PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
Fourteen people, nine of them Jews, accused of spying for Israel were publicly hanged in Iraq, and everybody expressed concern. It was thought that a further sixty people were await- ing trial on similar charges. Mr Eshkol sug- gested that reprisals were imminent, and every- body tried to dissuade him. Mr Richard Crossman published his proposals for reform of our pension system in a White Paper which described them as offering 'the most funda- mental change in social security since the present national insurance scheme was intro- duced soon after the Second War.' They re- ceived a mixed press. Mr Crossman also announced that a Conservative MP, Sir John Foster, would conduct an official inquiry into the practice of scientology. The Russian propa- ganda machine in Prague suggested that Jan Palach, the student burned to death, was in fact the victim of a political murder, having been assured that the petrol he poured over himself was not inflammatory.
Student militants, locked out of the LSE, which had been closed by the governing body after students had broken down a number of iron gates, occupied the London University Union building for twenty-four hours, then returned home. The Education Minister, Mr Short, condemned a small number of student thugs, four of them Americans. Eighty school- children staged a sit-in at Glasgow City Chambers in protest against the dismissal of teachers. They greeted policemen with cries of 'Fascist, Fascist.'
In Spain, General Franco declared a state of emergency and reintroduced full censorship of the press in the face of student unrest. An overtime ban by the post office workers in support of the strike by overseas telegraphists began to disrupt the mail, but few people noticed any difference. Mr Heath was widely criticised for a weekend speech in Walsall, in which he seemed to use much tougher language to describe Tory immigration policy than pre- viously.
Resignations continued from the Ulster government. With four ex-ministers lined up against him, Captain O'Neill introduced legis- lation to increase the penalties for civil distur- bance. But his motion calling for support of the constitution and his policies was carried without a division. The Rev Ian Paisley and Major Ronald Bunting were sentenced to three months' imprisonment at Armagh, subject to appeal. Mr Paisley indicated a refusal to appeal on the grounds that the appeal judge would be a 'Romanist.' The Government introduced a White Paper with proposals to nationalise most of Britain's docks. Mr James Callaghan called on Britain to combat 'the so-called per- missive society' during a debate on the Wootton Report on cannabis, and was warmly supported by Mr Quintin Hogg.
Miss Susan Garth, the London charity worker, hotly defended herself against a charge by the New York Attorney-General that she had fraudulently raised money for Biafran children. Merger talks were announced between Schweppes and Cadburys. The trial of the Krays and others on various charges continued at the Old Bailey. The BBC announced that, after twenty-one years, 'Mrs Dale's Diary' was at last to come to an end.
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