10 JANUARY 1958, Page 7

THE Evening Standard last week printed an in- teresting article

by Mr. Julian Symons about the Metro-Vick trial, which caused such a sensation at the time. It will be remembered that false confessions were extorted from a number of British engineers in what was one of the earliest of the notorious 'show trials of the Stalin period. It was a long time ago, but how far have things changed? For Pravda, too, has just been referring to the case. In a long article in praise of the secret police by the principal thug Serov himself, which Pravda thought suitable Christmas fare for the Soviet public, the Metro-Vick case is men- tioned as one of that organisation's finest achievements.