PORTRAIT OF THE YEAR

Britain's economy lingered in a state of con- valescence throughout the year, with occasional

bouts of fever hinting at relapse. The inter- national monetary system also appeared on the point of breakdown; a two-tier gold price system was introduced in March, but at another panic conference at Bonn in November the Germans refused to revalue their mark upwards.

Serious efforts were made to ensure that Britain's devaluation worked. In January

Mr Jenkins announced his much-dreaded post- devaluation measures, the Government at last decided to withdraw from East of Suez to save money, and in March the budget put up taxa- tion by £923 million. In November he added another £250 million for luck. Five Surbiton

typists volunteered to work half an hour extra a day for no pay. This snowballed into the 'Back Britain' movement; one achievement was a poster campaign depicting Britain as a man whose trousers were about to fall down.

Federal Nigeria fought ferociously against the breakaway region of Biafra, and missing a mili- tary victory resorted to a policy of starvation. The British government, committed, with Tory acquiescence, to supporting the Federal forces, played. an important part. The number of Biafrans starved to death was estimated at not less than a million by the end of December. In Vietnam the war dragged on. There was a re- newal of the Vietcong offensive early in the year and Vietnamese and American casualties were heavy. Peace talks in Paris were greeted hopefully but made no significant progress.

Mr Richard Nixon won the us Presidential election after an unparalleled year in American politics. President Johnson astonished everyone by announcing that he did not intend to run again. Senator Robert Kennedy, a possible Democratic candidate, was murdered and Vice- President Hubert Humphrey was nominated after a violent convention, with Senator Eugene McCarthy brushed aside by the party machine.

In May it seemed to many that President de Gaulle would be toppled after an outburst of unrest which began with student riots in Paris and led to nation-wide strikes. However, the General refused to go, bought off the strikers at enormous cost, and won a massive electoral victory soon afterwards. Mr Pierre Trudeau, until recently unknown, became Prime Minis- ter of Canada and also won an election.

Czechoslovakia appeared for a time to have shaken off Russian control in order to establish a more liberal regime. Then the Russian army occupied the country to a chorus of world con- demnation and met massive hostility from the Czech people. Both were equally impotent.

The situation in the Middle East continued tense, with sorties and reprisals between Israeli and Arab forces continuing. Western govern- ments were worried by a Russian naval build-up in the Mediterranean, and America sent a small force into the Black Sea by way of response. Mr Wilson had another of his warship meet- ings with Rhodesia's Mr Ian Smith, this time aboard the 'Fearless,' but reached no settle- ment. An American spy-ship, the 'Pueblo,' was captured by North Korea but her crew were released after eleven months' captivity.

Pope Paul reaffirmed the Roman Catholic ban on all forms of contraception: there were many signs of rebellion, even from priests.

Mr Enoch Powell was sacked from the

shadow cabinet by Mr Heath because a speech about immigration was thought to be 'racialist in tone'; later he repeated his views and pro. posed a ministry of repatriation to send immi- grants home. Meanwhile, the Government (,up. ported by the opposition with only a lew exceptions) decided to stop Kenya Asians %kith British passports from entering Britain.

It was generally a year of more downs than ups for politicians. Mr Heath trailed far behind his party in the public opinion polls. Mr George Brown resigned as Foreign Secretary because he no longer liked the way the Government was being run. Mr Ray Gunter resigned because he thought the Government was losing touch with the people from whence he came. Mr Jeremy Thorpe took a bride. Mr Desmond Donnelly was expelled. from the Labour party. Mr Wilson unveiled his 'Mark Two' Cabinet, in which Mrs Barbara Castle was promoted and Mr Gordon Walker sacked. Mr Richard Crossman complained that television did not treat politicians seriously enough. But the dominating political fact of the year was Labour's slump; the Tory lead in. opinion polls soared to an unprecedented 28 per cent and the Government lost five seats in by-elections.

The Government also introduced British Standard Time, which meant darkness until ten a.m. in northern areas and was widely dis- liked. The hotly opposed Transport Bill was enacted, but reform of the House of Lords re- mained in the offing.

Universities had much to put up with, student unrest taking various forms- from sit-ins to shouting-downs, and a number of art schools joined in. Many students took part in a much- publicised demonstration in October. Four people died when Ronan Point, a London block of flats collapsed. A two-tier postal system, with fourpenny and fivepenny rates, was intro- duced and caused an outcry. Votes at eighteen and a lowering of the age of majority to eighteen were promised. A new Race Relations Bill was passed.

A Bill to reform the divorce law, providing for divorce without consent after five years' separation, received its second reading. Mr Roy Fuller became Oxford's professor of poetry and Mr Cecil Day-Lewis became the poet laureate. The Foreign Office merged with the Commonwealth Office, and the Fulton Com- mittee reported on civil service reorganisation. The Olympic Games took place in Mexico accompanied by a shortage of oxygen but no lack of friction. South Africa was excluded because of apartheid. Hearts were transplanted fairly frequently. Gibraltar was chivvied by Spain and by the United Nations General Assembly, and the Falkland Islands were eyed covetously by Argentina. Ulster seethed. The year's deaths included Randolph Churchill, Karl Barth, Martin Luther King, Tallulah Bankhead, the Duchess of Kent, Sir Donald Wolfit, Yuri Gagarin and Enid Blyton. Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy married the Greek mil- lionaire Aristotle Onassis. England's cricket tour of South Africa was cancelled after a row about a coloured player.

The world, in short, was in a fair mess. On 21 December three American astronauts.

travelling for the first time in human history into deep space in the hope of beating the Russians by• making a Christmas orbit of the moon, set out to find another.