Thomas Denham , evening news diplomatic correspondent , continues his series on Hungary today , five years after the uprising . catching up with the western Joneses . Hungary is not only a communist country , but in a sense a new country , trying for the first time to exploit its resources and catch up with the west . everywhere there are new factories , new housing estates , new farm buildings . clothes and many window displays may sometimes remind you of the post-war years of utility in Britain . much is obviously being sacrificed for the future , but people have money to spend on what is available , particularly on entertainment and food , both of which are cheap . on the bright days which follow one another in summer the pavements of Budapest &apos;s main streets are thronged . at the week-end the many fine swimming pools , fed by hot-springs , are so packed it is hardly possible to see the water , and the resorts down the Danube and on Lake Balaton are full of couples and families enjoying themselves , which they can do for a very modest outlay . the night clubs are full , and whether you eat in a restaurant or a private home you soon discover the Hungarians are traditionally the biggest eaters in Europe , and take a pride in it - to the distress of their doctors . lively people . they are enthusiastic cinema-goers - Hungary must be one of the few European countries where cinema attendances have steadily increased in recent years . television is comparatively new and limited , and with about 150,000 sets in the country has hardly yet made an impact . the standard , of course , is very different from the hard , expensive glitter of West Germany . but it is equally far removed from the dismal greyness of east Berlin . the Hungarians are a lively people , with a sense of humour very much like ours . if they have their troubles and sorrows , in the towns , at any rate , they seem to carry them lightly . earlier in the year , I was told , the riddle was being asked : what is it that is 30 yards long and eats potatoes ? the answer a meat queue . more recently it was what is 30 yards long and eats meat , with the answer a potato queue . I saw nothing to suggest an overall shortage of food - on the contrary . the official explanation of the meat queues was that they were only for pork . there was plenty of beef and other meat , but conservative housewives preferred to queue for their favourite pork . pork shortage . the shortage of pork could have been satisfied by cutting exports , but the authorities preferred to disappoint customers at home to losing customers abroad by not meeting export orders . comparisons of standards of living are difficult to make because of traditional differences in the way of life and pursuit of happiness , differences in our social system and the wide range of incomes . for instance , rents in Hungary are extremely low , running from 15 s to &amp;pound;2 a month . public transport is so cheap that its cost could virtually be ignored , and , indeed , it must literally be so by many in Budapest , for the trams are usually so packed that it would be impossible to collect the fares even if the customers were anxious to pay . a really cheap midday meal is widely available by law , and the quantity and quality and service is much above what one would expect in Britain , although this probably has much more to do with tradition and a feeling that food is more important than the social revolution . deductions for pensions and trade union funds may amount to 4 per cent , but income tax is not something that has to be worried about . norm of work . these are facts that have to be borne in mind when comparing wages , which , at a realistic rate of exchange , average less than &amp;pound;25 a month , with a range of , say &amp;pound;14 a month for an office cleaner to &amp;pound;50 plus a month for a coal miner . as is usual in a socialist country , wages depend on achieving a norm of work . the underground coal miner &apos;s plus , for instance , is in the form of an annual bonus based on loyalty , i.e , years of service and good timekeeping . at a pit I went down , the list of bonuses paid to every miner was pinned up . the largest amounted to two months &apos; wages - over &amp;pound;100 - and they ranged down to two weeks &apos; wages . this makes the miners comparatively wealthy and I was interested to learn they spend their surplus money on much the same things as here , if they can get them - furniture , television , refrigerators and cars . the Mayor of Komlo , which has 10,000 miners , told me he knew several who had refurnished their homes twice in seven years ( the whole city is less than 10 years old ) , and that there was over &amp;pound;3 million in the local savings bank . but the standard of good attendance is stiff - one day &apos;s unnecessary absenteeism loses half the annual bonus , two days and the lot is lost . holiday rewards . among the rewards of good work and conformity with enthusiasm are holidays at excellent resorts so cheap that the wage-earner can make a profit on his stay . my guide in one town told me she had been awarded a fortnight &apos;s holiday on the Black Sea for her good work . these holiday homes are owned by the trade unions , which spend 73 per cent of their annual income of &amp;pound;6 million plus on social welfare , culture and sports . but , except through these official channels , the possibilities for holidays away from home must be limited . although more Hungarians travelled to western countries last year than ever before , holidays abroad in non-communist countries are limited because currency is not made available . there are many things in the new Hungary it is easy to like and perhaps from which we could learn . there is , for instance , the appetite for education , including self-education , and for culture and the facilities provided for satisfying it . there is the lack of