The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 1

Women need more than John Major's Opportunity 2000. But should 'more' mean positive discrimination? page 33 A man obsessed with a movie you may never see page 34 On debt, fog, teleprompters and the morality of hunting If your child is sharing a derelict textbook or works in a shabby classroom, who deserves the blame? page 23 Hugo Young: politics in a pall of all-pervading gloom page 20 40p Tuesday December 3 1991 Published in London and Manchester NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR Failure looms for Major's pledge on WHS waiting lists Pattonto waiting mora than two yaara for treatment David Bftnd la, Social Sanricta Convapondaflt to treat "the generality" of the two-year waiting lists as promised by next April. Whenever the lists are cleared, experts say the need to ration care will remain. Peter Jacobs, chief executive of Bupa, the private health insurer, said yesterday that old people might never get an NHS kidney transplant or cataract operation. Mr Jacobs told a conference in London: "Spiralling medical cost inflation and inevitable budgetary constraints within the health service mean that the objective of unlimited, free, and prompt access to the best medical practice is simply not Latest figures available from the 14 English health regions show that almost 40,000 people have been waiting more than two years.

Some regions are already acknowledging that they will not meet the deadline and have agreed fall-back dates with the Department of Health. John Yates, regarded as the country's leading specialist on cutting waiting lists, said yesterday: "On present trends, they will get it no lower than 20,000 by March 31 and there would have to be a remarkable spurt even to get that, in my view." William Waldegrave, the Health Secretary, will today unveil a series of measures, including extra cash and tighter central co-ordination, to help the regions in most trouble. But experts say it is already too late to avert failure. One insuperable problem is that many of the people who have been waiting more than two years need plastic surgery, and there are not enough plastic surgeons to do the work. The charter guarantee states that it applies to "virtually all But this get-out clause will count for little in the political uproar likely to follow failure to achieve the target by next April, close to the general election.

Mr Yates, who resigned as the Government's waiting list adviser over policy issues including the setting of the target, said: "My strong advice was not to tie yourself to something so unrealistic for which you will only get flak." Regions are under intense pressure to meet the deadline. Chairmen were told by Mr Waldegrave in October that failure was unacceptable. Evidence is emerging that patients who have been waiting two years or more with relatively minor conditions are being given priority over more pressing cases. A leaked memorandum to senior doctors from Annette Seargeant, general manager of Chase Farm hospital in Enfield, north London, says: "This will mean that, in some instances, patients will need to be treated in preference to some patients Threat to Jobs, pig 3 'dap51 tiwmft 0mmm fanxdl I' who clinically are a little more urgent" The Guardian's survey has found that three regions are already admitting they will not make the April deadline. In agreements with the department, East Anglian has said it will aim to have 447 patients outstanding, West Midlands While others are still publicly insisting they will clear their two-year lists, some say that they are "hoping" to do so (South Western and Oxford), that "it will be tough" (North East Thames), or that there is "still a considerable way to go" (South East Thames).

The department said it remained the policy intention made to occupy or otherwise exploit captured places; they are simply and wantonly destroyed." The army, say the monitors, has not hesitated to shoot "either indiscriminately at purely civilian targets with random fire, or, in certain cases to deliberately select civilian targets of important symbolic value including schools, museums, churches, and The army is accused of cowardice, lack of leadership, inability, or. unwillingness to enforce discipline and of fighting for no more than its own "survival and The report contends that the army is poised to launch a "big offensive" aimed at annexing almost half of Croatia. The aim was to secure a new frontline linking the towns of Virovitica on the Hungarian border, Kar-lovac south-west of Zagreb, and Karlobag on the Adriatic. This conforms with the maximalist "Greater Serbian" map advocated by nationalist extremists. The report surfaced as the EC moved to squeeze Serbia for its prosecution of the war and as Mr Vance, continued his latest mission exploring the possibilities of deploying UN peacekeepers in the war zones.

EC foreign ministers yesterday exempted four of republics from the economic sanctions it adopted last month, singling out Serbia audits ally, Montenegro, for punishment The exemptions were an attempt to reward "co-operative" republics. Croatia's President Franjo Tudjman yesterday called for UN forces to move into Croatian territory seized by the army and Serbian forces parallel to an army withdrawal. A bill outlining rights of autonomy for Croatia's Serbian minority is to be brought before the Croatian parliament later this week, he added. EastAnollan 3.188 West Midlands 3,196 Mersey 0 Trent 1,000 Yorkshire 2,306 Southwestern 4,190 Oxford 2,778 Northern 1,474 North West Thames 5,000 North East Thames 5,586 South East Thames 5,047 South West Thames 1,050 Wessex 2,155 Northwestern 2,713 Total. 39,863 five years in captivity.

