T HE stern gravity of the Prime 'Minister's broadcast on Wednesday admirably befitted the occasion. The supreme merit of Mr. Churchill's speeches is that they never minimise a...

The Hungarian march into Translyvania, the assumption of full dictatorial powers by General Antonescu, the abdication of King Carol in favour of his young son Michael and his...

Step by step the logic of facts is producing its sure effects on the mind of the American people. They have already gone beyond the first stage when they recognised that the...

It must not be forgotten that whilst London is being sub- jected night by night to the most ruthless indiscriminate bom- bardment from the air, against which at present no...

A month ago The Spectator advocated the creation of an Allied Council in London. The case for such a step becomes stronger as time passes. We have assembled in the chief city of...

In regard to Indo-China, Japan has to balance her desire to take advantage of the weak position of the French in that country against her fear of driving the United States to...

Whilst the Vichy Government in France continues to try to justify its existence by vilifying its predecessors, it misses no opportunity of seeking to ingratiate itself with...

Much as the Vichy Government desires to keep on good terms with Germany, its affability does not extend in the same way to Italy, and it must feel uneasy at her attempts to...

The announcement of the heavy reinforcements which both our Mediterranean Fleet and our land forces in the Middle East have received in the course of the past week is...

War Office have been brought into the field. It will be for Mr. Ramsbotham to explain (what is now obscure) how he proposes to give these 21 million young people, and especially...

which was suspended at the outbreak of war. Considerable interest in the whole question of physical training was aroused, but there were many serious objections taken to the...

In his speech last week Mr. Churchill said that changes would have to be made in the arrangements for air-raid warn- ings so as to prevent unnecessary interference with war pro-...

formed, with the full co-operation of all education authorities and voluntary societies. Each authority was invited to set up its own Local Youth Committee, and the response was...

to work. There are about 3,000,000 young people between the ages of 14 and 20, of whom 500,000 are attending some form of full-time education. This leaves us with 11 million...

From our Parliamentary Correspondent: If Parliament is able to meet next Tuesday there will be a debate on the announcement, made by Mr. Ramsbotham, President of the Board of...

In a letter to The Times last Tuesday Lord Balfour of Burleigh, writing as chairman of the 1940 Council, pleaded that whilst we are organising for war it is not too soon to be...

T HIS has been described as the most critical week in the history of our realm, and impossible though it is to pass completely dispassionate verdicts in the midst of crisis,...

R.A.F. have set fire to the Reichstag their achievement should create a singular fellow-feeling between them and Marshal Goering, who did the same thing himself some years ago....

T HE efficiency with which daily papers are facing the present 1 abnormal situation is remarkable. But the weeklies have their difficulties too, and it would not be astonishing...

been through the ordeal of the past weeks, all the men and women staffing them are human, and a time must come when fatigue and sleeplessness have effects that are irresistible....

I mention them does not mean that I give them credence. The late (whether he is also the present is not quite clear) commander-in-chief has left the Vichy Cabinet and is to go...

but in spite of the admitted fact that there have been some losses by enemy action they ought to be good, for the Government obviously budgeted for a very extensive consumption...

which should clearly have been addressed to the War Office, for his handling of the aliens question, but he is to be very warmly congratulated on the Committee he has appointed...

Education referred to it in a speech within the past week— is that the great majority of them must have been born in or immediately after the last war. We used to be told in a...

By STRATEGICUS T T is a month since I suggested that we were approaching the 1 crisis of the war and outlined the course which the cam- paign might be expected to follow. This...

By It. W. G. MACKAY A GENERAL Election will be held in Australia on Septem- ber 21st. The Constitution provides for elections every three years, so Parliament cannot extend its...

By RANJEE G. SHAHANI " IL est mal connu," said Voltaire of Shakespeare. This is I perhaps truer of Indian Princes. Greater nonsense has been uttered about them than even about...

By W. HORSFALL CARTER I N his statement made to the House of Commons on August 22nd the Home Secretary went some distance to meet the clamour of criticism provoked by the...

By PHILIP HEWITT-MYRING " You're steering straight for Southwich at the moment," I replied in the ripest accent of the Cannebiere that I could assume. They stopped in their...

