IN A FEW WORDS

Lord Alfred Douglas to the P.M.
I AM very sorry to heat that Lord I Alfred Douglas is seriously ill. and has been anointed. Though much of our correspondence has been acrimonious, each series of quarrels ends in a reconciliation, for Lord Alfred, who never attempts to disguise his feelings, is as ready to offer the hand of friendship as he is to tell you just what he thinks of you. And illness does not change either his Feelings or his well-known polemical style, as the following letter he has just sent to the Prime Minister testifies: "Dear Mr. Churchill,-1 write this freer from what is probably
my death-bed. I was given Extreme Unction three days ago T am writing to you as a dying man to implore you after your magnificent speech about Greece the other day not to fall into the pit ot dishonour which would be the result of the betrayal of Poland to people whom you yourself described, nor so long ago, as ' bloody baboons.'
am too ill to write more, but f beg you to consider that if you let down the Poles your own reputation, which is now at the highest peak, will be irretrievably damaged in the eyes of posterity. Yours sincerely. Alf red Douglas."
Tragedies of France wHAT the people ot France must
have gone through this year was brought home to me recently in a very direct and personal fashion. Out of a very small number of near French relations, a first cousin and his wife were killed by Allied bombing in August, and in the same month another first cousin was killed near the Pyrenees in circumstances that have not been detailed. "He died the death of a martyr," is the only clue given through the post. I cannot suppose that this family is wholly exceptional in such sudden and tragic losses.
The Left's Moral Record As an avid rcadei of the Socialist weekly press, 1 have noticed how easy it is to pick out the honest from the dishonest Socialists. It is a Mies. tion ot their response to certain ex treme moral tests I always allow lot a good deal of " appeasing " of when one believes to be evil. This seems to me to he inevitable in an evil and fallen world. It is impossible to live at all without supping (at a respectable dis.
twice) with one's devil. But there comes a point when such appeasement turns into real compromise and treason to one's own principles. Some on the Left are prepared to go any lengths Others are not, The Daily Worker. of course, has the lowest standard, being committed to official Communism. The Tribune and Aneurin Bevan the best, I think. The New Statesman is perhaps the most intelligent, but its moral record is poor indeed. All of which is a long-winded preface to my pleasure in recording that Michael Foot has come down on the right side of the Polish-Lublin affair He is agai.'st Lublin.
The M.R.E. Comes Home CONGRATULATIONS to " Bill " Fitzmaurice for his very well. earned M.B.E. for bravery in clearing
the Hereford Ordnance Factory. Flow well he earned it is clear from the
Gazette citation. " William Louis Fitzmaurice, usually alone, performed the most dangerous part of this work. A number of shells had badly crushed fuses, with the striker-pins in dangerous positions. Every time one of these shells was discovered Fitzneurice cleared the area and then defused the shell himself, His coolness, tact and judgment were unfailing, his patience inexhaustible; and his personal bravery in undertaking the most dangerous part of the work alone was mainly instrumental in the clearing of tons of ex
plosives without loss of life or limb and in record time."
Fitzmaurice, who was educated at Douai, married Pat Galvin, the sister of the editorial secretary of this paper. So it's almost a family matter for us at the office. Now for the celebrations, if we can get any alcohol!
The Genuine Article
IN the M-G store a customer stood i! over ow card counter. " I want," she said, " to see some Christmas cards."
" Oh, you want religious Christmas cards ?" asked Mrs. Zammett, one of our employees, wonderingly, for the customer was standing over the Christmas card counter.
" No, no, not religious cards. f want something really Christmassy. Front the Living Church (U.S.A.).
JOTTER