MEANWHILE the situation in the Far East is quite bad
enough without speeches of the kind the Chief of Air Staff made in Sheffield on Monday. `If the Chinese start using nuclear weapons,' said Air Chief Marshal Sir Dermot Boyle, 'we know where they are getting them from and we may hold those People responsible.' Then, apparently in fear lest this remark should prove too deep and subtle for his audience, he added : 'We are confident we could destroy Russia tomorrow. At the moment they cannot retaliate. Perhaps in three years they can, but not at the moment.' I don't know whether it is more deplorable that Sir Dermot should think such things, or that he should say them. If he really believes that the Russians 'cannot retaliate' —presumably he means against thermo-nuclear bombardment—then British Intelligence really must be as bad as I have always believed. And what happens in three years' time? On Sir Der- mot's argument we shall then be in a very bad Way indeed. In any case, holding the Russians responsible for Chinese actions presumably means that the Russians would be entitled to hold us responsible for American actions. There must be few people in this country who share Sir Dermot's apparent faith in the correctness of American actions and none at all who share his desire to make sure that a nuclear war over • the offshore islands be spread as widely as possible.
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