31 JANUARY 1969, Page 10

Plan song

CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS

Fond, impious Man, presume not thou to scan That Marplan Plan that is more mar than plan. For, lo, our reverent ieaders there can score Tots of a sixty-five per cent or more. Straightforward, likeable, efficient, strong, Hardly a faltering foot do they put wrong (Though likeable Wilson comes one point beneath The even more rapturous Mr Edward Heath). Their average virtues, one may calculate, On balance come to 64.8 The times are measured scarcely out of joint Down to at least a single decimal point ... Straightforward? But the pollsters do not state In what direction they are going straight. Efficient? And they equally neglect To tell what they're proposing to effect.