WHY IT HAPPENED
Sts,—Mr. Kenneth Lindsay's forceful analysis of " causes " makes good reading ; but I rather think that the determining motives of millions of electors were less ideologistic and more mundane than Mr. Lindsay sup- poses. There is a general belief that war-time wages can, and should, be paid in perpetuity ; a hatred of the high taxes on beer and tobacco, and a still greater hatred of income-tax ; and a widespread supposition that a Labour Government will keep up wages, bring down taxation, and generally provide more for the pockets of the voters.
Mr. Lindsay and his colleagues must now face the invidious task of dissipating these comfortable fallacies by uttering uncomfortable words ; and it will be equally disastrous for the Government either to do this or to refrain. (Mr. Dalton has braced himself to administer the first cold douche.) When Mr. Lindsay refers to the "sweep of the majority," one may ask, What majority? If the Tory and Liberal totals are com- bined, the Socialists prove to be in a minority of about 23o,00o, entitling them to no more than 300 seats in the House. The Government's majority is therefore fictitious, and the Extremists who have hinted at high-handed
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