I HAVE BEEN watching with interest the latest inter- Services
contest: ordeal by television. A few weeks ago Lord Mountbatten introduced 'The Royal Navy : NOW,' and last week we had Field- Marshal Sir Gerald Templer compering 'Your Army—Now.' As I would have expected, the Senior Service came out an easy winner. Both had troubles to contend with : the Navy chose an impossible day to demonstrate its powers, and the Army ran into some technical confusion; but both succeeded (more effectively than the politi- cal parties have been able to do) in making good programmes from their material—in spite of the fact that the material was sometimes surprisingly flimsy. The Army's 'secret weapon,' for example, turned out to be a ridiculous contraption which would hardly have been useful even in the last war, though it did just manage to destroy a sitting tank at short range. The difference between the programmes lay in their approach. Lord Mount- batten deliberately stressed the more civilised aspects of the new Navy, as if to reassure possible entrants that the prospect before them is not all bull and bully-beef. Sir Gerald, on the other hand, appealed to tradition; he looked and spoke de- pressingly like a CO delivering a reprimand to a young officer for forgetting to carry his gloves. As an exercise in public relations the contrast was revealing: if the Army broadcast was followed by a rush to the Colours, I would be surprised indeed.
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