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.