5 MARCH 1965, Page 3

The Disenchanted

CONCEDE,' said Mr. Crosland, 'that the JL decision not to establish any more new universities is disappointing. Our reasons are indisputable.' Perhaps they are, but Mr. Crosland did not elucidate them. It is a per- fectly defensible argument that we can have no more universities simply because we can- not afford them and there are other priorities, or again that we should have no more because 'more means Worse.' Mr. Crosland advanced neither of these. but chose compromise : somehow we shall attempt to fit the rising number of students into existing institutions. Nothir.g about the purpose of a university, nothing about the effects on standards.

It is hard to see how or why the new Government came to adopt the now familiar pattern in its pronouncements of shabby evasions and worn-out clichés Cer- tainly we did not expect it. But from the affair of the delayed pension increases on- wards, we have been listening tc men who seem neither entirely honest nor very imaginative, nor intellectually very capable. The idea of the New Britain is quickly re- ceding; Utopia has been indefinitely post- poned. To the outside observer it must all seem much as before. To the young intellec- tuals who had hoped for so much from a change of government, it must be deeply disappointing.

Partly, ot course, Labour intentions were bound to be modified the moment, they came to office and saw how limited the choice of policies often is. 'Modernisation' was all very well as a slogan fot any party : the issue was, when the means are so limited, where to begin. And, of course, the electorate could probably accept modifica- tions, even reversals, of policies if the reasons for the changes were ever honestly put to them. But it is not enough, for in- stance, for Mr. Wilson to say that a major reason why the Cabinet, has overthrown Labour's promised defence policy .is the Chinese nuclear test. Did he really not know this was coming? Or for Mr. Brown to set off in pursuit of an incomes policy which, even if it were achieved, would do no more than inflate the status quo. We had thought there were people in the in- comes race who had fallen behind. Is the Government going to do nothing for the teachers and nurses? Similarly. Mr. Wil. son's visit to the United Nations was post- poned for exactly the wrong reasons. The fact that the whole future of the UN was in doubt made a reassuring visit from a major Prime Minister all the more neces- sary. Instead, the Government's promise of increased support for a UN peace force was tamely announced in he House of Commons a couple of weeks later -This is not all. We still have an over- legalistic Home Secretary. We seem still to be no nearer doing anything about Rho- desia other than, again, preserving the status quo The idealism on immigration has largely evaporated, but has been re- placed by no honest determination to do the best we can for those immigrants we do take and for those who are here already. and to be seen to do this. Behind it all, Rev the failing in language. We did not expect to be told. particular:), by a man who had denounced such appeals in the past, that we need a return to the spirit of Dunkirk. We expected more from the new :nen than the principle of 'cost-effectiveness Only the word is new : the principle is familiar to anyone who has ever tried to run a house, let alone a country. The promised examina-• lion of Britain's Kik was thought to be more • than a form of empty words Instead, it turns out that the more the phrase is re- peated, the more the Government believes in keeping the role as grandiose as ever. 'Give me chastity and continence, but not yet,' is the aptest motto.

Clearly it is the disenchanted socialist who feels these disappointments most deeply. These are people to whom it would seldom occur to vote anything but Labour. Certainly they are unlikely to be attracted by an opposition that Openly canvasses for ideas but has few to present itself. Yet an opposition which allows a government to get away with half-truths, contradictions' and evasions is ineffective. It is a depressing thought that four and a half months after an election we have a situation where the majority of the country, and in particular the intellectuals, believe that we are governed by men without imagination. without intellectual distinction, and without conviction. Who was it, after all, who wrote a book called Purpose in Politics?