2 FEBRUARY 1991, Page 4

PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK

Mr Alan Clark, the Minister for Defence Procurement, in one of his first public comments on the Gulf war, accused countries of the European Community of having 'run for the cellar', and described their response to the war as 'very feeble'. Mr John Major was said by an opinion poll to be enjoying the highest popularity rating of any prime minister since Winston Chur- chill in 1940. Sir Geoffrey Howe was reported to have decided to retire from politics at the next general election; and Lord Denham, government Chief Whip in the upper house since 1979, announced his retirement in May. The High Court upheld the Home Secretary's decision to expel three Palestinians from Britain. An Iraqi who appealed to a Home Office tribunal against a deportation order was allowed to stay here. Written tests for 14-year-olds, covering seven subjects, were announced by the Education Secretary, Mr Kenneth Clarke. A 15-year-old boy crippled by a car crash was awarded £2.1 million against his father. Britain's trade gap in December narrowed from £980 million to £844 mil- lion, due in large part to falling demand for imported cars. British Rail said that brake failure was not responsible for the train crash at Cannon Street station in January which killed two passengers. Nottingham- shire Police agreed to pay £35,000 to three Asian policemen who had suffered racial discrimination. The Health Minister, Vir- ginia Bottomley, promised assistance to couples wishing to adopt children from foreign countries. Sir Richard Body, MP, introduced the Pig Husbandry Bill to out- law the practice of confining pregnant sows in narrow stalls and tethering them on short chains. Much rejoicing greeted the birth of an heir to the dukedom of West- minster. The BBC announced a television series for homosexuals, to start in the autumn with a three-hour programme cal- led One Night Stand.

IN THE second week of war, Iraq appeared to have conceded command of the air to the allies, after 100 Iraqi aircraft landed in Iran, where they were expected to remain until the end of hostilities. Iraq continued to fire Scud misiles at Tel Aviv and Haifa in Israel, and at Riyadh and Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, killing five people. According to allied sources, more than 40 enemy aircraft have been shot down, while the coalition has lost 26 (or, according to Iraq, almost 200). Civilian deaths in Iraq were put at 125 by Baghdad Radio. Royal Navy Lynx helicopters sank five Iraqi patrol boats, and an allied prisoner of war was reported killed by an air attack on Baghdad. The Kuwait island of Qaruh was captured by allied forces, and a Saudi pilot shot down two Iraqi Mirages said to be carrying Exocet mis- siles. Iraq was accused of having pumped millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf off the Kuwaiti coast, causing a slick 35 miles long and ten miles wide which was moving south to threaten Saudi Arabian desalination plants. America reacted to this 'environmental terrorism' by bombing the oil installations. M. Chevtnement, French Minister of Defence and a friend of Iraq, resigned. The Defence Secretary, Mr Tom King, indicated that the allies' war aims might not be confined to the libera- tion of Kuwait, but should include the destruction of Saddam Hussein's 'obscene military machine'.Israel expressed fears that Iraq was making chemical warheads with the help of German and Austrian technicians. Germany sent £95 million of emergency aid to Israel, and promised £2.8 billion to the United States. The summit meeting between President Bush and Pres- ident Gorbachev, due to be held in Mos- cow on 11 February, was postponed. Mr Gorbachev was criticised by army officers for failing to take stronger measures to crush the Baltic republics, and by the Soviet people for abolishing 50- and 100- rouble notes in a confused attempt to reduce inflation and defeat black mar- keteers. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela and Chief Buthelezi met, for the first time in 28 years, to discuss peace between the ANC and Inkatha. President Siad Bane of Somalia escaped from Mogadishu before