18 MARCH 1966, Page 4

Nuns to the Hustings

During the 1964 election campaign, Mr. Amery, the Conservative candidate, called on a convent of fourteen enclosed Carmelite nuns in his constituency of Preston North. He won by a majority of fourteen. Both candidates are re- ported to have been at pains to call on the nuns in the present contest.

Preston's North End is open still.

It's anybody's guess, they say. And fourteen nuns behind a grill May reasonably turn the day.

Counting their beads and weighing what The rival policies contain, It is more probable than not, They may decide they'd best abstain.

Yet, if the worst comes to the worst, Sufficeth yet the Good Old Rule. Who falls on March the Thirty-First Still lives to seem an April Fool.

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS