Cable briefs

Press, 5 April 1989, Page 43

Cable briefs

Licence to speed lost Senior Soviet officials are to lose their licence to speed through the capital, bullying Moscow motorists with impunity, but traffic officers fear the roadhogs may be slow to mend their ways. Vladimir Pankratov, a senior Moscow traffic official, said the black official limousines of top officials and Government ministries would no longer be entitled to special licence plates and would be strictly subject to traffic laws. Pankratov said official cars, easily identified by their number plates, had last year been involved in 2546 traffic violations and cases of refusal to obey police instructions. “Special cars’ are often seen hurtling down the centre lane of Moscow’s wide avenues, leaving traffic policemen impotent in their wake. —NZPA. Beer small now Beer, for decades the pint-sized foundation of the British pub, is about to suffer a bitter blow. The relentless marketing of lager has won over the younger drinker and sunk the traditional pint with its cloth-cap image under a barrage of catchy slogans. Next year, for the first time, Britons will buy more lager than ale or stout, according to a survey of 935 drinkers. — London. Hammock for T.L.C. Premature babies grow better if they swing in a hammock instead of lying still in a crib, according to a Dutch study. In a survey at Utrecht’s Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital, about 50 premature babies were kept in hammock incubators during their first few weeks. They were shown to be more alert and breathing more regularly than babies kept in the standard type of incubator. “In their first year, they also grew more than the other babies,” a physiotherapist, Paul Helders, said.—NZPA. War widow’s dilemma A war widow in Britain has been told she must divorce her second husband of 43 years before she can collect thousands of pounds in compensation. A Dutchborn pensioner, Mrs Wilemina Musgrave, aged 68, remarried in 1946 after her first husband died in a Nazi concentration camp. The Dutch Embassy in London has told her she is entitled to back-dated compensation. But because she remarried in Britain and lost her Dutch citizenship, the embassy says she will have to divorce her husband, John Musgrave, if she still wants the money. Mrs Musgrave, of Long Eaton, near Nottingham, said, “I had never even thought about compensation. I wish they hadn’t said I was entitled to it in the first place because they just raised false hopes. When they told me to apply they said I would receive thousands of pounds compensation backdated to the war. Now they are saying there’s no chance I will get it unless I lost my husband or divorced him.” Mrs Musgrave and John, aged 65, cannot afford to appeal against the decision and have no plans to divorce. The embassy refused to comment on her dilemma. Now, the local Labour European Member of Parliament, Geoff Hoon, is taking up Mrs Musgrave’s case. "It is often the case that when a war widow remarries she loses her entitlement. But I am prepared to investigate it and see if II can help her,” he sale — NZPA. !