KHRUSHCHEV AND THE BOMB
SIR,—Is Pharos a committee? Or is he just naturally inconsistent? In his first paragraph last week he accused the Daily Mirror of 'going quite batty' about Mr. K.'s 'Suspend Tests' campaign-1f we stop tests it should be for better reasons than his promises.' Half a page later he was talking of the danger 'that if the British and American Governments do not act quickly nuclear weapons will soon be manufactured all over the place.' But apart from an agreed suspension of tests, what action does Pharos envisage? And how can suspension be achieved unless we produce a diplo- matic gimmick of our own—that of taking Mr. Khrushchev's proposals seriously?
Is it really hysterical of the Mirror to say : 'It may well be that Russia is sincere'? Doesn't it turn on the meaning of the word 'sincere' in Geraldine House? (It may mean something different in Gower Street.) No one is accusing Mr. K. of having honourable intentions. But it is at least possible that he means what he says—he would be a great fool if he didn't. For once tests are stopped someone. who starts them again is going to incur a certain amount of well- earned odium, and if that someone was Mr. K., Russia's capacity to make friends and influence people, especially in the Far East, would surely dimin- ish. Mr. Dulles knows he can kill nearly every man, woman and child in the Soviet Union if he wants to. He will still be able to do so, even if Mr. K. breaks his word, and he will have scored a diplomatic victory too. A more sensitive man would be kicking himself for not having thought of the idea first.—Yours faithfully, CHRISTOPHER DRIVER Barrow Hill, Chesterfield, Derbyshire
[This letter is referred to by Pharos in 'A Spectator's Notebook.'—Editor, Spectator.]
Previous page
