Portrait of the week
The Pope returned from his visit to Poland to read in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, a leading article headed 'Honour to the Sacrifice' which said that Lech Walesa had 'lost his battle' and should retire from politics. The suggestion was that the Pope had told Mr Walesa, at their private meeting in the mountains near Cracow, that the Polish government could not be per- suaded to abolish martial law or to make concessions to Solidarity while he remained as trade union leader. The resignation of the author of the article, the Rev Virgilio Levi, also acting editor of the paper, did nothing to dispel the impression that his assessment was an accurate one. The Italian elections gave increased support to the smaller minority parties at the expense both of the Christian Democrats and, to a lesser extent, the Communists. In Washington, a decision by the Supreme Court, by a 6-3 majority, limited the power of Congress to veto executive decisions. Mr Yasser Arafat appeared to be losing his struggle to hold on to the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation after his expulsion from Syria. Described as a defeatist who had 'chosen the path of the wilderness', Mr Arafat went off to the 'World Peace Assembly' in Prague, seeking support from the mainly pro-Soviet delegates. A party of West German 'Greens' left the Prague con- ference after police had broken up their meeting with Czechs belonging to Charter 77. British members of CND also met leaders of the dissident group, but a Greenham Common woman declined, say- ing that Charter 77 was 'not involved in the peace movement'. In Israel, Mr Begin was finally persuaded, after four months and a week's hunger strike by 3,000 doctors, to refer their claim for higher salaries to ar- bitration. Thirty-nine leading members of the Iranian Communist Party were reported to have been executed, and about 100 Kurds killed in north-west Iran. A French neutron bomb was exploded on an island in the South Pacific.
The Defence Secretary, Mr Heseltine, announced the temporary closure of all the Ministry's tiring ranges after an eight- year-old girl was shot and wounded in the leg outside her school near Pirbright, Sur- rey. At the inquest into the death of a lady botanist last April near the Pirbright ranges (majority verdict: death by misadventure), the coroner criticised the practice of erec- ting warning notices and surrounding them with trees. An open verdict was recorded at the end of the second inquest into the death of the Italian banker, Sr Calvi, after the jury had heard several explanations put for- ward for his suicide and for his murder. The Home Secretary said that no further inquiry would be held into the death of Colin Roach at Stoke Newington police station, a verdict of suicide having been returned by a coroner's jury last week. Three male nurses were convicted of ill-treating mental pa- tients at Rampton hospital and given suspended sentences. The publication of the story of the hunt for the 'Yorkshire Ripper' by a former chief constable, Ronald Gregory, was condemned by almost everyone, except the Mail on Sunday which was said to have paid Mr Gregory £40,000. Mr Neil Kinnock, who is generally expected to be the next leader of the Labour Party, was advised by a throat specialist not to talk so much. Lord Carrington, CH, was ap- pointed chairman of the trustees of the Vic- toria & Albert Museum. India beat the West Indies by 43 runs in the final of the Prudential World Cup.
Barclays Bank raised its mortgage interest rate after the Building Societies Association had increased the recommend- ed rate to 111/4 per cent. Roy Tapping lost his arm in a hay-baling machine, carried it for a mile and later had it sewn on at Stoke Mandeville hospital; another man lost his forearm and underwent a similar operation. Flooding along the coast of Gujarat, north- west India, caused the deaths of 700, and five Britons were killed in Burgundy, France, when a coach overturned after the 21-year-old driver had fallen asleep during a thunderstorm. Twenty-five members of the National Union of Mineworkers were in- vited to attend a month's course in trade union activities in Moscow. A 471-carat white diamond was found in a mine at Cullinan, South Africa, and in London a Victorian painting, by Tissot, was sold for £520,000. Anna Ford, a fortner newsreader, issued a writ claiming £137,500 for breach of her contract with TV-am; and in Anglesey an oyster-catcher's eggs, which had been laid in a nest on a railway track, were destroyed when a BBC photographer
'Twelve retired chief constables to see you, sir.'
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