PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
`It's a new Government-backed cigarette without any health warning.'
Mr Nigel Lawson introduced his third Budget. He reduced the standard rate of income tax by a penny, raised tax thresholds in line with inflation, cigarettes by lip a packet and petrol by 7p a gallon. There was no increase in tax on drink, and Capital Transfer Tax was replaced by `Inheritance Tax', which the County Land- owners Association said 'could create the best taxation regime for lifetime gifts this century'. Gifts to charities will also be taxed less. But Mr Lawson created a much worse tax regime for international enter- tainers when they work in Britain. After the Budget the mortgage rate fell, shares and the pound rose. The Home Office announced that last year there had been a 29 per cent rise in reported rape offences and a three per cent rise in all reported crime. Three men were charged with last week's rape of a vicar's daughter. A Tory MP, Mr Geoffrey Dickens, used or, in the opinion of other MPs, abused parliamen- tary privilege to name an Essex doctor alleged to have raped an eight-year-old girl, but was prevented by the Speaker from naming a Humberside vicar alleged to have sexually assaulted an 11-year-old boy. Sheriff David Smith of Kilmarnock was rebuked by the Scottish Appeal Court for singing an anti-Catholic song, 'The sash my father wore', loudly and in two versions, when a labourer appearing before him charged with kicking in the head a man who sang this song refused the sheriff's order to sing it himself. The Commons environment committee criticised the Brit- ish nuclear industry's methods of waste disposal, describing Sellafield as 'the largest recorded source of radiactive dis- charge in the world'. A soldier who had served only four days in Northern Ireland was killed by an IRA bomb. Evelyn Glenholmes, wanted by police in London in connection with murderous bomb attacks in 1981, was remanded in custody in Dublin.
IN THE French elections, the right-wing parties won a majority of only three in the National Assembly, excluding any support they may receive from the National Front, which took nearly ten per cent of the vote, just more than the Communists. President Mitterrand invited M. Jacques Chirac to be Prime Minister. Just before the elections, three of the French hostages being held in Beirut appeared on video film appealing for their lives. The Spanish voted in a referendum to stay in Nato, confounding observers who had trusted to the opinion polls, which predicted the opposite result. The Swiss voted by a resounding majority not to join the United Nations. In the Philippines, the government received de- tailed allegations that former President Marcos had contributed $67 million to the campaign funds of President Reagan and Vice-President Bush. In Singapore, about 60 people were buried when a hotel col- lapsed. Irish and British mining engineers working on the new underground railwaY led attempts to reach survivors by digging tunnels. So far there are 17 survivors. In Sweden, Olof Palme was buried. The Swedish air force accidentally shot down one of its own planes, killing two creW. Glubb Pasha, heroic leader of the Arab Legion from 1939-56, died in Sussex. Steve Watt, the welterweight boxer, died three days after collapsing during a fight. The broadcaster Sir Huw Weldon died. Dawn Run won the Cheltenham Gold Cup' Prince Andrew won the hand of Miss Sarah, Ferguson, and France and Scotland shared the Five Nations rugby union chain'
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