class-consciousness , at least in the towns , where you will find obvious manual workers sitting with smartly-dressed men and women in restaurants and night clubs . there is self-criticism and a great desire to do better . dull papers . a high official in one ministry surprised me by his blunt criticism of Hungarian papers as deadly dull . he said he would like to see some as bright as the British ones , although , of course , their contents would be different . they can laugh at their own weaknesses , like the belief that it is impossible to eat in a restaurant without gipsy music , although the gipsies have disappeared long since . what I found depressing was the insistence that all the many good things in the country were due only to socialism and the party and would not otherwise exist , together with fantastic ignorance of the western world or refusal to believe what did not suit the theory . to give a couple of instances that stuck in my mind . a woman journalist insisted that unemployment was our major difficulty in Britain . she simply smiled disbelievingly at the statement that , in fact , there were more situations vacant than people looking for jobs . a charming and highly-intelligent medical director said : but , of course , our system of medicine is different as our doctors aim to keep people well , while it pays western doctors to keep them sick . hardly able to believe my ears , I asked him if he really believed that . the answer was : it must be so , otherwise how could they make a profit in a capitalist country ? rigidity of mind . one can be full of admiration for the things being done - the new factories , the housing estates , the new towns , the large-scale agriculture . what is almost frightening is the rigidity of mind which seems to make it impossible to accept that many of these things are also being done , and perhaps even more so and better , in capitalist countries ; an apparent assumption that everything from free libraries to large-scale farming and co-operatives to health services are new and unique in socialist countries . of course , these closed minds are not all on one side of the iron curtain . I read not long ago in an English paper a description of Budapest in the early evening suggesting it was a dark and depressing city . I can testify that , seen from the surrounding heights , it is a fairy-land of lights , that many shops are open and the windows of the others lit up . there , as in other Hungarian cities , it is possible and very cheap to dance until 4 a.m if you are so minded . from our diplomatic correspondent . Thomas Denham . British and American tanks stand ready for action with their guns pointed at east Berlin , where Russian tanks have been seen for the first time since the 1953 uprising . since last Sunday , when east Berlin sector guards stopped U.S soldiers and officials and refused to let them pass when they would not show their identity papers , the situation has built up into the tensest in the history of post-war Berlin . the foray of U.S soldiers into east Berlin to secure the release of the deputy chief of the U.S mission was the first occasion American soldiers had entered the Soviet sector since the city was divided . what is it all about ? superficially , it might seem that the dispute is about how members of the U.S mission should establish their identity when they cross the sector border . in fact , the dispute has arisen out of a bold attempt by the East German government to get recognition for itself by the west , and the determination of the west to continue to demonstrate that east Berlin is not the capital of a sovereign nation , but part of Berlin which is under four-power occupation . was clearly shown . if east Berlin were part of a sovereign nation , no foreign troops and , indeed no foreigners would be allowed to enter it without permission of its government . every time western soldiers or members of the military government enter east Berlin they demonstrate it is not part of another nation . this situation has existed and worked well - since the defeat of the Berlin blockade . what the East Germans are trying to establish was clearly shown during one of the hold-ups when one of their radio reporters , doing a running commentary , told his listeners : now the Americans are negotiating with our officials . this was , of course , untrue , the negotiation was a flat demand for a Soviet officer to be brought to whom they would talk and with whom they would , no doubt , establish their identity . what is at stake , in fact , is whether the west recognises Herr Ulbricht or Mr Kruschev as responsible for east Berlin . the west has no intention of recognising Herr Ulbricht , as it has made very clear to the Russians in public and private conversations . the full story behind this dangerous confrontation shows there have been miscalculations on both sides . were too cautious . Herr Ulbricht , the toughest and most adventurous of the communist leaders , long believed that the Russians were too cautious about Berlin and that , given a free hand , he could get away with a bit-by-bit encroachment on western rights which would result in west Berlin falling into his hands . he had been pressing to be allowed to build his wall and close all but a handful of crossings for a long time before he persuaded the Russians that any danger of a western counter-action could be discounted . in the event he proved right . there was no western counter-action . this was not because the west was taken by surprise . its intelligence had learned it was coming . but it wrongly believed the wall would be directed only at controlling Germans and that plenty of crossings would be made available through negotiations , if necessary , with the Russians . when the error of this view became apparent , there was determination to resist , by force if necessary , the next attempt to take another slice from the west Berlin sausage . 