What does Britain stand for in the world to-day? The liberated peoples of Europe are asking this question; they will ask it with increasing insistence as the trials of reconstruction replace the sufferings of war. They look on Britain as their nearest neighbour among the Big Three, and not only in geographical terms. They share with her a heritage of Western civilisation. They expect that she will emerge from the war, having been spared the horrors of occupation, with resources far superior to theirs. They want to know what leadership she means to give. On questions concerning the future pattern of Europe, Britain appears to be taking her cue from Russia. In matters of economic reconstruction she appears to be chary of any action which might be displeasing to business interests in the United States. Her friends in Europe are inclined to wonder if she has any positive purpose of her own. Britain’s difficulties are plain. The war has placed her between two powerful Allies, far removed from one another in outlook. But her middle position gives her also a special responsibility towards the rebuilding of Europe.
Key quote
“Can we ask the large number of hon. Members in this house who do not need combs to give theirs up?”
Frederick Messer MP responds to a question to the president of the Board of Trade on the shortage of combs
Talking point
The findings [of the Royal Commission on Equal Pay] may be expected to bring to light some remarkable discrepancies between men’s and women’s pay for equal work. There is a woman rating clerk, for instance, who now does the work that was done by two men before the war. She is paid £130 a year when the men got £240 each.
Observer news story
