Lord Simon, in his Sir John Simon days, once told
the House of Commons that though it might be difficult to define an elephant most people knew one when they saw it. That is broadly true of vulgarity,—a reflection inspired by the letters of several correspondents who have at different times sent me copies of the periodical called Blighty, which is distributed free officially in large numbers to the Forces through the supply-services—i.e., with the rations ; it is financed, evidently, by several pages of tabloid and other advertisements—a perfectly proper proceed- ing. The latest copy is sent me by a retired lieutenant-colonel who is a Welfare Officer, and as such has been asked (and refused) to distribute the paper. The front page is devoted to a picture of two young women, apparently no better than they should be, followed by two hopefully interested R.A.F. officers, with an announcement "Target for Tonight" in the background. (Of course the ladies may, in fact, be followers of Dr. Buchman, in which case there will be some disappointment in store.) Else- where is a young lady with extremely exiguous clothing and in danger of losing even that on a barbed-wire fence. That sort of thing. Obviously not pornography, but to say the least not elevating, and a strange reinforcement of various efforts, official and unofficial, for the welfarc of the troops. One Welfare Officer, expressing his dislike of the paper, said he felt he could not protest, in view of the patrons it boasts—the Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill, P.C., among them. (The Chaplain-General to the Forces is not, so far as I know, of the number.) The paper is a genuine and altruistic attempt to provide entertainment for the
Forces, and I believe it is highly popular. Probably it is liked in so far as it is low. But lowness tends to breed lowness, * * * *
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