M R. OLIVER LYTTELTON is shortly to visit Malaya, where General Sir Rob Lockhart has been appointed to take over control of the anti-terrorist operations from General Sir Harold...

Correspondents in Tokyo and Korea have begun to cast doubts on the competence of the United Nations negotiators at Pan- munjom, or at any rate on the wisdom of the directives by...

The four-Power plans for a Middle East defence pact are scrupulously designed not to give offence. That has not prevented the Egyptian Prime Minister from describing them as...

What Mr. Geoffrey Lloyd has had to say about 'the fuel position and .what Major Lloyd George has had to say about the food position fully justify the passage in the King's...

Dr. Moussadek, having lingered in the United States till no possible excuse for lingering longer remains, is to leave on Sunday for Tehran via Cairo. His movements, or rather in...

Mr. Peter Thorneycroft will have an important and not entirely easy decision to make on the recommendations of the Monopolies Commission on the electric lamp industry. That the...

There may be little that the British Government can do at this moment to ease the tension in the Suez Canal Zone. But in the other region which is in dispute between Britain and...

its singularity. A Government caught in the toils of a' critical situation for which it has no responsibility ; a Government which is feeling its way tentatively to its own...

The Labour Opposition has not made a good start. The affectation of indignation at the Government's intentions about steel, when it has been well known to everyone from the...

Mr. Harold Macmillan will be wise to give as much attention to the repair and reconditioning of old houses as to the con- struction of new. That counsel, given by the Sanitary...

achieved no ordinary success in Canada, a fact which augurs well for the similar mission they are shortly to undertake in the King's stead in Australia and New Zealand. That is...

T the United Nations Assembly in Paris on Monday, Mr. Eden provided an instructive illustration of a warmonger in action. Strangely, and no doubt temporarily, oblivious of that...

dulcl. But very often they simply won't mix. The London County Council wants to put up high blocks of flats as a solution to the housing problem- utile. But it wants to put them...

Ministry of Transport report. 27,000 level crossings on the railways of Great Britain, and they are (I suppose with the growth of motor traffic) becoming an Increasing danger....

for the intensity of enthusiasm Princess Elizabeth aroused during her short visit to that city. At the reception at the British Embassy, among the two thousand guests with whom...

no other industry display quite the same characteristics. In the Royal Victoria Dock in London, it appears, a new grain elevator, costing £150,000, is standing idle because the...

desk. It is what its name implies—a sheet published in the Suez Canal Zone for all the forces there, designed to give them an accurate summary of home and foreign—and...

Rector of Aberdeen University, in succession to Lord Tweeds- rnuir and with 60 votes more than Lord Lovat. Why. I wonder, do the undergraduates do this ? Comedians render great...

or two exceptions to justify the "almost ") is matter for regret. In the absence of some improbable eleventh-hour rescue-scheme The Guardian will publish its final issue on the...

satisfied with its majority of 38 in the first division of the new Parlia- ment on Monday (followed the next day by one of 37), particularly since one or two of its supporters,...

By ROBERT WAITHMAN Washington T HE United States has now come out and said what it is prepared to do in order to reverse the world's engines, in order that the course may be...

the valley in the dusk, and a° group of people outside the Berchtesgadener Hof looked terribly like the journalists. Pre* photographers and local inhabitants who had stood...

STARBOARD WATCH On, a right wind is blowing, a spring tide is flowing, Fresh mates have signed on, a tried hand's at the helm. Let us no longer wallow in doldrum and shallow,...

Ilty GILBERT MURRAY, O.M. W HY do publishers produce so many new translations of Plato and Homer ? Why do so many people buy and presuniably read them ? It is understandable,...

By DAVID BROCK Vancouver. HEN they turned eastward again from the Pacifiq Coast the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh boarded their train at New Westminster, near...

By LORD ELTON D ESPITE Gallup polls, cube, laws and omniscient, if harassed, columnists, General Elections remain a mystery. Half an hour before the citizens vote no single...

By SIR HENRY BASHFORD T HERE appeared in the Spectator of October 26th, 1951, a lament with the title "Season of Mists." It was written by Mr. J. P. W. Mallalieu at what he...

By KATE O'BRIEN C ONNEMARA is a region of Ireland, not a county, as many addressers of envelopes thereto seem to think it is. It is of Galway County as Dartmoor is of Devon or...

I DON'T know who it was who said that "the best things in life are free " ; but I remember that my grandfather used to say that to me, when his reply to a request for money to...

By PROFESSOR BARBARA WOOTTON N OW that we are all getting so highly poll-conscious (I mean the Gallup, not the electoral variety), the risk that the meretricious will be passed...

By BRYAN LITTLE T HE opening of country houses has by now caused a massive increase in the "tourist attractions" available in England. Cathedrals and ruined abbeys have to...

A GENTLEMAN resident in Lincolnshire was travelling about eighty or ninety miles from home, and left a favourite little dog at an hotel while he visited another town in the...

