Professor G. D. H. Cole is one of the oracles
of the Labour movement, and it is always slightly disconcerting to find an oracle declaiming, not through a cloud of subterranean smoke, but through its hat. In his latest pamphlet, Labour's Second Term, Professor Cole suggests certain additional spheres for Socialist activity, not mentioned in Labour's draft policy as already published, should there be another Labour Government in 1950. These include " democra- tising the armed forces," abolishing the House of Lords, and "cleansing the At.gean stables of the diplomatic service." (This May be a misprint, or perhaps a sign of the democratisation of university professors.) Making the armed• forces more democratic presumably means relaxing discipline or sacking those senior officers who made the mistake of going to Sandhurst or Cranwell during the years of Tory misrule. The House of Lords is to be abolished because " it stinks in the nostrils of every decent democrat." (No prize is offered for an interpretation of Professor Cole's idea of a "decent democrat.") The Prime Minister and Mr. Morrison took another view when they worked hard for the reform and perpetua- tion of the Second Chamber a couple of years ago.
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