Timely Topics

Northern Advocate, 13 March 1939, Page 4

Timely Topics

Says Air-Commander L. E. O. Charlton in “Reynolds’ News”: “Tunis, particularly the harbour of Bizerta,

would mean, at last, _' effective control over the Sicilian gate,

IF ITALY OWNED TUNIS.

which, at present, has only the hinge of Pcntellaria to swing upon, instead ’of being firmly stapled at either end. With the midway Mediterranean gate ■ thus adjusted, traffic in both directions I could be as securely controlled, or [stopped, as if it were the sluice gate fof a lock, and from the position of ipredominance Italy could commence [fulfilment of her dream of power. For [that reason, though apparently we [know it not in our high places, whatI ever danger threatens to France in [view of the demand is no greater than that which threatens Britain. The Sicilian Narrows, though wider, is a strait no less than Gibraltar. With a plenitude of air power on the spot, backed by a naval force adapted for for the purpose of fighting in such ! waters, it is calculated to prevent a i passage, except at serious loss.”

® is la. s “In my young days,” said Mr Silkin, in a recent speech, “one read ia ‘penny dreadful,’ or a ‘twopenny dreaful,’ as .one hon.

“PENNY DREADFULS .”

member described it, in which there was a hero and a villain,

and one always had the comfortable assurance that at the end of the day the hero would come out all right, and his virtue would be rewarded, and that the villain would get the merits which he richly deserved. “But today we have not that hopeful assurance in the kind of literature that is available to boys and girls. Too often the villain is made attractive , and the hero unattractive. Even in ‘ Barry Lyndon,’ by Thackeray, a book which I read as a boy, which tends to glorify the villain, the villain is made to finish his days in

povery, and misery. “Today there is no such certainty. The ‘crook’ is often portrayed as a v most attractive figure, while the policeman or the Scotland Yard detective is portrayed as a clumsy and even a comic figure. Moreover, there are no guarantees that the crook will not come out on top. This sort of thing must have its influence on the young persons of today.”