Last A LONDON N8 0BR THE Government will today attempt to avert the humiliation of failing the first test of its Patient's Charter. Unless it succeeds, thousands of people will still have been waiting mote than two years for an operation after next April 1. A survey by the Guardian has revealed that the health service is proving unable to deliver the headline guarantee in the charter, a summary of which is being delivered to every household, that nobody will have to wait two years for hospital admission. father's businesses, refused to elaborate on the statement. But sources within the group of banks who agreed, eight days ago to continue supporting the IBplniSSlosed that accountants have found; a gap in the finances of at least one pension fundruny.

part of the Maxwell, group; 'Two stock-broking sources said they understood that up to 300 million was involved. Others denied the figure was so large. The financial hole is understood to have been found within at least one pension fund run by one of the investment management companies within the web of the private Maxwell empire. One of the companies, Bi-shopsgate Investment Management, is involved with the control of pension funds for the Mirror Group and MCC. The problems centre on a practice known as stock lending, whereby an investment fund manager can lend shares from his fund to another.

In exchange, the first fund receives a fee. The system is very tightly regulated and is not commonplace with pension'funds. It is feared that-private Maxwell interests "borrowed" shares from pension funds of one or both of the public companies and used these as security for raising loans. The result is that there could be two claims on the same bundle of shares. A source within one of the banks said: "This is a very serious matter." Mr Maxwell's sons Kevin and Ian sit as trustees of a charitable trust which is the parent of Bishopsgate Investment Man After the rape charge was brought, the lead prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney Molra Lascb, made public sworn affidavits by three women who said they had also been attacked, and in one case raped, by Mr Smith in incidents in New York and Washington DC between 1983 and 1988.

The three women had not previously made official complaints because they believed each "was an isolated incident, that it was not rape because they were friends of Mr Smith, and because they were afraid of Kennedy power," the assistant prosecutor, Ellen Roberts, told Judg Mary Lupo yesterday. Ms Roberts submitted that there was a 'plan, scheme and behind Mr Smith's alleged attacks on the women which made "all three prior acts of the defendant relevant" to the present case. Citing a 1959 Florida state legal precedent known as the Williams ruling, Mr Smith's past behaviour towards women had followed a pat SmWmvndJohnWIBoook MULTI-MILLION pbund gap in pension funds Jinked to the emolre of vtne late Kooert fcaf-'Js Maxwell is understood to hive 'been uncovered by accountants investigating the private business network of the publishing tycoon who died four weeks ago. The discovery threatens to scupper attempts to keep the Maxwell combine intact, according to banks involved in -the investigation. Failure to keep the private side of the late Mr Maxwell's corporate creation afloat would threaten the future of The European newspaper and would trigger an auction of the controlling stake in Mirror Group Newspapers.

First signs attempts to put together a rescue plan for Mr Maxwell's private companies had run into trouble came yesterday morning. Trading in two public companies Mirror Group Newspapers and Maxwell Communication Corporation was suspended five minutes before dealings were due to start on the Stock Exchange. The suspension was "pending clarification" of the financial state of the private Maxwell companies' affairs, according to a brief statement issued on behalf of the two groups. The private Maxwell empire controls the Mirror group and MCC by owning majority stakes in each. MCC, the Mirror group, and advisers to Kevin and Ian Maxwell, now running their late Freed US hostage Joseph Clcipplo and his wife, Elham, were reunited in Damascus yesterday following bis release after night they flew to Germany Hopes nse as kidnappers promise to free Alarm Steen 'within 48 hours', page 22 BE EC urged to send troops to Croatia agement There is, no sugges-.

tion that they have been involved in the day-to-day run- ningorme.company. The discovery is' unrelated to a 55 million loan Heading-, ton Investments, one of the key companies withln.the Maxwell grouD. which is now. being in. vesugated by the Serious Fraud umce.

xne office saia yesterday that it had nothing to do with the suspension of dealings in MCC and Mirror shares. It is not clear to what extent any financial black hole in the private side of the Maxwell group will have an impact upon attempts to preserve MCC, which has up to $3 billion (1.7 billion) in debts. The Mirror group is widely seen as a likely The relationship between Mirror group pensioners and Mr Maxwell was strained after he took control of the newspaper company in 1984. Mr Maxwell's handling of the scheme was criticised by a group of pensioners which is now campaigning to recover up to 30 million in lost benefits. According to the Mirror group earlier this year, the fund has a 150 million surplus between the amount which it has available and the likely claims to be made upon it by present and future pensioners.

