17 AUGUST 1945

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THE LABOUR PROGRAMME T HE King's Speech, which is of course

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in fact the Cabinet's speech, was on the occasion of the opening of the present Parliament awaited with livelier expectation than usual, for it was destined to embody the...

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NEWS OF THE WEEK

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T HE secret of the production of the atomic bomb, said President Truman in his broadcast last week, is in the hands of Great Britain and the United States. The possession of...

The Work of UNRRA

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The meetings of the Council of UNRRA have shown that while much is now being done still more remains to be done, and that it will be necessary both to extend the areas over...

Pe - tain's Fate

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The Supreme Court in Paris has delivered the expected death sentence on Marshal Petain, coupling its verdict with the wish that in view of his great age the sentence should not...

Future of the Cotton Industry

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The conferences which Sir Stafford Cripps has been holding with representatives of the cotton industry in Manchester and his statement to the Press last Sunday are to be taken...

Zionist Ambitions

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The political declaration issued by the World Zionist Conference on Monday goes far beyond the bounds of reason. It demands the constitution of " Palestine, undivided and...

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A WORLD AT PEACE

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T HE world is at peace. That assertion is possible at last. The war that most concerned this country and Russia ended in May. The war that most concerned the United States and...

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A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

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O NE of the most interesting features of this Parliament will be kj the contest between innovation and tradition. What effect is the ancient pageantry and the time-honoured...

If the Prime Minister had read a brochure (I fancy

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that is the right description) which has just reached me, called How America Eats, he would certainly have made Mr. Alfred Edwards, M.P., something or other at the Ministry of...

Apart from the Chiefs of Staffs, whose baronies are both

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fulfil- ment of precedent and a reward for desert, the resignation honours are of interest mainly for the by-elections they involve. Mainly, but not quite, for Mr. A. P....

• Various gifted predicters of the atom bomb have been

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cited and quoted in the last few days, notably Mr. H. G. Wells. I have been in touch with Mr. Wells, who is, unfortunately, ill, but still capable, as his letter to me...

More lamentable mismanagement than the VJ holidays produced it would

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be difficult to imagine. To fix Wednesday as a holiday was calamitous even if there were certain superficial reasons—the fact that people would take Wednesday off anyhow, or the...

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JAPAN IS THIS THE END ?

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By STRATEG ICUS W ITH the Japanese acceptance of the final Allied terms, the Japanese war is at an end, and peace has returned to the world. The atomic bomb, it will be said,...

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SCIENCE AND SECRECY

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By PROFESSOR A. V. HILL, F.R.S. T HE use of atomic energy against the Japanese has naturally provoked wide comment on the ethical principles involved. Are the results of...

CONTROL OF THE BOMB

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By FRANCIS WILLIAMS T HERE can be little doubt among responsible people anywhere in the world that the atomic bomb must be internationally con- trolled. President Truman has...

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SCOTS AND THE FORTY-FIVE

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By JANET ADAM SMITH T HE most significant date in Scottish history in the eighteenth century is 1723, the year in which the Society of Improvers of Knowledge of Agriculture was...

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BEE DANCES

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By FRANK S. STUART I N April and May, almost all over the world, there take place some of the most amazing and intricate mass dances of the animal kingdom. Beekeepers are able...

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THE Ministry of Supply have granted additional paper for periodicals

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to be sent overseas. This will enable copies of The Spectator to be forwarded to friends of our readers, both civilians and those in the Forces, in any part of the ;Norld,...

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On the other hand, Mr. Bevin may fall into the

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opposite extreme. He may be so appalled by the intricacy of the transactions with which he has' to deal that he may exaggerate his difficulties and fall into a mood of sullen...

The danger is, rather, that since his knowledge of foreign

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condi- tions is specialised rather than general, he may be tempted to regard his task either as easier, or else as more difficult, than, in fact, it is. On the one hand, he may...

Those who know Mr. Bevin intimately are agreed that he

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possesses three outstanding qualifications. He is a realist, in that he believes that facts are more important than theories and that policy should be governed by circumstances...

It is a mistake, I should suggest, to draw a

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profit and loss account between Mr. Eden's vast knowledge, and Mr. Bevin's com- parative ignorance. I should not myself define the actual knowledge which Mr. Eden possessed as...

MARGINAL COMMENT

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By HAROLD NICOLSON A MONG the many somewhat bewildered questions which one has heard during the last fortnight, perhaps the most frequent has been " What sort of Foreign...

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THE CINEMA

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" Mr. Skeffington." At Warners. —" Nob Hill." At the Gaumont. Miss BETFE DAVIS can claim credit for a long, lone war against the more obvious sentimentalities of the cinema....

' TIDAL POWER

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THE sea-anemone, transferred From foam-invaded rocky pool To water by no sea-wave stirred, Long keeps the ocean rule. What time of day the flood recedes, It closes up its heart...

MUSIC

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Novelties at the Proms SINCE the B.B.C. assumed the responsibility for the Promenade Con- certs, there has been an increasing tendency to relegate new works to the second (and...

THE THEATRE

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The Circle of Chalk." At the Arts Theatre. Dus English version by Mr. James Laver of a drama adapted from the Chinese is a revival of a play, which had some success before the...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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THE CHURCH IN GERMANY SIR, —The accompanying statement has just reached me through a chaplain to the Forces temporarily attached to the British troops in Berlin. It gives a...

