29 MAY 1971, Page 5

Adeste, fidelis!

One quality of a religious fanatic is the loss of all sense of proportion : great and small matters are seen in the blinding light of unreason to be the same size. Thus one also continually hears that the explanation as to why the Prime Minister is so sure of himself Is that he has never forgotten his triumph over his critics on the matter of Resale Price Maintenance. This would be very funny if it were not true. A piece of excellent but very minor price-cutting legislation which an- noyed the chemist shop-keepers is not, among reasonable and reasoning men, to be compared with a major price-increasing set of legislative enactments designed in the end to'lose us our parliamentary sovereignty and which is sensibly opposed by the great ma- jority of the country. I feel a fool even to have to write a truism like this: but ap- parently Mr Heath really does believe that as it was with his little Resale Price Mainten- ance Bill so will it he with Europe.

Truly, faith is a remarkable thing.