PORTRAIT OF THE WEEK
. . and let this be a warning to you. .
Concern for Terry Waite's safety was never far below the surface and often dominated the news. Two men who took part in the burglary of a west London vicarage, during which they subjected a young woman to a most brutal rape, were given sentences which were widely de- scribed as inadequate. Alasdair Milne, the director-general of the BBC, was pushed into resigning his post. The BBC then found itself in the middle of an uproar over the banning of a film about the 'secret' Zircon project. It took the Special Branch three attempts to produce a properly drawn up warrant to search the Corpora- tion's Glasgow offices. In the House of Commons, the Speaker granted an emergency debate, in which the Govern- ment denied unleashing the Special Branch. The Liberal-SDP Alliance under- went its latest relaunch, Dr Owen baulking at having to wear a bright gold tie. British Telecom engineers continued to protest; their strike is now affecting bank compu- ters. In the City itself there was a period of calm but few believed that the storm has blown itself out. A mutiny in the Oxford boat crew was quelled. Alistair Maclean, whose sale of books for several years approached that of Agatha Christie, died in West Germany. Another leak was disco- vered at Sellafield. We were told by an opinion poll that Aids is now a more important issue with British voters than education, old age pensions and defence.
THE US Sixth Fleet continued its man- oeuvres in the eastern Mediterranean; US citizens have now only a few weeks to leave the Lebanon before their government's travel ban takes effect. Some American residents in Beirut were said to take a poor view of this decision. Meanwhile, the hostage-takers announced a new deadline for killing their foreign captives, perhaps including Mr Waite. A potentially damag- ing trade war between the United States and the European Community was headed off at the last moment to the delight of the English gin trade, which would have been badly hit. At an auction in New York, Sotheby's sold a 200-year-old Philadelphia Chippendale mahogany wing chair in a poor state of repair for $2,750,000. Follow- ing Mr Gorbachev's outlining of proposals to 'modernise' the political processes in Soviet society, Lithuania described a news report from Vatican Radio that pilgrims in Lithuania had crawled on their knees for about two kilometres out of a sense of religious devotion as a 'gross slur'. Modern Soviet people have no need for such a method of transportation, we were re- minded, as they now have asphalt roads and their own cars. In the Philippines, President Aquino marched confidently to- wards victory in her referendum for consti- tutional reform. As another republic Ireland — prepares for a general election, Mary McGlinchey, wife of Dominic 'Mad Dog' McGlinchy, a former leader of INLA, was shot dead, and the Conserva- tive and Unionist candidate began his campaign in Cork South-West. The British fishing conservation zone around the Falk- land Islands came into force: it is believed that the Argentinians are unlikely to want to pursue a 'squid war'. M St 7 T
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