A Disappointing Report THE notorious inefficiency attaching to the official use of films during the first eight months of the war clearly justified an investigation by the...

THE THEATRE g , The Infernal Machine." By Jean Cocteau. English version by Carl Wildman. At the Arts Theatre Club. THE name of Mr. Oliver Messel is printed as large as the...

SIR, —With reference to your note in your issue of September 6th, 194 0 , concerning the Army's part, I must congratulate you on sounding a note of warning against such a...

the author of the article in your issue of last week rightly says, may be felt by all ranks in the Army, to be at all events partially satisfied, if the existing machinery is...

Sta,—The minority problem has been put forward as the cause retard- ing India's progress. I wish to lay before the readers a solution coming from the Congress in the...

Snt,—A thousand houses have been wrecked by air raids on the open town of Ramsgate. The bombing was, of course, deliberate and could not have been due to bad aiming, or...

[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...

own country and affairs, and in present conditions have demonstrated their sympathies to be identical with those of the British Commonwealth. The British Government during the...

SIR.—" Janus," writing of Sir J. J. Thomson (The Spectator, Sep- tember 6th), refers to the " scientist's one-track mind." It would be interesting to learn what he would have us...

cutting from your paper has been sent to me to- gether with a letter which embodies a very unhappy suggestion that I have been a party to having failed to broadcast the...

SIR,—" Janus"' observation about the number of threepenny bits in Scotland may be neither clever nor funny (why should it be either?), but it does happen to be true; there is a...

am a single woman, unfit for regular work, who walks and loves what little remains of unspoilt country. Lately I crossed about four miles of moorland in the small mid-Wales...

Scot- land was given me a few years ago by a Professor of Currency and Finance who was in close touch with the Bank of England and the Treasury. This was that the Mint sent...

Sist,—I call your attention to an unfortunate usage which sometimes, though rarely, appears in your columns. On page 235 of your issue of September 6th in a paragraph on "...

ode, in Latin alcaics, on Daedalus, and a query about birds. The air-raids suggested the ode, and the continued brilliance of the rowan berries the question. The berries have...

number of people through the ages have prophesied the conquest of the air from the Daedalian myth to Roger Bacon and Tennyson, whose " airy navies grappling in the central blue...

Sensitive Ducks The manager of a home farm got into trouble because the ducks made so much noise that they kept the household awake! His apology was that the birds could not...

your paragraph . on American opinion regarding the Hoover proposals for the feeding of countries occupied by the Nazis you say that a Gallup Poll showed that 62 per cent. of...

those who are not particularly fond of dahlias, the Bishop of Llandaff, has discovered a new virtue this year. It has flourished beyond the ordinary in a drought that has...

A Buried Life. Personal Recollections of A. E. Housman. By Percy Withers. (Cape. i s .1 THE combination of scholar and poet is in itself hardly frequent. and when the...

The British Empire A Hundred Years of the British Empire. By A. P. Newton. (Duckworth. i5s.) Tins volume is one of a series which deals with the progress of various sciences...

Lions on Trust. By Cleland Scott. (Michael Joseph. 12s. 6d.) MANY of us have our own special hobbies, some favouring dogs, others cage birds or carnations. One has even met...

East Coker. By T. S. Eliot. (Fabpr. To say that Mr. Eliot's latest poem is characteristic may serve equally well for commendation or censure. He has a true poetic sensibility,...

Stalin's Russia and the Crisis in Socialism. By Max Eastman. (Allen and Unwin. 7s. 6d.) ANYONE who still thinks of Stalinist Russia as a model for this country to follow, and...

Old Routes of Western Iran. By Sir Aurel Stein. (Macmillan. 42s.) IN this work Sir Aurel Stein embodies the last of four fruitful journeys in historical Iran that were made in...

Tats important book, first published in 1916, enlarged in 19 1 9 , and lately reprinted for the twelfth time, may or may not seem entirely satisfactory to professional...

By CUSTOS MARKETS have entered another period of stern test, and are facing new problems with remarkable calm. So far, the physical handicaps on business have not interfered...

IA prize of 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 o pened. Envelopes should be manked"...

The winner of Crossword No . 79 is Miss B. Jarvis, to, Percy