10 DECEMBER 1948

Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK TF the result of last Sunday's

The Spectator

municipal elections in Berlin demon- ]. strates, as it does, the admirable steadfastness of the bulk of the population of the capital in the face of the menacing situation...

The Chinese Reds Advance

The Spectator

The military landslide in China continues. The Communists are closing in on Peking, where General Fu Tso-Yi, with a stoutness that does him credit, is preparing for a last-ditch...

Page 2

Paris and Palestine

The Spectator

Ineffective argument about Palestine continues in the United Nations Security Council and the Political Committee of the General Assembly. There is no hope at this stage of...

The Assembly Adjourns

The Spectator

It is, or should be, usual at the conclusion of a United Nations General Assembly to attempt some assessment of what has been achieved in the weeks or months of discussion....

France's Choice of Revolutions

The Spectator

The possibility of revolution in France today has come to be associated with the names of the Communist Party and of General de Gaulle. But since neither of these has discovered...

Encouraging Italy

The Spectator

It is one thing for Italy to reject a foreign policy of subservienCe to the East. It is another to accept a policy of close collaboration with the West. Formally the Chamber of...

Page 3

The Commons and Conscription

The Spectator

The later stages of the Conscription Bill debate did not produce, and could not well produce, any new arguments. Significantly large as the number of Labour abstentions on the...

Mr. Bevan and the Dentists

The Spectator

It is to be hoped that the dentists are not anxious to quarrel with the Minister of Health, or the Minister of Health with the dentists. The difference that has arisen between...

AT WESTMINSTER

The Spectator

A LTHOUGH the small vote on the Government's side ott the Bill lengthening national service from twelve months to eighteen was due partly to abstention or opposition from Labour...

Page 4

WHAT FACES AMERICA

The Spectator

M R. HARRY TRUMAN is a politician of many recoveries. His election to be President of the United States in his own right was so tremendous a recovery that it seems to have...

Page 5

"All the greatest landscapes have been painted indoors." That seems

The Spectator

surprising at first sight, but no doubt it is true. At any rate the assertion has high authority behind it, for it is made by Mr. Winston' Churchill in a small volume, Painting...

The M.C.C., I see, wants an assistant-secretary, "knowledge of County

The Spectator

Cricket desirable but not essential." A chance for a chess

It is satisfactory that the Government is giving serious attention

The Spectator

to the issues raised by the artificial insemination judgement to whiclr I referred last week, though a little disappointing that the Pr Minister seems to indicate that nothing...

What I wrote here last week about the famous speech

The Spectator

of November 12th, 1936, in which Mr. Baldwin was inaccurately alleged to have said that he went to the country on a peace programme at the election of December, 1935, because if...

Level crossings on main roads are an intolerable scandal. When

The Spectator

the highway concerned is what is commonly called the Exeter Road —though it actually goes to Penzance—it is really an outrage that this anachronism should be tolerated. The...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK M R. SIDNEY STANLEY has undoubtedly been one

The Spectator

of the sights of London.. I say " has been " because he has now left the witness-stand after more than fifteen hours' performance there ; he may, of course, yet be recalled....

Page 6

HOFMEYR AND HAVENGA

The Spectator

By ANTHONY RIVERS y N the obituary notices of Mr. J. H. Hofmeyr, former Deputy- Prime Prime Minister of South Africa, which have appeared in the British daily papers, tribute...

Page 7

THE INCREASE IN CRIME

The Spectator

By R. H. CECIL I T is often a good thing to begin a fresh examination of some much-discussed problem, such as juvenile crime, by placing it in the centre of the table and...

Page 8

BRUTAL JET SPEED

The Spectator

By R. G. WORCESTER W HEN you press the starter button an electric motor begins spinning the turbine rotor, generating a paraffin mist; eighteen seconds afterwards two igniter...

Page 10

EXIT THE TOPEE

The Spectator

By ROBERT MORRISON I N the days when plumes and feathers were not considered effeminate, and when a generous and flexible brim gave scope for the expression of personality, the...

Page 11

'TAB-SLOGGING

The Spectator

By J. P. W. MALLALIEU, M.P. Twickenham, Tuesday. W HEN I was an undergraduate at Oxford, I found it soothing to despair of Cambridge. Cambridge beat us at everything ; so we...

Page 12

MARGINAL COMMENT

The Spectator

By HAROLD NICOLSON T HE Germans, without question, are a most ingenious race. In their long and arduous history they have become so accustomed to being deprived of necessities...

Page 13

CONTEMPORARY ARTS

The Spectator

THE THEATRE ‘. Oranges and Lemons." An Intimate Revue. (Lyric, Hammersmith.) Taus admirable entertainment, which seems bound to reach the West End shortly, and to stay there...

THE CINEMA

The Spectator

" Look Before You Love." (Gaumont.)—" Mother Wore Tights." (New Gallery and Tivoli.)—" Man-Eater of Kumaon." (Astoria, December 12th.) Miss MARGARET LOCKWOOD has changed, and as...

