A bracing installment of the semi-annual show in which host and guests change

places, with Mr. Buckley being asked to, as the title has it, "explain himself mostly with reference to the policies of the President whose election he had championed. Topics range from defense to inflation, with a heavy concentration on Mr. Reagan's tax policies. Two samples: Mr. Buckley: "People paid more [taxes] in 1981 than they paid under Carter." Mr. Kinsley: "Not the people you are most concerned about, the people in the top brackets." WFB: "What makes you think I'm most concerned about them?" MK: "They are the ones whose rates you wanted to reduce down to 25 per cent." WFB: "It's true that they are the ones who agitate most strongly to avoid tax exposure, but 'they' is 37 million Americans, i.e., the people who pay more than 25 per cent." ... WFB: "Mr. Reagan would unquestionably resist an aggressive nuclear attack by the Soviet Union with a counterattack. I don't think anybody in the world doubts it. I happen to think this

is the profoundest protective wall that we have."