14 JANUARY 1944

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MR. ROOSEVELT'S CHALLENGE

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A MONG the many stirring messages which President Roosevelt has addressed to Congress or the people of the United States during the war none has been more powerful or more...

An Out-of-date Prejudice

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The decision of the American Federation of Labour to reject the invitation of the Trade Union Congress to a world trade union con- ference is unfortunate for two reasons. In the...

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Post-war Houses There is some plain speaking in a report

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on post-war housing problems issued jointly by the Royal Institute of British Architects, the National House-Builders Registration Council and the Building Societies'...

Totalitarian Argentina

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The Argentine Government is slipping fast down the slope of totalitarianism, and the pro-Nazi leanings which have been scarcely disguised are now manifest in actions which throw...

Education in Africa There is no more encouraging evidence of

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the seriousness with which this country is regarding its Imperial responsibilities than the attention which is given to study of provision for the welfare of subject races. The...

Colonial Co-operation The first Report of the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission

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is a most promising record of co-operation by representatives of this country and the United States. Here is a region in which British and American dependencies lie close...

The Skipton By-election It would be short-sighted to refuse to

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discover a lesson in the victory of Lieutenant Lawson, the Common Wealth candidate, over the Conservative in the by-election at Skipton, which forms a second by-election success...

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POLAND'S DILEMMA

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D IPLOMATIC negotiations cannot with advantage be carried on through the medium of public manifestoes, and the only person who ii likely to derive unalloyed satisfaction from...

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A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

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A RCHBISHOP LORD LANG, when admitted on Tuesday to the freedom of the Worshipful Company of Stationers, observed that he wished more people knew their Bibles today, but that the...

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MANSTEIN'S PROBLEM

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By STRATEGIC L'S I T is not too sanguine to suggest that events below the Dnieper are moving towards a climax. Manstein is as usual attempting to ward off, or limit the effects...

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JET-PROPULSION POSSIBILITIES

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By E. COLSTON SHEPHERD A S a counterblast to secret weapon propaganda by the enemy the release of extremely limited information on British pro- gress with jet-propulsion must...

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YOUTH AND THE FUTURE

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By GEOFFREY RIPPON P E RHAPS the salient political fact today is that no one under thirty has yet had an opportunity of voting in a general election : nor is it unreasonable to...

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A PRIEST IN A FACTORY

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By A PRIEST IN A FACTORY Church in Great Britain today is in a situation not very dissimilar from that of its beginnings in the Roman Empire, and it is questionable whether it...

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APOCALYPSE

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IN this warm house of words Filled with familiar curtains, tables, chairs And mirrors that resume And delicately distort the well-known room, Did you, not see him linger...

SHARAWADJI

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By V. SACKVILLE-WEST T WO of the minor arts, the art of letter-writing and the art of gar- dening; the princesses, not the Queens. But how delight-full, Kith! And since they...

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MARGINAL COMMENT

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By HAROLD NICOLSON T HE Air Ministry on Tuesday published its estimate of the effect upon Berlin of the six great raids up to December 17th. It is clear that the whole...

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THE CINEMA

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THIS week's two films both are reports of episodes which actually have occurred during the course of the war. San Demetrio, London, tells the well-known story of the shelled and...

CONFLUENCE OF LOVERS

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Au. lovers sing the self-same tune Though to a different air, The harmony is also slightly varied, The rhythm altered and the tone new-coloured ; Vain therefore to compare The...

Sir Michael Sadler's Collection, Leicester Galleries ART

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THIS is a really exciting exhibition. The catalogue says it is of " selected paintings, drawings and sculpture from the collection of the late Sir Michael Sadler," and a...

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WOMEN'S MINDS

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Sta,—I read with interest Elizabeth Dunn's article in your issue of December 24th and also Mrs. Pethick Lawrence's reply. I am afraid that none of Mrs. Pethick Lawrence's points...

Sta,—How " Janus's " note in last week's Spectator would

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have rejoiced the heart of Swinburne, who wrote: " Clear the way my lords and lacqueys,. You have had your day." But why not go a step further and advocate the abolition of...

THE HEREDITARY PEERAGE

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SIR,—I am so much an admirer of " Janus " that the temptation to have a tilt at him is irresistible, if risky! I fasten on his un-" Janus" like note on the New Year Honours List...

Snt,—Miss Dunn spoke with knowledge when she said that masses

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of women took no interest in things philosophical, political and sociological. The reason is that their interest in these matters has never been roused. As a social worker for...

