"he urged ever greater efforts to combat the communist threat and personified that threat; his own section worked smoothly, yet nothing quite succeeded."

It's like doublethink in Orwell. Chilling, the lengths the human mind can go to.

Boy Elliott going on and in about "belly laughs" was freaky. And yeah, they totally let Philby escape. A trial would have been disastrous for them all. It's really interesting comparing him with Bill Haydon in TTSS -- at the end Smiley feels ill at the thought of sacrificing Haydon. But the past catches up with Haydon anyway. Not quite what happened to Philby.