There are times when I regret that the V-campaign, in-
geniously invented by a Luxemburg diplomatist and ably exploited by Colonel Briton and the French broadcasters, should have gained such currency in this Island. We have ourselves no need at present for a symbol of national regene- ration, and should that need arise we may regret that the V-sign was used prematurely and exploited to a degree which in a few weeks from now will render it unprofitable and stale. Yet for overseas-propaganda it has proved an invaluable medium, in that it has co-ordinated hatreds and made the Germans well aware how widely inflamed those hatreds have become. In vain has Dr. Goebbels sought to "faire la part du feu" and to pretend that the V-sign stands for Ge victory. He well knows that the German for victory " Sieg" and that "'Viktoria " to the Germans suggests onj the great English Queen. For occupied and neutral c tries the V-sign has in truth become the medium of a hidd plebiscite: it rattles on doorways and tea-cups; it blares ou in the great opening chords of the Fifth Symphony; it I chalked on pavements and scrawled upon the dust of German staff-cars; the brave can greet each other with extended index and fore-finger, the less courageous can with two matches upon an ash-tray innocently frame for themselves a pattern of defiance and hope. Its combinations and permutations are incalculable. The extent of its acceptance is enormous, and only yesterday I saw a bundle of South American newspapers in which the V-sign figured in some form or other in many advertisements. At this stage of the war it is essential to provide the people of occupied Europe with some symbol which will enable them to be provocative without committing provocation.
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