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recent change of regime but has not diminished.
BBC exercises a considerable influence in Ceylon.
Costs are put at £4,600.
(iv) General assessment
The advent of Mrs Bandaranaike's United Front
Government, in the context of the comfortable
middle-class politics of Ceylon, did not have as
fiercely radical immediate results as one might
think. The subsequent insurgency, however,
constituted a political and social sore of
as yet undefined virulence. Coupled with an
economic situation not far short of catastrophic,
the outlook is bleak.
On
The High Commissioner has suggested that in these
new circumstances the best long term course for
British interests would now appear to be
extrication with as little loss as possible.
the other hand, the anglophile streak in Ceylon
which differentiates it so noticeably from India
or Pakistan, and which was vividly demonstrated
by the way in which Mrs Bandaranaike turned to
us in her moment of crisis, indicates that we
still have a special position of which we can
make use if we wish.
With Ceylon now wide open to a variety of
influences, the emphasis on our objectives may
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