— Portrait of the Week PICTURES OF MARS, transmitted from America's
probing spacecraft, suggested a planet of in- timidating emptiness: here below, crowded con- fusion proceeded as usual. The crew of an American reconnaissance aircraft found it wasn't even prudent to photograph Earth as freely as Mars, when Franco-American friction developed over the pictures they took of a secret French nuclear plant. The US Defence Secretary McNa- mara reported that the war situation in Viet- nam had worsened, and an attempt to kill General Maxwell Taylor, outgoing American ambassador, was made. Greece was in turmoil over her govern- ment crisis, reports that Israel was about to acquire nuclear weapons had the Middle East on edge, and Dr. Syngman Rhee, a central figure in the Korean tragedy, died at the age of ninety.
THE SAME oLD SEE-SAW for Britain: the Chancel- lor said he proposed no further restrictive measures in the near future, the pound fell, and then the Chancellor said he would not hesitate to tighten the squeeze if necessary. Industrial out- put was reported to have 'passed its peak,' but crime statistics reached an all-time high. The railway go-slow inconvenienced passengers galore, and a strike interfered with telephone services. The teachers were awarded a 13 per cent pay rise, lust as rumours of a coming wage freeze were spreading, and the cost of living rose to 4.8 points above last October's figure. A plan to reconstruct Whitehall and Parliament Square was published, with the warning that it might take fifty years to Complete: and thi argument about capital Punishment reached the House of Lords, where the abolitionists' Bill was given an overwhelm- ing majority. The Home Secretary also said he would reconsider the case of Timothy Evans.
THE SQUABBLE at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art produced the headline: 'CLAIM THAT RADA COUNCIL DOES NOT EXIST.' No one made that claim about Sir Alec Douglas-Home, but his leadership of the Tories stirred up a deal of interest in the press, which Mr. du Cann dismissed. as 'silly season gossip.' The weather varied between bad and unspeakable, with an inch of rain falling in being towed across the Pacific in a net for an American aquarium, was fully insured at Lloyd's. Dentists followed the doctors in threatening to withdraw from the Health Service, Manchester re- jected a casino, Newcastle appointed Britain's first city manager,' and Mr. Frank Cousins's Ministry of Technology was sternly criticised by the House of C. ommons' Estimates Committee. However, the Chairman of one of the big breweries voiced his sober confidence' in the future.
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