Abstract
IN the debate in the House of Lords on December 3, in which the Government accepted Lord Vansittart's motion for the encouragement of the development of close political and economic relations between the countries of Western Europe, Lord Lindsay spoke eloquently of the importance of relaxing in every way possible the regulations which make travel and the intercourse of minds difficult. He rightly stressed the value of the contribution to the unification of Europe which could come from abundant intercourse between the young ; and on the cultural side, he also urged that energetic measures should be taken to deal with the scarcity of books, for books could be a real step towards establishing a common culture in Europe. Though the debate was pervaded with a sense of the ultimate necessity of such steps as Field-Marshal Smuts and Mr. Churchill have urged in recent speeches, no one suggested that a United States of Europe is as yet practical politics. Rather it was realized that there must be established once more that free intercourse of minds out of which creative ideas and action emerge in politics as well as in science and in art.
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UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANISATION. Nature 159, 109–111 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/159109a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/159109a0