Out of Sight
On April 23 last the Spectator published a review of a book entitled Children • of the New Estate. The review attracted some attention, since it drew to public notice a book which possessed the great merit of saying publicly what very large numbers of people are saying privately, 'in confidence,' and behind locked doors. It was, in a sense, an attack upon what might fairly be called the new governing class, the people who live in the comfortable, semi-detached, scarlet-roofed dwelling, with its well-kept little garden, bathroom, kitchen, living rooms, all compact and easy to keep clean.' It attacked this class at its most vulnerable point—its children, who come from the sort of homes for vihich the planners plan,' and who (accord' ing to Miss Kendon), co-operative, easy-going, charming 05 they are, lack something which has, up to the Fifties, beet) considered essential in the people who rule England. Miss Kendon calls this lack a sturdy British- backbone,' and she has now compressed into an article some of the substance of her book, together with some later reflections upon its material, This article appears on another page. Are these charges true I
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Is there really something seriously wrong with the children of Sergeant Pilot Len and W. 0. Gillian ? Or is this a Public School, Upper Class, Tory libel upon the new Elizabethans of the Inner-Outer Suburbs ? One thing is pretty sure: no more important question has ever troubled the minds of the people (whoever they may be) who, over the next twenty years, are going to be responsible for this country.
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