Portrait of the week
Mew research showed that Northern
Ireland may contain a population which is 42per cent Catholic, in contrast to the previous official figure of 31per cent. Mr Ken Livingstone, the leader of the Greater London Council, told listeners to Irish radio that what Britain had done to the Irish nation over the years was worse than what Hitler did to the Jews. Mr Liv- ingstone said that he had reached this con- clusion after studying the Irish question since 1969. The Irish National Liberation Army released an informer's wife who had been taken hostage after 'a major reap- praisal of tactics'. In London the Notting Hill Carnival was attended by 250,000 peo- ple. A large number of able-bodied policemen looked on helplessly as the festivities were followed by a major crime wave. Bailiffs working for Newbury District Council dismantled one of the smaller camps occupied by the 'peace women' of Greenham Common. The bailiffs threw the entire camp into the back of a refuse van while most of the women were absent collecting their dole and social security money. Mr Yuri Andropov, the Soviet leader, offered to 'liquidate a con- siderable number' of SS20 missiles if fewer American missiles were deployed in Europe. Britain was expected to take the lead in replying that the offer was 'not good enough'. Mr Arthur Scargill, the Miners' leader, told an enthusiastic audience in Moscow's Hall of Columns that Mrs That- cher, 'the plutonium blonde', and 'Presi- dent Ronald Ray-gun' were 'a most dangerous duo'. His views were later endorsed in London by Mr Neil Kinnock, the favoured contender for the Labour leadership. Mr, Hattersley, the principal right-wing contender, said that if Mr. Kin- nock chose a left-winger as his deputy it would ruin Labour's election chances.
In Beirut the first American and French 1 troops died after fierce fighting broke out between the Lebanese army and Moslem Shia militiamen. The Israeli army continued a slow withdrawal towards the south of the Lebanon, leaving Syrian forces and heavily- armed Christian and Druze factions in its wake; a situation rather similar to that which obtained before the Israeli occupa- tion. Political chaos broke out in Israel after the Prime Minister, Mr Begin, unex- pectedly announced his imminent resigna- tion. Distraught crowds chanting 'Begin, King of Israel' gathered outside his house and coalition colleagues rushed to urge him to stay. Early contenders for the succession included Mr Sharon, the former minister of defence, and Mr Shamir, the foreign minister, a former co-terrorist with Mr Begin now described as 'an elder statesman'. In London the leader of the Liberal Party, • Mr Steel, caused further
speculation about his state of mind by writing a letter which denounced some of ,
his party colleagues for 'treason' and 'sabotage'. Oil production in the North Sea, rose and it was predicted that this would result in government revenue rising b) Million this year. The Cabinet Secretary" Sir Robert Armstrong, circulated a letter to the 40 most senior civil servants al Whitehall in which he deplored recent leaks of classified Government documents' Shortly afterwards this letter too was leaked. The headmaster of Dartingt011 Hall, a notably progressive school, desalt,- ed his establishment as 'a den of vice'.
In Athens Miss Christina Onassis was reported to have been detained by customs officials for three hours before be ing allowed to travel to Switzerland. In Rome a burglar was knocked out when the wind blew a pot of carnations onto his head. He was arrested before regaining COw sciousness. In the Court of Appeal judge,s ruled that a husband seeking to divorce his wife must leave his flat in order not to in" convenience her while the divorce was Pen' ding. According to the Sunday Tilnes, police in Birmingham tortured four men suspected of armed robbery. It was sug- gested in the Downside Review that the, Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges, had buried the head of a Celtic saint in Stoke' on-Trent in 1963 in honour of his English grandmother. A nurse from Bristol who refused radiotherapy in order to save the life of her unborn son died in Melbourne. of cancer, two weeks after the infant was born. PI-10 'It seems to reach exactly the same part as all other lagers.'
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