Then last month the jewels claimed two more lives: Santi's wife and 14-year-old son. 'He is the key.' The Saudis protested to the Thai government, which responded by setting up the first of a series of 'investigation committees' - but to this day none of the police investigations has yet got to the bottom of the affair.Then the killings began. This may sound like the plot for a fast-paced thriller - indeed a Hollywood studio is considering a film of the affair - but it is a real-life tale of robbery and fraud that went hideously out of control, and has thrown Thailand into the most ghastly diplomatic mess. The man who holds the key to the mystery, a Thai jeweller called Santi Sithanakan, is being held by the police in Bangkok as a state witness. 'Fourteen thousand people jammed on a rock.' His friend says: 'Oh, it's rather nice.' Thomas stands there grimly, his body shaking in vehement contradiction, saying nothing 'You can turn left for Cemaes,' he tells us stubbornly 'Or right - for hell.'(Photograph omitted). We've lost our passion, we've lost our depth.London is therefore anathema to him, being both English and progressive 'Cities are terrible places Evil I smell evil the moment I get off the train.

What fresh areas are we going to explore? We're waiting for the genius to come forward and show it can be done.'Thomas is an expert at mischievously avoiding questions, admitting no more than that some of his own poetry is 'all right' even while comparing himself with Thomas Hardy. 'They opened a Butlins at Pwllheli and the people from it were footloose all summer. His occasional plaintiveness and punctilious courtesy contrast with his cutting tongue, studied boredom and disdain for modern society. .'At the age of 81 the poet is upright and in full control of his faculties. 'Some chap, some nonentity, who said he was a professional biographer, wanted to write about my life I fobbed him off. THE FIRST biography of the reclusive retired priest whom many regard as Britain's greatest living poet has just been commissioned - but, true to form, R S Thomas refuses to have anything to do with it. As a former chief executive of Granada Television and chairman of UK Gold TV (which has made a virtue of showing old TV favourites such as Porridge), he has also had many opportunities to put his knowledge of the camera to good use.Educated: Wrekin College, Telford; Queen's College, Cambridge; the London Business School.(Photograph omitted).

As these include keeping prisoners in custody and maintaining order, control and discipline, recent events may hit his bonus.Perks: Car is provided. 'There is a huge untapped reservoir of radicalism, shown in things like anti-racist protests and the demonstrations about the Criminal Justice Bill. If you don't have some idea of how society works, of how to bring about change, you might as well be the Archbishop of Canterbury.'The revamped New Statesman and Society - it will have a new design and new sections - will provide a forum for the thinking that is presently missing on the left, Mr Platt says. Not a single Labour MP mentioned him in 1962 - because, says Mr Platt, he was then seen as a right-wing writer.Mr Platt also asked the MPs which contemporary figures influenced them at the early stages of their political careers. They were attached to the idea that the state was the principal vehicle for change - that was the reason for their early love affair with the Soviet Union.'They took Labour away from its radical Christian Socialist base towards Marxism. The survey was carried out by Steve Platt, editor of the left-wing weekly, New Statesman and Society. For the company, the result of the inquiry is virtually a fait accompli.

However, Des Wilson says: 'We have told the Department of Transport that we do not need the 14-lane motorway. If successful, they allegedly attend meetings only when an important vote is anticipated.Subscriptions are paid by one individual, who claims this is an administratively convenient way of collecting and paying membership fees, but suspicions are aroused that political power is being purchased.Those who control the Gorton constituency, including Asians, believe an attempt to take over the party has been made by individuals who have recruited supporters for the singular purpose of securing the seat for a Muslim or Urdu-speaking candidate. Aids illnesses were three times higher in those taking a placebo, the researchers will report tomorrow at a conference at the Royal College of Physicians in London.At the conference, Gary Blick, a New York doctor who has been treating about 60 of his patients with passive-immune therapy for roughly four years, will present further research supporting its role.Some Aids scientists believe that even if it can be shown that passive-immune therapy works, it will prove far too expensive and cumbersome. HemaCare has also abandoned the use of placebos because it was deemed unethical not to treat volunteers.The French study, which also did not follow enough people for a long enough period to provide statistical significance in terms of death rates, did however find a significant difference in terms of onset of disease. Three had died in the 21 who took the half dose, and six had died in the group of 30 taking the placebo.Unfortunately for the researchers, the results, indicating a fivefold reduction in death rates, reached only 'near statistical significance' because the numbers involved fell short of being able to confirm a scientifically significant result.Nevertheless, the US Food and Drug Administration has given the company approval to extend the research to a 'phase three' clinical trial, involving potentially hundreds of volunteers.