Matters of Opinion The week before, we had Prelude to
War, as the inaugural pro- gramme of the series ; and here was a harder job. War is a com- paratively simple matter ; diplomacy is tortuous—a matter of shades, doubts, hesitations and pains. Professor Napier's script of the year September, 1938-September, 1939, was based on his book, Diplo- matic Prelude, and did its best (as his book did) to apply " the strictest standards of historical objectivity." But here there is a loop- hole for opinion ; and programmes such as this can never be wholly objective while opinion remains subjective. And you can argue about Chamberlain till the cows come home ; or as long as his chickens come home to roost. Prelude to War was, I thought, as good as you can get it. But mark the studio's difficulties 1 The script ended with the war and on the words " ... the German people and their chosen leader." That word "chosen"! Say the speaker leans—only a little too little, only a little too much—on the word " chosen ": what a world of difference, what implications to the ear and mind, what a historical verdict on a nation, what a wide argument, what an onus to put on one inflexion!
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