PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
The Provisional IRA declared their tra- ditional 72-hour Christmas truce, but did not extend it in response to the peace over- tures of London and Dublin which they said they would answer in due course. The shops enjoyed a traditional last-minute Christmas spending boom. The Queen, in her Christmas broadcast, remarked that the daily diet of bad news in the media had become almost overwhelming. Prince Edward wrote an open letter to editors to deny rumours of his impending engage- ment to a 28-year-old public relations con- sultant, and to ask to be left alone. The Prince of Wales is to send a newsletter to 3,000 influential people, including editors, explaining the work and philosophy of his various charitable trusts. A 59-year-old mil- lionaire businesswoman, who had previous- ly put her career before having a baby, gave birth to test-tube twins. She had received fertility treatment in Italy, having been refused it in England. A 48-year-old junior minister, Mr Tim Yeo, admitted that he was the father of an illegitimate baby. 190 Jamaicans were detained at Gatwick air- port when they arrived for what they claimed to be Christmas visits; at least 37 were deported. Twelve children were taken into care over the Christmas break, after being found 'home alone'. Nineteen employees of Southwark Council were threatened with dismissal after they failed a personality test which asked, amongst 460 other questions, whether Queen Elizabeth I was greater than Queen Victoria, and whether they liked tall women. Lord Gowrie, who resigned as Arts Minister in 1985 saying no one could be expected to live in central London on the salary, is to be the next Chairman of the Arts Council. Alexander and Sophie were the two most popular names to appear in the birth announcements in the Times this year. General Sir Philip Christison, who took the Japanese surrender at Singapore in 1945, died, aged 100. Mr J.A. Caesar (Jac), a compiler of crosswords for The Spectator for twenty years, has died. Naturalists now believe that the Loch Ness monster is prob- ably a lovelorn sturgeon, as the loch con- tains too little food to support anything more substantial.
PRESIDENT Clinton's Christmas was spoilt by allegations of sexual and financial impropriety during his time as Governor of Arkansas. Four heavily armed men who kidnapped 12 children and their teacher in southern Russia, then commandeered a helicopter and collected a $10 million ran- som, were captured and their hostages res- cued unharmed. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met in Cairo to try again to overcome difficulties that have delayed Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Jericho. The warring parties in former Yugoslavia agreed a Christmas truce, and then ignored it. Mr Douglas Hogg, a Minis- ter of State at the Foreign Office, warned that British troops would not be available indefinitely to help humanitarian relief in Bosnia. China celebrated the centenary of the birth of Chairman Mao. Meanwhile the country's increasingly capitalist economy was expected to show a 13.2 per cent growth rate this year, putting it at the top of the world league for the second year run- ning. The Russian ultra-nationalist leader, Mr Vladimir Zhirinovsky, was ordered to leave Bulgaria within 24 hours after he called on the country's President to resign and suggested a Bulgarian emigre in Aus- tria, as successor. A Saudi Arabian banker has agreed to pay the American authorities $225 million, to have charges arising from the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International waived. In an emotional live television appearance broad- cast from his ranch in southern California, Michael Jackson proclaimed his innocence of allegations that he had molested a 13- year-old boy. Fidel Castro's daughter escaped from Cuba on a false Spanish pass- port, and was later granted political asylum
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