Britain, an Official Handbook. Prepared by the Central Office of
Information. (H. M.S.O. 10s.) Tms book within its own field rivals and in part replaces Whitaker as, a source of sternly factual information. It is the fifth edition of a book which until now has only been available at British Information Centres abroad, giving "factual and statistical information, 'compiled from authoritative and official u rces" (a distinction which does COI edit) "about the United Kingdom, its ople and its institutions."
Starting from the physical characteristics of the British Isles it proceeds, through the unarguable facts of demography via the pplitical and constitutional framework and the economic and financial life of the country, to such potentially controversial topics as ' Social Welfare," Religion, Science and the Arts' and ' Broadcasting and the Press.' These last sections are the most interesting for cursory reading, as distinct from refer- flce. A table showing the political ten- dency, owner or controller, and circulation, of national daily and weekly papers is particularly rewarding; one hopes that the civil servant who described the Daily Express's political/ tendency as "conservative though not necessarily that of-Conservative Party" was promoted on the spot. One of the confessed limitations of the book is that it is largely concerned with the position of governmental (and non-govern- mental) organisations in the various fields. This is sometimes a drawback: under 'Literature' we find accounts of the Arts Council, the National Book League and literary societies, libraries and literary prizes, but official impartiality has apparently prevented any mention of the actual pro- ducers of the written word.
The bibliography, in which HMSO publications take a prominent place, could hardly be comprehensive of such a vast subject matter, but is useful and balanced without being inspired.
L. A.
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