Contemporary journalism could have had few greater losses than it
has sustained through Herbert Sidebotham's death. Much better known as " Scrutator " of the Sunday Times, and " Candidus " of the Daily Sketch, and to readers of quarter of a century ago as " Student of War " in the Manchester Guardian, than by his own name, Sidebotham exemplified a type of journalism far less common today than when he was learning his trade after coming down from Oxford in the early nineties—restrained, sober, sound in judgement, clear and forcible in style, with never an attempt at flashy effects, and with a wealth of knowledge of politics and history and all fields of modern thought as background. He served the public as few living journalists serve it, setting truth always above preconceptions and never pressing an argument beyond the point the facts would warrant. He had been ill off and on for some time, but his regular " Scrutator " article appeared last Sunday. Like so many hardworking journalists he found little time for writing books. Two out of the three he did write dealt with Pales- tine ; " Sider " was an ardent Zionist.
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