MUSIC

The Spectator

THE Halle Orchestra played a rather unenterprising programme extremely well at the Albert Hall on December 3rd. If there is a Palm Court in heaven (and there will no doubt be a...

Page 14

ART

The Spectator

IT was in the aftermath of the blitz that Mr. John Piper, now exhibiting at the Leicester Galleries, found his sublime and his beautiful, and commenced that long series of...

GRAMOPHONE NOTES

The Spectator

Tins is the time of year when gramophone records assume a new importance, I mean as potential Christmas presents ; and in going through the new lists I have tried to bear this...

Page 15

THE FUTURE OF ERITREA

The Spectator

SIR, —Such of your readers as know anything about Eritrea will realise that Mr. Wise's analysis—and his fears—which you print in your issue of December 3rd, are accurate. Some...

SIR,—Does Mr. Happold really mean that examining bodies are so

The Spectator

much at the mercy of their candidates that a sufficient number of failures will lower the standard of an examination ? If this is indeed so, why should this be confined to the...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Spectator

A FREE NATIONS PACT Sm,—My friend Dr. Maxwell Garnett points out that, under article 53 of the Charter, force may only be used by a regional group of States subject to the...

BOSWELL ON THE NORTHERN CIRCUIT

The Spectator

SIR, —The article by the Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, on Boswell Revealed will be read with special interest by members of the Northern Circuit, one of whose most...

STATE versus SCHOOL

The Spectator

Sta,—The Headmaster of Bishop Wordsworth's School has undoubtedly given the real reason for the minimum age limit in the new General Certificate.of Education. All for the sake...

THE CHOICE IN CHINA

The Spectator

Sm,—Although I cannot agree with Tony Gibson about the " moderating process " within the Comnlinist regime in China, I can agree with him about the liberal elemenis in le "...

Page 16

SCAPEGOATS ?

The Spectator

SIR, —It is not on personal grounds that I resent the suggestion of Mr. C. M. Woodhouse that "few of us could emerge unscathed from the Attorney-General's scrutiny of at least...

THE INVINCIBLE DOWSER .

The Spectator

Slit —A copy of The Spectator for November 26th has just reached me, and on page 700, in Country Life there is a rather sceptical note entitled The Invincible Dowser, which...

WHOM

The Spectator

Sit,—Cannot something be done about this ill-used word ? It is a com- bination of the dative and accusative of the Anglo-Saxon relative pronoun, and, according to the Oxford...

WHAT IS DUTCH LIKE ?

The Spectator

Sit,—In your issue of November 19th appeared a letter to you on what Dutch is like. That letter contained a translation into reputed Dutch of a sentence from Hamlet. I may have...

Page 17

" Scrip of Joy "

The Spectator

Richard Jefferies means so much to so many countrymen that I cannot forbear a brief reply to one of his critics, because the criticism evinces so strange an inability to...

AFRIKANER OR AFRICANDER

The Spectator

Sut,—Turning the pages of an earlier Spectator, I noticed a letter from my friend Professor E. A. Walker on the spelling of the word " Afrikaner," in the sense of a South...

SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC

The Spectator

SIR, —I was somewhat irritated by the description of your film critic, in ' her notice of Scott of the Antarctic, of Scott's effort as a " glorious and, to my mind, purposeless...

MINORITY GOVERNMENTS

The Spectator

Slit,—Peter Campbell, discussing The Odds for 195o, says that, "when there are only two major parties, our electoral system gives the more popular of those parties an unduly...

IfIgMMAIlliktegAC-rigrk.-Vr4r4C.-f4-40441MOC - r&AM`".4 -- = - SMAG

The Spectator

YOUR CHRISTMAS GIFT. WHY NOT A SUBSCRIPTION TO "THE SPECTATOR"? Subscription rates for Gt. Britain and Over- seas by ordinary mail Air Mail to Members of the Forces in any...

An Inland Gull

The Spectator

A Devonian, dwelling inland, is clearly astonished by the appearance of a single sea-gull that squats on the lawn and roosts there. Herring gulls seem now and again to isolate...

THE RICHARD WILSON EXHIBITION

The Spectator

SIR, —Owing to an unfortunate misprint on page 7 of the catalogue of the Richard Wilson Exhibition at Birmingham, there is perhaps some cause for your art critic's confusion...

Young Naturalists

The Spectator

All modern children should be naturalists in some sort. Almost every example of literature, so-called, designed for children at Christmas has contained, so far as I have seen,...

In the Garden A December bouquet from the garden could

The Spectator

this year be made up, not only of chrysanthemum but of kex, winter jessamine, polyanthus, rose and iris, as well as flowers from a number of flowering shrubs, including...

COUNTRY LIFE

The Spectator

A urruz ceremony, resulting from the wise aestheticism of the small- - holders and such, in the neighbourhood of their headquarters in the Sandy and Biggleswade district, seemed...

