19 OCTOBER 1951, Page 4

Was Dr. Charles Hill's election broadcast on Tuesday as good

as in 1950 ? On the whole the general verdict seems to be not quite." For one thing there was no Priestley for him to hit this time. For another no one believes that an outstanding success can be repeated—though it sometimes is. But on one point there can be no two opinions. Dr. Hill was out and away more enter- taining than any other election broadcaster so far. To be enter- taining is not the same thing as being convincing. But it is possible to be both ; and the skilful refrain " not in front of the children," set in its context—the agreement to put Labour dis- sensions in cold storage till after polling-day—will remain, not unfruitfully, in many people's minds. Where Hill really got to the heart of the matter was when he asked whether we wanted the destinies of this great country banded over to the Foots and the Mikardos and the Dribergs. A Labour victory with the Bevanites in the ascendant might well mean just that.