PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Mrs Thatcher reshuffled the middle ranks of the Government, but made no changes to her Cabinet. The changes affected 33 MPs and peers, and they were generally thought to have favoured more right-wing elements within the Conserva- tive Party. Mrs Edwina Currie, who be- came Under-Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Security, managed to give six interviews on the day of her appointment. Peter Morrison was appointed the second deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. It was announced that British Airways was to be sold off to the public in the new year at a predicted price of between £750 million and £1,000 million. On the day of Mrs Thatcher's departure to Norway it was announced that Britain was to spend £600 million to reduce emissions from three coal-fired power sta- tions. This was insufficient to impress her hostess, the Norwegian Prime Minister Mrs Gro Brundtland, or 2,000 Oslo citizens who protested against her policies on Northern Ireland, South Africa and acid rain. The protesters delayed Mrs Thatcher's arrival at an official banquet by 45 minutes until the police fired tear gas, the first time they had ever done so on the streets of Oslo. Mr Denis Thatcher approached a tall blonde woman at an Oslo cocktail party and said 'Good evening Prime Minister': Mrs Brundtland is a stocky brunette. There was more trouble in the St Paul's district of Bristol, where 13 people were injured in clashes between black youths and the police. Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Popperwell, who led the police operation, suffered a heart attack, and Mr Ras Kuomba Balogun, described as a local community leader, was reported to have said: 'I hope the bastard dies.' The SDP held its annual congress in Harrogate.
PRESIDENT Reagan and his wife Nancy appeared on American television to warn of the dangers of drugs and alcohol; the President later ordered mandatory drug tests for federal employees in 'sensitive positions'. Stock markets around the world behaved erratically; the Wall Street ex- change recorded its biggest fall since 1929, and the Tokyo exchange recorded its big- gest fall in its history. The London ex- change fell too, but later recovered much of the lost ground. The American journal- ist Nicholas Daniloff, whose incarceration by Russian authorities was thought likely to threaten the next Soviet-American sum- mit, was released into the custody of the American ambassador in Moscow. A Rus- sian charged with spying was released in New York simultaneously on similar terms. Mr George Shultz, the American Secretary of State, denied there was any 'equivalence' between the two men: 'it is only a change in location of the two individuals,' he said. At least 170 men died after an underground explosion at a South African gold mine, and EEC foreign minis- ters agreed to a series of compromise measures against South Africa. Police in Florida shot dead a Briton who was jay- walking. Paris was plagued by a series of bomb explosions. The actress Pat Phoenix, and 'Pathfinder' Bennett died. In Salisbury a couple stole £3,000 worth of clothes after the woman, a blonde, bared her breasts to distract male staff while her accomplice helped himself to the goods. SJRR
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