Portrait of the week | 1 January 2011

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Nine men were charged with conspiracy to bomb London targets such as the Stock Exchange and the tower of Big Ben before Christmas. Three of the men, aged between 19 and 28, came from Cardiff, two from London and four from Stoke-on-Trent. The Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop of Winchester, spoke of ‘an imbalance in the legal position with regard to the freedom of Christians and people of other faiths to pursue the calling of their faith in public life’. Stephen Griffiths, the self-styled Crossbow Cannibal, was said to be refusing food in jail after his conviction for murdering three prostitutes. Prince William and his fiancée Kate Middleton said they would do without servants after their wedding, for the time being at least.

Thousands of people in Northern Ireland were left without water because the cold had broken mains. Snow slowed pre-Christmas high-street commerce and internet retailing, and numbers at Boxing Day sales were said to be down by a fifth from last year, though up in London despite an Underground strike. The Government said that BAA, the owners of Heathrow, might be fined if there was a repetition of the chaos there during the snow before Christmas. Elisabeth Beresford, the creator of the Wombles, died, aged 84. The Archers, the world’s longest-running soap opera, marked its 60th birthday. The average weight of British men rose by 17lb in the 15 years up to 2000, according to an Oxford University study; women’s weight rose by 12lb.

After telling two undercover reporters from the Daily Telegraph that he had ‘declared war’ on Rupert Murdoch, Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, was stripped by the Prime Minister of his regulatory powers over the media owner’s bid to take full control of British Sky Broadcasting. Tommy Sheridan, the Scottish socialist politician, was found guilty of perjury during the action for libel in 2006 when he won £200,000 damages against the News of the World. Anthony Howard, the political journalist, died, aged 76. Brian Hanrahan, the BBC foreign correspondent, died, aged 61. Swine flu spread. Sir Elton John and his civil partner David Furnish became parents to a son born to a surrogate mother in California.

Abroad

Thousands of flights were cancelled when snow hit the East Coast of America, with 18 inches in one day in New York. Rain freezing on the ground closed Moscow airport and left 400,000 without electricity. A train from Strasbourg to Perpignan arrived 13 hours late after breakdowns, arrests for drunkenness and removal of the tired driver on grounds of health and safety. In his Christmas message, the Pope asked for strength for ‘the faithful of the Church in mainland China, that they may not lose heart through the limitations imposed on their freedom of religion’. Dozens of voodoo priests were killed in lynchings in Haiti where they were blamed for using their powers to spread cholera, which has affected perhaps 120,000. Heavy rain caused floods in north-eastern Australia. The Australia cricket captain Ricky Ponting was fined 40 per cent of his match earnings after arguing with the umpire in the fourth Test, at Melbourne. England won the match and retained the Ashes. A small earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand, damaged by a stronger earthquake in September.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oil tycoon and political opponent of Vladimir Putin, was found guilty of embezzlement by a Moscow court. He was nearing the end of an eight-year sentence for fraud. Russia expelled two Spanish diplomats after, it emerged, Spain had in November expelled two Russian diplomats accused of spying. A woman suicide bomber acting on behalf of the Taliban killed 45 waiting for food aid from the UN World Food Programme at Khar in the tribal area of Bajaur in north-west Pakistan, where 300,000 returning from refugee camps rely on aid, which was suspended after the bombing. An American drone killed 18 people said to be militants at Mir Ali in the tribal area of North Waziristan.

The African Union appointed Raila Odinga, the Prime Minister of Kenya, to mediate to prevent civil war in Ivory Coast, where Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara both claimed to be president after the November elections. The world price of cocoa, of which Ivory Coast produces 40 per cent, rose. Iran hanged a man who it said had been spying for Israel. Transport workers went on strike in Bolivia after the withdrawal of government subsidies sent the price of diesel up 83 per cent. CSH