12 APRIL 1963, Page 9

'Yet my feelings were mixed when I set out last

week. It was nine years since I had last been to Koenigswinter, and things were simpler then. The menace from the East was simple and our protection against it was simple; and it was simple to whistle well enough in tune to keep our courage up and think the time well spent in adding a small stone or two to the shaky arch of Anglo-German reconciliation. But now, with everything on the boil everywhere and clouds of steam obscuring the main issues in every direc- tion, a discussion of 'Alliances in Flux—East and West' promised to be a chastening experience. I expected to be depressed, and I was—until the last few hours.