E VERYONE in this country knows by experience what total war means for Britain in terms of national effort, expen- diture, sacrifice and loss. The official White Paper that was...

Sympathisers with Poland, and in this country they are numerous, are left helpless when the Polish Government shows itself its own worst enemy. Nothing more unfortunate than the...

The final issue of the debate, partly public partly secret, on con- scription in the Canadian House of Commons has not been revealed as we write, but it seems probable that Mr....

The resignatibn, due to ill-health and advancing years, of the veteran statesman who has been the American Secretary of State for twelve years, is a grave loss to his...

Making his first speech as chairman of the Conservative Party last Saturday Mr. Ralph Assheton gave the expected reminder that the time had come for clearing the decks for an...

The Belgian Prime Minister, M. Pierlot, has had to go to the Chamber for special powers to deal with a situation which was becoming a threat to order and government. The...

Signor Bonomi had a thankless task in seeking to hold together a coalition Government in Italy representing six parties. It cannot be said that the leaders of these parties have...

A N article in the last issue of The Spectator from an officer serving somewhere in Western Europe purported to indicate what the average soldier, whether commissioned or...

about forms for use at St. Andrewstide and - says they both centre round a certain theme. Otte of the incumbents wants the term " centre round " pilloried. I suppose it ought to...

(as Q said it used to be) particularly frequented by Cornish people brings this very interesting communication from Fleet Street: " Not long before Anderton's was demolished, I...

O NE interesting point—for the meticulously minded—about the achievement of The Times in publishing its 5o,000th number last Saturday is the decision of the Prime Minister that...

and the Press the Director-General of the B.B.C, was obviously choosing his words carefully, and they are words to which no exception can be taken. Mr. Haley, as he said, is an...

it is rising steadily. It is remarkable how many of the subscriptions I have received for the Malta Shrine of Remembrance Fund (and which I hereby gratefully acknowledge) have...

burn—or to put on dogs and horses. Those of us who are struggling to buy ink and paper and things like that may be forgiven for being a little envious. The Churches' Committee...

By STRATEGICUS T HE battle of Germany has been raging, as I write, for not quite a fortnight. It has never had quite the symmetry of manoeuvres ; though they, beginning with a...

" OUR chief of men," who in your courage spoke The heart of England ' yea, our heart was broke By those weak strains that did precede your day And by your trumpet voice were...

By JAMES BRIDIE IF Mr. Churchill had not existed it would have been necessary to I invent him ; but who, in the whole catalogue of ingenious story- tellers, could have done the...

By PROFESSOR NORMAN BENTWICH NTERNATIONAL Law has been on its trial during the last 25 years ; and the feeling is widespread that it has been wanting. The preamble to the...

By A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT O NE of the most striking results of the present regime in Russia is the extreme sense of political consciousness to which the nation as a whole has...

LORD, what are we, that these should pay Such price of pain, for us to stay Safe and at ease, beyond the reach Of armed assault along the beach? To save us from the fate of...

By A. E. M. HEWLETT T HE attraction of the prairie for an Englishman has always been the open-air life of independence. After the war the odd man of culture—that unsatisfact...

to which the microphone can diminish, blur, misinterpret and indeed libel even the neatest voice. In the old days before the war, before human progress had reached the V.2...

exiled Minister who from a distant capital seeks to claim the attention, and retain the confidence, of his own countrymen who are suffering under enemy occupation. The gulf...

By HAROLD NICOLSON T HE microphone is a misleading instrument, since it fattens and thereby softens the human voice, and in so doing distorts character. In the days when I used...

in no way to be diluted or transmuted by the alchemy of the micro- phone. One of these people is Mr. Jan Masaryk, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czechoslovak Republic. When...

The situation," he began on May 29, 1940, " is even more serious than a week ago." It was. " There is no doubt," he warned them a year later, " that the coming months will be...

Mark Gertler. At the Ben Uri Society Gallery.—Lucien Freud, Julian Trevelyan and Felix 'Kelly. At the Lefevre Gallery. I AM in no doubt as to the future of British painting,...

From de Machault to Poulenc THE concerts of French music given at Wigmore Hall under the auspices of the French Provisional Government are able to cover ground that would be...

