the destinies of so many individual countries are so decisively affected by what has happened in the past week and what may happen in the next few days, that the notes on these...

in Europe may be ascribed to two causes : first, the confi- dence given by the Anglo-Polish alliance, which is welcomed by all classes ; and, second, the completion of the...

diplomatic negotiations arising out of the threat, first to Poland, and secondly to the Balkans ; and it is remarkable to what an extent she has sur- rendered to Britain her old...

to a variety of rumours, some contradictory ; they are serious enough, how- ever, for the French Ambassador, Marshal Petain, to return to Paris to report on the situation to his...

on for such collaboration with the greatest certainty ; and both her determination to assist in maintaining peace in the Balkans and her awareness that her control of the...

Europe on American public opinion has been demonstrated de- cisively, not merely by the comment in the leading papers but by approval openly given by President Roosevelt to one...

involved the danger of war, Holland's frontier defence units were summoned to their posts on Tuesday. In a broadcast speech the Prime Minister, Dr. Colijn, explained that this...

been to demonstrate that for the Balkan States only two choices are possible ; and those two choices will not be open for long. Either they must form a collective front against...

that it is maintaining the closest contact with the Soviet Union ; but the consultations have by no means dissipated Moscow's suspicions of this country's intentions. The result...

annual conference of the National Union of Teachers for one code for all schools is one that has the support of most of the educational world. It was the central proposal of the...

Italy. The danger is the greater if her negotiations with Great Britain have not gone further than has so far been announced, though at the week-end Rumania's Minister in...

depend on Bulgaria's co-operation in any attempt to disrupt the Balkan Entente, which in origin at least is an anti-Bulgarian alliance ; while Bulgaria's Hohenzollern tradi-...

Associations are to receive from the War Office is a necessary corollary to the decision to double the numbers. To initiate the new publicity drive each association has been...

equally threatened by Italy's action. A captive in the Adriatic, she is exposed to attack on the north and the south, though, like Greece, she has received emphatic assurances...

W RITTEN, as it necessarily must be, before the Prime Minister':; statement in Parliament is made, this article cannot deal with the British Cabinet's considered decisions...

has a 1. deeper foundation than expediency. It has been possible because the rape of Czecho-Slovakia, like the invasion of Belgium in 1914, has quickened the moral pulse of...

on Saturday evening heard Mr. Swing describe pointedly how Marian Anderson, the well-known coloured soprano, was, on account of her negro blood, refused leave by the Daughters...

cordially congratulated, is French Without Tears for M.P.s. The sponsor of the plan is the Anglo-French Parlia- mentary Committee, which finds that a number of its members,...

the growing vogue of news- letters, representing in most cases some single individual's views on things in general. Since then the flow has become a flood, and at least a dozen...

Plantagenet Hastings) become the first Communist member of the House of Lords on the death of his father, which took place last week? That depends on whether he does, in fact,...

Germany's seizure of the Ukraine is, of course, one of the main objectives outlined in Mein Kampf, and there is no reason to suppose that Herr Hitler has abandoned it. But there...

A GOOD deal might be said about the Stanhope episode of a week ago, and much of it is better left unsaid. But the Portsmouth speech has at least drawn attention to the fact that...

By JOSEPH SW1RE I their heroic struggle to preserve their independence 1 through the centuries the Albanian people have been handicapped by one grave disadvantage. It is that...

By WALTER DURANTY IT is idle to deny that the attitude of Soviet Russia towards Mr. Chamberlain—and for that matter towards Poland itself—is one of scepticism verging on...

By A BERLIN CORRESPONDENT T HE British guarantee to Poland has caused far less anxiety here in Berlin than is probably realised abroad. Very few people doubt that it served as...

By ELIZABETH WISKEMANN Bucares t. T HOUGH Rumania's frontiers nowhere touch those of Germany even today, her independence has been seriously shaken by the destruction of...

