A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THE statement a few days ago by M. Pierlot, the Prime Minister of Belgium, that Belgium's defensive preparations are costing her £70,000,000 a year, and that the total of her normal budget is only £175,000,000 arouses sombre reflec- tions. That is what Adolf Hitler is costing Belgium. What is he costing Holland, and Rumania, and Yugoslavia, and Sweden—to say nothing of the countries he has actually driven into war against him? The question is clearly un- answerable, but it is safe to say that the cost of Hitler is many times higher than the cost of the worst warmonger who preceded him at any date in history. No doubt he would feel nothing but satisfaction at that unique distinction. But if you look at it another way the cause of the whole thing was a woman. I gather that the Daily Express thinks so. The first paragraph of its leading article last Saturday, which was Hitler's birthday, ran as follows: "Fifty-one years ago this morning an Austrian midwife held a baby head downwards in her left hand. With her right hand she slapped breath into the being whose harsh tones have since transformed the life of Europe" [as described at the time, presumably, by Our Special Correspondent, who is now approaching retiring age]. If only her grip had given out.
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