PEOPLE AND THINGS
By HAROLD NICOLSON
WHEN I was a civil servant I used to regard Parlia- mentary Questions as a method by which, at the expense of public time and money, the pushing politician was able to advertise himself. Since entering the House of Commons my views on the subject have undergone a remark- able change. I no longer regard Parliamentary Questions as a public nuisance ; I regard them as the shield and spear- head of our liberties. Yet in deference to my former preju- dice I have myself refrained from asking any question in Parliament for four long years. The other day I broke this rule. I asked the Home Secretary whether he was aware that several members of the Link (which has been banned as an agency of enemy propaganda) had now joined " The British Council for Christian Settlement in Europe," and whether the activities of these people were being watched. Sir John Anderson, with a beaming smile, replied that the answer to both parts of the question was in the affirmative. I was pleased by this assurance. I am not a person who indulges in spy-mania or who would ever advocate the sup- pression of free thought. I was pleased because I had elicited from the Home Secretary a public assurance that he also drew a distinction between those people who are pacifists because they hate war, and those other people who hate this war because they admire the Nazis. Such a distinction is essential. It is wrong and dangerous that the Swastika and Christianity should in any form be linked together.
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