By MARGARET KNIGHT T IARS, as we have all heard, are of three grades: liars, 1 4 damned liars, and statisticians—a gross libel on a harm- less and necessary class....

By SIR RONALD DAVISON A FORTNIGHT ago The Spectator allowed me to des- cribe the Government's new Camps Bill and to discuss its potentialities both for peace and war. This...

By BERNARD DARWIN "M URDER," says the admirable Mr. Roughead, "has a magic of its own, its peculiar alchemy . . . Dull streets become fraught with mystery, commonplace...

By MICHAEL ZOSHCHENKO I T isn't really di ffi cult to lose a golosh on a tram. Especially if other passengers push you from side to side, and if some clumsy devil treads on...

By HAROLD NICOLSON

either of ignorance or cowardice. The rape of Albania gives to Italy a fortified base at Valona and the keys of the Adriatic. Once established in the country, Italy will be only...

and standards of Nazi journalism. He begins by confusing my father with Sir " Eric " Crowe, an error which could not have been committed by any educated German correspondent...

spotlight has been concentrated upon the Italian end of the axis. One would have supposed that even the most die- hard optimist would now have realised that the Anti- Comintern...

for a copy of her father's open letter to the Dean of the Philosophical Faculty at Bonn. I find that many people have never come across that magnificent indictment. I may...

Erika Mann, entitled School for Barbarians, in which she describes the conditioning of the rising German generation. Her argument is that the German child today is being torn...

" Hotel Imperial." At the Plaza - " The Three Musketeers.' At the Regal. PERHAPS it is because I associate the name Miranda with an old family donkey which used to take the...

MUSIC An Open Letter to a Pianist DEAR MISS BLANK,—Although your supposition that I am " overwhelmed by the protests of injured artists " has little real basis, I none the...

during Easter week the craft of pruning roses was demonstrated to many observers. March is the best month for the pruning of most roses, though it is best to wait for April in...

observer noticed that the shepherd had put all the ewes which had borne twins in one enclosure, apart from those that had only one lamb. No particular reason was vouchsafed, but...

There is one other spectacle that must be set against the general charm of the district—against the daffodils that here flourish surprisingly more in the woods than in the...

Sussex Woods Some of the most beautiful and, indeed, most English walks within Britain, especially at Eastertide, are to be found along the northern edge of the South Downs in...

fullest sense of the word, is greatly agitating sportsmen and, in a less degree, ornithologists. Protective legislation is intended ; and if it takes the form of prohibiting the...

A not too serious suggestion was made last year on this page that country dwellers should encourage the multiplication of cook-gardeners or gardening cooks. After all, the final...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR, Most of us who have belonged to the Collective Security front are now too concerned with the future to waste time in crying " I told you...

few years ago I witnessed a football match at Highbury Stadium between a representative team from Italy and an English team. During the match the Italians broke every known rule...

[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—Last December, Janus, in " A Spectator's Notebook," made several references to the needs of the Sudeten refugees in Surrey, mentioning...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sta,—We stand on' the edge of the precipice which is War. We must therefore look with narrowed vision to the strategy and the instruments...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—This letter may seem ungracious now that our rulers have at last risen to the occasion, but far too many of us still imagine we have...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sm,—Mr. Needham's letter in your issue of April 7th shows that his trouble is ignorance of what he writes about so freely. The classes to...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sm,—Unlike your reviewer, I do not rub my eyes when I read that Lord Rothermere states that he is prepared to believe in Hitler's...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR, —To conclude an unpleasant discussion, I beg to be allowed to express a natural regret that Mt. Fleming does not apply to himself his...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sra,—In a letter in your paper of March 24th, Mr. F. J. Erroll tells us to send papers to friends in Germany. I was specially warned not to...

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Sia,—Your article of March 31st on " A.R.P. Half-Measures " is the most vague, unfair and mischievous I have yet seen in any paper, and is...

