It is easy to look at this with the benefit of hindsight. At the time, the horrors of Nazism were still to emerge. They were regarded as silly and were the objects of ridicule. Giving a Nazi salute was regarded as humorous. It took a number of years, right up to the start of the war, before a lot of people changed their view.

Appeasement was a popular policy right up to the moment that war became inevitable. There were strong arguments at the time, which now seem with the benefit of hindsight to be both misguided and morally wrong. However much the same could be said about opposition to military action in the Middle East - who knows how that will look in 70 or 80 years' time?