PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
`But I don't want to be alone.'
Ministry of Defence experts said that 40 metres of steel piping, impounded by Customs officers on its way to Iraq, could have been for use as the barrel of a huge gun, capable of firing a nuclear shell. Sheffield Forgemasters, the manufactur- ers, said 116 metres of the piping had already been shipped to Iraq, and that the impounded 40 metres did not fit together. Customs officials then said the tubes may have been part of a satellite launcher on which Dr Gerald Bull, a murdered Cana- dian scientist, had been working. His firm had placed the order for the pipes. The Iraqi ambassador said if his country bought a box of chocolates from Britain it would be called a nuclear bomb component. Nelson Mandela, deputy president of the ANC, appeared in London at an Easter Monday concert to say thanks to those who supported him while in prison. The execu- tive of the National Union of Teachers rejected a resolution from its annual con- ference committing teachers to strike in support of those made compulsorily redun- dant. Prince Edward denied that he was homosexual. A poll revealed that only 20 per cent think the Prime Minister is doing a good job, the lowest figure since polling began. The Home Secretary announced that 200 extra prison officers are to be recruited, and existing officers given more shields, helmets and protective clothing. A siege at Shotts Prison near Glasgow ended when a warder who was held hostage broke free and jumped from a first floor window. A siege of several prisoners at Strangeways prison in Manchester continued. The Home Office vetoed the appointment of John Weselby as chief constable of Der- byshire by the Labour-controlled police authority. Judge lames Pickles said he will retire next year though his wife is against it. Judge Raymond Dean QC said he would not undertake not to repeat his remark to a rape case jury that 'when a woman says no she doesn't always mean it.' The judge said this was something he had heard over the last 40 years. The West Indies won the Fifth Test in Antigua to take the series against England by two wins to one. Desert Orchid won the Irish Grand National.
PRESIDENT Gorbachev threatened to cut off vital oil supplies to Lithuania unless they rescinded new laws on conscription and identity cards. He told the rest of the world that it was an internal matter. President Bush and Margaret Thatcher, meeting in Bermuda, warned the Soviet Union that coercion was not the path to take: dialogue was the only way forward. They reaffirmed the need for a mixture of conventional and nuclear weapons in Europe. Prices of food and consumer goods are set to rise steeply in the Soviet Union. Tass admitted, after 50 years of Soviet and British Foreign Office denials, that Soviet secret police under Stalin had massacred 4,500 Polish officers at Katyn. The British Foreign Office, which was still saying two years ago that it was not clear who was responsible, said it had long called for everyone to be open about this inci- dent. East Germany's first non-communist government was sworn in. It began by apologising to Israel and the Jews for the part its people played in Nazi war crimes, and for any hypocrisy after the war. The armies of India and Pakistan were placed on alert over tension in Kashmir, but Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakis- tan, left her country for a Muslim pilgrim- age to Mecca. In Jerusalem the celebration of Holy Week was disrupted when Greek Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics and Armenians led a protest march to a building in the Christian quarter where 20 Jewish families have settled. The Greek Conservative Prime Minister, Constantine Mitsotakis, 71, took office, saying the economy was in ruins and its international image badly shaken. Michael of Hohenzol- lern, former King of Rumania, attempted to return on a visit. The Government forbade it oh the grounds it was political. In Brazil 500 ministerial cars were put up for auction in the middle of Brasilia with a sign reading: 'Witness the end of fringe benefits in our country.' S.B.
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