Sir John Reith committed himself to an interesting forecast on
Wednesday, when he predicted that " in due time " railroads, coal and steel would be nation- alized up to the B.B.C. model and the Post Office and one or two Government Departments nationalized down to it. Nothing is more likely, for the B.B.C. model, in fact, provides a platform on which all parties could meet. Three or four years ago one of the most prominent leaders of political Labour (as Labour then was) assured me with some emphasis that that was the form of Socialism to which his and his friends' minds were turning, and that was borne out clearly by the terms of the late Government's Transport Bill. But a predominantly Conservative Government has taken over the Bill with changes which affect the main body of the structure very little, and London transport will in fact be managed on the B.B.C. model. The Port of London Authority and other local bodies have been run on that basis for decades, and the Central Electricity Board has the same constitution on a national scale.
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