Portrait of the Week – 2 October 2004

Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, in a speech at the Labour party conference in Brighton, spoke of a ‘wholly new phenomenon, worldwide global terrorism based on a perversion of the true, peaceful and honourable faith of Islam’ with roots ‘in the extreme forms of Wahabi doctrine in Saudi Arabia’. He also declared that Mr Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was ‘a personal friend for 20 years and the best Chancellor this country has ever had’. Mr Brown gave a speech in which he connected socialist provision of welfare with an ethic of public service; ‘There are values far beyond those of contracts, markets and exchange,’ he said, in what was seen as a smack at the aims of his rival, Mr Alan Milburn, who has been appointed by Mr Blair to replace him in directing the party’s election campaign. Immediately afterwards Mr Milburn said, ‘Simply screaming louder and louder about our achievements in the past is not necessarily the way to get through to the public.’ Delegates at the conference voted for the renationalisation of the railways. On their first day, of Virgin’s 150 Pendolino ‘tilting train’ services, 57 arrived up to ten minutes after the scheduled time, and another 35 were more than ten minutes late. Virgin announced plans to transport customers to the edge of space at £100,000 a kick. P&O is to get rid of 1,200 workers and cut several Channel ferry routes. McDonald’s in Britain saw pre-tax profits fall from £83.8 million in 2002 to £23.6 million last year. Eight post offices in Norfolk, at Watton, Upwell, Swaffham, Downham Market, Holt, Wells-next-the-Sea, Stalham and Acle, will take on some functions of police stations: people will be able to report crimes, present driving licences, or leave messages for policemen. A woman was killed after spending six minutes begging for police help because her estranged husband was in the house shooting a gun; even after he had killed himself police waited six hours to enter.