this week, the declaration of war on Germany by Marshal Badoglio's Government is much less important than the arrangement NEWS OF THE WEEK reached between this country and...

The fact that the Archbishop of York was invited to go to visit religious leaders in Russia and went is in itself a fact of signifi- cance. He has found that worship within the...

The news of the brilliant attack upon enemy shipping off the Norwegian coast commented on last week is followed by the report of the still more remarkable feat of seamanship and...

The assembling of a conference of the partners is the British Commonwealth on the future of air-transport is a necessary pre- liminary to larger discussions which will be needed...

The rise in the birth-rate in the June qiiarter of 1942 (compared with the average of the five preceding yerrs), followed by a much greater rise in the same quarter this year,...

One interesting conclusion of a report on communal restaurants, which has just been published by the London Council of Social Service, is that there is likely to be a...

It is a curious characteristic of the American Senate that its individual members find pleasure so -frequently in derogating from its prestige and authority. Deeply concerned...

The statement of policy issued by the Tory Reform Committee (the firm assumption of the name Tory instead of Conservative has no doubt historical significance) on Wednesday is...

In the speech made by Mr. W. S. Morrison, Minister of Town and Country Planning, at a town-planning conference last week, a good deal of his time was devoted to showing why the...

week the House 1 of Commons confronted a serious situation which has been staring us in the face all through the summer and has not yet been put right. The fact that a similar...

I SEE that the slightly slimy agent of the Gestapo at Lisbon is referred to somewhere as " that elderly rascal Baron Rheinbaben." I am surprised, on turning to the...

By STRATEGIC US W HETHER the Russians have determined to present the Con- ference in Moscow with some spectacular prize is a matter which only the future can disclose ; but...

By PHYLLIS BOTTOME W HAT we need today in every country, but specially for the moral building-up of the German nation, are a race I can only describe as " Serpent-Doves." All...

By HORACE ALEXANDER F OR the last few weeks the Press has had daily reports of widespread famine conditions in India, especially in Calcutta and other parts of Bengal. Having...

By V. SACKVILLE-WEST I N times when the esteem of beauty and the humanities hides like an unhonoured nymph from the eyes of men ; times when expediency, convenience, and...

By HAMILTON FYFE C ATCHWORDS have more effect on public opinion than argu- ment—or even facts. A fact is quickly forgotten ; a catch- word sticks in the mind. Here is an...

By HAROLD NICOLSON M ANDRE MICHALOPOULOS, until recently Greek • Minister of Information, has published this week a collection of his speeches and addresses under the title of...

THE days are hushed and still, whose wistful hours Drift past like muted music of a song ; Some echo lingering, tells of summer's joy, Then passing — drifts away in cadence...

MUSIC SCHUBERT's posthumous Sonata in A Major is not superficially among his more attractive works. The vast opening movement has for its main materials a rhythmical...

FOLLOWING in the footsteps of The Gentle Sex in commemorating what may come to be regarded as the outstanding feature of this war, we have two ambitious new films examining...

" Landslide." At the Westminster. IT might be very useful if there were in existence a responsible and reputable body of critics who could compile a simple system of...

SIR, —In my opinion The Spectator is miles ahead of any of its con- temporaries as an intellectual force, and as an organ of well-reasoned political sanity, and deservedly...

Snt,—One of the unfortunate consequences of your gibing comparison between factory workers and the Fifth Army, and your further deter- mination to stick by it, is that we can...

excuse strikers in vital war industries irom any real blame for hampering the national effort. What would be the reception for a similar defence of business men in respect of...

Sta,—I have read the article of October 1st by Quintin Hogg, M.P., with great interest. What I would much like to have stated in plain words is: What sort of " universal...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Snt,—Recently I have been visiting some of the repertory companies in and near London; this letter is a strong protest against the deplorable Christmas...

point of this discussion: we are not concerned with the percentage of boys taking science in the school certificate but with those who do not study any science at all and who...

SIR, —Mr. Harold Nicolson ended his "Marginal Comment " last week with the statement that whatever happens we shall not again dread defeat.. In The Spectator of April 3oth,...

Janus " refers, that Germans in the Kuban have taken to lying under water and breathing through reeds in the hope of escaping their Russian avengers, is an interesting reversal...

SIR, —Mr. Sheppard's calculations are faulty. He reckons civilian losses in the total dead of the British Empire, but not in those of the Soviet Union. Does he realise that...

Sandison's letter in The Spectator of October 1st and can fully sympathise with his views, as I spent the whole of the last war (44 years) on service overseas, though far too...

poem under the above title appearing in your issue of October 8th. Its general trend is to disturb the minds of our Pilots and the minds of their parents. Consequently it would...

Srn,—In the " Country Life " column of your issue of September 24th, Sir W. Beach Thomas writes : " The Rothamsted ' Wonder Plot' which has been growing wheat without any...

Sm,—I have not seen the present performance of Nan. When it was done, before the last war, by some Manchester people, with Mona Limerick as Nan and Iden Payne as Gaffer, it was...

bird preservation, the Norfolk Naturalists' Trust, have produced their usual Christmas card. The bird selected, by that excellent artist Mr. Harrison, is a yellow wagtail,...

Six,—Your leading article of October 8th calls to mind the fact which is so often forgotten, that the opening words of the Covenant of the League of Nations are: " In order to...

The Unconquered Isle : The Story of Malta, G.C. By Ian Hay, (Hodder and Stoughton. 7s. 6d.) NAPOLEON, with characteristic exaggeration, once said he would sooner have the...

The Poker-Face ONE has seen that face over a hundred bar counters—the lick of hair over the broad white brow, the heavy moustache with pointed ends, the firm, good-humoured...

He Who Is. By E. L. Mascall. (Longmans. 155.) Finite and Infinite. By Austin Farrer. (Dacre Press. 2os.) THE word " liberal," formerly a title of honour, bids fair in these...

Mother Russia. By Maurice Hindus. (Collins. 12s. 6d.) U.S.S.R.: Her Life and Her People. By Maurice Dobb. (University of London Press. 4s. 6d.) MR. HINDUS' book is a brilliant...

Cloudless May. By Storm Jameson. (Macmillan. ios. 6d.) The Human Comedy. By William Saroyan. (Faber and Faber. 8s. 6d.) The Darkening Hill. By Helen Hull. (Jarrolds. gs. 6d.)...

Queen Elizabeth. Theodore Maynard. (Hollis and Carter. t8s.) WHEN Von Ranke decided to 6e a historian, even in preference to a Christian, he observed, innocently enough, that...

The winner of Crossword No. 238 is MRS. W. LEEDS, Edenhurst, Ross-on-Wye.

IA Book Token for one guinea will 'be awarded to the sender of the first correct elution of this week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week, Jeiober 26th....

By CUSTOS ONCE again there are signs of tiredness in the stock markets. Prospective reinvestment demand from the repatriation of Argentine loans has spent its force as a...

Auld Reekie. By Alasdair Alpin MacGregor. (Methilen. x2s. 6d.) IN his Preface, Mr. MacGregor informs his readers that his Family Saga, originally planned for three volumes,...