7 DECEMBER 1951, Page 5

With last week's issue the Guardian ended its long and

notable career. I am sorry it is dead, but it might have expired more becomingly. There has been too much "of whom the world was not worthy" about recent leaders bearing on its demise. Its final leading article is a lament on the state of the religious Press—now that it is bereft of the Guardian. Curiously enough the only gleams in the surrounding darkness are two Roman Catholic papers, the Tablet and the Catholic Herald. The Church Times and the Church of England Newspaper, which have at least managed to keep alive, will no doubt note. One example of the Tablet's quality is cited.

"The Tablet was good enough to publish a full appreciation of this journal. It betrayed an exact understanding of the tradition and policy of the Guardian. Indeed we have heard, or seen, nothing comparable in any Anglican quarter. And we doubt if any of the recognised Anglican spokesmen is really in a position to give such an informal appreciation."

This Anglican impoverishment is very distressing. But what of the writers who have made the Guardian all it has been ? Would they be prostituting their .talents if they still helped to keep the flame alight elsewhere ?

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