A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

1rHE R.A.F. wing-commander who broadcast—most admirably— on the Battle of Britain in the postscript on Sunday night sur- prised me, and perhaps some other listeners, by speaking only of Hurricanes. The impression has been pretty generally prevalent that Britain, and the world, were saved by the Spitfire. But the wing- commander was perfectly right. What I am told in effect by another wing-commander (not a Hurricane pilot) is that the Hurricanes did the job and the Spitfires goi the limelight. Of course, the Spitfires were in it too, and I feel sure the champions of neither want to make claims at the expense of the other. But the greater the part the Hurricanes took in the victory the greater the miracle, for the Hurricanes were in almost all respects inferior in performance to the' Spitfires, particularly as few of them at that time were fitted with constant-speed equipment. What is perhaps most remarkable about the Battle of Britain was, as the Archbishop of Canterbury said on Sunday, our failure to realise in any adequate degree what was at stake. We did not know, of course, how strong the enemy was, nor how weak—in numbers—the R.A.F. was. We only saw the totals of enemy losses mounting day by day, first of all reaching three figures, then going to ‘i5o, and finally on that memorable Sunday, reaching 185. There was far more exhilaration

than apprehension ; and it was just as well. * * * * Having given last week some reasons for the relative eclipse of the Luftwaffe, I have since been reminded of another—deterioration of morale. That can easily be overstressed, but so high an autho- rity as Sir Arthur Tedder a few months ago spoke emphatically about the deterioration, and said there was no question that the air-arm would be the first of the German forces to crack. There is also the fact that (as General MacNarney pointed out this week in the United States) Germany appears to have slowed down on construction of bombers considerably in order to concentrate on fighters for defence purposes.

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The public has been able to get more daily papers this week ---because the daily papers' paper ration has been slightly increased— and I hope it is the better for them. The weekly papers' ration has not been increased ; as that question may be sub judice I will not say more about it. But I will about another. There has long been a salutary rule that no new papers may be started while the present paper shortage lasts. Exceptions have been allowed, but in the main the rule has been kept. No such rule exists in regard to

book-publishing, though the paper-problem is precisely the same there. The consequence is that all sorts of new firms have sprung up, buying what is called "free paper" (issued to printers for the purposes of their trade), while old-established firms are restricted rigidly to a fixed percentage of their pre-war consumption. It is an anomalous situation, for which nothing can be said. There are existing publishers sufficient to cater for every need. A no-new- publishers rule to match the no-new-papers rule seems to be rather urgently needed.

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Two agreeable epigrams (or something of the sort) have been torpedoed in the past week. Now that Lord Beaverbrook has got the job, it is no longer possible to refer to the Lord Privy Seal as "The Rt. Hon. Gentleman who calls himself the Lord Privy Seal, though in fact he is neither a lord nor a privy nor a seal."

(The present Secretary for Scotland was, I fancy, the gifted author of that observation.) Neither can the humble mule be described any more as being without pride of ancestry or hope of posterity, for one such animal has just given birth to a foal in Natal.. It seems the right place for a natal 'innovation.

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There is more two-way. traffic between this country and France than is commonly realised. An interesting illustration of that has just come to hand. The French clandestine paper Liberation for September rst prints at the top of its front page a quotation from an article by a regular Spectator contributor, Professor D. W. Brogan, which appeared in the Eilening Standard a few months ago The quotation, in French, runs as follows: "La France que l'Europe reelame, dont l'Europe a besoin, c'est une France qui ne renonce pas a 1793 et a 1789, qui est plus fiere d'avoir detruit la Bastille que de l'avoir bane. C'est cette France dent la de:faite fut la grande tragedie de 1940. C'est. la chute de la 'Republique' et non de la III Republique qui constitue la catastrophe tiolitique de cette armee."

How Liberation got a copy of the Evening Standard and how Liberation arrived here are—shall we say?'—interesting subjects for speculation.

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The enthusiastic applause evoked—most deservedly—by the chorus of negro soldiers at the Albert Hall on Tuesday evening ought to have some bearing on the colour-bar problem, though, in fact, the whole performance by the two hundred soldiers, and not least the artistry of the negro conductors, would have wrung approval from the Ku-Klux-Klan itself. The Daily Express is to be con-

gratulated warmly on its part in arranging so attractive and valuable an entertainment. On the general colour-bar question one difficulty

is better faced than burked. Part of the problem has been imported across the Atlantic with the American army. In one case at least that I know' of it was primarily Americans; not Englishmen, who took exception to the contiguity of a coloured man. It is not our business to express ourselves on the relations between white and coloured man in America. It is our business to uphold the standards that prevail, or should prevail, in the matter here.

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Men were enlisting for the Navy somewhere in London last week under the Y scheme They were asked about their religion. "Nonconformist," one replied. "You can't be that," he was assured, "there are only two forms of burial in the Navy, Church of England and Roman Catholic." So down he went as C. of E., and the man behind him, who came of good Free Church ancestry, the same. You may live a Methodist or a Plymouth Brother or an Anabaptist, but you dearly can't die one—not in the Royal Navy.

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From the Middle East "This show is joint, in every sense of the word ; and I was greatly struck with the friendliness and co-operation and energY here. Everywhere is the spirit It doesn't matter who, or how, but we must do it.' My opinion of our cousins, which was not high, as you know, before coming to Africa, has slowly changed to feelings of respect and admiration, .and in many cases affection- And I believe that—allowing for some reservations on both sides—