— Portrait of the Week
GENEVA RANG to the sound of yet more deadlocks over the Laos talks. South Korea heard more martial noises as a military junta, led by General Chang and General Chung. staged a coup against the Government which had replaced the overthrown Rhee regime. It was thought that the revolt was caused by the Government's failure to live up to its promises of reform and also by the prevailing economic distress. The American com- mander on the spot. General Magruder, insisted that the United States supported the legally elec- ted Government, but the insurrectionists declined to comment. They insisted, however, that they were pro-American, and anti-Communist, and that they intended to clear up corruption in South Korean public life. And in Angola, the sound of Africans being indiscriminately slaughtered by Dr. Salazar's troops mingled with the speeches of welcome for HMS Leopard, paying a goodwill visit to the territory.
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I IIE ANTI-VIOLENCE LEAGUE, which is to launch a national campaign in favour of flogging, whipping, birching and an increase in all kinds of hanging, had a setback when the House of Lords rejected an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill which would have at any rate have made a start on the League's programme. It was announced that one of the League's sponsors was Sir Percy Sillitoe, former head of M15, and it was also announced that Lord Radcliffe is to be in charge of the de- tailed and wide-ranging inquiry into Sir Percy's old firm. The Prime Minister, in announcing the Inquiry, talked of the curtailment of liberty that [night he involved, but close scrutiny of his words failed to elicit any definite meaning in them.
'THE RE-CONVENED CONFERENCE on the constitu- tional future of Southern Rhodesia opened, and immediately afterwards the African delegates, led by Mr. Joshua Nkomo, walked out, claiming— among other things—that the ban on rural meet- ings had prevented his party discussing the pro- posals held over from the January conference. Meanwhile a curfew was imposed in parts of Kenya, where another murder took place. A bus, Containing White and Negro travellers, driving through Alabama to test the application of Supreme Court rulings against discrimination, was stoned and burnt (the passengers being beaten LIP) by a number of citizens who seemed not to want a Negro to marry their sisters.
1111, BRITISH IRON AND STEEL FEDERATION applied to the Iron and Steel Board to allow a, 'significant' Increase in the price of iron and steel. This was believed to be part of the steel industry's private war against the coal industry, the Federation ex- Plaining that the increase was necessary because of the rise in the price of coal. Meanwhile, no decision had been reached by the Treasury on the request by the Steel Company of Wales to be allowed to import American coal more cheaply than they could buy British.
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IN RETURN FOR the BBC's televising the May Day Parade in Moscow, the BBC announced that Drooping the Colour would be televised by the Russian television system. There were hopes that the British Trade Fair in Moscow would do good business. Miss Barbara Cartland announced that she had heard from a friend that a woman in a hairdresser's had once heard another woman in the same hairdresser's talking indiscreetly about security, and a foxhound was brainwashed by members of the League Against Cruel Sports. What is more. a Mrs. Bottoms sued the makers of her bath because the bottom (of the bath) Was bumpy, and won.
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