By HARRY FRANKLIN Addis Abab.a HE Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah is vastly and gaudily emblazoned, in mediaeval colours and style, upon the fuselage of the latest...

Grand Hotel Ofty D. E. HENN (King's College, Cambridge) LACK or white, Madam ? " I leant slightly forward, milk- and coffee-jugs poised, inwardly rather pleased at having...

By HAROLD NICOLSON A T the Guildhall last Friday, Mr. Winston Churchill warned us that unless we all started to be very gentle towards each other, the country might "shake and...

"Lullaby of Broadway." (Warner.)--- ,, The Prowler." (London Pavilion.)-■" Paris qui Dort," "An Italian Straw Hat." (Everyman.) Lullaby of Broadway is a pleasant unpretentious...

" Rosario and Antonio." (Cambritige.) "Pearl Primus." Her company of Dancers, Singers and Musicians. (Princes.) I DON'T suppose it is often that artists have to stop half way...

THEATRE Magnolia Street Story. By Louis Golding and Emanuel Litvinoff. WHEN Jewish actors gather in any strength on the same stage, they have a way of turning into "stage...

cultural life in music. For some years it has been London's most enterprising concert-promoter. Hoist and Tippett have been among those who held the post of musical director at...

in their decadence, a return to precision was to be expected, and in various forms—Neue Sachlichkeit, surrealism and American " magic " social realism—has in fact taken place....

heresy. How so ? Because monocultural coniferous plantations have so dense a canopy as to exclude sunlight from their floors, starve out the ground-flora and prevent natural...

is a nice point to know what to do with the fallen leaves. Many make a bonfire of them, like a spendthrift " burning " his heritage. If they are oak or beech, they are...

ONE of my happiest memories is of the Somerset Quantocks, whose length of a dozen miles of mountain-shaped and wood-cloaked hills separates Exmoor from the Bridgwater flats....

by the winds, but patches of gay bunting still flying, the year labours towards the winter solstice. A few hare- bells, scabious and yellow toadflax linger on the banks ; a few...

a scene virtually unchanged since the Lyrical Ballads were issued in 1798, complete with bulldozers and all the paraphernalia of modern clearance, to wake up "the sleep that is...

A load of hay heaped up on the red and blue wagon Catches the branches and dangles in wisps on the hedge Long after the whine of the wheel and the hoof - beats die, And we in...

N agreeable exhibition of aquatint and other colour-plate books prom the library of Major J. R. Abbey, which is on view at the National Book League, 7 Albemarle Street, W.1,...

Set by D. R. Peddy A prize of £5, whith may be divided, is ofiered for an extrint from a speech by a delegate to the annual conference of a union representing the interests of...

Report by Richard Usborms A prize of £5 was offered for the first Impressions of any four of the following on arriving at the Pearly Gates: Father Brown, Berry Pleydell,...

astonishing performance. Mr. Harold Nicolson suggests that most persons in positions of public responsibility would, if they dared, "denounce UNO as a pathetic fallacy." . What,...

The Philosophy of Liberalism . SIR,—Mr. Philip Noel-Baker follows the usual practice of Socialists of using The half-lie. He implies the Conservatives opposed the National...

SIR,—Many of Mr. Harold Nicolson's admirers will have been saddened by his comments on the United Nations, and of these none more -than those who used to enjoy his skilled and...

dealt with what may be called "the philosophy of Liberalism" today. The measures passed by the recent Socialist administration have made it clear that Socialism is based on a...

SIR,—In discussing a delicate matter such as this, which bristles with difficulties, the first thing needed is accuracy ; opinion can only be founded upon facts. Your...

a study of the writings , of present-day theologians shows that there are three views current in the Church of England about its moral validity. There are those who are prepared...

have written in opposition to the age-limit agree so largely with the objectives set out in my article. What surprises me is that Mr. Stirland, who is so opposed to burdening...

SIR;--Mr. Holland's defence of the age-limit is unconvincing. It is unfair of him to suggest that it is the Conservatives who have made our school examinations a matter of party...

the question of the teaching of the Church of England on the matter of contraceptives at least makes clear the point I had in mind, i.e., that there has been no authoritative...

SIR,—I have seen it stated in York—on I know not what authority— that Sweet William derives its name from St. William of York, to whose Mots the Minster owes so much. Not that...

Sip,—Your music critic, Mr. Colin Mason, complains that "Covent Garden continues fo offer Italian opera with guest singers from anywhere but Italy. These presumably are being...

SIR,—I was born in 1855, and well remember, at the age of three, being presented to a very old lady, Mrs. Robinia Dundas, well known in our neighbomhood (we lived in Westmorland...

have only now seen your issue of September 14th, or I would have written sooner to ask, "Has Homer nodded ? "—or, in other words, has Mr. Massingham slipped up badly in stating...

