ONE OF THE MOST regrettable results of the newspaper strike
has been that we were deprived of many tributes to Sir Winston Churchill. Unfortunately, we were not spared Mr. Aneurin Bevan's characteristically unpleasant references to impaired faculties, clouded judgements and drained energies. I do not think that anyone expected Mr. Bevan even on this occasion to say something generous, but I am surprised that he did not make an effort to conceal his complete lack of magnanimity. (It is easy to imagine what Sir Winston would have said had their roles been reversed.) Mr. Bevan's remarks recall Miss Eleanor Rathbone's description of one of his outbursts during the war—`a cattish display of feline malice.' Indeed, Mr. Bevan could not well have been nastier if he had been gloating over the retirement of Mr. Attlee.
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