The axeman cometh

Tory Governments have one remarkable virtue not possessed by their opponents. When they win a General Election, they move thereafter with a speed which never fails to astonish their better intentioned but more ponderous Labour predecessors in office, as well as civil servants and the general public. It's as if they wished to carry through their whole programme in the first six months of office. They did it in 1970, and they are doing it again in 1979. Admittedly such indecent haste serves only to bring forward the day of the inevitable U‐turn, which this time shows every sign already of being a positive gyration or pirouette; but even the most naive determination and forcefulness demands admiration.