• T HE date at the top of this page is a reminder that the summer • campaigning-season in Europe has not many more weeks to run. That is particularly true in parts of Russia,...

T HE sequence of events in India is to be noted. The Cripps mission last May failed, after giving every initial promise of success, and there is no question at all that the...

T is a fortulite chance that the Indian province, Bombay, which I is the scene of the most serious disorders, has its destinies directed by the man who is by common consent the...

By STRATEGICUS In the end it can matter little whether the three towns have been actually captured already ; but it is important to recognise what the withdrawal to them...

By ROBERT FORTMAN Any answer to this question must, if it be honest, be tentative only. In attempting to suggest one, we must bear in mind one fact, namely that the Russians are...

By SIR RONALD DAVISON I N a recent Spectator Amabel Williams-Ellis recorded her im- pressions of various munition-workers' hostels which she had visited in two different areas....

By A H.G. MUSKETRY INSTRUCTOR In our densely populated country, shooting with ball ammunition must be subject to all sorts of safety regulations, and really safe sites for...

By FRANCIS LIDGET1 I N the remarkable broadcast address he delivered last May Mr. Henry Wallace, the Vice-President of the U.S.A., said: " Some have spoken of the ' American...

By HAROLD NICOLSON M ONSIEUR F. DE BRINON, the odious little Ambassador accredited by the Vichy Government to Genzian headquarters in Paris, made a speech the other day in...

THE birds that fly in and out of the hearts of men Have no names : I have seen them in late February out of the window: I do not know their names: But they come from the South...

CINEMA WARNERS specialise in films about the seamy side of life and they generally have a quality which compels you to forgive the romantic naiveté of their conclusions. juke...

"Murder Without Crime." At the Comedy.—" Wild Rose." At the Princes. - " The Man With a Load of Mischief."-At the Mercury Theatre.-" Awake and Sing."-At the Cambridge Theatre....

attri- buting the mutual distrust between parent and teacher ultimately to the effects of having 4o as the size of the normal elementary class, what is to be done about it? We...

letter Wished on August 7th: " Most -masters, almost all housemasters and headmasters should be married men with families. There has been for too much enforced celibacy in...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Ste,—When France started to build her stupendous wall, commonly called the Maginot Line, those who knew their history books regarded the plan askance. For...

Sis,—May I take up one of the points made by Mr. Brett-James in his etter of August 7th? In that he suggests that in Boarding Schools most Masters, almost all Housemasters, and...

StR,—I have read with great interest the article entitled " Is Germany Nazi? " by Mr. Joseph Grigg, which appeared in your last issue. The author's diagnosis of the state of...

SIR,—In his " Marginal Comment," Mr. Harold Nicolson writes with fine feeling of August 4th's association with the outbreak of the First German War in 1914. May I refer to...

SIR,—I wonder if Mr. Roberts and Canon Anson are correct with regard to Dick Sheppard's ancestry. I knew him well at Cambridge and also after the war, and once asked him how it...

SIR,— Despite the caustic criticism of your semi-anonymous correspon- dent C. S. C. W., I find myself far more in sympathy with the honest " Soldier " correspondent whose letter...

Sta,—Cant expressions sometimes acquire by mere repetition a degree of authority and acceptance which is incommensurate with whatever truth they may possess. Familiar examples...

SIR,—The advocates of more austerity may be interested to know Ora the India Office is still issuing a pre-war list, "Equipment for a Gazetted Civilian Officer proceeding to...

Ti SIR,—" Janus " considers the calling up of Dr. Curtis, aged 39, an " un- deserved hardship." He took a•somewhat similar view over the calling up of the Editor of the Evening...

Sta,—We notice a paragraph in the review of Mr. de la Mare's stories in your issue of August 7th which ends: " De la Mare's plots cannot be crammed into a summary ; a boy raids...

hat from Merton College, Oxford, and perhaps he deserved it, for " casuals" are a great weakness to the Church. But let him not be discouraged, for the text remains, " He that...

American Foreign Policy America and the Axis War. By Denys Smith. (Cape. iss.) Cordell Hull. A Biography by Harold B. Hinton with a foreword by Sumner Welles. (Hurst and...

Studies in Diplomacy and Statecraft. By G. P. Gooch. (Longmans. . 12s. 6d.) DR. Gooch is a prolific as well as a learned author, and many of his shorter writings and monographs...

Denmark in Nazi Chains. By Paul Palmer. (Drummond. 4.s.) Model Protectorate or Nazi Chains? — these titles well illustrate the dilemma with which little Denmark, undefended and...

Lite with Topsy. By Denis Mackail. (Heinemann. 128. 6d.) " BUT it is a nice book (said Catherine Morland), and why should I not call it so? ' " Very true,' said Henry, and this...

Fiction Wits End. By John Moore. (Dent. 7s. 6d.) The Edge of Darkness. By William Woods. (Hutchinson. 8s. 6d.) The Unpractised Heart. By L. A. G. Strong. (Gollancz. 8s. 6d.)...

DANGEROUS as it is to attempt to estimate the importance of events which occurred the day before yesterday, we may assume with some safety that the sudden Japanese attack of...

SOLUTION ON AUGUST 28th The winner of Crossword No. 177 is J. H. Farrell, Esq., 28 Downs- Way, Sanderstead, Surrey.

g uinea 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 received not later than...

I MADE acquaintance this week with a bull-dozer, which entirely lives up to what I believe is its drastic name. It looks rather like the mask of a dragon-fly grub, and is not...

Everyman's English Dictionary. By D. C. Browning, M.A. (Dent. 3s.) THIS dictionary of 72o pages in double column is exceedingly good value. It has not failed once wherever the...