Himalayan Times (1959)

Twe

^imniaean eimt« September 20, 1969

BY B. B. RAY CHAUDHUR1

( Our London Correspondent )
London, September 11.

At last Mr. Macmil-
lan has decided to dis-
continue Premiership and
to hold a General Elec-
tion with *> view to re-
coiving the rerdiot of the
people as to whether he
should oontinue as Pre-
mier or not. All speou
lations as to Election
dates are over, but greater
speculations are m full
swing now regarding the
Party to win viotory.
There is no logical argu-
ment. The Tories say
"We will win ' and the
Labourites sty precisely
the same, but the faot
of the milter is that the
voters themselves do not
know what the outcome
will be. The British are
unlike voters in other
countries. The pendulum
of their pjlitioal ideas
swings to and fro so
rapidly that sometimes
they themselves are puz-
zled. For example, after
the victory in the last
world war, the whole of
England was praotioally
plastered with portraits
of the beaming bald-
headed Winston, and un-
derneath was the caption
''Vote for him—vote Na-
tional." But we all know

for whom the British
voters voted. Never in
British history did the
Labour Party receive suoh
a huge majority—never
before did the Conserva-
tive suffer such a deftat
Labour went into Parlia-
ment and from the floor
of the House they sang
the "Red Flag." 1 he one
Wise Man of the West,
Dr. Gallup, who foretells
everything by his Pol),
has betrayed us so many
times that nowadays peo-
ple do not take him
seriously. Remember the
debacle of Winston and
Harry Truman ? In any
oase, the reason for Mao-
milUn declaring the dale
of the Klectiqp now is
that according to the
Democratic trndition he
oannot oontinue any
longer. 1 wonder whether
he is taking a big chance.
As Leader of the Oppo-
sition he would not be
misplaced, and would
save the Tory Parly a
lot of money in adver-
tising him like a deter-
gent, suoh as: "Wonder
Mac will produce Mira-
cles''; etc.

The one-hundred and
seoond edition of the

world famous "BttlOXE'S
Pr.ekagb, Baronetaqh
and Kriommqb" has just
been published. Mr. L.G.
Pine, who edit this
genealogical and heraldio
history of the Peerage
requires no introduction
for he is without doubt
a great chronicler. Since
the last war, the Peerage,
whieh used to come out
annually, is now being
published at intervals of
three years. 'I he growth
of ' Burke's Peerage" is
continuous. Ibe peren-
nial problem of the House
of Lords has taken on
freth facets in the last
twelve mouths, and the
Life) Peerag»s / ct is in-
tended as au instalment
in the way of a much
disoussed reform. . Ihe
impaot of the oreation of
Life Peers will undoubttd-
ly alter the compotiticn
of the Upper House, and
as Mr. Pins has rightly
observed, "the House of
Lords is in a State of
transition " This volume
represents a stupendous
task whioh can only be
done so thoroughly by
the Editor of monumen-
tal Annuals such as "The
International Year Book"!
"Burke's Lsnded Gentry
of Ireland", ete.

Christmas will soon
be with us again and is
the occasion when we
think of the youngsters.
What better gifts can we
(Continued ou page 0)