T HE meetings of the Trades Union Congress this week mark an historic phase in the evolution of the movement, not because it has created a new situation, but by putting the seal...

T HE progress and prospects of the air-war were discussed by the Prime Minister in a particularly sober and measured passage of his speech in the House this week. The great...

The opening of the Burma Road into China, announced by the Prime Minister on Tuesday, is in accordance both with general expectation and with general desire. The decision to...

Any lingering hope that when the Prime Minister came to explain the Dakar episode he would be able to put some better complexion on it was dispelled by his words in the House of...

The arrest., or rather the seizure, of British employees of the oil companies in Rumania and the " third degree " methods to which they have been subjected in order to secure...

It is to be hoped that.Sir John Reith, who is to be head of the new Ministry of Public Works and Buildings, will realise that his task involves much more than vigorous...

The task of providing shelters and homes for Londoners would be greatly eased if the population were thinned by evacuation. There is no longer room for doubt that all who have...

should be in the War Cabinet now, if it was unnecessary four months ago. As for the new appointments of Mr. Herbert Morrison and Miss Wilkinson, they are frankly worried whether...

clearer statement of war aims ; they may be right, but they would gain a more sympathetic hearing if they would make more constructive suggestions.

the Foreign Office. Many others went uneasily away, not wanting to embarrass the Government at this stage of the proceedings, but it would be foolish to minimise the shock which...

a mixed reception. It coincides with the appointment of the new Conservative leader and with renewed demands for a change of Chief Whip. But the country is not interested in...

spirit for five weeks, but Parliament in two brief days has revealed that its meetings are indispensable. The searchlight of publicity must be kept on Government, criticism must...

Mr. Herbert Morrison and Admiral Sir Edward Evans have ken making extensive personal tours of air-raid shelters in London's most exposed areas, and Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, as...

Postage on this issue: Inland lid., Foreign and Imperial td., Canada id.

but not without some serious misgivings. The Prime Minister spoke with his usual eloquence and command of language, he defended Sir John Anderson and praised his successor, he...

a M R. CHURCHILL has recast his administration, and Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini have met in con- ference on the Brenner. There is no direct connexion between the two...

American] writes to me ' Why should England need propaganda when the English behave as they do? This shipload of tor- pedoed children singing in their nighties will bring down...

merchant ships fortunately lend support to the belief that last week's black total was exceptional. Then, it will be remem- bered, no less than 131,857 tons of British shipping...

the robustness which one would naturally associate with its name. Its October memorandum on foreign affairs begins with the intimation that " we have felt it necessary to...

shculd say, in either university, though I am not a Trinity roan myself—Trinity is even more to be congratulated on securing Professor G. M. Trevelyan as Master than Professor...

Almost everyone, I imagine, wants to see summer-time not merely extended to some time in November, but made perma- nent " for the duration." But that will be a long way from...

A.R.P. work. Desirable as this is (as I have contended in this column lately) on general grounds, there appears to be one unlooked-for obstacle. Trade unionists are reluctant to...

N O one is surprised at the translation of Sir Cyril Newall from the position of Chief of the Air Staff to the Governor-Generalship of New Zealand. Needless to say, the move is...

By STRATEGICUS 2.N the present and the next article I propose to consider the problem of victory; and first it is necessary to deal with the two opposed points of view about...

By KENNETH LINDSAY, M.P. L ONDON is at war without a general, without a staff and without a regional policy: it must now have complete Regional government. This view, expressed...

By THE EDITOR T HE production of a paper like The Spectator is in the main its own affair. The business of its staff is to give its readers a finished article, for them to...

By HARVEY GEE T HE Prime Minister's announcement that an insurance I scheme for private property is about to be introduced has aroused lively expectation among owner-occupiers...

By W. E. WOOSNAM-JONES O NE could see her any day of the week in what we called the " Officers Club " at Boulogne, the big spidery building which had been the Restaurant of the...

A famous Alpine garden has been converted in this war, as in the last, into an intensive plot for the production of belladonna. This is one example of the value that may be...

has saved the life of very many game birds—grouse, pheasants and partridges —in this exceptional year ; but on one farm at any rate the birds have not been so lucky. A bomb that...

