13 JULY 1944, Page 4

Clearly there will always be differences of view about policy,

but these differences can be narrowed down if they are based on a common understanding of the permanent interests of England, and not merely on a mixture of guesswork and emotion. The Govern- ment in office can alone provide adequate information on current questions, since they alone know how much can be done—or said— without losing the confidence and sympathy of other nations. The solution, as far as the House of Commons is concerned, might be found in an all-party committee for foreign affairs. For the wider business of informing the electorate there is much to be said for an independent or impartially controlled public corporation on the lines of the B.B.C. There are, of course, obvious difficulties in the way of either solution, but we must 'do something, and if British electors have reaffirmed during these years of war their unshaken belief in the merits of parliamentary government, they have not shown any special tenderness for party alignments or any reluctance to try new experiments which might affect old parliamentary habits.