It was helped by rumours it had completed a deal to sell its contract catering division, Gardner Merchant. AT A check-point yesterday on the outskirts of Jerusalem, boys in sunglasses were carrying out their New Year task with a nice and easy rhythm as the cars and trucks from the West Bank backed up along the road to Ramallah.Policing the Green Line on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is an easy enough task for an Israeli border guard as long as he obeys the colour guide. Despite such inexperience, Ladbrokes now offer just 6-1 about him for the Gold Cup in March, when he could offer Scudamore one of his last opportunities to secure chasing's finest prize.Rushing Wild led throughout the extended 29-furlong trip, was 15 lengths clear approaching the home turn, and then quickened again just when it seemed certain that he must tire and capitulate. YOU ARE a mother of two children and you have just slogged your way round the supermarket doing the weekly shop. The market's main CAC 40 index rose accordingly. According to some estimates, as much as Fr500bn ( pounds 62bn) of assets may be placed on the block over the next decade, though the initial aim will be to raise Fr200-300bn over four or five years, starting this year with disposals of around Fr30-40bn.France's privatisation programme dates back to the 1986 right-wing government of Jacques Chirac, when Mr Balladur, then Minister for the Economy, drew up a list of 65 state-owned companies for disposal.In 14 months, he managed to sell 29 of them, worth around Fr120bn. As his jockey, John Reid, said: 'We were going at no more than half-speed and he was spooking at everything as he went. What really saved her, probably, was Beria's death, soon after their affair ended in 1953.

Throughout the Eighties and early Nineties, Carter's coastal team's research findings were consistently impressive. Many of this area's Georgian houses now accommodate law firms, architects' practices and other professionals. Indeed, but for being dealt a similarly unfair hand at Scarborough, they would be out of sight already. Emburey prefers to focus on the collective effort, albeit in a suitably perplexed tone. 'The clash of surrounding nationalisms and rival imperialisms threw public opinion and its theorists back nakedly upon the old core of homogeneity. And for sheer impact and lunacy, his chase across the desert to interview Colonel Gaddafi, and the hassles and frustrations in Baghdad to get 'that interview' with President Saddam Hussein cannot be beaten.

In contrast, the longhouse was home to 100 Iban people - plus the heads of their enemies.When you enter the longhouse, the second thing you see is a dozen skulls, dangling in a string bag by the door. THREE policemen jailed for rampaging through a family home after drinking off-duty and lying about it in evidence lost their appeals against conviction yesterday. Rewarding it may be, but painting is no more than a pleasant distraction - a hobby. Mozart's Countess in Figaro, neglected by her husband, and Elvira in Don Giovanni, abandoned after three days. The actual conducting style was strange - the beat lopsided, often hard for players to 'read'; but read it they did, with results that were sometimes controversial but never uninteresting.Rudi Schwarz was a very private person, but his professional colleagues held him in great affection; Simon Raffle and Christopher Seaman were amongst many close friends and admirers.

I think it is just as hard for a man as it is for a woman.'I stride the corridors of the BBC at various times of the day and I see about a 50/50 mix - in fact, on first impressions there seem to be more women than men I can truthfully say it is exceedingly fair where I work. I went from being the happiest I've ever been in my life, seeing it was a boy, to being the saddest. The two Budgets of 1993 represented the largest tax increase in recent British history, adding more than pounds 17bn to the annual tax bill by 1995/96.Most of these increases have already taken effect, but several important elements remain to be implemented next year. Sometimes Pete tells me not to do another judo session because I am getting run down, and we'll go out for a day in the country. 'I had no time for vegetarians and other cranks.'So, at the end of an exhausting day trudging around Birmingham, there was no leisurely dinner in a smart restaurant. His other passion was sailing and he grew to love south Cornwall and the river Fal.Brooks-Ward's first acquaintance with broadcasting came when Jimmy Savile asked him to do a children's programme on farm animals for ITV.Although he never competed seriously in show-jumping, he quickly became an expert and can be said to have pioneered the broadcasting of that sport.