INQUIRE WITHIN SIR,—May I be allowed to deal with the
wider implications of the statements made in the House of Commons by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on the Yugoslav Service of the BBC? Mr. Allan said : 'The best answer to Communism is not to abuse it but to show that our system is better.'
Who ever suggested that Communism should be 'abused'? We can only assume that by 'abuse' Mr. Allan meant also reasonable, balanced criticism of Communist ideology and policy. If this is the case —and the absence of such regular and objective criticism from many overseas services of the BBC is significant —then Mr. Allan sadly underrates the significance of the ideological conflict between the Kremlin and the West. Indeed, we must ask our- selves whether people with this type of complacent outlook are best suited to occupy a key position in our foreign service, especially now that the Summit delusions have finally been so rudely shaken.
On the other hand, if Mr. Allan thinks that objective, critical scrutinising of Communist abuses, failures and frauds is necessary—why does he not advise the BBC in general, and particularly the Russian and Yugoslav Services, to make such broad- casts? Clearly, objective reporting of news (and even that is sometimes somewhat deficient, as in the case of the Yugoslav Service) is not enough!
Mr. Allan's misleading answers, which you punc- tured so effectively in your editorial, must throw some doubt on the superiority of 'our system.' People abroad, as well as in this country, must be wondering what point there is in our democratic freedom to criticise public bodies like the BBC when even the most damnable and irrefutable charges made against them can be ignored with impunity, What is worse, when these charges are pressed, the responsible government spokesman pre- fers to befog the issue in the Commons, rather than expose his advisers from the South European Department of the Foreign Office and the Bush House 'interpreters' of policy to the embarrassment of having been proved inept.
There is a point where a Minister has to choose between loyalty to misguided subordinates and his duty to uphold his country's greatest democratic traditions. Unless Mr. Allan is prepared to make the right choice now, he may find himself in- volved in an upheaval which, considering the prin- ciples at stake, will dwarf Crichel Down.—Yours
faithfully, •
Allied Circle, 46 Green Street, WI A. ALEXANDER
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