Stu,—I was glad to see the letters in your issue

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of August loth, as I, too, had experienced the difficulties mentioned by P. A. Shaw and John Palmer regarding the working of the Cambridge University voting. As an additional...

HOW P.R. WORKS

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SIR,—I am grateful for your " broad indication " of the working of the University P.R. vote, for in spit of some researches I had to cast my own in ignorance of the precise way...

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SIR, - Is there any reason why the following system of counting

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votes should not be adopted in constituencies like Cambridge University? First preference counts 5 (or whatever is the number of candidates standing), second preference 4, and...

FRANCE AND BRITAIN SIR,—I happen to be one of the

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privileged Frenchmen who can read— through the courtesy of the "British Council in Paris "—British weekly papers. I have perused with great interest the article on " French...

ETHIOPIA AND THE ITALIAN COLONIES

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SIR,—As Brigadier Longrigg's predecessor, I cannot claim to possess such up-to-date knowledge of Eritrea as his or Major Mumford's, but the problem of the Colony's future was...

Snt,—I was indeed pleased to see The Spectator on sale

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in the important city of Lyons to which I have recently returned after an absence of nearly five years. I fully endorse the views expressed by Mr. Frank Walters in your issue...

THE SERVICE VOTE

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Slit,—I venture to send you the enclosed passage from a letter received from my son. He has been an aircraftsman in Egypt, mostly in Cairo, for over three years, and owing to...

S114—I have read with interest the excellent article by Professor

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Brogan on the Franco-British crisis, which was published in the issue of July 15th of your journal. Though I do not think I can quite agree with all he says (in particular, I am...

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U.N.C.I.O. POSTSCRIPT

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SIR, —Mr. Francis Williams does not dispute that the text of the San Francisco Charter leaves the " hidden veto " unimpaired, but draws attention to the agreement announced by...

Delayed Hatching

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Some accounts, that have strained the credulity of many naturalists, have appeared in The Times concerning the hatching of eggs, apparently deserted for weeks. My own...

COUNTRY LIFE

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PEOPLE in Oxford are wondering why that delectable brook, the Cher, should be covered with duckweed, a plant not even noticed in ordinary. The stream in places looks like one of...

In My Garden

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I do not know that wasps are particularly plentiful this season, but all there are in my neighbourhood seem to have discovered a tree of Langley pippins. They arc quite right. I...

Rare Birds in Number The very best of local bird

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reports comes yearly from the Devon Bird- watching and Preservation Society, and this year's is altogether exceptional. It reports an astonishing number of rarities to...

R.A.F. EDUCATION

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Sta,—An Education Officer who tendered his resignation in accordance with the terms of his appointment received a reply from the Air Ministry informing him that under the...

The Rose - Bay Willow - He'rb Plant

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I find it difficult to escape from that irrepressible plant the rose-bay willow-herb. One more or less new fact emerges. Its disappearance is on occasion as remarkable alniost...

SHORTAGE OF HOUSES

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SIR,—The present shortage of houses prompts me to the suggestion, possibly not novel, that many of the buildings on vacated aerodromes (of which the number must be on the...

Postage on this issue: Inland, ild.; Overseas, Id.

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BOOKS OF THE DAY

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Medieval Church Life Church Life in England in the 13th Century. By J. R. H. Moorman. (Cambridge University Press. 25s.) MR. MOORMAN, even in his Cambridge undergraduate days,...

How It Happened

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MR. ORWELL is an odd phenomenon, an old Etonian who is a Socialist, an idealist who is dear-headed and thinks for himself, a man of party politics, on the staff of Mr. Aneurin...

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Disputes about Birds IN the study of bird behaviour a

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great advance was made when the modern theory of bird territory was thoroughly propounded in 1922 by H. Eliot Howard. It has since been much extended by two workers in...

Educational Disquiet

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THE bewildered chemistry student who wrote " I poured acid on it and it fizat, I dunnit again and it never," is the kind of spectre which haunts, which has perhaps even prompted...

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Fiction

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The Elderbrook Brothers is the history of Matthew, Guy and Felix, sons of the farmer Joe Elderbrook, of Upmarden, Mercestershire- three stories in one, or more loosely one story...

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SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 334

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t E SOLUTION ON AUGUST 31st The winner of Crossword No. 334 is A. HARVEY TROLLOPE, ESQ., Munstead Belt, Nr. Godalming.

i 4 THE SPECTATOR" CROSSWORD No. 336

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/0 /-1 /5 / / 7 Is ? Nsel. N., ACROSS r. " Tossing about in a steamer from -." (Gilbert) (7.) 8. Decisive. (7.) 9. Where one might have met the Tuggses. (8.) ro. Of...

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Back Words and Fore Words. By Laurence Housman. (Cape. 10s.

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6d.) HOWEVER irrelevant and ungracious it may seem, one cannot help comparing Laurence Housman with his more famous brother. Where Alfred is concise, Laurence is diffuse. The...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

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By CUSTOS EXERCISING its traditional role of looking ahead of events, the Stock Exchange celebrated VJ-Day well in advance by hoisting prices of rubber and tin shares, Far...

Shorter Notices THIS is a very informative and useful book—useful,

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that is to say, for those who are not familiar with Virginia Woolf's work, or who are beginning to think about what a novel is. It is meant, in fact, for the reader who is...

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COMPANY MEETING

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BEECHAMS PILLS FURTHER EXPANSION ftiE seventeenth ordinary general meeting of Beechams Pills, Limited, was held on August 9th at the Dorchester Hotel, London, W., Sir J....