For dread of blame and honours blemishment.

But as the tower and towee reached the cross-roads again, another car, negligently driven, came round the corner, hit the Morris, and severed the tow rope, sending the unfortunate car back again into the shop window […]

a neck forming the journal of a shaft

For the Air Council – 'their airships', in counterpoint to the Board of Admiralty – nuclear deterrence and the manned bomber were the overriding concerns of the postwar era.