27 OCTOBER 1939, Page 15

It amazes me that this thin yellow line should be

so thin. The whole life of the country has been dislocated ; our pleasures, our hopes and our relaxations have been curtailed ; the vast organisation which had been planned in expectation of a knock-out blow appears (now that the expected has failed to happen) as something unnecessary and almost oppressive ; the reveral agencies of German propaganda do all they can to increase perplexity and to disintegrate con- fidence ; and yet the great mass of the population remain obstinately undismayed. I find this single-mindedness, especially among the less intellectual elements of society, a great relief.