A GREAT deal might be said about the assassination of Darlan, but very little with advantage. He is dead, and General Giraud has succeeded him as High Commissioner for North...

A S an old year ends and a new year begins men and nations inevitably pause for a moment in the flying present to consider their fortunes in the past and the future. Adolf Hider...

N O one is under any temptation to glorify assassination, but there seems to be more than a touch of false sentiment about some of the comments in various journals on the death...

By STRATEGICUS A S the year ends it is worth while noting how badly Hitler's plan has foundered in Russia. M. Stalin revealed come time ago, on the basis of captured documents,...

By QUINTIN HOGG, M.P. W 1-IILE attention is naturally rivetted on the dramatic events of the North African coast, the opening of the new BeirutTripoli (Syria) railway by...

By W. E. WOOSNAM-JONES It is naturally very difficult for a pilot to get a really good look at a Gremlin. For Gremlins are very elusive, and usually hide themselves in the most...

SEEK not nor search those pools, slip-silver fish: No gentle river reaches will uncover But sucking whirlpools which will deep draw down Along dark labyrinthine streams to...

By AMABEL 1VILLIAMS-ELLIS Our industrial effort here is enormous, and no population has ever before been mobilised as ours has been. We had 27,000 war factories in July, and...

By HAROLD NICOLSON I N his popular but discomforting study of Conditions of Peace, Professor E. H. Carr assures us that we are passing through a silent revolution against " the...

" The House of Jeffreys." At the Playhouse.—" Jack and Jai." At His Majesty's. —" Peter Pan." At the Winter Garden.—" A Midsummer Night's Dream." At the Westminster. I PRESUME...

THE CINEMA 1942—a year in which British cinemas will probably be able to show the highest audience figures in their whole history—has unfortunately been also the occasion for...

R. D. Perkins quoted in the House of Commons, " Janus" confesses he can find no trace of these lines. They are a translation from Luna Habitabilis. The Latin lines are as...

Snt,—With reference to your search of Gray's poems for the quotation in Mr. Perkins' peroration, I have the quotation amongst odds and ends with this note: " Translated from...

Sni,--The passage, quoted by Sir Herbert Grierson, from the Book of Job is certainly consistent with Christian ethics. But it does not contain their essentials. These essentials...

over the Church Schools to the Education Authority that the religious teaching in the Church Schools fosters adherence to the Church of England. I lived in a parish which had...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR StR, — My appreciation of the literary qualities of the writers in The Spectator tempts me to ask your judgement on a method of expressing large sums of...

point out that the lines quoted by Mr. Perkins are a translation of his Latin poem (composed at Peterhouse) Luna Habitabilis. But does Mr. Perkins deserve such credit for...

SIR,—Professor Andrade's information on Newton's theology is not upto-date. The subject has been investigated by the Rev. H. McLachlan, D.D., and the results published in his...

SIR,—You say in your note of December 4th that " we cannot help Jews whom we cannot reach." True, but whom can we reach? Apart from the larger question of whether an offer to...

County Badge Scheme, in your number of December 4th. Having been a member of Gordonstoun School since May, 1939, I can state authoritatively that his statement that "...

SIR,—Is not the ready condemnation of clichés itself becoming something of a cliche, and, as such, often a little tiresome and unhelpful? Your reviewer of Allan Michie's Retreat...

SIR,—The letter on the County Badge Scheme signed " Unwin Fleming " and dated from St. Paul's School in your issue of December 4th merits a brief reply. In the first place I...

SIR,—In spite of what " Janus " has to say about ordinary members of the play-going public who call in question the opinions of the " professionals," I cannot refrain from...

From Many Angles. By Major-General The Right Hon. Sir Frederick Sykes. (Harrap. 25s.) THIS book is a monument to the solid achievements, ranging over numerous fields, which...

Chinese History WHEN this book was announced, the reviewer's first impulse, as a compatriot of its autnor, was to congratulate him on his initiative. At last a gap which had...

Bernard Lord Manning. By F. Brittain. (Heifer. 7s. 6d.) THERE is a quiet and impressive competence about this discerning biography of a quiet and impressive man, and even those...

Channel Packet. By Raymond Mortimer. (Hogarth. 12s. 6d.) ELEGANCE—that is Mr. Mortimer's besetting virtue. No man is more highly skilled in the finer mechanics of writing. His...

Shorter Notices MR. DOUGLAS REED has done well to put his latest prophecy on the future of Germany in dramatic form, for this means that he wastes no words and goes to the...

also interesting as a type in the best tradition of the social reformer. This biography, with its detailed record of his achievement in Hampstead and its far-reaching effects...

The Case of the Tea Cosy's Aunt. By Anthony Gilbert. (Crime Club. 8s. 6d.) Night Exercise. By John Rhode. (Crime Club. 8s. 6d.) Toper's End. By G. D. H. and M. Cole: (Crime...

a The winner of Crossword No. 197 is Miss E. J. WALSH, aragon, Clifton, Bristol. SOLUTION ON JANUARY 15th

[A Book Token Jo' one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week. Envelopes should be...

THOSE who complain of the English climate might well correct their prejudice by making a list of the flowers that are open at Christmas, while listening to the song of thrush...

why the atmosphere of Moscow is so subtly differentiated from that of St. Petersburg. Some clues are supplied in this book, as we learn how the stupendous rococo palaces of the...

6d. ) MR. REYNOLDS wrote this book during a stormy and dangerous passage across the North Atlantic last winter. It is lively, changeable and interesting like the North Atlantic...