12 APRIL 1963, Page 15

St R ,— Bertrand Russell is the Savonarola of our day. Hell-fire has

been replaced with fission. The imminence is even greater than the magnitude of the disaster. What could be more distasteful than to see Lord Russell on the plinth at Trafalgar

by frightening young people out of their wits ny telling them that they would be lucky if they were still alive in twelve months' time? It seems likely that the incoherence of CND Speech and action may best be explained by seeing its members in the same light as followers of the great revivalist preachers of past centuries. Hysteria takes many guises.

WILLIAM HARDIE