Giles Orton, a Derby solicitor acting on the pensioners' behalf, said that even the trustees of the pension fund, Mirror Group Pension Trustees Ltd, would not have been party to investment decisions. Tough tut for th Manmlla, and City Notabook, page 12 tern which would "corroborate the victim's testimony" that she was raped, Ms Roberts argued. Mr Smith had won the trust of his alleged victims before undergoing a startling change of character which led to "violent and ferocious In each incident, Ms Roberts said, Mr Smith had been drinking alcohol, as was the case on March 30, the night of the alleged rape. In response, Mr Smith's main counsel, Roy Black, a Miami lawyer, told the court that the "only issue is whether the act of sexual intercourse was committed without the consent of the complainant." Mr Black said the Williams ruling did not apply since there "nothing strikingly unique" about Mr Smith's behaviour towards the three women prior to the alleged Without elaborating on her reasons, Judge Lupo dismissed the prosecution's motion in a one-sentence ruling. Legal experts said that ad-Turn to page 22, col 3 WRITER EARN WHILE YOU LEARN FROM BRITAIN'S TOP TUTORS The Writing School shows you how to write articles, short stories, novels, romances, radio and TV scripts.

And at the same time you learn how to write them, you learn how to sell them! Top professional writers give you individual tuition as you work through the School's comprehensive home-study course. You get personal tips that have taken the pro's wears to evolve and which are passed on with astonishing results. Hmieamasyouleam! THE RESULTS PROVE IT News in brief Second judicial rebuke for Baker The Home Secretary faces new embarrassment after a judge criticised his attempt to deport a Sikh without properly considering the danger of persecution. It is Mr Baker's second judicial reprimand. Page 2 Animal rights payments An animal rights group is donating 300,000 to the three main political parties in the hope of having influence over their policies.

Page 7 1 house deal criticised A judge has criticised a trust that bought houses for renovation from families in Bradford for 1 and is offering them back at up to 51,000. PageS Strangling 'admitted' A student allegedly told police he strangled his Oxford undergraduate girl friend because she had been unfaithful. Page 4 West backs Ukraine The West has signalled that it has no choice but to'recognise the Ukraine's independence after weekend voting. Page 10 US defies Israel The US secretary of state. James Baker, has threatened to reopen Middle East peace talks without Israel.

Page 11 Inside Judge bars women's claims from Kennedy rape trial Vlgal Onzan In Batgrad Ian Tnynor in Vlanna and John Palmer In Brusaala THE European Community has been urged to consider military intervention in Yugoslavia to prevent the federal army wantonly destroying Croatian towns and villages and deliberately employing terror tactics against civilian populations, according to a secret EC report. The report singles out the federal army as the villain in the civil war. and charges it with targeting hospitals and schools in its campaign against Croatia. The options now available to the EC include a "readiness to supply such effective sea and air deterrent capacity as will make continued JNA army aggression pointless, if not suicidal," the report says. The report, leaked to journalists in Belgrade, was apparently compiled by the EC monitoring mission in Zagreb for the Dutch EC presidency.

It is dated November 26, and was apparently completed after the latest ceasefire, brokered by the United Nations envoy, Cyrus Vance, came into effect nine days ago. The mission's spokeswoman in Zagreb, Rinalde Steeghs, last night refused to deny or confirm the report's authenticity. She deplored that a confidential document had been leaked and said it was up to the EC presidency or Council of Ministers to issue public comment In the report, the monitors accuse the federal army of consistently pursuing tactics of long-range, indiscriminate shelling of towns and villages in order to terrorise civilians into abandoning territory coveted by the army. Croatian villagers are "killed or forced to leave after which their villages are bulldozed out Simon TUdall in Watt Palm Beach, Florida LAWYERS for William Kennedy Smith won the opening round of his rape trial here yesterday when sworn allegations that Mr Smith has a history of sexual assaults on women were ruled inadmissible as evidence. Mr Smith, aged 31, a nephew of President John F.

Kennedy and Senator Edward Kennedy, was charged on May 9 with raping a local woman at the Kennedy family's estate in Palm Beach. He has admitted having sexual intercourse with the woman but called the rape charge "a damnable If convicted, Mr Smith faces a maximum of 15 years in jail. 9" 770261 "307026 Your Writing School-tutor will give you advice on the selling process. A few hours each day, or each week-choose your own pace-arid real writing success can be yours! With acceptances to prove itl WHATS MORE -YOU CANT LOSE! If you have not recovered the cost of your tuition by the time you have completed your course, your fees will be refunded! Send off now for our FREE book that tells you about "Writing for Pleasure and Profit" and details of our FREE 15-day trial offer. No stamp needed.

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