Postage on this issue : Inland, lid.; Overseas, ld.

The Spectator

Page 18

SPECIAL BOOK SUPPLEMENT

The Spectator

Heart or Soul ? From the Heart of Europe. By F. 0. Matthiessen. (Oxford University Press, New York. I 6s.) PROFESSOR MATTHIESSEN, of Harvard, - -- was in Central Europe from...

Christmas Bookshelf Barnaby in Search of a House. By Racey

The Spectator

Helps. (Collins. 3s. 6d.) Littlemouse Crusoe. By Racey Helps. (Collins. 3s. 6d.) Grey Rabbit and the Wandering Hedgehog. By Alison Uttley. (Collins. 3s. 6d.) Babar and that...

Page 20

An Eccentric Scholar

The Spectator

FOR those who can manage to read other books than the latest Hollywood scenario or the not always reliable memories of the most recently retired politician, Anthony Powell's...

Page 22

The Canon

The Spectator

MOST writers, it may be supposed, have in the last few years been kind to the Victorians, to make up for the stage of undeserved contumely through which our forebears had...

Page 24

The Jewish Question

The Spectator

M. SARTRE is writing about the Jewish people and how difficult their Situation is made by reason of the Chffstians' hating them so much and being anti-Semites. He says that the...

Bevin, Morrison, Attlee

The Spectator

Labour's Big Three. - By J. T. Murphy. (The Bodley Head. 15s.) MR. MURPHY'S purpose, so he tells us, is to examine the characters and careers of " the big three " of the Labour...

Page 26

The Art of the Greeks

The Spectator

Approach to Greek Art. By Charles Seltman. (Studio Publications. 25s. ANCIENT Greek art is unique in one accidental respect that has nothing to do with its quality. The...

Poetry

The Spectator

The Age of Anxiety : A Baroque Eclogue. By W. IL - Auden. (Faber. 8s. 6d.) Selected. Poems. By John Betjeman. Chosen with a Preface by John Sparrow. (John Murray. 8s. 6d.)...

Page 28

Hogarth's Drawings

The Spectator

IN spite of a recent volume on the same subject, which has already been noticed in these columns, Mr. Oppe's is the first serious and critical attempt to catalogue Hogarth's...

Page 30

Christian Humanism

The Spectator

Recovery of Man. By F. R. Barry. (Nisbet. 8s. 6d.) Tint Bishop of Southwell has written a brave and timely book, brave because the obscurantist reaction in theology has not yet...

Where Shall John Go ?

The Spectator

MR. Ross and Mr. Minton went to Corsica in the summer of 1947. They travelled by bus, by train and once rather angrily on foot, to nearly all the towns and villages of any size...

Page 32

Nash, Kokoschka

The Spectator

THE " picture-book " upon which Paul Nash was engaged towards the end of his life now appears, with shifted emphasis and slightly hushed air, as a memorial volume, with a...

Page 34

British Sea Power

The Spectator

THE Lees Knowles Lectures on Military History given by Admiral James at Cambridge in 1947 bear a title which does little to indicate their contents. The first of the three...

Duhamel's Autobiography

The Spectator

Light on My Days. An Autobiography. By Georges Duhamel. Trans- lated by Basil Collier. (Dent. 15s.) READERS of M. Duhamel's novels will not be disappointed with this translation...

Page 36

The Modern Dilemma

The Spectator

THE core of this work is a marshalling of evidence from the history of religions in order to throw light on the problems of today. It assumes that the study is sufficiently...

Two Views of S - cotland IT is a good idea to

The Spectator

read these two books together. For one thing, the eight-mile-to-the-inch map tucked in the end of Mr. Fraser's book will elucidate Mr. McLaren's wanderings as well as his own,...

Page 38

Shorter Notice

The Spectator

• Tars book is exactly what such a book should be. Leicester's Pub- licity Department is to be congratulated on having persuaded so readable a scholar as Mr. Ellis to write it,...

4ti Owl in the Sun. By Leslie Kark. (Macmillan. 7s.

The Spectator

6d.) REGULARLY every two years or so a remarkable comet startles the darkness of the literary heavens. Accustomed to the orthodox con- stellations, to a fixed recognisable...

Page 39

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 505 i-i A R . tif L C .litl

The Spectator

Q N i D1S H I ir oil - T E ... - P BET P u R 1 € Rii - IcIA igolj 11 - r A t R fz Millt4 A c 1:5 u14 . LiEl - rig '41A(._.lic AIR N IIEN III A ,,,,P10.411T R RIA IT WIN' lti 1...

"THE SPECTATOR" CROSSWORD No. 507

The Spectator

[A Book Token for one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct schition of this week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week, December 21st....

Page 40

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

The Spectator

By CUSTOS FROM being a topic for academic discussion the problem of assets replacement in conditions of high costs and heavy taxation has now become an issue of major practical...