15 JANUARY 1954

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THE INITIATIVE IS OURS

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What, to any serious observer of post-war diplomacy, could be more important that this bold development by the American Secretary of State of the main headings of a policy which...

No. 6 5 5 1 FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1954 PRICE

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7d.

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Set the Prisoners Free

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The part played by India in the slow restoration of peace in Korea has been very helpful. The behaviour of the Indian troops charged with the horrible task of supervising the "...

Nebulous Strategy

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stood firm behind strong defences at Seno, as they did last time at Nasam, and the rebels, whose movements soon lost their initial dash, suffered heavily in probing attacks and...

The Comet

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Until the wreckage of the BOAC Comet airliner which crashed into the sea off the island of Elba has been salvaged and thoroughly examined, any attempt to put a finger on the...

It has been proved over and over again, from 1944

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onwards, that it never pays to make a concession to the Russian Govern- ment, and that it pays least of all to concede a point merely because it seems too trivial to argue...

Lord Simon

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Lord Simon was a survivor of an age in which intellectual pre-eminence was recognised and rewarded early and immense prizes lay within the grasp of the lad of parts with...

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WAGES AND THE WOLF

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SELF-CONGRATULATORY pamphlet published by the Conservative Central Office in December noted that the number of working days lost through strikes during the first two years of...

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they may possess of thinking things out for themselves. His

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proposed remedy (which would fall rather hard on periodicals like the Spectator) is impracticable and was not meant seriously; but there may be something in his diagnosis. When...

Footnote (Non-Erudite) to Above

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To prefix , the columnists' trade formula " It may not be generally known. . . " to what I am now going to say about Mr. Auden would, I feel, be slightly disingenuous. It is not...

Unser Auden ?

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A nice point, or so it seems to me, is raised by the wording of the citation which this week announced the award of the Bollinger Poetry Prize to Mr. Wystan Auden. After...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

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S PEAKING at SHAPE on Monday, General Gruenther estimated the strength of the USSR's satellite armies in Europe at 70 divisions, " which might soon become more effective." The...

The two men, strangers to each other, had been standing

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side by side for perhaps half a minute before the smaller and, at a guess, the nicer of them spoke to the other. They were in the foyer of a restaurant, and the demeanour of...

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An Anatomy of Scottish Nationalism

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By MORAY McLAREN HE lively correspondence in the Spectator which fol- lowed upon Sir Compton Mackenzie's " Sidelight " on the Scottish conspiracy trial, contained a letter in...

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Britain's Industrial Future

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By LORD HALSBURY HENEVER I feel inclined to be depressed about our industrial future I remember the following statistics which indicate our relative position in the world today....

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African Bradshaw

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By THOMAS HODGKIN ITH the introduction of the Bradshaw cult a new reverence for time has entered the lives of Africans who, as everyone knows, before the coming of the White Man...

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T HE guide was one of those thin, greying, melancholy and

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distinguished-looking Spaniards, rather like the late Duke of Alba, that you find in all walks of Spanish life almost as often as you find the roundish well-fed kind, rather...

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THEATRE

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Twelfth Night. BY William Shakespeare. (Old Vic.) MORE than most plays of Shakespeare, Twelfth Night depends on atmosphere: nothing much happens in the play, lovers meet, are...

OPERA

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Le Coq d'Or. (Royal Opera House.) RUSSIAN opera has been poorly represented in the Covent Garden repertory hitherto, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Golden Cockerel— for there seems no...

CONTEMPORARY ARTS

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ART T r y. (Tate Gallery.) seems clear that the specific contribu- tion made by Frenchmen to the School of rads (Rouaulr notwithstanding) has been essentially a decorative...

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CINEMA

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How to Marry a Millionaire. (Odeon, Marble Arch.)—Forbidden Fruit. (Cameo-Poly.) WRITTEN byNunnallyJohnson and directed by Jean Negulesco, How to Marry a Millionaire should, I...

GRAMOPHONE RECORDS

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(INITIALS before catalogue markings indicate the following recording companies: B, Brunswick; C, Capitol; D, Decca; HMV; OL, Oiseau-Lyre' P, Parlophone; S, Supra- phone; T,...

