SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
J. W. M. THOMPSON
In a presidential election as unusual as the present contest nothing is certain : nevertheless, it begins to seem that after this week's Indiana primary results we must now expect Senator McCarthy to fade gradually from the race. This is a sad thought, even though his part in con- verting America's doubts over Vietnam into a practical political debate has already been in- valuable. For countless people, in and out of the United States, there has been something re- assuring in the courageous way in which he made a quiet, unbombastic and independent voice heard amid the confusion and din. It's not that his showing in Indiana was particularly bad: on the contrary, to collect more than a quarter of the Democratic votes was a respec- table achievement : but rather •that it wasn't startlingly good enough to carry him confidently forward against the massive forces of Humphrey and Kennedy. There may be a sudden turn in his favour, but the odds against it have lengthened sharply. Nevertheless, he has at the very least won for himself a prominent place in the American political scene : if the next occu- pant of the White House is a Democrat, there could be important work for McCarthy still to do. Meanwhile Kennedy, who had predicted that Indiana would decide who would next occupy the White House, has to reconcile him- self to the fact that in the event it did no such thing. The parts of Indiana I remember from a visit some years ago—a spreading country of small towns, leafy, conservative, friendly—are so characteristic of the old, traditional America that it would be altogether appropriate for such a decision to be reached there. But in fact the great electoral soap-opera seems to have plenty of tantalising new instalments yet in store.
In and out of politics
Mr Wilson took a long time to reply to Enoch Powell's notorious speech (and then was rather curiously pipped at the post by Mr Jenkins). On the face of it his appeal to the opposition to join the Government in doing 'all in our com- bined power to take these inflammatory issues out of politics' was commendable (being Mr Wilson, he meant, of course, party politics): but it might have been more persuasive if he had not then strained to link the question of racial discrimination in this country with the quite separate issue of British policy towards Rhodesia: The battle against racialism here knows no boundaries, no limits.... That is why I reject the attitudes of those who with their lips—if not with their votes—preach against racialism at home, and endorse racialism in Rhodesia.' There is a clear difference between the parties on Rhodesia, and Mr Wilson habitually makes much of it, but it is equally clearly unfair to represent it as a question of whether or not to 'endorse racialism.' No doubt it was convenient to discuss the explosive issue of race relations in terms of far-off Rhodesia : with luck in that way you can satisfy the liberals without upsetting the masses; but Mr Jenkins, notably, saw no need to resort to this device.
The other war.
It has been Nigeria's fate that the horrors of its civil war have been largely obscured in the world's eyes by Vietnam, and the same has been true of the first tentative moves towards peace talks which took place in London this week. It is urgently desirable that these negotiations should make progress; the con- flict between Biafra and the federal forces, which has already lasted nearly a year, has taken a terrible toll, mostly of civilians. The part played by Britain, moreover, has been unhappy. To the Biafrans, at least, it has con- sisted solely of pumping in millions of pound, worth of arms to help the federal troops to crush them; naturally we are now hated in consequence.
The British government has justified all this on the ground that it was bound by its obligations to the federation (until this disaster, after all, Nigeria was pointed out as a prize exhibit among ex-colonial territories) and also by claiming that an.arms embargo would have prolonged the, fighting. Both these arguments look vulnerable, to say the least. Yet the opposition in Parliament has been strangely acquiescent, in fact has strikingly failed to probe the Government's onesided policy. No doubt fear of making a bad situation worse has had its influence. But the contrast between the Government's readiness to arm Nigeria against Biafra, and its refusal to sell even naval ves- sels to South Africa, is remarkable. What would have happened if the unhappy Biafrans had been fighting for their freedom from federal partners who happened to have white skins? At least there is now some hope of a political settlement. In the end it may even—in spite of all the British aid to its enemies—follow the spirit of President Nyerere of Tanzania's recent recognition of Biafra's independence.
Pictures and people On the whole the Royal Academy has had a rather better press than usual this year. This seems to have been achieved partly by rejecting a higher proportion of the pictures submitted, and partly by sprucing up the interior of Bur- lington House with a coat of white paint: both are clearly changes for the better. The fact that this year the Academy celebrates its 200th anniversary has also helped to mellow the critics a little. Nevertheless, I confess to tour- ing the exhibition without enthusiasm. As everyone now knows, the it has gone 'modern' in a determined way this year : but no body which has rested in its own backwater for so long can expect to return comfortably to the main stream at will. The Academy seems merely to have enchanged its own brand of mediocrity for another kind. If it persists in its new ways, will it ever, I wonder, succeed in enticing the major talents to exhibit in its gal- leries? It seems scarcely possible, in view of the long history of hostility and the peculiar reputation this has , brought the Academy. I once heard an eminent artist being urged, half- seriously, to show some work at Burlington House : his reply was, 'But it would be financial disaster!' And yet, if only I suppose because it has been going on for so long, there is a lingering fascination about this annual con- frontation between art and society. One imagines the chastened ghosts of the past ming- ling with the crowd. There is much to be said for the attitude of the man who arrived at the private view just ahead of me, saying briskly to his wife: Now you look at the pictures and I'll look at the people.'_
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