Wednesday's valuable debate in the Commons on colonial affairs once again underlined the need to be quite sure what is meant by the term. It was clear enough from the admirable...

I T is perhaps a pity that the debate on Mr. Strachey's now notorious Colchester speech should have turned so largely on the question of whether the speaker's admitted use of...

On Wednesday, July 12th, France at last obtained a Govern- ment, but she had not had one since June 24th, the day before Communist troops invaded South Korea. It is possible to...

Among the many perversities which have complicated European trade, and made its very existence something of a miracle, the tangle of bilateral payments arrangements has been one...

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has admitted in the House of Commons that this year's Finance Bill, which was passed at last on Monday, was unimaginative. Sheer weariness, after...

Schleswig-Holstein, the most northerly of the West German Lander, is also one of the smallest. The elections that took place there last Sunday should therefore not give rise to...

It is a rule of thumb in Fleet Street that a strike which is settled is not news, but it will be a very bad thing if the rule is allowed to apply to the strike of Smithfield...

South African spokesmen, presumably aware of the form it was likely to take, have been discounting in advance the opinion of the International Court of Justice on the status of...

A LL Conservative members would agree and, probably, sd! would many Labour members, that of the political leaders on either side of the House the one who has most advanced in...

Mr. Ness Edwards may be making trouble for himself with the Post Office unions, but he has earned the thanks of everyone in large cities by his decision to restore a late...

The annual report of the Herring Industry Board shows that the home-demand for herrings has fallen by one-third in the past two years. This is an alarming state of affairs for...

I F the situation in Korea is no better militarily it is at least no worse diplomatically. In the field the tide still flows one way. In view of the character of the training...

of crocodiles. In general I am against these animals, and avoid one whenever it crosses my path—which is relatively seldom. And I suppose it is as reasonable to make their skins...

daily papers will become slimmer still. It is a great pity, but some of them at any rate have completely disabled themselves from making any effective protest by the uses to...

as giving to Commander Gurney Braithwaite in the House on Tuesday demands public attention. Commander Braithwaite raised again the Chancellor's singular and shabby action in...

Sunday or two ago, as I went to the lectern, a very juvenile infant (I am told) asked in a whisper well audible over the back of the church, " Is that God ? " The answer could...

few weeks ago, a photograph was published showing the Princess shaking hands with the Dean there was some criticism of the Princess's trafficking with this Red dignitary. The...

I SAID some time ago that it seemed a pity that the Duke of Windsor should be dragging into light again the whole painful story of the abdication, and a study of the story as it...

and I feel that we ought to have met. We ase less likely to now than we were a week ago, for the lady, or rather the statue of her—for she is statua et praeterea nihil — lies at...

innocence, and with the best of intentions, that the Dutch Reformed Church, at its Bloemfontein conference in April, called Dr. Malan's bluff. The Nationalist Party scraped into...

By RICHARD LEE STROUT Two pretty, tanned " hostesses " serve an excellent meal from trays aloft. It is Friday and there are crab cakes. The arrangement and packaging of the...

parallels of latitude is 80 miles. North Korean forces are now south of the 37th Parallel on all their axes of advance, and in the west, where they have 'so far been making...

By CLELAND SCOTT 0 NE of the best dollar-earners in Kenya is a non-precious mineral called kyanite, worth, since devaluation, £7 a ton at Mombasa. The demand for this mineral...

By CHRISTOPHER SYKES F ROM a multitude of Eastern prophets who arose in the nine- teenth century, two Persians stand out as men of abiding influence—Mirza Hussein Ali...

ByJ. P. W. MALLALIEU, M.P. I F you want to enjoy cricket you must see it steadily and see it whole. Of course. that rule has its exceptions. Anyone who happened to go into...

On Painting Wells Cathedral By GRAHAM BINNS (Corpus Christi College, Oxford) W E did not at first presume to paint the west front, having come simply to admire it, but we had...

by undergraduates from any university or university college in Britain, should be as nearly as possible 1,400 words in length. There. are no restrictions as to subject-matter,...

By HAROLD NICOLSON A T a dinner-party last week I noticed that, although two foreign Ambassadors were present, the place of honour was accorded to one of His Majesty's...

Bitter Sprin g s." (Gaumon and Marble Arch Pavilion.) AT last in the West End, after a mysterious initial exile in the suburbs, is Letter from an Unknown Woman, a sadly, sweetly...

THEATRE LIKE Ambrose Applejohn's, Mr. Coward's sleeve is, stuffed with aces ; and, though he has been known to lead lower cards, he plays the Ace of Clubs in a manner which...

its chief choreo- grapher, M. George Balanchine, made its European debut at Covent Garden on Monday night. Its season will last for several weeks, and most of the ballets staged...

ALMOST on the eve of " the Royal " (Agricultural Show) I happened to open a volume of Ruskin, that one-time prophet, in which he argued that it was esselttial, to the well-being...

I see that the most fantastic of the theories about the cuckoo is enjoying a new vogue. The theory is described in a sentence by Mr. Bernard Acworth, its author and begetter, in...

There is usually one plant that particularly catches the public eye. This year at Chelsea a yellow lilac was in the lead. It is a new break (a sport, I believe, from a white...

