PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
`I assure you that everything is under control.'
Mrs Thatcher announced plans to transfer 70,000 civil service jobs to agen- cies run along private enterprise lines. National Freight Consortium employees voted to allow outside investment via a Stock Exchange listing. However, 6,000 Land-Rover workers at Solihull downed tools, although rivals' four-wheel-drive vehicles were already eroding Land- Rover's sales. The Republic of Ireland's decision to mount an inquiry into the killing of a Catholic youth in Belfast enraged the British Government. Subse- quently the Government was criticised when a soldier, who had served just three years for murdering an unarmed Catholic in Northern Ireland, was taken back into the army. The Government finally voted its 'Golden share' in favour of BP's £2.5 billion bid for Britoil. It was announced that air traffic controllers would reduce flights frequency in British skies following three near misses in two weeks. Labour refused, despite threatened legal action, to stop exploiting the Red Cross motif in promotional material exalting the NHS above the Budget. The BBC External Services (audience 120 million) were nominated by an all-party group of MPs for the Nobel peace prize. The Rowntree Trust, part owner of New Society, agreed to merge the magazine with the New Statesman. Mr Heseltine became the latest Conservative celebrity to collaborate with Marxism Today when he granted it an extensive interview. A Glasgow University study named Edinburgh as the most agree- able city to inhabit. Glasgow itself rated 25th out of the 38 cities analysed, London 34th. Prince Charles was reported to have told a private luncheon party of editors he wished he could have been Bob Geldof.
IN THE Minnesota primary Mr Robert Dole triumphed among the Republicans and Mr Bob Gephardt among the Demo- crats. Earlier in the week the US Navy Secretary, James Webb, had resigned in protest at defence cuts. Fifty people died in 24 hours in Rio de Janeiro when torrential rains brought mud avalanches. Andrei Gromyko's memoirs revealed that Mao Tse Tung had planned a winnable nuclear war against America. Kim Philby disclosed on Soviet television that his friend Graham Greene, a former literary editor of The Spectator, had refused to become his depu- ty when both worked for the British security services. In Cyprus, Mr George Vassiliou, a millionaire, was elected Presi- dent, with communist backing. Mr Peter Kalikow, a property developer, bought the New York Post from Rupert Murdoch for $37.6 million. Demonstrations, reportedly more than 50,000 strong, were held in Armenia against the continued incorpora- tion of part of historic Armenia in Muslim Azerbaijan. Vijay Kumaranatunge, the Sinhalese film star and son-in-law of Mrs Bandaranaike, was murdered by extremist Buddhists. He was about to be nominated Sri Lanka's Socialist Alliance party's pres- idential candidate. Others who died though of natural causes — included Sir William Ryland, who as Post Office chair- man ended Sunday collections, at 74; Marion Crawford (`Crawfie), the ex- governess whose saccharine but intimate disclosures about the Queen and Princess Margaret as children made her highly unpopular at court, at 78; and John Alleg- ro, author of The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, on his 65th birthday. CGM
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