The appointment of M. Vyshinsky, the Deputy-Commissar for Foreign Affairs, to be the Soviet representative on the new Mediter- ranean Commission, is very much to be welcomed as...

T HE dominant mood regarding the war as September closes is of satisfaction at what the Allies are achieving combined with considerable perplexity at what they are not...

Reports from rndia indicate that the famine situation there is still serious/ The reasons for the shortage are not obscure. The abnormal increase in the population has far...

The advent of October is a reminder that the fifth war winter is at hand. In the fifth winter from August, 1914, occurred an outbreak of influenza which was responsible for more...

As so often in the case of Cabinet changes recently, there seems to be at least as much to be said against the appointments consequent on Sir Kingsley Wood's death as there is...

Sir William Beveridge presented his now historic report to the Government in November, 1942. In February, 1943, the Govern- ment in a series of muddled statements undertook to...

Six thousand women at the Royal Albert Hall, on Tuesday, were told by the Prime Minister that through war we had been led to an almost complete equalisation of the roles of men...

It is to be hoped that the forthcoming Parliamentary debate on the coal situation will let some daylight into a rather murky scene Commentators have lately been extravagantly...

T WO announcements appeared in last Monday's papers. One was that Mr. Edward Stettinius had been appointed Under- Secretary of State in the State Department at Washington, the...

1r HE R.A.F. wing-commander who broadcast—most admirably— on the Battle of Britain in the postscript on Sunday night sur- prised me, and perhaps some other listeners, by...

By STRATEGICUS T HE. capture of Smolensk and the general unsuitability .of the Dnieper as a defensive front inevitably raise again questions as to the German strategy. It is...

By PIERRE MA1LLAUD commandos. Events in Corsica gain considerably in importance as a prefigura- tion of what will happen in Metropolitan France when her territory is reached...

By QUINTIN HOGG, M.P. T HE nigger in the reconstruction woodpile is, of course, our economic position. It is well enough to talk about the Empire or alliances, or a New World...

By J. R. GLORNEY BOLTON F IFTY years after his death—on October 1st, 1893—the legend of Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol and Regius Professor of Greek in the University of...

By AUSTIN WILLIAMS T HERE is, and should be, a growing concern about the political development and economic welfare of the various colonies, not yet self-governing, for which...

By HAROLD NICOLSON W HEN I was a little boy battles always happened in places to which nobody had ever been. The - word " Omdurman " meant nothing more to us than the name of...

OUTSTANDING among the September recordings are two which I strongly recommend to my readers. They are Borodin's fine Symphony No. 2 in B Minor, played by the Halle Orchestra,...

that is lacking in our own productions, but, on the other hand, they tend to depend too much on this very desirable quality. This is so with My Sister Eileen, which is described...

examined both from an inner sychological standpoint, and from an outside objective point of ew in the same film. The cinema is an ideal medium in which • to blend these inner...

hand we are told that our airmen aim only at military objectives, and the small damage done to the cathedral of Cologne is even held up as a proof of their skill and care ; on...

LETTERS TO THE EDiTOR siR,—It is interesting that there has been no rejoinder to the letter from the Headmaster of Leeds Grammar School which appeared on Septem- ber 3rd. There...

Snt,—The Marchioness of Lothian, in her article in The Spectator of September ioth, has given clarity and coherence to certain ideas which are often nowadays ill-expressed. The...

have read with interest the article entitled "Education and Freedom" which appeared in your issue of September 17th. In the last paragraph it states, " The public schools have...

Snt,—Air warfare presents an entirely new aspect of war to the super- ficial observer and a curious instance of this is provided by the letter of Mr. Johnstone in your last...

my deep appreciation and admiration of Lady Lothian's excellent and timely article. I am seventeen years her senior, and I came out in a world diseased with clever scepticism...

Sm,—The arrival of your issue of July 16th with its references to "planning London," "religion in schools," "doctors' pay" under a State service, read together with Harold...

la,—In the interests of those who must needs endure whatever education s made available to them after the war, comment must be passed upon e following statement made under the...

a personal God— "a Power above the judgement-seat of human reason and force "—with his desire to further world fellowship. If I believed in a personal deity, I should believe...

points out, a handicap to national development. The scientist who is ignorant of the humanities is often regarded as uncultured, but the "classic," who is often without the...

StE,—Your comments upon the 20,000 or so who are out on strike seem to me quite unnecessarily heavy and alarmist. They ignore the essential fact of overstrain. It was most...

SIR,—You say in your footnote to Mr. Barton, his letter, that your statement about Russia's losses is perfectly correct. This means that you have accurate information of a...

Sut,—The following extracts from letters received from , my son, an officer in the Royal Marines, somewhere in the Mediterranean area, may be of interest, and a mild source of...

THE elm disease has come into prominence again because of the felling, the necessary felling, of the splendid Windsor avenue. It has probably spread and been encouraged to...

WHEN Marie Belloc, daughter of a French father and an English mother, was taken back to France at the age of seventeen for a long summer's holiday, she felt she was going home;...

Joad Visits Nowhere IT was pointed out long ago by H. G. Wells that only Western literature specialised in Nowhere& These imaginary worlds, people by imaginary beings, acting...

The French Revolution. By J. M. Thompson. (Blackwell. 32.s. 6d.) MR. THOMPSON'S book is a pleasantly written general history based on long study of the vast mass of material...

Mountain Jubilee. By Arnold Lunn. (Eyre and Spottiswoode. 15s.) READERS with an interest in ski-racing, in the backwash of inter- national affairs and in Mr. Arnold Lunn will...

Alvina Foster.. By Josephine Bell. (Longmans. 8s. 6d.) Sunset Over Soho. By Gladys Mitchell. (Michael Joseph. 8s. 6d.) Aesop. By A. D. Wintle. (Gollancz. 7s. 6c1.) IN a typed...

British Polar Explorers. By Admiral Sir Edward Evans.—British Seamen. By David Mathew. (Britain in Pictures). (Collins. 45. 6d. each). As in the other books in this attractive...

The winner of Crossword No. 236 is MRS. J. D. SMITH, 5, Daven- port Road, Coventry. SOLUTION ON

[A Book Token for one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week, October tzth....

THE blurb declares that this book "constituted a land-mark in modern writing in the tradition of which Montherlant, Joyce and Celine are forerunners." This is an unfortunate and...

The American Political System. By D. 'X . Brogan. (Hamish Hamilton. 18s.) CLASSIC as Bryce's American Commonwealth is, it cannot by the nature of things hold the whole field...

By* CUSTOS IT is symptomatic of a market which has already enjoyed a very substantial rise that it should be subject to bouts of tiredness. This condition is clearly discernible...