THE, return of Fritz Busch for the first time since the war has given the Glyndebourne Opera season an added lustre. The two Mozart operas which are being performed, Entf...

Many of the newer wonders of the garden are due, of course, to the art of hybridisation, which may produce (as in the crossing of the sweet william and carnation) almost a new...

(Canadian Magazine Post) Id.

for a letter (not more than 250 words) applying for admission to a college at Oxford or Cambridge from one of the following, stating why they now feel the need for a university...

The B.B.C. have recently appointed p new Director of Music in succession to Sir Steuart Wilson. Supposing that any great character of the past were available for the post, a...

ccports! —jo) good show! Invisible exports? dow do you know? An invisible pcperr told inc so. scnwepperveseenee lasts the whole drink through

The trial of Robert Pate, late Lieutenant in the Tenth Hussars, for striki the Queen on the face with a cane, took place at the CentragCriminai , Court on Thursday. The proofs...

Treatment for T.B. SIR, —May I con g ratulate you on your reasoned and timely article, T.B. and Sanatoria. After g eneral hospital treatment for pulmonary tuber- culosis in the...

g lad to see ventilated in your columns the shockin g out- look for the tubercular patient without means. Is there any hope of brin g in g 'pressure to bear on the Ministry,...

you r medical correspondent concernin g T.B. and Sanatoria. I write these lines, not as a medical expert, but merely as a patient who has, since the war, been treated at the...

by your medical-correspondent draws attention to but one of several aspects of the National Health Service which are causin g a considerable amount of disquiet in the minds of...

SIR,—M. Vishinsky (who knows the West a g ood deal better than some of Stalin's other advisers) is said to have cautioned a g ainst the invasion of South Korea on the g rounds...

SIR, —I have read, with the utmost consternation, the statement in the Spectator's Notebook of July 7th that the supreme task of the United Nations is to ban the atom bomb. Have...

sik—Janus refers with approval to the caustic comments made by the headmaster of Harrow and the headmaster of Mill Hill on the imposition of an age-limit for candidates for the...

Sta,—Sir W. Beach Thomas's statement that his rose-bush, Zephyrili Drouhln, was carrying "well over 300 flowers" reminded me that I had not removed the dead and over-blown...

e • / • • THE SPECTATOR • • / • / 5 0 0 .0 / Members of H.M . Forces serving overseas — ••• 2 12 0 / e • All subscriptioik pro rata for 26 weeks. . 0 I Send instructions with...

SIR,—The law of leasehold is not in a tangle but has been badly adminis- tered by the judges. When a building lease has been granted the position becomes anomalous, for the...

SIR, —1 take strong exception to Dr. R. D. Reid's statement that the public galleries of assize courts are attended " for pornographic reasons.' No man or woman can be regarded...

SIR, —Re Mr. Royds's query concerning the sex of "sandy " cats, I presume he alludes to what are known as " red tabbies." Haviny reported cat-shows in London for The Times since...

SIR,—At an international meeting of zoological societies, which nal held in London a few weeks ago, enormous admiration was expresso( by the continentals for the huge success of...

SIR,—This phrase of Tennyson is strangely disputed on p. 900 of your paper Why this fuSs about accepting a cheerful adjective ? Virgi begins his first Georgic with Quod facial...

ARTRE seems a curious example of a writer who provokes fashionable reactions. It is fashionable to like and also to dislike him. Seemingly one has either to " see through " him,...

The Spaniards in their History. An analysis of Spain's national characteristics. By Ramon Menendez Pidal. (Hollis and Carter. 16s.) IT is a pity that this very great scholar...

Christianity and World Politics War or Peace. By John Foster Dulles. (Harrap. ss.) THIS is a timely book which will help readers to see the Korean struggle against the...

Hertfordshire. By Sir William Beach Thomas. (Robert Hale. ISO Dorset. By Eric Benfield. (Robert Hale. Iss.) HAD Sir William Beach Thomas been unable for one reason or another to...

Studies in Revolution. By Edward Hallett Carr. (Macmillan. 9s. 6d.) THESE essays are modestly described as " by-products " of Mr. Carr's forthcoming book on the origins of the...

THESE volumes are intended, it appears, to supersede American Me l of Letters, the standard set much read a generation ago but now out of print in this country. The excrescence...

FOR all its occasional excess or. confusion of poetic sentiment, Robert Henriques's Captain Smith and Company, published in 191 still seems to me one of the most original pieces...

DISAGREEMENTS in philosophy are disagreements concerning the fundamentals of the human mind, its nature and its function. Dis- agreements which involve the acceptance or the...

By CUSTOS W. H. Smith Results Investors who have taken an interest in W. H. Smith and (Holdings) since this old-established business of booksellers newsagents was made a public...

Alfred Loisy. Translated by L. P. Jacks. (Allen and Uwin, 18s.) The Meaning of Beauty. By Eric Newton. (Longman. i is.) The English Cathedral. By Herbert Felton and John...

A Book Token for one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct a non of this week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week, p 25th. Envelopes must be...

mammon UOI O MMod n iuma MR mom= ganDOM MDMIII RCM 4EMMOMOO mamma O UDOMOMM WIMOrriDnOM n mmulmonto mmrmaistmmm O 0OMMLIMil ammmAn UMMOOMMO D OM m ini mumpo valminm m no a...