opinion . speak up for our friends ! a baffled and bewildered little country stands at the centre of an international storm . Belgium is accused - without a scrap of evidence - of being implicated in the murder of Patrice Lumumba . her leaders are insulted , her embassies are attacked in a score of countries . in Ghana , President Nkrumah , who has done more than most to stir up trouble in the Congo , orders every Belgian citizen to quit his country . boldly and clearly . hounding Belgium has become an international pastime . why ? because those who said the Congolese could govern themselves will not admit they were wrong . so Belgium , bowed down by internal troubles , mourning a terrible air crash , is made their scapegoat . who will speak up for Belgium ? who else but Britain . we have fought beside Belgium in two world wars . we are allies still . Britain should champion Belgium . not with the careful , hooded language of diplomacy , but boldly and fearlessly . it is time to show the world that this country does not desert her friends . the full table . happy , happy families ! never before have Britain &apos;s larders been so well stocked . supplies of meat and dairy produce were substantially higher last year than in 1959 . lucky , lucky housewives ! to have such a splendid variety of goods to choose from . not so long ago older folk were reminding young wives , harassed by shortages , of the good old days of abundance . now it is mother who picks up recipes from her daughter . the dinner table is the best answer to the grumblers in Britain today ! go ahead . this is colour day , proclaimed the American television network , N.B.C . and hour after hour it poured out its programmes in bright colours . in America colour TV is five years old . there are already 600,000 sets in use . what about Britain ? the B.B.C is ready to launch a colour TV service , but the commercial TV contractors want to delay it for 10 years . the government should settle this argument with two words to the B.B.C : - go ahead ! man of sympathy . one man beyond all others is saddened by the deaths of two elderly sisters who killed themselves because they had to leave their cottage . Mr John Crabb , clerk to Newmarket urban council , says : I shall always feel this as a personal failure . there is no reason whatsoever why he should reproach himself . the sisters had to quit as their home was falling down . and Mr Crabb did his best for them , even driving them to a new house . John Crabb has the qualities of sympathy and understanding . too often lacking in officialdom . lion rampant . Mr Henry Newton of Acton does not want his daughter to marry a Scotsman . he says that the Scots are foreigners who have no business to be in England . the first ruler of the United Kingdom was a Scot . the Lord Chancellor is a Scot . the Prime Minister is a Scot - and so were four of his predecessors this century . let Mr Newton beware . by protesting against Scotland he may be guilty of rebellion ! the empire is put on trial . Archbishop Makarios puts the commonwealth on trial . his ex-Eoka government decides that Cyprus will join it for five years . during this period Britain will be expected to subsidise and defend the Cypriots . they will enjoy all the trading benefits of imperial preference . it is a safe bet that at the end of five years Makarios and company will sign on again . it is equally certain that the British government will welcome them . how splendid it would be if , just for once , the government were to voice the real feelings of the British people . and tell Makarios they are not prepared to accept him on such terms . optimists win . good cheer for the week-end . Ford motors are to put 13,000 men back on a five-day week . one more demonstration of the industry &apos;s recovery . as springtime approaches , orders pick up . and the car men get ready for another bustling season . the pessimists said the motor industry was on its knees . the optimists said nonsense . as usual , the optimists have been proved right . out and about . Earl Russell and his friends have hit on an original way of spending this afternoon . they intend to sit outside the ministry of defence . it is their protest against the H-bomb . they ought to have a pleasant time . the weather forecast is good ; except for them , Whitehall should be deserted . and they will have a fine view of St James &apos;s Park , with its placid lake , pelicans , rare ducks , and other wild life . why not follow Lord Russell &apos;s lead today ? head for the parks to enjoy the sun . not in a foolish cause , but in a glorious one . good health ! the toilers . this group of men , says a report , work on average between 55 and 60 hours a week . they also put in an extra two or three evenings . and they never go on strike . who are they ? the trade union officials of Britain . men who earn only a fraction of what their talents and responsibilities could bring in the open labour market . the unions are fortunate indeed to find dedicated leaders at cut-rate prices . but it is time the members decided to pay up and be good employers . wrong target . the labour party says that the tory government is destroying the social services . under the labour government 18.1 per cent of the national income was spent on social services . the present figure is 19.5 per cent . there are many worthwhile targets for the opposition . what a pity to aim at the wrong one ! how many serfs ? Mrs Marcia Power , whose husband made her clean his uniform , wins a divorce . the judge says she had to act almost as a serf . up and down the country husbands will be saying they would never behave like that . but do they ever ponder how their gardening tools are mysteriously returned to the shed ; their books tidied ; and often , even their shoes cleaned ? how wonderful if they showed their appreciation this morning with a surprise box of chocolates or a bunch of flowers ! this is the price of haste . how the government must repent its haste and folly in