The National Service rally in Hyde Park is represented In
the German Press as an act of aggression, occurring in an interval between paroxysms of abject panic. Whichever it was, aggression or panic, the participants would have been better equipped for either purpose if they had dis- pensed with their handbags. The government is not un- generous with uniforms: surely it could provide the A.R.P. ladies with a belt and pouch. Their style of marching, with one hand firmly grasping the necessities of life, is little less absurd than the Nazi bashfulness which clings with one hand to the stomach. If one thing is known to every press-photographer and chorus-girl, it is that the ordinary round military hat is extremely becoming to a woman. Yet all the feminine volunteers are got up with squashy mob- caps to look like prison-wardresses.
For some weeks before the rally was publicised, there was a good deal of speculation about the elaborate saluting-base and spectators' stands that appeared in Hyde Park. A taxi-driver whom I asked to explain their purpose answered me with: "Hitler's entry, I suppose."
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