PEOPLE AND THINGS
By HAROLD NICOLSON
UNLESS some thunderbolt intervenes, the House of Commons will adjourn this week for the summer recess. The hilarity which usually enlivens the last day of term will this Friday be stilled by sad and even sullen apprehensions ; sore feelings may remain over from Wednesday's debate ; the atmosphere of comradely leave-taking which on the eve of other holidays has warmed the lobbies will be replaced by a chill of reserve ; there will be few prizes and no play-boxes. It would be unfair to assert that those who have imposed upon us these two months of holiday were actuated by per- sonal convenience. True it is that it has been an exhausting session and that the Whips and Ministers have merited respite. Yet the issue between those who urge an automatic reunion before the end of August and those who press for a full two months' adjournment cuts deeper than any holiday plans. It is an issue, essentially, of Parliamentary and even constitutional principle.
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