CHRISTIAN UNITY

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Snx,—Dr. Raven, in his book Good News of God, quotes some remarks addressed to him by an influential business man: ." One moment, padre. There's one...

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MINORITIES IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

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Six,—May I venture to challenge a statement in your Editorial Note on "Roman Catholics and Mr. Butler " in last week's Spectator ? " But while the Church of England authorities...

Sta,—" The worst enemies of the English language," writes Mr.

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Alan Phillips, " are the English people." After reading his article one is inclined to say rather that the worst enemies of English are its self- appointed champions. For...

DANGERS TO ENGLISH

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Sta,—Twinges of journalistic conscience may well have been caused by e sternness of Mr. Alan Phillips in his article, " In Defence of English." Notts to cast away all poor props...

THE REAL . AUSTRIA

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Sta,—In your number of January 7th, 1944, Phyllis Bottome in her opening sentence says, " The chief point about an Austrian is that he is not, never has been, and never will be,...

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WAR CRIMINALS •

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Sm,—In approving the Lord Chancellor's view that Hitler, Himmler and Co. should be declar5d outlaws and deprived of any protection of the law, " Janus " points out that, so far...

" LE MOT JUSTE "

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S nt,—Probably others besides myself deplore the expression " Ham- burging " as used by the B.B.C. and the Press to describe concentrated bombing of German cities. It is bad...

LEISURE IN SCHOOLS Stn,—A recent letter in The Spectator, December

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3irst, quotes the experience of two girls in two schools who find no time for reading. This calls attention to a grave defect in most schools, •boys' as well as girls'. Few...

ON GEORGE IV Snt,—Why need " Janus " pick on

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George IV as his most awful example of what the monarchy ought not so be? There is a point beyond which denigration becomes almost flattering, though that was not " Janus's "...

CYPRUS

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Sin,—The other day I came across a Cypriot soldier serving in the Pioneer Corps. His people are immigrants from Greece. I asked him if the Cypriots wanted to be united with...

COUNTRY LIFE

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Wraux the week two pretty examples have been given me of the increase of the goldfinch, most taiga - ging species of his family. A small " charm " descends daily on a small...

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Modern Italy

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IT has become a commonplace to hear English people refer to the fact that a generation has grown up in Italy which cannot remember the time before Fascism-; it is equally true,...

BOOKS OF THE DAY

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The Problem of Colonies The Future of Colonial Peoples. By Lord Halley. Issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. (Oxford Uni- versity Press....

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George Adam Smith

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Tins record of the long and varied life of_ Sir George Adam Smi may well receive a welcome both from his old students in Glasg and Aberdeen, now scattered around the Seven Seas,...

" III Fares the Land "

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The American Land : Its History and Its Uses. By William K. Van Dersal. (Oxford University Press. 21s. 6d.) IT is rare to find a new historical book that is really new, and it...

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Shorter Notices Tms volume completes the late Laurence Binyon's masterly

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translation into English of Dante's Divine Comedy. Binyon observed the three fundamental essentials of a good translation, namely, fidelity to (r) the sense, (2) the rhythm, (3)...

Fiction

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A Father and His Son. By James T. Farrell. (Routledge. ros. 6d.) Soviet Short Stories, 1942-43. (The Pilot Press. 3s. 6d.) BY the beginning of the 'thirties Europe, for a...

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SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 251 SOLUTION ON JANUARY 28th

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The winner of Crossword No. 251 is Dr. J. M. HAYES, 10, moral Road, Parkstone; Dorset. Bal-

" THE SPECTATOR" CROSSWORD No. 253

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IA Rook Taken for one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword to he opened after noon on Tuesday week, 7,muary 25th_...

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Engines, Aunties and Others. By Emett of Punch. (Faber. 5s.)

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THIS is a delightful book by the well-known artist whose work appears in Punch, from which these drawings are here collected for the first time. The best of them are truly comic...

The Book of Small. By Emily Carr. (Oxford University Press.

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Ss. 6d.) THE delicacy and vividness with which Miss Carr has described her childhood in Victoria, British Columbia, is delightful, but not unusual. Her distinction is that her...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

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By CUSTOS WITH the noteworthy exception of the Midland, all the banks have reported higher profits ha 1943 than for 1942. That is what one SIC had expected in view of the...

Tins little book will be welcomed by reviewers wearied with

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trying to be entirely fair to mediocre authors and at the same time to protect a trustful public. The present volume is, if possible, better than its predecessor, which told the...