William, Miss E. S. Rohde, in her learned and delightful volume The Scented SIR,—With reference to the possible origins of the name Sweet William, Miss E. S. Rohde, in her...

The Story of a Great Actor THERE is a legend, more firmly upheld by actors than other people, that no human being's renown is so fleeting as that of the player. On the day he...

The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian. By Nirad C. Chaudhuri. (Macmillan. 2 is.) MR. CHROMIUM has written a book that is a mixture of auto- biography, contemporary history and...

A La Carte, By L. E. Jones, (Secker and Warburg. 125. 6d.) .1 wisx there were not so much irrationally blank paper in this book, and at least twice as many of these delicious...

To offer bound quarto volumes with nearly 50 good colour plates at 50 shillings is a remarkable achievement—an achievement of pub- lishing even more than of colour-photography...

Boswell's Column, With Introduction and Notes by Margery Bailey. (William Kitnber. 21s.) 46 . We have seen from the evidence brought by Dr. Shebbeara in a court of justice,...

The Poetry of Ezra Pound. By Hu g h Kenner. (Faber. 2 c s.) IT is one of Mr. Eliot's well-known dicta that poetry should have at least the virtues of prose. It is to be wished...

South Bank and Vauxhall. London County Council Survey of London. Vol: XXIII: Parish of St. Mary, Lambeth. Part 1. Edited by Sir Howard Roberts and Walter H. Godfrey. (London...

Mrs, Jordan and Her Family: Being the Unpublished Correspondence of Mrs. Jordan and the Duke of Clarence, later William IV. Edited by A. Aspinall. (Arthur Barker. 3os.) THIS...

After AlL The autobiography of Sir Norman Angell. (Hamish Hamil- ton. 8s.) IF admirers of the life work of Norman Angell have had to watt till the eve Of his seventy-seventh...

Berlioz and the Romantic Century. By Jacques Barzun. (Gol(ancz. 2 volumes. 3 guineas the set.) JACQUES BARIUM is a distinguished historian who has worked mainly in the field of...

Tins illuminating and interesting volume covers the period between the middle of January and the beginning of April, 1939. During it the British Government gradually realised...

Fifty Years of Song. By Peter Dawson. (Hutchinson. i ss.) "THERE is a little ego in all of us," Mr. Dawson observes dis- armingly. We will not contradict him, but his book is so...

Journeys in England. An Anthology edited by jack Simmono. (Odharns Press. iss.) MISS BAYNE-POWELL would perhaps have been more accurate had she called her latest book Travelling...

Writings from the Philokalia. Translated by E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer. (Faber. 3os.) THE Philokalia is a collection of writings by the Greek Church Fathers intended...

THIS book is a collection, or rather a selection, from the post-war, writings of the author, for the most part taken from The Field. They are arranged under four separate...

The Swiss Family Perelman, By S. J. Perelman. (Reinhardt and Evans. 828. 6d.) AFTER my last review of Humour in these columns I waa worried about my sense of humour. My authors...

The Somerset Sequence. By Horatia Durant. (Newman Neame. us.) Tins lovingly written account of the Dukes of Beaufort and their ancestors, the Earls and Marquesses of Worcester...

Yours Ever, Sam Pig. By Alison Uttley. (Faber. 8s. 6d.) More Children's Theatre Plays. By David Scott Daniell. (Harrap. Cs-) We Go to Paris. By Mary Dunn. (Harrap. 8s. 6d.) Dr....

Adding Life to Years. By Lord Amulree. (Bannisdale Press. Bs. 6d.) THIS survey of the needs of old people, a publication of the National Council of Social Service, is chiefly...

order of readability these novels come past the winning post at intervals just long enough for a reflection or two on form, and a speculation, when all is over, as to whether...

GEOFFREY HOUSEHOLD ;s among those unfortunate writers who have produced one book of such excellence that everything they write thereafter is measured by it. Thus, the first...

much to be hoped that no more books will be written about Aphra Behn for a long, long time. Miss Sackville-West has put. into less than a hundred pages all that needed to be...

8s. 6d.) TiltS is an exceedingly valuable book, and everybody who is interested in amateur drama, whether as adjudicator, producer, actor or spectator, ought to read it. Mr....

THIS expeditiously published report has all the interest of a hunt for a missing link. During recent decades excavations in Hither' Asia, Egypt and Southern Europe have pro-...

in the stock mar- kets. Whatever doubts one may feel about the new Government's determination or ability to put teeth into its disinflation pro- gramme, markets are behaving as...

[A Book Token for one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct solution opened after noon on Tuesday week, November 27110 • MMEMMUMNIk MUMMA ARAII.MtIV :4m H...

R. SOLUTION ON NOVEMBER 30 The winner of Crossword No. 650 is E. 0. SIIIIBBEARE, ESQ., The Sands Hotta* South Newington, Banbury, Oxon.