It is one of the tasks of a gardener to sprinkle his garden with late-flowering plants or shrubs ; and perhaps the date of flowering is particularly important in the class of...

The Government has been urging country children to collect acorns and horse chestnuts for the farmers, and it might have added crab apples, which are in great profusion. The...

Ministry of Information Shorts " Saloon Bar." At the Gaumont. THE Films Division of the Ministry of Information is now launch- ing its ambitious and much-discussed programme...

Gossamer Indeed A quaint and, as usual, mistaken rumour was tentatively endorsed by authority, that must surely have been urban, during l a st week. People were warned that a...

Sia,—In dealing with my article Mr. Jones Davies loses sight of its main purpose. At a time when M. Baudouin and Mr. Hoover appeal for relaxation of the blockade " because...

Sta,—Being so unfortunate as to have to be during this war in the United States instead of in my native land, England, I am in a position to realise how greatly American...

[In view of the paper shortage it is essential that letters on these pages should be brief. We are anxious not to reduce the number of letters, but unless they are shorter they...

Sta,—In this phase of the war our energies are necessarily directed to resisting the enemy's aerial offensive, and there is accordingly a danger that this immediate task may...

Sta,—I am sure that many of your readers will resent the pages of The Spectator being besmirched by such a letter as that from Professor Brogan published in your last week's...

SIR, --may I somewhat tardily (since it has only just come to my notice) again refer to the above subject lately appearing in your correspondence columns? Mr. J. E. Smith in...

Party does not comprise the whole of India or even of British India, but it is very much more than "a section of Hindus who have had an English education," as one of your...

SIR,—Your account of the late Admiral Mahan omits to notice two of his famous works, one the truly admirable Life of Nelson, who ex- pressed for him the perfection of...

you inserted a letter regarding myself, which I saw only the other day. I am very sorry to trouble you again in this respect, but I must state that the letter--although written...

SIR:—The writer of the article " An Anzac in England " is now in the Near East, so he cannot reply to his critics. His remark that the natural resources of England are grossly...

Alison Neilans to the correspondence headed "An Anzac in England," pub- lished in your last issue, on which, with your permission, I should like to comment. Miss Neilans refers...

War by Revolution. By Francis Williams. (Routledge. is.) A DEMOCRACY, even when it is at war, still preserves the essenlia l differences of outlook within the common purpose of...

Virgil in English Verse The Georgics : a new translation. By C. Day Lewis. (Cape. is.) TRANSLATORS fall into two classes : those who are poets in their own right, and those...

The Battle of France. By Andre Maurois : translated by F. R. Ludman. (The Bodley Head. 7s. 6d.) What Happened to France. By Gordon Waterfield. (Murray. 5s.) IT is not often...

Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758: A Biography. 133401a Elizab,:th Winslow. (Macmillan. r6s.) Tim jacket of this book may disturb the prudent reader with its description of this new...

SOMETHING was missing before this book appeared with its dedication to Maurice Baring : " I am sure your name ought to be connected with any memory of his, so greatly did he...

When the Whippoorwill. By Marjorie Kinnan Rwailings. (Heine- mann. 8s.) IN Star of Satan (written, and published in France, before The Diary of a Country Priest), M. Bernanos...

THE title of this book is by no means inaccurate as a descrip- tion of George III. He was indeed a lonely man, not only 23 the representative of a decaying ideal, but also...

My Name is Million. (Faber. 8s. 6d.) THESE necessarily anonymous experiences of an Englishwoman during the Polish war would have shocked the English public much more six months...

IN contrast to the author of whom H. G. Wells complained, " It's all very well, but you only lay one bantam's egg every two years," Mr. Agate continues, in inimitably slick,...

By CUSTOS IT may still be too early to form any worthwhile estimate of the effects of air bombardment on Britain's commerce in the widest sense, but the reactions on the...

a Book Token for one guinea will be given to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword puzzle to be opened. Envelopes should be marked "Crossword...

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