26 JANUARY 1940, Page 15

PEOPLE AND THINGS

By HAROLD NICOLSON

THERE must be something about frost, and snow in the afternoon, and " those winter dreams when the nights grow longer " which is trying to the temper of man. The week before last Mr. St. John Ervine, whom I had always supposed to belong to the more equable type of Ulstermen, rose and shook me until my teeth rattled. And last week Mr. W. B. Curry wrote a cross letter to The Spectator because I had asked some pertinent questions about Federal Union. He suggested, in this letter, that I was being pompous and pernickety. I was not, I hope, being any of these things ; I was merely puzzled by the reckless optimism of the Federal Unionists. I remain puzzled.

* * * *