[Von einem deutschen Korrespondentenj FUNFZIG JAHRE ADOLF HITLER, davon die grOssere Halfte in Not, Krieg, Bilrgerkrieg und im Scheinwerferlicht der europaischen Oeffentlichkeit...

the general way an author must accept in silence the condemnation of unfriendly critics, and find what consola- tion he can in his knowledge that a human being's capacity for...

a contribution to the present international situation, General Franco's proposed signature to the Anti-Comintern Pact has little significance. Spain is already a German vassal...

" The first man who called the conquest [of India] the rape [of India] was original, if a fool. The hundredth is merely a fool." I am wondering by what name I ought to call the...

Lord Haldane (The Marquess of Crewe, K.G.) Gibraltar and the Mediterranean (Prof. E. H. Carr) . Man or Leviathan? (Henry W. Nevinson) America Now (D. W. Brogan) . . . The...

Gibraltar and the Mediterranean. By G. T. Garratt. (Cape. ros. 6d.) Tuts Iok falls into two equal and opposite parts : a clear, painstaking, cautious and unsensational history...

America Now : An Inquiry Into Civilisation in the United States. By Thirty - six Americans. Edited with an Intro- duction by Harold E. Stearns. (Scribner. I2S. 6d.) IN 1922 Mr....

To most readers Mr. Mousley is probably best knoidn as the author of those two excellent war-books, The Secrets of a Kuttite and Blow Bugles Blow. He is known as an imagina-...

Mr. McGuire aims "to provide a comprehensive description of the protectionist system that has for some years been in force in Great Britain." A praise- worthy aim ; for quite...

The Origins of the Reformation. By James Mackinnon. (Longmans. i6s.) YET another book about the Reformation ! One would have thought that we had quite enough, or rather too...

NOBODY can really write about " Mexico." Mr. Marett spent seven years there, Mr. Gallop three, and at no important point do their impressions coincide—they might be describing...

The Sword of Light. By Desmond Ryan. (Arthur Barker. 12s. 6d.) THE purpose of Mr. Ryan's book is to give an account of the struggles to save Irish language and culture that have...

Probability, Statistics and Truth. By Richard von Mises. (William Hodge. los. 6cL) IT has always been the function of philosophers to criticise and interpret the methods and...

North China Front. By James Bertram. (Macmillan. 15s.) MR. BERTRAM is something more than the first Englishman to shake hands with the Commander-in-Chief of the 8th Route...

By KATE O'BRIEN Tuts week's novels come to us, three from America and one from Ireland, countries whence various critics, according to their bias, are inclined to think the...

The Lords' Road Report No official statement on the endless problem of the pre- vention of road accidents has yet been made to compare in lucidity and general common sense with...

By CUSTOS IT says a good deal not merely for the technical strength of stock markets but for the morale of investors that this week's political developments have produced only...

Having written hopefully of the prospects of Cable and Wireless (Holdings) I will not pretend to be surprised that the 4 per cent. dividend is maintained. Once or twice in...

So far as Cable and Wireless (Holdings) is concerned, the gross receipts from the operating company would appear to be reduced from Li,o5o,000 to L890,500, or by £159,500. In...

To justify its position as a State-instituted semi-monopoly the Central Electricity Board has, of course, to do more than earn a profit and secure the position of its...

GRID'S STRIKING PROGRESS THE Central Electricity Board occupy the position of whole- sale distributors of electricity in this country, owning the " grid " and transmitting the...

It is good to see such a progressive undertaking as British Oxygen bringing its accounting methods into line with its splendid technical achievements by issuing a statement of...

Assurance Society is one of those institutions which have expanded very rapidly in the last fe n' years. In 1932 it was a comparatively small institution, with total funds of...

WHAT DO WE OWE TO PHOTOGRAPHY ? By W. R. AYLING WHEN the amateur takes his (and may I include her?) camera for an outing, numerous others do likewise, and noting the pro-...

of The Spectator Crossword No. 5 (Second Series) is Mr. N. E. F. Corbett, Orchard Cottage, Fetcham. Surrey.

[A 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 opened. Envelopes should be marked...