It was a long time ago that a Frenchman described the British to be the biggest gamblers in Europe. He said: “They gamble for fun in the same way as they play tennis and cricket. It is a game.” While the first part of the statement remains true the second … Read More
In recent weeks, the British Prime Minister, Mr. Harold Macmillan, and the foreign secretary, Lord Home have repeatedly quoted India’s experience in support of the view that the policy of non-alignment does not make a country immune to aggression by a communist power. They have urged this argument largely to … Read More
The Vassall spy case now promises to become a cause celebre. In his effort to avoid dangerous speculation the Prime Minister, Mr Macmillan, on Wednesday unexpectedly released the letters that one of his junior ministers and his wife wrote to William John Christopher Vassall, the self-confessed spy undergoing eighteen years’ … Read More
In less than a fortnight the British attitude towards India’s struggle against China’s massive premeditated and unprovoked aggression has undergone a remarkable change. Two weeks ago the British government was by and large neutral even though on India’s side. Now short of declaring war on China, there is very … Read More
As in previous years the Conservative party has put forward the claim that it is the party of social progress and change. The claim is not confined to its “revolutionary” programme of taking Britain into the European Economic Community. It continues to propagate the myth that it has helped to … Read More
The British Government has tried to play it cool in the face of a grave provocation from the West German Chancellor, Dr Adenauer. His charge that the British Prime Minister, Mr Macmillan, spoke in two voices on the question of the political union of Europe has been ascribed to misunderstanding. … Read More
By its very nature a Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ conference is a rather nebulous affair. In spite of the importance of the subject – the outcome up to date of Britain’s negotiations for joining the Common Market – the forthcoming conference opening here on September can produce at best only a … Read More
The British seldom tire of complaining about the weather. This year they have good reason to grumble about it. After an unusually harsh winter even the spring is cloudy, dark, damp and depressing. But one thing must be said for the weather: it is almost tailored to suit the present … Read More
In the course of his speech to the American Newspaper Publishers’ Association in New York on April 27 the British Prime Minister, Mr. Macmillan, claimed that the “two nations” of which Disraeli spoke one hundred years ago was a thing of the past and “we are one nation now”. He … Read More
Charles Dickens has for long been an embarrassment to the British. Russians as The Times has recalled, “base their ideas of English life on his writing and see us still employing child labour, engaging in Eatonville elections, and all the rest of it. Americans too suspect that we have never … Read More
