GREAT BRITAIN: Bloody Gubbins

Each Sunday in the London Express, Columnist Nathaniel Gubbins writes to & for the ordinary people of Britain (TIME, March 8). They understand him, laugh with and at him. On Nov. 21, before the Cairo and Teheran conferences stirred the world, Columnist Gubbins (alias Astrologer “Old Moore” Gubbins) wrote:

“Conferences will be held in various parts of the world, mostly to no purpose whatever, and statesmen and public officials will continue their nerve war on the people by predicting a sudden end to the war one day, and warning everybody that a long, hard, bloody struggle is ahead of us the next.

“The word ‘bloody’ will be used more & more often in speeches and newspapers by those who always wanted to write rude things on walls and now, thanks to the war, can say ‘bloody’ and write ‘bloody’ as often as they like to their heart’s content.*

“Old Moore Gubbins thinks that whether it will be short and bloody or long and bloody, it’s been going on for too bl(whoa)—too long, anyway.

“Christmas will always be Christmas to those who like Christmas and to those who don’t (like O.M.G.) it will still be the same old hell.

“Black Market activities will flourish in this season of good will and many foreigners will benefit.”

*In Britain, “bloody” is—or recently was—a disreputable word.