Portrait of the Week
AFTER a week of fierce specula- tion it appears that Mr. Eisen- hower is little the worse for his stroke. He has been seen at a Thanksgiving service, on the lawn of the White House prac- tising chip shots, and even at Cabinet meetings where he apparently discussed the forthcoming NATO talks in Paris with un- impaired vigour. He does not yet know whether he will be present himself or whether the Vice- President will have to take his place (a position which Mr. Nixon has shown every sign of being eager to fill). An invitation to Mr. Adlai Stevenson to go along as well was refused on the grounds that the Democratic.,Party leader must be left with some freedom of action.
Preparations in Europe for the meeting have been rather retarded. Dr. Adenauer was expected for consultations in London, but caught influenza. M. Gaillard has been much too busy pushing the new law for Algeria through the National Assembly to have much time for anything else. He has, however, the satisfaction of having achieved his object, thus clearing the hurdle which brought down his predecessor in September and possibly starting a new chapter in Algeria. A certain, amount had to be paid for this victory in the shape of concessions to right-wing views and in the rejection of an offer by the Tunisian and Moroccan governments to help in settling the problem. An almost simultaneous debate on the subject in the political committee of the UN was doomed to impotence from the start.
On the other hand, some other activities of the UN have been blessed with success. The Security Council passed a resolution to send their long- suffering representative, Dr. Graham, back to India and Pakistan in another effort to mediate in the Kashmir dispute, a proposal which has been grudgingly accepted even by India. The Secretary- General has meanwhile been busy using his un- orthodox diploniatic methods on the Israel-Jordan frontier, where the authority of the UN police force has been challenged.
' In Indonesia an attempt has been made on the
life of the President and a claim, presumably diversionary, made by his Government to the sovereignty of Dutch West New Guinea. The Naval dockyard at Hong Kong is to be closed down. Terrible bush fires have devastated the Blue Mountains district in Australia. The remains of King George I have been moved from one part of Hanover to another.
Business at home has been much as usual—that is to say that the Christmas.rush is on and Decem- ber smog has closed dawn on London. Amid the murk there have been visible the tribunal on the Bank rate leak; the House of Lords discussing its own fate; and Lord Hailsham assuring the world that he is an 'egghead by conviction.' The Coriser- vitatives kept the South East Leicester seat in the by-election, and their percentage of the poll dropped by only 3 per cent; the communist leader- ship of the Electrical Trades Union has tightened its grip on its members by some adroit con- stitutional reforms. Sir Winston has had his eighty-third birthday. The Queen has withdrawn her £3 bounty for triplets—a congratulatory mes- sage can, however, be had on application.
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