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Early Beans

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Anyone with a few five-inch pots and some sheets of glass or frames can have beans ready for planting-out and get things a little in advance. The same can be done with peas....

A Day's Sport David, who came to do some decorating

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for us, is an enthusiast where ferrets are con- cerned. His great delight is to go rabbiting, and when he does, time stands still, as it does with me when I go fishing. He...

The Mad Dog

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As I came up the road a car passed me and when it reached the junction of the lane a dog that had been hiding in the hedge sprang out and went whirling himself along, barking at...

Country Life

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ONE doesn't need to look at the lighting-up tables to know that the days are lengthening. The change is apparent to everyone quite soon after the shortest day, and although the...

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S1R,—The public might assume from recent letters to The Times

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of the Chairman of the Tate Gallery Trustees that' when .the Picasso " Femme nue assise " and the Matisse " Notre-Dame " were acquired by the Gallery in 1949 they were purchased...

Letters to the editor

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NATIONAL ART COLLECTIONS SIR,—I read the leader in your issue of Decem- ber 25th, on the subject of the National Art Collections, as well as Mr. Denis Mahon's letter in the...

SIR,—In my letter to you I stated that no civil

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servant could be appointed a Trustee of one of the National Collections. This was based on the fact that a most valuable Trustee of one of them was forced to retire in 1950 on...

TEACHERS' SALARIES

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S1R,—May I thank you for the sympathetic understanding you showed in your last editorial of the case for an increase in the salaries of assistant masters at grammar schools, and...

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SIR, _ . Mr . J. H. Prevett in the main body of his

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letter has expressed the most admirable and objective sentiments regarding the pay- ment of blood money but his final paragraph, where he refers to the " alarming tendency t v...

would like to make it quite clear that

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my former adverse criticism of the conduct of tome members of the Security Forces in Kenya did not apply to the units sent out from home. The Buffs, the Devons and the test are...

GROTTOES ON THE STREET SIR,—Sir Compton Mackenzie may be interes-

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ted to know that the custom of building grottoes has in Mitcham survived the Second War; I cannot speak for Cheyne Walk. There' is still a sudden flowering of the grottoes—the...

NEW YEAR—OLD STYLE

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SIR,—Sir Compton Mackenzie's Sidelight on " New ' Year—Old Style " throws a very interesting side light on the substantial vera- , city of the old saws that have come down to...

WELLER ON CAMBERWELL

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SIR,—The excellent articles by Mr. James Pope-Hennessy, on the ancient areas that still retain their individuality within the vast amalgam of London, appeal most poignantly to...

DEATH OF THE TOPEE

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SIR,—Three cheers for Strix. I have often dallied with the idea of writing a letter on topees, pith or sun helmets, and here at last is my opportunity. Are they still worn ?...

SIR,—I hope many of your readers were angered, as I

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was, by the contempt for India gratuitously expressed by H. M. Champness in the unseemly introduction to his review " Travels in India " on January 8th. He is, of course,...

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THE NOBLE TOWN

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SIR,-1 have just noticed, in a letter in the Spectator of December 25th, the old fallacy of Edinburgh's name deriving from Edwin repeated once more. The prefix is British "...

CANDIDATES FOR HOLY ORDERS

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M.A. [Name and address supplied.]

SPECTATOR COMPETITION No. 205 Set by Edward Blishen SPECTATOR COMPETITION

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No. 205 Set by Edward Blishen A prize of £5, which may be divided, is offered JrO an extract (not more than 12 lines) from one of the following little-known poems : To His Coy...

From Holmes's Casebook

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SPECTATOR COMPETITION No. 202 Report by J. P. W. Monaco In the opening paragraphs of several of the Sherlock Holmes stories reference is made to imaginary cases which the...

LIGHT RAILWAYS

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NIGEL J. WATT.

SIR, — In his charming and otherwise unexcep- tionable article "The Hippodrome

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and Mr. Ladbroke " in your issue of January 8th, Mr. James Pope-Hennessy perpetuates a popular error which seems to date from W. H. Loftie's History of Kensington (1884)....

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Compton Mackenzie

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I WAS sorry to hear that the Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary Schools in conference at Buxton had decided by a small majority not to start a strike with the object...

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Looking at Pictures

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By PAMELA HANSFORD JOHNSON Sometimes when I am particularly troubled or restless or when there is an ordeal of some sort in store, I go there for release of spirit; for the...