" Henry V." At the Carton. LET me at once say that Laurence Olivier's screen version of Henry V represents a memorable cinema event. It is not the dramatic quality of the play...

wish to thank " Captain, B.L.A." for his article " What the Soldier Thinks," and to thank you for publishing it. My son has written to me in similar words. I entirely agree with...

for if he is, then the soldier's mentality must be that bf a suspicious, brooding and not very intelligent. child. Let us look at the formidable list of what we are told the...

Ca a SIR,—Dr. Matthews deplores the break-up of the National Government. If the only alternative is some form of coupon election the plan outlined by the Premier is certainly...

aI tl S. IN ar t; sii th w Sm,—As no one with Parliamentary authority has answered the Dean of St. Paul's, may I say that I have been greatly troubled by the same problem as...

WHAT THE SOLDIER THINKS SIR,—The article by " Captain, B.L.A." in your issue of November 24th makes depressing reading, and one wonders whether sufficient allowance has been...

Snt,—In his letter in your issue of 17th inst., Mr. Adams repeats the claim so often made but never I think substantiated, that the ordinary employee works more efficiently for...

Sia,—As a student of Irish affairs I feel bound to make some comment on the article in today's issue of The Spectator about Eire and War Criminals. Certainly it is a...

Sta,—In last week's " Notebook " " Janus " mentions that Q. as a boy put up at Anderton's Hotel in Fleet Street with his father, an hotel " much frequented by the Cornish." "...

SIR, —Mr. Brooke's letter on the proposed Burnham Scale of teachers' salaries is misleading. In the first place he states that specialist teachers are to be- paid on the same...

SIR, —In an article under the above title, in your issue of November 37th, Mr. J. L. Hodson, admittedly writing as a " layman," says that the miners at the coalface in the area...

scarlet runner beans as perennials! They are, of course, very deep-rooted, penetrate perhaps deeper than any other vegetable, and when well protected will survive the winter. It...

A floriferous November is not uncommon i n this blessed island, warmed (if also wetted) by the west wind ; but this November seems to have encouraged some unusual plants. My...

An utterly surprising number of books on the subject of husbandry have recently been published and, what is more, bought. Personally, I have read a baker's dozen during the...

It was suggested to a country house owner who was afforesting a part of his estate that he should apply for a Government subsidy. He refused on discovering that the grant was...

being progressively urbanized. Not long since such rarities as the greenshank, the black-necked grebe, and the blue-headed wagtail were noted in the neighbourhood of the Welsh...

SIR,—It is surprising that Mr. Harold Nicolson should write, and that you should publish, the remarks on Hungary in " Marginal Comment " of November loth, since they are based...

Sm,—I must thank Mr. Manning Dacey for his reply. I had taken as a basis the 1943 returns—the only authentic ones. May I now take his post-war estimates? Mr. Dacey assumes...

The Golden Caroline "Caroline Fox. By Wilson Harris. (Constable. 15s.) CAROLINE Fox spent her whole life, which lasted from 1819 until 1871, in the immediate neighbourhood of...

E. M. Forster. By Lionel Trilling. (Hogarth Press. 8s. 6d.) STUDENTS of the novels of Mr. E. M. Forster will read this critical study of him by an American scholar with...

The Island. By Francis Brett Young. (Heinemann. 12s. 6d.) • WE have in English no exact equivalent for the French word honorable, the epithet I should most wish to apply to Mr....

The Tide Turns. Ey Strategicus. (Faber. 10s. 6d.) As far as the readers of this journal are concerned, this is the g wine that needs no bush. Throughout the war years they hay...

He Brings Great News. By Clemence Dane. (Heinemann. 8s. 6d.) HERE are tivo exciting first novels, both of them dealing with life against the war-time background of England. In...

British Marine Life. By C. M. Yonge. Britain in Pictures Series. (Collins. 48. 6d.) PROFESSOR C. M. YONGE came to maturity during a period in which the preoccupation of...

In the absence of any correct solution to Crossword No. Will be awarded this week. 297, no Prize

one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct , , luzion of this week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week, December r2th. Envelopes should be...

Henry Yevele. By John H. Harvey. (Botsford. 15s.) IT is a popular misconception that the artistic one-man-cartel is a modern phenomenon. But personalities like Professor...

By CUSTOS EVERYBODY, and not least the general body of investors, will welcome the generous lifting of the statistical black-out in the War Effort White Paper. If any proof were...

• ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND ANNUAL GENERAL COURT OF PROPRIETORS NE Annual General Court of Proprietors of The Royal Bank of Scotland was held at Edinburgh on Wednesday, November...