Portrait of the Week – 8 January 2005

To relieve the survivors of the destructive wave in the Indian Ocean, British people donated £60 million in a week to the disaster emergency committee co-ordinated by the main aid charities. The Queen, who herself gave a substantial donation, said: ‘I have been impressed by the willingness of people in Britain to give generously.’ Mr Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, remained on a seaside holiday in Egypt, which some people criticised on various grounds. ‘At first it seemed a terrible disaster,’ he said, ‘but I think as the days have gone on people have recognised it as a global disaster.’ He returned to a domestic manifesto wrangle with Mr Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Among the New Year’s honours, Professor Brian Harrison and Mr Matthew Pinsent were knighted, Miss Kelly Holmes and Mrs Tanni Grey-Thompson made dames, Mr Quentin Blake, Mr John Lill, Mr Simon Gray, Mr Roger Daltrey, Professor Lisa Jardine, Ms Anna Massey, Mr Eric Sykes and Mr Alan Whicker were appointed CBE. Cyril Fletcher, the comedian, died, aged 91. Humphrey Carpenter, the biographer and broadcaster, died, aged 58. The European Commission dropped a provision from its Gender Directive that would have prohibited insurance firms from offering cheaper insurance to women, who commit fewer serious motoring offences. Mr Dick Balharry, a conservationist, proposed that local people in the Scottish Highlands should be allowed to shoot red deer for the pot; the Forestry Commission spends £5 million a year on shooting the creatures, 350,000 of which infest Scotland. Young people spent £116 million on ring-tones for their mobile telephones, more than twice the amount spent on compact-disc singles, according to KPMG, the business advisory firm. The Abbey School, in Faversham, Kent, introduced drug-testing on 20 pupils a week. Mr David Miliband, Minister for the Cabinet Office, and his wife witnessed the birth of a baby in America which they then adopted and brought home.