14 JUNE 1946, Page 14

VICTORY CELEBRATIONS

Sta,—Permit me to complain of the terms used by "Janus " about the Victory Celebrations, which he denounces as " untimely, inappropriate and little short of indecent." Has " Janus " forgotten the long and desperate struggle, the poignant fears, the frightful menace of a German victory, the imminent prospect of the extinction of liberty and civilisation in Europe? The final destruction of the enemy's power is dismissed by " Janus " with the ungrateful phrase, " the absence of actual war." Every- one with a modicum of imagination knew in advance that we could not have a quick change to stability, prosperity and other good things, and that years of travail would lie ahead. Our present celebrations are for victory over a deadly enemy, and the bravery and miraculous endurance which brought this about. If " Janus's " views are " almost universal" I do not share his gladness at the supposed fact ; but I am glad to believe that he is utterly wrong and that he himself "'has fundamentally and deplorably misread the national psychology."—I am, &c.,