Dr. Donald Soper, the church leader who scolded the Queen for attending race meetings and the Duke of Edinburgh for playing polo on Sundays, was himself in some strife this week. A rival churchman attacked him for attending Sunday chapel with a swimsuit under his clothes, the inference being that inhabitants of glass houses should be careful with stones.

Dr. Soper was at least honest. Not only did he plead guilty, but he elaborated on it. “When my wife and I are on holiday,” he said, “we wear swimsuits under our Sunday best when we attend chapel and hope for a short sermon.

Such an extreme urge for athletism is doubtless not general among clerics, but it is interesting to note that recent international activities have taken a marked athletic turn.

During his trial this week Dr. Mossadeq, former Prime Minister of Persia, interrupted a legal address in order to execute a brief war dance and challenge the presiding Judge to a wrestling match, pointing out that he had no doubt whatsoever that his form and vigour were superior to those of the judge.

The judge declined the challenge, to the intense disappointment of the bar, witnesses and officials. However, had he accepted it he would have set no precedent.

When he was elevated to the post of Speaker of the Japanese Diet, Mr. Yasujiro Tsutsumi celebrated with a personal exhibition of ju-jitsu [jiu-jitsu] at a formal garden party and later staged a wrestling match with a leading member of the Opposition.

Such spirited and imaginative leads to democratic parliamentary processes could add much-needed colour and vitality to official and parliamentary functions the world over.

The spectacle of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Archie Cameron, putting on the gloves for five rounds with a selected opponent before the diplomatic corps at Government House, Canberra, or upholding a point of order in the House with a claymore, would have undoubted attractions.

All in all the trend is satisfying, inasmuch as it may indicate a return to those worthwhile days when national leaders had to take the physical consequence of their decisions as well.

It would be a happier and more peaceful world if our international problems could be settled by individual foreign ministers on the terms laid down by Dr. Mossadeq. The fact that their turnover might be high is immaterial.