The Outlook for London

R.A.B.

MUNICIPAL Reform has won for its cause a third successive victory in London; this is the bald and obvious result of the recent County Council election. But what, measured in the actual effect on the good or bad government of the Metropolis, will be the consequences of this triumph? Forces of restraint will tend to check the free play of that passion for action and development which is now the dominant characteristic of the Progressive Party. Six years of opposition have been good for the Progressives. When, in the spring of 1907, they suffered defeat, they had become barren of ideas, and, worse still, emptied of any desire to do more than live idly on the record of past achievements. But six years of a not unsuccessful struggle to make other people do things have created, if not new ideas, at any rate a consciousness of their need and an altogether unfettered willingness to venture on fresh undertakings. Victory at the recent elections would have suddenly released an amazing store of administrative energy; de feat entails a certain measure of slow discharge. To this extent …

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Publication information: Article title: The Outlook for London. Contributors: Not available. Magazine title: New Statesman (1996). Volume: 132. Issue: 4633 Publication date: April 14, 2003. Page number: S10+. © Not available. COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group.

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