Rhodesia ! eighteen months ago this territory was peaceful , orderly , and thriving . Africans within the federal government were getting valuable experience in administration . then Mr Iain Macleod became colonial Secretary . suddenly everything changed . timetables were scrapped . the ill-conceived Monckton commission was rushed out to Rhodesia . overnight , minor African politicians were inflated into international figures . and as the British government stepped up the pace of change , so the Africans stepped up their demands . no choice . today , in London , that rash and thoughtless policy has caused a crisis - a crisis that never should have happened . no wonder there is doubt and fearful heart-searching . if the government now reverses its plan to give the Africans control in Northern Rhodesia it may indeed face difficulties from African politicians greedy for power . but if it fails to modify that plan Rhodesia may well be plunged into chaos , like the Congo . for Mr Macmillan and his ministers there is no choice . they must safeguard Rhodesia against chaos . and try to repair the damage they have done . prosperity league . who can grow the fastest ? that is the exciting competition going on among Britain &apos;s major industries . top of the table , at the moment , is the chemical industry . then comes engineering , followed by iron and steel . even the staid and timid Treasury is cheered by the tremendous upsurge in investment . it reports that new factory building this year is likely to be 40 per cent up on 1960 . Britain &apos;s business men are right to back their faith with cash . for expansion today means still greater prosperity tomorrow . their freedom . Bertrand Russell , the 88-year-old standard bearer of the ban-the-bomb crusade , has a devoted following . thousands march with him - and sit with him too . it is said by some that he is a saint ; by others that he is a prophet . he is , in fact , a philosopher with a highly developed sense of publicity who has been spectacularly wrong on the great issues of our time . how long ? before the war he urged the British people to welcome Hitler &apos;s troops as tourists . after the war he favoured a preventive war against Russia . now he wants Britain to demolish her defences . throughout the years Lord Russell and his supporters have been able to pursue their eccentric campaigns in freedom . they should ask themselves this question : how long would that freedom last if their policies were adopted ? good will man . an experiment in courtesy is launched by the electricity board . the board is laying a cable along a seven-mile route in Surrey . a warden , Mr Jack Finlay , has been appointed to smooth out difficulties for householders when trenches are dug outside their front gates . splendid . by showing concern for the people the board will earn their good will . happy patrolling , Mr Finlay ! the facts back Welensky . good for Sir Roy Welensky ! the tough , resolute Premier of the Rhodesian federation shakes the life out of his critics . he calls them jelly-boned . he promises to preserve federation against African fanatics and woolly minded individuals in the west . some may ask : is Welensky justified in being so harsh to those who disagree with him ? the facts answer that . Congo shambles . contrast his firm , successful rule in Rhodesia with what has happened in the Congo . there Welensky &apos;s opponents have carried their theories into practice . there a UNO army of Africans , bossed by an Indian , has been in charge for months . and what has it made of the Congo ? a bloodstained shambles . no wonder Welensky has lost all patience with his misguided tormentors . they have earned his strictures . and his contempt . the thrifty ones . some people are for ever complaining that teenagers earn too much and spend it all when they get it . now a survey of the post office savings bank shows how wrong that idea is . the biggest group of depositors in the bank is made up of boys and girls aged 15 to 19 . certainly teenagers earn more than ever before . certainly they spend more . but how splendid that in the most prosperous days in this country &apos;s history the old-fashioned virtue of thrift should still have a powerful appeal for young people . understood ! the Danes are annoyed with British farmers for fighting against Danish competition . they say that our farmers do not seem to understand the meaning of free trade . there is no doubt what the Danes understand by free trade . it is that they should be free to sell as much as they like here , while buying more and more from our rivals . Germany has now supplanted Britain as Denmark &apos;s principal supplier . the farmers of Britain understand free trade . that is why they fight it . curtain up . the Palace cinema at Buckley , near Chester , will be reopened next week by Barry Flanagan and Eric Platt , both aged 19 . Eric says : we believe in the cinema . and we know what people want . the combination of enthusiasm and shrewd anticipation of public taste has launched many great enterprises . Barry and Eric have enthusiasm . they are backed by a resurgent film industry . it could be curtain up on two success stories . of the old Palace . and Barry and Eric . follow Oxford ! dons at Cambridge want the study of agriculture to become an honours degree course . farming is Britain &apos;s most vital industry . it is increasingly dependent on new techniques - and on the universities to provide men of knowledge and skill . the older universities are often accused of being interested only in dead subjects . now Cambridge has the opportunity to show it is just as interested in the living . particularly as its rival , Oxford , has had a similar course in farming for 15 years ! here are the new pioneers . John Glenn , Virgil Grissom , Alan Shepard . one of these three men has a date with destiny - the first journey into space . at the beginning of this wonderful century many people believed that there were no more worlds to conquer . 