Bypassing the Russian foreign ministry they sent in the paratroopers with instructions to take control of the Slatina airbase

Bypassing the Russian foreign ministry, they sent in the paratroopers, with instructions to take control of the Slatina airbase near Pristina.It was a propaganda coup, a brazen nose-snubbing at the west that will be celebrated in the upper echelons of the military for months. However, the dynamism he showed in taking the Wallabies from the 20s to the 40s suggested he might play a key role in this autumn's World Cup. The Irish had promised a handling game based around David Humphreys' impish talents at stand-off and the startling pace of their new outside centre, Brian O'Driscoll. Australia were 20-3 to the good when their latest back-row import took the field and, with George Gregan wreaking havoc at scrum-half, the former Bokke captain merely had to go with the flow in launching his one-man assault on the scoreboard. To be brutally honest, the Irish could hardly be described as big game; indeed, they were virtually dead meat before Strauss had a chance to flex his hunter's biceps. It will not always be this easy, if only because the Wallabies will not always outclass their opponents to such an embarrassing degree. Happily resettled in Australia after falling out of favour with the Springbok selectors, Strauss played the last half-hour of yesterday's First Test and promptly helped himself to three tries in the space of 13 minutes.

GORDON BROWN has recruited a top executive from BP - the company which sacked thousands in a massive management shake-up - to investigate the civil service. Stephen Byers, the Trade and Industry Secretary, has agreed that the DTI, one of the largest Whitehall departments, should be a test case to find what lessons the Government can learn from industry. He has already met Byron Grote, executive vice-president of BP Amoco who lived through the company's savage cuts 10 years ago, to discuss reforms of the department. Mr Grote will examine the hierarchical civil service grading system and suggest ways to cut bureaucracy.The investigation will worry civil service unions who fear job losses at the DTI, which employs more than 6,000 people.Treasury sources say ministers want the recommendations to "mirror" reforms introduced at BP. The shake-up, conducted in 1990, created a flatter management structure and eliminated layers of bureaucracy. But more than 1,000 people, mainly middle managers, were sacked, and 90 per cent of the corporate centre committees dismissed. In 1990, BP had 120,000 staff worldwide but when it merged with Amoco in January this year the payroll was just 56,400.Ministers believe there could be more general lessons for Whitehall.

"We want to see whether the business model has lessons for the internal workings of a government department," said one senior Treasury insider "The DTI ... could become the model for other departments."The investigation is part of a wide-ranging inquiry into the effectiveness of the public sector by the Treasury's productivity panel. Mr Grote is one of seven members, all managers from the private sector invited to propose improvements in state-funded services.The Treasury also plans an army of "mystery shoppers" to pretend to be ordinary people who, for example, sit driving tests or go to hospital, to identify problems with the services.Alan Milburn, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: "Through the productivity panel, top-notch business talent will make sure the billions in additional resources we have provided really do feed through into better services on the ground.". "WE SHALL fight them on the beaches," said Sir Winston Churchill. More than 50 years on, his words are being echoed by British naturists. This summer they will swim and bathe naked on public beaches in a campaign of direct action aimed at stripping bare public and official opposition to their lifestyle. British Naturism, the leading UK organisation for naturists, has urged its members to bathe naked wherever they please and has pledged to defend them if they are charged. "Our view is that every beach in Britain is a naturist beach," said Rex Watson, editor of BN, the British Naturism magazine.

"If any of our members choose to put that view into practice we will defend them in court ... as long as we are satisfied that they have behaved reasonably and there's been no indecent behaviour. We want to see pests and perverts firmly dealt with, but the difference between that and recreational social nudity is obvious."British Naturism has appointed a lobbyist to campaign for reform of laws that restrict public nudity and is raising a fund for legal battles. Men bathing naked on a beach not specifically designated for naturism face prosecution under the 1824 Vagrancy Act, which makes it illegal to expose the "male person". Women can be charged under the Public Order Act.The Nude Tolerance Campaign, quietly launched last November, is gathering pace as summer arrives and Britain's 25,000 naturists head for beaches and clubs.A nude cross-Channel relay swim from Kent to France next month aims to raise the awareness of the general public, or "textiles" in the naturist jargon. "We are looking to generate acceptability of non-sexual nudity," said Roger Fowler Wright, research and liaison officer for British Naturism.