The Govern- ment supported John Brown and two other firms in defying American requests to withhold pipe-laying equipment from Russia, and cancelled plans to build a plant for servicing Trident missiles in Scotland. This saved £500 million and 1,500 govern- ment jobs', but meant that the missiles would have to be serviced in the US.
In Fez, Arab leaders agreed a formula which seemed to offer recognition of the Israeli state in return for withdrawal from recently conquered territory and recogni- tion of the PLO as representing the Palesti- nian people. Mr Begin's response was une- quivocally negative, but the Israeli Labour Party urged further consideration. Mr Begin also criticised Pope John-Paul in violent terms for agreeing to meet Yasser Arafat, claiming that the extermination of the Jewish people was a traditional Vatican aim. The Vatican denied this.
The Kremlin, having put a stop to direct telephone dialling in and out of Russia, closed down even supervised calls for a number of days, claiming technical pro- blems. China announced that its population had passed 1,000 million. Hua Kuo-feng was replaced by Teng Hsiao-ping but a number of geriatrics remained, including Marshal Yeh, 85, the official head of state.
Swiss police successfully cleared the Polish embassy in Berne of some Polish ter- rorists. In Italy, five people were arrested for the Bologna station bombing two years ago. The Euro-rocket Ariane, designed to put Euro-satellites in Euro-space, once again failed to take off properly. The QE2 broke down off Cornwall. Rita Parker, having volunteered to bear a baby by ar- tificial insemination for a couple who weren't up to it, decided to keep the baby. A Suffolk headmaster, having been accused of sadistic practices by the BBC, was cheered by parents and children on the opening day of term. Lord Carrington moved into Lord Nelson's £60,000 job as chairman of GEC. The Lion of Kashmir died at 76, much mourned by his people.
Ar crashes killed 46 parachutists at Mannheim, nine of them Welsh, and an uncertain number of people in Malaga, Spain : 42 (Times); 46 (Telegraph); 60 or 70 (Daily Mail); 70 (Mirror). Princess Grace of Monaco died from injuries after her car fell 120 feet off a mountain road. The President-elect of Lebanon, Mr Bashir Gemayel, was killed by a bomb in Beirut.
In Darwin, Australia, the trial opened of a couple claimed to have cut the throat of their baby which they said had been eaten by a dingo. A man in a bar in Trinidad told reporters he had seen Lord Lucan in Venezuela, but few believed him. Old Bailey jurors at a £1,250,000 burglary trial were given a 24-hour four-policeman guard to prevent their being bribed. The Pope ap- proved of plans to remove 'sexist' references to 'all men' and `brothers' from the liturgy. In Kingston, Jamaica, authori- ties faced with a back-log of 130 prisoners condemned to death explained that for technical reasons it was not possible to hang more than one prisoner a day. AAW
`Maybe Argentina could be asked to take the islands back.'
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