Portrait of the week
At the start of an Easter programme of demonstrations organised by CND, Mr Michael Heseltine, Secretary of State for Defence, spoke appreciatively of the American contribution to the defence of the United Kingdom. The National Council for Civil Liberties decided it would no longer recognise the civil rights of members of `racist' or 'fascist' organisations. Nineteen Conservative MPs voted against the Bill paving the way for abolition of the GLC and Metropolitan Counties, including Mr Heath, who was concerned `to look after the good name of the Tory Party'. Senior Tories expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of Mr John Selwyn Gummer as party ,chairman. Lord Gowrie, Minister for the Arts, announced that £34 million more would be spent on the arts from central funds to compensate for abolition of the GLC and mets. Dr Cahal Daly, Roman Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor, speaking at the funeral of an IRA victim, challenged Sinn Fein to denounce the murder, with which an 18 year old girl was later charged. The Archbishop of York sup- ported the policy of the miners' union on pit closures, saying 'we owe it to future generations not to close pits before they have been properly worked out'. The union was expected at its national delegate conference to change its rules to reduce the 55 per cent majority required for a strike in a national ballot of the member- ship. Mr Ian MacGregor, Chairman of the Coal Board, said this would be moving the goal posts to make it easier to score, and called on miners to defy their union by returning to work. He warned that a long strike would make 25 per cent of pits geologically unworkable. One opinion poll suggested that two-thirds of miners would vote for a strike. Michael Bettaney was con- victed of spying and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He called on 'comrades everywhere' to fight on for the 'historically inevitable' victory.
Mr Mikhail Gorbachev was appointed chief ideologist of the Politburo at the tender age of 53, making him the most likely man to succeed Mr Chernenko. At the half-way point in the campaign for the US Democratic Presidential nomination, Mr Walter Mondale had established a com- manding two to one lead over Senator Gary Hart. Israeli soldiers rescued nearly 30 hostages from a bus hijacked by four Palestinian guerrillas, killing the guerrillas and one hostage. More evidence came to light of killings and torture in Southern Matabeleland, carried out by the Fifth Brigade of the Zimbabwe National Army against supposed dissidents, but Mr Mugabe declared that his forces had per- formed a 'wonderful duty' in the area, and published the text of a letter from Mr Tiny Rowland dissociating the Lonrho organ- isation, owners of the Observer, from descriptions that paper's editor, Mr Donald Trelford, had written of the atrocities. Mr Trelford vigorously defended his story. The Foreign Secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe, ar- rived in Peking for talks on the future of Hong Kong. Mr FranciS Pym and General Alexander Haig gave conflicting accounts of the state of diplomatic negotiations on the day the Belgrano was sunk. • A policewoman was killed and 11 other peo- ple were injured by shots fired from the Li- byan People's Bureau in St James's Square. Sikh terrorists attacked 37 railway stations in the Punjab. Fifty French steelworkers broke into a château and ate a banquet which had been prepared for steel executives.
Zola Budd won her first race in Britain, Zola the recreation ground in Dartford, but doubts were expressed about whether she wanted to compete in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Ben Crenshaw won the US Masters. Everton and Watford reached the final of the FA Cup. The Test and County Cricket Board said allegations that the England team which toured New Zealand in the winter had taken drugs illegally were unfounded, but fined Ian Botham £1,000 for making disparaging remarks about Pakistan. The comedian Tommy Cooper died after collapsing during a live television show. The Press Council censured the Sun for publishing a photograph of Brigitte Bardot relaxing topless, but the editor replied that there was nothing tasteless about the picture. A dilapidated council house in Northampton- shire, for which the asking price is one
`Pm more worried about adults on atomic weapons.'
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