P ortrait
of the week
After British troops, advancing to within a few miles of Port Stanley from the west and north, took Conway and Goose Green, as well as two small settlements in the north, disagreements were said to have arisen between hawks and doves both in the Argentinian junta and in Downing Street. The Goose Green action, where 600 men of the 2nd Parachute Regiment took 1,400 Argentinian prisoners with the loss of only 17 men (including the battalion com- mander, Lt-Col Herbert Jones) was hailed as an outstanding feat of British arms. A first count put the number of Argentinian dead at 250. It was rumoured that a further force of 3,000 infantrymen had been landed from the QE2 to support troops advancing from the San Carlos beachhead for the final assault on Port Stanley, where between 6,000 and 8,000 Argentinians, many of them professional soldiers, were said to be dug in. Among those missing, believed dead, was Captain Ian 'Bird's Eye' North, com- mander of the Atlantic Conveyor transport sunk by an Exocet missile last week. After the mass burial of British soldiers behind a mutton-canning factory on the Falklands, there were demands for the bodies to brought home, on the American example. Israel denied supplying arms to Argentina in such a way as to make people suppose she was, in fact, doing so. The cost of the war to Britain was put at £1,000 million to date, of which £500 million was attributable to current account spending. Ministry of Defence spokesmen once again denied Argentinian reports that the Invincible had been hit by an Exocet rocket.
The Pope was embraced by Dr Runcie at a joint service in Canterbury Cathedral. Later, he spoke of his anxiety for peace in Coventry, of his concern for unemploy- ment in Liverpool, of the joys of marriage in York and met the Moderator of the Church of Scotland under the statue of John Knox in Edinburgh, where Pro- testants led by Ian Paisley held a small demonstration. His reception varied from warm to rapturous — in Manchester, he was greeted by a banner saying `Ow doo John Paul H' — but fewer people turned up than had been expected and traders lost money. Before he arrived in Britain it was announced that he would visit Argentina on Il June.
As the Pope left Britain, President Reagan arrived in Paris for a 10-day Euro- pean tour, said to be his most important `foreign policy initiative' since he went to the White House. In Warsaw, demonstra- tions marked the first anniversary of Car-
dinal Wyszinski's death. Spain joined NATO, despite supporting the Argentine cause. Marcello Capuana, a Red Brigades , leader, was badly wounded in a shoot-out in Rome. A Ukrainian, Mr Vitaly Fedor- chuk, was appointed head of the KGB in place of Y. Andropov, promoted. Iran prepared to invade Iraq. A consortium of Saudi Arabia and Gulf states offered Iran $25,000 million to end the war. In Athens, cars and lorries were banned from the cen- tre of the city in an effort to reduce pollu- tion. In Ireland, Mr Haughey lost an impor- tant by-election, depriving him once again of an overall majority in the Dail. Romy Schneider died of a heart attack at 43.
Beaconsfield was held by the Conserva- tives without difficulty, Labour's can- didate losing his deposit. Another all-out rail strike seemed possible after unions re- jected British Rail's pay offer of 5 per cent as 'derisory', 'insulting', etc. Mr Basnett of the GMWU indicated a preparedness to ac- cept wage restraint in return for greater in- fluence in national decision-making.
A private prosecution for rape brought in Glasgow after the Crown had declined to prosecute ended in a 12-year sentence for one of the accused, two others receiving deferred sentences. Lord Denning in- timated that he would retire at the end of July after threats of prosecution for libel persuaded him to withdraw his latest book What Next in the Law? Tottenham Hotspur beat Queen's Park Rangers for the FA Cup by one penalty goal, and in the first Epsom. Derby for 20 years in which Lester Piggott was without a ride the race was won for Mr Robert Sangster by the favourite, Golden Fleece. Families of lifeboatmen who died in the Penlee disaster received £384,000 each from the public subscription and Mr Jeremy Thorpe was rescued from a beach in North Devon by helicopter with two boys, said to be friends of his son Rupert. AAW `Lindsay Anderson could have a task force on its way to find him.'
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