SIR George Gardiner, the Tory MP snubbed by the Prime Minister, yesterday survived a challenge for the chairmanship of the Thatcherite 92 Group. No one could have mistaken the bathmats swathing Karl Lagerfeld's snow queens at Chlo for real fur Nor the 'fuzzy wuzzy' gonk suits he showed at Chanel. Prize giving is on 9 July when the Guest of Honour will be Sir John Palmer. The Hercules transport plane that finally brought in the UN troops was delayed by bureacratic bungling in Kenya and then got stuck in the soft sand at the end of the runway. But many miners are being sent home on basic pay.In a tactical decision taken at the committee's private session yesterday, members decided not to tackle Neil Clarke, British Coal's chairman, and Michael Heseltine, President of the Board of Trade, over the neglect of the face during public questioning for fear of diverting the session - the last oral hearing - away from other pressing issues. The move was the result of 'contingency' plans drawn up some months ago as speculation mounted.Both publications pledged to defend the actions after receiving writs from Biddle & Co, the London solicitors who acted for the publishers of Peter Wright's Spycatcher.Downing Street said Mr Major would pay the costs of any proceedings, insisting the case differed from that of Norman Lamont, the Chancellor, whose legal fees arising from the discovery of a 'sex therapist' tenant were borne by public funds.Ms Latimer, single and in her forties, issued writs through the solicitors Swepstone Walsh.The distributors WH Smith and John Menzies, also named in writs, agreed through lawyers to cease distribution of this week's New Statesman and Society, due on the shelves this morning. 'We haven't made any significant changes,' Neil Roach, the chairman of the championship committee, said.

Any crackdown on illegal immigrants gives the police great freedom to detain and harass anyone whose appearance they dislike.The soberly confident tenor of Mr Balladur's pronouncements across the economic and social spectrum suggests a determination to make full use of the new government's overwhelming mandate. But I'm suspicious of socialist art that is intellectually inaccessible. It will be the highest level talks between the two countries for many years.The former US car-worker John Demjanjuk, sentenced to hang by an Israeli court for being 'Ivan the Terrible' who tortured Jews and ran gas chambers in the Nazi death camp in Treblinka, may walk free on Thursday when the Israeli Supreme Court rules on whether Demjanjuk really was 'Ivan'.Evidence from former Treblinka guards contradicts Jewish survivors and suggests that the real Treblinka guard was named Ivan Marchenko. Shape has already gained plenty of experience arranging military contacts with former Warsaw Pact countries and republics of the former Soviet Union during the last couple of years. The company chosen will not be able to change the route.Building should begin in 1997 and completion is due in 2002. Many of the 15,382 loyalists who responded to a 'D-Day' mail-shot urging them to attend had left long before Andy Rammell drove the second, and a large number who stayed called for Fry to go.Sullivan put a time limit on his tolerance: 'You've got to give a manager 12 months.

Here, at last, was the carnival: very fat women in startling dresses, boys in political T-shirts, ANC flags, a big noise. Last year he received a lump sum payment of pounds 450,000 and another pounds 800,000 to purchase annuities. They are girls who have always been tomboyish, and refuse to wear skirts or dresses. British Airways and Alitalia run regular daily flights to Rome, Turin and Milan. They said they had received enormous warmth and friendship from people of all walks of life during their journey.Their letter to John Major said: 'We are appealing to you to respond, not only to the popular mood but also to the long- term national interest and develop a sustainable energy policy which incorporates a component of coal as a reliable, efficient and economic fuel.'The chairman of the Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee, Richard Caborn (Labour, Sheffield Central) said yesterday that the committee's investigation of the industry indicated five or six mines from the Government's list of 10 to be closed could continue production on a short-term basis. I think it is obviously the best baton for keeping your distance from the attacker.'The argument against the traditional, 14 or 15-inch (38cms) wooden truncheon is that it is basically a club, which can be used only in a clubbing motion and its most likely point of contact will be the head.