4 SEPTEMBER 1964, Page 11

Aoticyclone

The meaning of the old politicians' clichd, that a good summer is a powerful ally to a govern- merit approaching an election, is not, of course, that line weather and happy holidays change people's ideas or beliefs. Rather, at such a time there is an ebbing-away of politics: the old arguments and passions fade from the forefront of all but the most committed of Nminds. This, presumably, is what has been happening in recent weeks. The electorate may be preparing one of its infrequent plunges into change : but that is not something it wishes to think about just now. Political judgments or even prejudices have been strangely hard to come by in these summer weeks. The nearest to a sharp political comment I heard in the remoter parts of England came during a pub discussion of the escape of Wilson the Train Robber. Several people were expressing, in the manner of Mr. Graham Greene, their ad- miration for the ingenuity and resource shown in his exploits. 'I think,' someone said, `that the Labour Party have got the wrong Mr. Wilson.'