How Deep Is Britain's Crisis?

The British have got, in the eagerly awaited White Paper issued last week-end, a masterly analysis of the situation couched in language more appropriate for readers of the Economist than for the man in the street and ending with a list of goals whose attainment, so far as governmental policy is concerned, is left largely a matter of pious aspiration. On certain assumptions, it is argued, catastrophe can be avoided. Some things are essential; many are desirable. The key to the crisis is, by general consent, Britain's balance of foreign payments.