— Portrait of the Week — A TURBULENT TIME at the
Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in London, with Mr. Wil- son's artful dove for Vietnam being shot at from many directions before it ever got into the air, and some protracted arguing over Rhodesia, and immigration, and Cyprus, all helping to stir the meetings up. But one unanimous decision was the appointment of Mr. Arnold Smith as the Secretary-General of the new Commonwealth Secretariat. As days passed Mr. Wilson's plan for a Commonwealth peace mission over Viet- nam looked less and less likely to lead anywhere, especially as Moscow has now repudiated any idea of meeting a Commonwealth delegation. However, Labour's left was (temporarily at least) keeping rather quiet. A sudden coup in Algiers led to the disappearance of Ben Bella and his replacement by his Defence Minister, Colonel Boumedienne: the coup seemed strangely quiet at first, but quickly grew more excited, causing speculation about the fate of the Afro-Asian con- ference scheduled for next week.
THE 700TH ANNIVERSARY of Parliament was cele- brated, just as a group of Labour MPs were call- ing for a drastic upheaval in the procedure at the old place, and as the Finance Bill marathon dragged on by day and by night. Mr. Ted Hill, the boilermakers' leader, declared that any further tax on beer or tobacco would put Labour out of office —but at least the Finance Bill was proving a best- seller, it was announced. The Geddes Committee reported in favour of a free-for-all in road haul- age, which didn't please the Minister of Transport, and BEA reported a profit of four shillings per passenger last year. Mr. Bernard Baruch, the American financial wizard, died, and was described in the Guardian as a `spectaculator.'
THE SUMMER SOLSTICE arrived, with police guard- ing Stonehenge during the Druids' seasonal rites; and June weather set in with full severity, as Wim- bledon opened damply, and England beat both rain and New Zealand to win the Test match. The BBC Tonight programme reached the end of its long life in its present form, and It became known that a group of atheists are to give their view in a series of broadcast talks. Talk of the orgy in Moses diid Aaron at Covent Garden aroused interest outside the musical columns of the newspapers,"and Soho was given priority in Westminster's improved street-lighting plan. Next year's Grand National will be at Aintree after all, the clearing banks want legislation permitting them to close on Saturdays, Dublin's transport strike .was settled, a second Mersey tunnel was approved, and Mr. Cousins's Ministry of Technology disclosed proudly that its researchers had proved that a smell hitherto blamed on bad drains in fact came from plastic electrical fittings.
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