For the first time, my wife looked as if she wished she were coming, too.The two o’clock Sunday afternoon boat from Dover reached Ostend in time for an early supper – a disappointing bouillabaisse in an Edwardian-looking hotel opposite the station. During the debate Jeremy Hanley, the Armed Forces Minister, defended the policy of discharging men and women from the services for homosexuality.Edwina Currie MP (Conservative), Tony Banks MP (Labour) and Menzies Campbell MP (Liberal Democrat) all agreed that it is time for a change. SKULLETTOES, Terminator daggers, Black Magic knives, the Ultimate Ninja Weapon, the Thunder Stunner, and assorted weaponry will no longer be available through the letter-box. The area, one of Northern Ireland’s most violent, is generally heavily patrolled by troops and police.For the security forces the incident follows several reasonably successful months of activity against violent Protestants. Indeed, as a frequent attender in Committee Room 4B in the Lords corridor, to which Craigton invited speakers to the All Party Conservation Group of both Houses of Parliament, I would marvel at how the curmudgeonly and irascible minister with whom I had had dealings in the early 1960s could have metamorphosed into a genial, effective, dedicated pioneer of enlightened conservation policies. THE IFO institute yesterday predicted a 0.5 per cent contraction in the western German economy next year, the gloomiest estimate made so far. ‘We British are Europeans,’ she told guests at the welcoming banquet hosted by President Richard von Weizsacker.’That means that we are your partners in the European Community, working closely with our friends and allies for prosperity and peace.’ The Queen also tackled head-on the highly sensitive matter of the falling-out between London and Bonn over the past few months.’British-German friendship is a living reality,’ she said, adding that ‘we have too much to lose to allow’ quarrels to undermine the relationship.The decision by Buckingham Palace and the presidential office in Bonn to invest the five-day royal visit with such a manifest European message, at a time when the British government’s policy over Maastricht is under attack at home, will be interpreted as an unusually bold political intervention by the Queen.

But the underdogs Australia had some cheer for making a 6,000-mile journey that will scarcely encourage them to book a fishing holiday in Ireland. Troy Bradley and Richard Abruzzo were last spotted drifting 350 miles from Morocco.Meanwhile Evert Louwman and Gerhard Hoogeslag, the Dutch pilots, were being treated for shock and hypothermia in Truro. As long as the insurance company involved is on their approved list (most are) and the amount the policy was originally expected to pay out is more than the new mortgage being sought, they will not check up on its performance to see if it really is likely to be sufficient in current circumstances.The Building Societies Commission, the regulator responsible for societies, says it ‘expects’ societies to evaluate policies to satisfy themselves that they will generate sufficient funds. ‘Sometimes the responsibility of a new child feels very difficult to cope with for fathers,’ says Relate’s spokeswoman, Zelda West-Meads. Pour in the oil, to within 3mm/ 1/8 in of the bottle tops.Seal the bottles and shake well. (Whitbread did, however, have first charge in the list of creditors, so on this rare occasion someone else is in the queue before the bank.)The man who will be bringing down the gavel on the whole sorry affair on 17 September (the day after the Forteys’ silver wedding anniversary) will be John Williams, the managing director of Sidney Phillips, an agent and auctioneer based in Hereford and specialising in pubs. The price has been scores of factories, including Russia’s biggest car- maker, AvtoVaz, shut down for lack of cash and parts.
‘What had seemed a tragedy is now looking far better.

So if you have any more questions, I’m afraid the answer is No Comment.’(Photograph omitted). Money was never mentioned but a request of this sort from the Treasurers’ department was seldom declined. Everybody can give you a list of the politicians that they loathe. The zoo cannot be the same again – why should it be? It’s got to change, it’s got to evolve, otherwise it’s dying.