MR. NIXON MIGHT take lessons in the art of giving
a small informal press conference (I am not thinking of the large-scale affairs, which are basically unsatisfactory anyway) from Alastair Buchan, introducing the Institute for Strategic Studies. Mr. Buchan was as concise as Mr. Nixon was verbose, and I shall be surprised if the new pody ever suffers while he remains its director from the amiable expensive woolliness to which such institutions are prone. His aim is to provide a centre upon which students of strategy. and fact- finding journalists can call for information; and to investigate s:rategic problems—provided they have a general significance. The Institute may examine national service to determine what is the minimum 'period it takes to make a soldier, because whether or not a twelve-month training period, say, is Jong enough, or whether it is a complete waste of money, is something that is of general concern to Western governments; but it' will not investiglite conscripts' pay and con- ditions of service—it will not be a rival Grigg Committee. The need for more authoritative and impartial information on strategic. problems has long been obvious, and the Ford Foundation has again shown its wisdom in providing the ma's wherewith it can be produced.
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