Portrait of the week
The Princess of Wales, attended by the Prince, gave birth to a son and heir on the day of the summer solstice. Some sug- gested the child might be called Stanley, to commemorate Britain's victory in the Falklands.
In Argentina, General Leopoldo Galtieri was removed from the presidency and leadership of the army, but members of the military regime were unable to agree on a successor for some time, with the air force and navy threatening to withdraw from the administration. Eventually a retired army general, Reynaldo Biglane, was imposed. Meanwhile, Argentina refused either to sur- render or to agree on an end to hostilities, but prisoners of war (now put at 10,000, rather than 15,000 as first announced) were being shipped back to the Argentinian mainland. The Sunday Times claimed that seven SAS prisoners were held on the mainland (having apparently read it in an Argentinian newspaper in May) but this was denied by both Argentinian and British governments. With the reclaiming of the South Sandwich Islands and the removal of some Argentinians from Thule the military operation was said to be complete, at a cost of slightly under El million per islander.
Spain withdrew from an arrangement to reopen the border with Gibraltar for the first time since it was closed by General Franco 13 years ago. Mr Reagan extended his sanctions against the Soviet Union to the withdrawal of support for the pipeline bringing natural gas from Siberia to Western Europe. Chancellor Schmidt's tenure of office seemed Parlous as more Free Democrats defected from his Social Democrat Coalition to join the Christian Democrats in opposition. General Odumegwu Ojukwu, the former Biafran leader, returned to Nigeria for the first time since the civil war. Exiled Cambodians, in- cluding the Khmer Rouge, joined ranks under Prince Sihanouk in a combined ef- fort against the occupying Vietnamese.
I n Lebanon the slaughter continued
throughout the semblances of a truce ar- ranged by President Reagan's represen- tative, Mr Habib. At one time it was thought that the Christian Lebanese would be left to finish off the five or six thousand Palestinians still surrounded in west Beirut and establish a Phalangist regime in Lebanon, but continuing armoured move- ment by the Israelis made this less likely. It was thought that about 14,000 people had been killed and 20,000 wounded, including several hundred Israelis.
While secondary picketers supporting the National Health Service strike continued to defy the law, the Royal College of Nursing recommended acceptance of Mr Fowler's improved 7.5 per cent offer. Nearly all underground trains in London were stop- ped in preparation for the great NUR stop- page. Familiar exhortations to close down British Rail were heard from various quarters. Shipyard workers in Birkenhead went on strike in a dispute over the period of time allowable for them to prepare for their tea breaks. The pound hit a five-year low of $1.715 against the dollar, gold drop- ped below $300 and unemployment again rose above three million.
In the world of politics, the Tories con- firmed to enjoy record ratings in the polls, Mr Foot put his 'full authority' behind a Labour Party report into Trot- skyist subversion which recommended that nothing much should be done for three months, Mr Steel said that no promise to abolish blood sports would appear in the Liberal election manifesto and Lord Mayhew was faced with resignation demands from London Liberals for suppor- ting cruise missiles in Britain. The Ulster Bill was guillotined, and Mr Nott sparred with the Treasury over defence estimates.
England won its way into the second round of World Cup matches, beating France 3-1 and Czechoslovakia 2-0 amid unprecedented scenes of drunkenness and hooliganism by British fans in Bilbao. An Italian banker called Roberto Calvi, presi- dent of the Banco Ambrosiano, was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge ten days after disappearing from his flat in Rome. A Siclian connection was mooted. Wimbledon opened in rain, with Sue Barker and John Lloyd beaten in the first round. John Cheever, the American novelist, died at 70, Curt Jurgens at 66. David Frost announced that his marriage to Peter Sellers's widow, Lynne Frederick, contracted six months after Sellers's death, had ended in an amicable divorce after 17 'Why do people go crazy about rocks?'
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