A Spectator's Notebook rj There was something unreal, almost glibs tlY,

about the four-day Commons debate on devolution. The Government was asking the House to take note of its White Paper — an ,lubocuous enough proposition, one might 'Intik. Nonetheless, the vote on Monday night summarised a series of political crises. Labour Sdiided partly because of differing opinions ut largely because of the threat to its strength .in Scotland posed by the formation of an indePendent Scottish Labour Party. The Tories were divided because, although they were the 'tirst of the ruling parties to commit themselves La separate Scottish Assembly, their leader, '"'! Thatcher, has reservations about that, to their former leader, Mr Heath, continues ,i_to demonstrate his original enthusiasm. Eeven e nationalist parties were divided — between those "ho wanted more and those who thought that this was as much as they could hope for. Is The most extraordinary aspect of the debate, "uwever, was the utter conviction on the part , 1 every voting member except the lugubrious Lzeader of the House, Mr Short, that, whatever rurrnal legislative proposals the Government 1112Y Put to Parliament in due time, they will 'ear little relationship to the proposals in the White Paper. It is difficult to recall any c'ecaslon in recent political history when a e°vernment's business managers so ponder ,,, "uslY set aside so much time to discuss trPosals that nobody expects to see enacted. may have more devolution than the v7umet has proposed, or less: but it is clear that e will have nothing resembling what Mr Short arid Mr William Ross have suggested.

pMr John Biffen's promotion to the Shadow 1.,_abinet, after fifteen years on the back'enches. has been widely applauded. He enjoys ebnsiderable respect on both sides of the House 2.! Commons, and the Labour MP Raymond 'etcher, who is no mean judge of form, even hsees birn as a future leader of the Tory Party. It thas been noted that Mr Biffen shares many of C economic views of Mr Enoch Powell. It has

been suggested that on equally controver

i matters, notably immigration, he is at a so. stance from the member for South Down. Not indWhile Mr Biffen has been making an Pend Mr

name for himself, and deplores Mr Well's wilful departure from the mainstream

I3. ritish politics, he shares not only specific v"' cies, but a political philosophy, with the great T -Ory maverick. He once gave a long acc:°unt of his beliefs in the now defunct bservative magazine Solon, and of every Phualnt it could be said that the hand was the of John, but the voice the voice of Enoch. .to at has been missed in an excessive tendency wit,cnncentrate on Mrs Thatcher's relations Mr Heath is the extent to which she has 1 7t;.1 building up the intellectual influence of vowel! in her Shadow Cabinet.

M

a ention was made in one of our columns 0c3rtnight ago of Mr John McDonnell, an tn,„1,„cer of the Conservative Research Departelate 'sixties and subsequently at the

Foreign Office. The FO, of course, made as little reference as possible to McDonnell's party political past while he was with them. However, when Mr Heath won the 1970 general election there was clearly an advantage in having to hand, as personal assistant to Sir Alec Douglas-Home, someone who knew the ropes in the Tory party. McDonnell was accordingly instructed to accompany Sir Alec to the party conference that autumn. First, however, he received some guidance on behaviour from the Permanent Under-Secretary, Sir Denis Greenhill. "You should not," Sir Denis observed, "involve yourself in any party activities at Blackpool. But you may, of course, join in the standing ovation for the Foreign Secretary."

0 Little noticed by the general public Mrs Golda Meir was in London last week to address a round of fund-raising dinners and meetings, and to talk encouragingly to supporters of the Israeli cause. She ic clearly revelling in what is an exceptionally busy retirement. Mrs Meir, who went from Milwaukee to an Israel kibbutz in the 1920s, had intended to return to kibbutz life after her retirement as Prime Minister. She now confesses: "I thought I was too old, and I couldn't have as much fun on the kibbutz."

All her audiences, small and large alike, revelled in her personality. On only two occasions in her life has she used a prepared script for a speech: everything is normally off the cuff. And the personality which comes through in her beautifully orchestrated punch lines is that of the perfect Yiddischer Momma. Of her successor as Prime Minister, General Rabin, she says approvingly: "He is a nice boy. He'll do well." On various proposals by well-wishers of Israel and others for a secular state in Palestine containing both Arabs and

Jews she observes: "Sure. We'll all be happy there, like they are in the Lebanon." Perhaps the most amazing thing about Mrs Meir, in a period in which politicians find it extremely difficult to gain the attention, let alone the allegiance, of youth, is her appeal to young people. At the Royal Albert Hall they greeted her as they would a pop star. "Sure," she says, of this phenomenon, "kids like their grannies more than their mothers."

Her trenchant, pioneering spirit remains invulnerable to the niceties of diplomacy, and refreshingly so. She identifies, as she has a right to do, with her country. "I am under no illusion," she says of her excellent, even rapturous, receptions abroad, "that people like me for my beauty. They like me for Israel." But they also like her for her indomitability and charm; it is difficult to recall that on her first journey to Israel Mrs Meir, a pampered American, felt ashamed of her self because the European Jews with whom she shared passage from Italy to the Middle East thought her soft.

0 It was Lord Snow who first suggested that there was a growing fissure in society between artists and scientists (or technologists). An entertaining anecdote suggests that the division is recognised in the world of government. A journalist was interviewing Mr Anthony Crosland, Secretary of State for the Environment. He brought with him a tape recorder — shorthand being out of fashion nowadays. The instrument belonged to his son, and neither he nor the Secretary of State could make it work. Mr Wedgwood Benn happened to be passing at the time, and Mr Crosland summoned him in aid, observing, "Here, Tony, you can fix this thing. We're arts men, you see." His loftiness soon turned to respect: Mr Benn had no difficulty in persuading the machine to discharge its function.

D Mrs Thatcher is said to be thinking of restoring hereditary peerages if ever she has the opportunity as Prime Minister. To some it is a pleasing prospect; but not to everyone. "Far from reviving them," says Quentin Crewe, himself the grandson of a marquess, "the Tory Party would gain immense credibility if they were to abolish the hereditary right to sit in the House of Lords. People would really believe the Tories had moved with the times. They should vote themselves out of the second chamber (initiating the thing themselves). No need to abolish the titles themselves."

0 Small is beautiful. Of the sixteen commercial radio stations now on the air, Plymouth Sound, the smallest, but one, is attracting much favourable comment from professional broadcasters. This is more than can be said of the majority, which in output may be likened to expensive juke boxes.

Plymouth Sound, offering better fare since it came into being last May, even made a small profit in the last quarter, which suggests that a sense of social responsibility is no bad thing commercially. There may be a lesson for the rest of them in this — and for the Independent Broadcasting Authority, not to mention Lord Annan's committee of inquiry.

Three more commercial stations are still to come. Then that will be that, at least while Labour remains in office. Whatever else may happen, we seem safe from the sixty originally threatened. By and large, the innovation cannot be called a success.