GREAT BRITAIN HOME IN THE HIGHLANDS FOR THE HIGHLAND VILLAGERS OF PERTHSHIRE, 
BRITAIN'S PRIME MINISTER LAST WEEK PUT ON THE LIVELIEST SHOW SINCE 
BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE BATTLED THROUGH THEIR MISTY GLENS IN 1745 . 
IN DALGUISE AND DUNKELD, AMULREE AND BUCHANTY, AND SCORES OF OTHER 
GREY HAMLETS AND MARKET TOWNS, SIR ALEC DOUGLAS-HOME SHOOK HANDS WITH 
SHEPHERDS AND SHOPKEEPERS, DOWNED A WEE DRAPPIE WITH FARMERS, POPPED INTO 
COTTAGES, SCHOOLS AND SMITHIES . THE PRIME MINISTER EVEN TOOK A 
NOBLE PRATFALL IN THE MUD AS HE WAS SCRAMBLING UP A 
HAYCART TO ADDRESS THE FOLK IN SLEEPY DUNNING . " WELL, 
" HE GRINNED, GETTING TO HIS FEET, " IT'S BETTER TO 
FALL NOW THAN LATER . " ON THE STUMP, DOUGLAS-HOME SEEMED 
RELAXED AND SLIP-PROOF . TO WIN ELECTION TO PARLIAMENT FROM THE 
SAFE TORY SEAT, HE RACED THROUGH THE GLENS IN A FAST 
BLACK HUMBER, MAKING DOZENS OF PLAIN-SPOKEN SPEECHES ON TOPICS RANGING FROM 
WINTER GRAIN PRICES TO EAST-WEST RELATIONS . WEARING A BATTERED TWEED 
JACKET AND A JAUNTILY ANGLED CHECKED-CLOTH CAP, HE FIELDED INVOLVED LOCAL 
QUESTIONS WITH A BARRAGE OF STATISTICS THAT SHOWED HE HAD DONE 
HIS HOMEWORK IN THE HILLSIDE COTTAGE NEAR COMRIE THAT BECAME THE 
OFFICIAL SEAT OF GOVERNMENT DURING THE CAMPAIGN . WHEN HECKLING STIRRED 
AN UPROAR IN THE CROWD HE WAS ADDRESSING AT ABERFELDY, THE 
PRIME MINISTER CALMLY SAT DOWN IN MIDSPEECH, REFUSING TO LET PARTY 
STEWARDS THROW OUT THE INTERRUPTERS . SAID HE : " THEY 
ARE HARMLESS PEOPLE . " AS DOUGLAS-HOME PUT IT, " THE 
EYES OF THE WORLD " LAST WEEK WERE ON RURAL PERTHSHIRE 
; BUT TORIES' EYES WERE FOCUSED ON A FAR MORE CRITICAL 
BY-ELECTION THIS WEEK IN LUTON, AN AUTOMOTIVE CENTER 30 MILES FROM 
LONDON WHERE EXPERTS DETECT A SWING TO LABOR AFTER 13 YEARS 
OF TORY MAJORITIES . AS LUTON GOES, SAID THE PUNDITS, SO 
MAY MOST OTHER INDUSTRIAL AREAS WHERE LABOR HAS TRADITIONALLY BEEN STRONGEST 
. SPEAKING MORE TO LUTON'S FLOATING VOTER THAN THE FAITHFUL IN 
PERTH, THE PRIME MINISTER USED EVERY CROSSROADS STOPOVER LAST WEEK TO 
INVEIGH AGAINST THE LABOR PARTY'S " CARD-INDEX, BUTTON-PUSHING SOCIETY . " 
WITH A SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT, SAID HE, " WE WOULD BE LIKE 
PUPPETS ON LONG STRINGS OF RED TAPE, WITH THE STRINGS PULLED 
IN WHITEHALL . " TO HIS LISTENERS' DELIGHT, THE PRIME MINISTER 
INVARIABLY ADDED : " AS A SCOTSMAN, I NEVER THINK WHITEHALL 
KNOWS BEST . / 