TOPICS OF THE DAY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 29241, 11 October 1940, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Attitude To France The English attitude of mind towards the French at the present time is of exceptional interest, says a writer in the Spectator, London. Those whose opinion has always been, “ Never trust a Froggy ! ” are inevitably wagging their insular tails; they have always had their stubborn counterparts in France, and their generalisation is directly translatable as “ Perfide Albion ! ” On the other hand, a French woman who escaped from Bordeaux with her children has told me that she has been astonished by the sympathy, the kindness and the absence of reproach against her country that she has everywhere encountered in England. Our common soldiers appear to have smilingly and without bitterness written off the temporary loss of an ally. One of them, whom I suspected of being a rather premature veteran, while waiting his turn at darts, was inclined to lecture on the adventure of Dunkirk. “ When I was in France he began. His dart-playing companion interrupted him swiftly : “ France ? ” said he. “ Never ’eard of such a place.” A piece of dialogue which a dramatist would give his head to have invented.