PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Mrs Thatcher replaces a non poll tax brain with a poll tax brain. T
he Government's majority — which should be 101 — was cut to 25 on the vote on Mr Michael Mates MP's amendment to the community charge Bill which proposed that the flat-rate tax should be replaced by three levels reflecting people's ability to pay. Following the political rows over the NHS and the social services, speculation grew in political circles about the future of Mr John Moore, Secretary 'of State at the DHSS, after what was widely regarded as a poor performance in Parliament. Unem- ployment fell to the lowest level for more than six years — just under 2.6 million. Job vacancies have risen by 15 per cent over the past year and the Government esti- mates that there ate at least 700,000 vacancies waiting to be filled. The Secret- ary of State for Education, Mr Kenneth Baker, told MPs that there would be a government enquiry into the National Un- ion of Seamen 'closed shop'. P&O ferry crews voted again to continue their 11- week strike. The pound rose above the $1.90 mark for the first time in six years. Britain said that it had joined the Euro- pean Space Agency's Columbus project after an agreement to make its program- mes more cost-effective. The Revd John Earp was told by an ecclesiastical court that he may not remove his pews, carpet the floor of his church and place his altar on wheels so that his congregation could sing and dance if they felt' like it. Mr Earp claimed that he had divine guidance for his plans. The International Amateur Athletic Federation put pressure on the British Amateur Athletics Board to ban the South African-born runner, Zola Budd, or risk Britain being prevented from attending the Olympic Games in Seoul. More than 20,000 runners took part in the eighth London Marathon. Kenneth Williams, the com- edian and actor, died, as did Mr John Stonghouse, the former 'Labour MP originally reported dead in 1974.
THE US navy engaged that of Iran in the Gulf, sinking two frigates and destroying two oil platforms in what President Reagan said was a 'measured response to Iran's latest use of military'force against US ships in international waters'. Iraq claimed to have recaptured the southern Faw Penin- sula after two years' of Iranian ocCupation. The United States and the Soviet Union signed the accord guaranteeing the pullout of Soviet troops froM Afghanistan; the agreement, however, contains no provision for a ceasefire. The remaining passengers Were released from the' hijacked Kuwaiti 747 in Algiers. Abu Jihad, military com- mander of the PLO, Was assassinated in Tunis: it was widely suspected that this had been carried out by the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad. Following subsequent rioting in the occupied territories, at least 14 Arabs were killed' by Israeli troops in one day. A court in Jerusalem convicted John Demjanjuk of Nazi war crimes, ruling that he was 'Ivan the Terrible' of the Treblinka death camp. Two car bombs ex- ploded outside an American services club in Naples, killing five people. A member of the Japanese Red Army faction, Junzo Okudaira, is being hunted in connection with the inci- dent. 'Two 20-foot statues of ChairMan Mao were removed from Peking Universi- ty. A BBC correspondent said that he thought it 'unlikely that they had been removed for cleaning'. Yoshi Hiro Toku- gawa retired as Grand Chamberlain of Japan at the age of 81. Tokugawa, who had served iu 'the post for 51 'years, is a descendant of the great Shoguns who ruled Japan and controlled its emperor for almost three centuries. MStJT
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