Portrait of the week

Mr Y. V. Andropov was 'unanimously elected' to succeed President L. I. brezhnev as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. Mr Brezhnev had held the highest office for 18 years until his death last week at 75. Mr Andropov, aged 68

was chairman of the State Security „

Mmittee (KGB) for 15 years until six Months ago, and ambassador to Hungary in 1956. Trying to look constructively on his appointment, 'US government analysts' described Mr Andropov as shrewd, in- telligent, 'a man of contradictions', and Made much of his interest in Western socie- ty, his ability to speak English and his don- nish appearance. In his first speech as party leader, Mr Andropov said: 'Peace can only be upheld if we rely on the invincible might 01 the Soviet armed forces.' Vladimir Kuzichkin, the KGB officer who defected recently to Britain, disclosed to Time inkoagazine that Mr Brezhnev had ignored warnings against trying to make a oovr. iet satellite of Afghanistan, referred to as 'Russia's Vietnam'.

The funeral of Mr Brezhnev in Moscow Bas attended by Vice-President George

(pish and George Shultz, Secretary of State. resident Reagan signed a book of con- (=ilences at the Soviet embassy in Nshi ngton.) Representatives from Britain l_ncluded the Foreign Secretary, Mr Pym, civil-4s coot and Mr Steel. Yasser Arafat, Fidel c,, and the prime ministers of India, 3weden, France, Canada and Japan also at- tended. The sale of vodka and wine was stlisPended, and all work in the Soviet p,,°n was halted for five minutes. Earlier,

Brezhnesps body lay in state in the Hall

thousands of ov days. r4rnong them waspeople Mr A. er P.four Kirilenko, ,ecentlY dropped from the Politburo, ..Pc'ssibly because of the defection — which

was_denied of his son to the West.

gent Brezhnev's death coincided with see tures from East and West which were wll as conciliatory. In Poland, Mr Lech tioa,sesa was released after 11 months' deten- sai"ci and returned home to Gdansk. It was reach that an accommodation had been krched between General Jaruzelski and

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emedbIshoP Glemp: martial law would be next and the Pope would visit Poland jilt dune. President Reagan announced the Datilltg of sanctions against European com- Sib es suPPlYing equipment for the Siberian gas pipeline.

Ueoffrey Prime, sentenced at the Old ku, ;13aileY tO 38 years' imprisonment as a de agent, was said to have given away whiaikis of a satellite surveillance system ancie'l Made it possible to listen to telephone Uni radio conversatio n withi the Sviet . China agreed to buyn Britisho Sea

Dart anti-aircraft missiles for its destroyers. Cardinal O'Fee took it upon himself to condemn the killing of four people in Nor- thern Ireland during one day. Britoil issued a prospectus for the sale of 51 per cent of the company, but rumours of cash-flow dif- ficulties apparently persuaded two large in- stitutions not to underwrite the stock. The mortgage rate was cut by 2 per cent, to 10 per cent. The Labour Left (Ted Knight, prop.) regained control of Lambeth council when an SDP councillor resigned, allegedly because of intimidation.

Mr Begin returned to Israel from America, without seeing President Reagan, because of the death of his wife. She was buried on the Mount of Olives beside two 'freedom fighters' who commit- ted suicide in 1947 shortly before they were to be executed by the British Mandate. An explosion at the Israeli military head- quarters in Tyre, Which killed 89 people, was described as an accident. A ban on playing the works of Richard Strauss in Israel was reimposed one week after it had been lifted.

Supporters of England interrupted play in the first Test Match against Australia (which was drawn), when England reached 400 in their first innings. Twenty-six people were arrested, and the Australian bowler, Terry Alderman, was taken to hospital. Jo Grimond announced his retirement from politics next year, having represented the Orkney and Shetland islands in the Liberal interest since 1950. Chesney Allen, the last surviving member of the Crazy Gang, died at 88, Arthur Askey at 82. Royal news: Princess Anne was much complimented on her trip to Zimbabwe, Somalia and Beirut. The Princess of Wales arrived late for the Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall, leading the popular press to speculate that she was becoming anorexic. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands arrived in Lon- don by frigate for a state visit, in the com- pany of her husband who has recently been

treated for a mental illness. SPC

The Weight-Watchers Club