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.SPoRTING ASPECTS

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President's Putter, 1954 By PATRIC DICKINSON OW that the Putter is over, one can say that this should really be called the Undergraduate Page, for when, late on Saturday,...

MOTORING

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Corning Round the By GORDON WILKINS T O read Haas's account of his ride on the back of a giant ray fills me with a sense of my own inadequacy as a swimmer, and I have no desire...

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Spectator Competition for Schools

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The Spectator offers three prizes, each of books to the value of eight guineas, for articles to be written by boys and girls In schools in the United Kingdom. Entries should be...

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Horizon

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By JOHN WAIN 0 write a review of a Horizon anthology* is like being asked to look through the family album and judge the portraits solely on their merit as photography. It...

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Sartorial Folly

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Muffs and Morals. By Pearl Binder. (Harrap. 15s.) SUMPTUARY laws may be a thing of the past for most countries, but trouble about bikinis crops up somewhere every year;...

Reasons or Motives ?

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Berkeley. By G. J. Warnock. (Penguin Books. 2s.) The Unconscious Origin of Berkeley's Philosophy. By J. 0. Wisdom. (Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis. 25s.) How...

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Bird of Paradox

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THE character of Metternich was composed of contradictions, a superb and living paradox: in some ways a perfect character for a statesman. Metternich was frank and secretive,...

Undeclared Wars

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Survey of International Affairs, 1938. Vol. III. By R. D. G. Laffan and Others. (O.U.P. for R.I.I.A. 55s.) The Undeclared, War, 1940-1941. By William L. Langer and S. Everett...

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Hemingway

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Ernest Hemingway. By Philip Young. (Bell. 12s. 6d.) MR. YOUNG isn't going to be silly like John O'Hara who thought Hemingway " the outstanding author since the death of Shakes-...

Musical Imagination

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IN this attempt to communicate some of his ideas about. musical imagination, creative, interpretative and receptive, Copland follows a formidably distinguished line rather...

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The Weekly Epic

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ONE day, someone will suddenly be found to have established foot- ball as a subject lit to be written about, as Mr. Cardus made cricket acceptable to the circulating libraries....

The Leavis Treatment

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"I BELIEVE that most of what may be found valuable in this book derives from the work of F. R. Leavis," says Mr. Coombes modestly but accurately. This text-book is in fact a...

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Clouds of Witness

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Christian Faith and Communist Faith. Edited by D. M. Mackinnon. (Macmillan. 21s.) ABOUT a year ago the religious department of the BBC launched a series of discussions between...

The French Reviews--

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RECENT numbers of French reviews present their usual diversity. Anyone glancing through them would probably be struck by the strange extract from the work of Gottfried Berm in...

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IN THIS, the latest of the series of studies of

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the mentality of children which have estab- lished its author as the foremost authority on the subject, he elaborates his own theory of the beginnings of intelligent behaviour...

The Sacred Oasis. By Irene Vongehr Vincent. With a preface

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by Pearl Buck. (Faber and Faber. 30s.) THE man-made "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas" near Tun Huang in North China, just outside the Great Wall, are a famous centre of Buddhist...

Other Recent Books

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History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity, 19004926. By Sir Edmund Whittaker. (Nelson. 32s. 6d.) THE ,developments in physics during the first quarter of this...

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Company Notes

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respectively on their crops. Last year the average price they realised was 3s. 61d. and 3s. 81d. and only 27 per cent. to 29 per cent. of their crops had been sold by' the end...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

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By NICHOLAS DAVENPORT THE first to report the full and happy effects of the trade recovery in 1953 are the joint stock banks, whose accounting period is the calendar year....

SPinIfex Walkabout. By Coralie and Leslie Rees. (Harrap. 15s.)

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The Secret Front. By Wilhelm Hoettl. (Weidenfeld and Nicholson. 21s.)

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Ir anyone still believes that the German war effort was a well co-ordinated whole, or that her eastern satellites ever acted in effective concert, except, at times, against...

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THE "SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 765

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L4 Book token for one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct !Nation opened after noon on Tuesday week, January 26th, addressed Crossword, '9 Cower Street,...

Solution to Crossword No. 763

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