T HE nature of the conversations Hitler had-with Ciano and Laval (Mussolini being inexplicably absent) last week-end can be only surmised. But about the rival desires...

Very considerable interest attaches to a speech on British colonies which Lord Halley .delivered at Toronto last Friday, suggesting that what he called " third-party " interest...

The general turn of the tide from the defensive to the offensive has now been demonstrated in Burma as in all other theatres of war. Everywhere the problem has been, first of...

The discussion in the House of Commons last Thursday on civil aviation after the war raised questions of capital importance. The future of air-transport is incalculable, and no...

A moving discussion in the House of Commons last week reflected the eager, universal desiie to translate the cry of horror which has gone up from the United Nations over the...

The drawing together of Spain and Portugal is of good augury at a moment which is critical for the whole Iberian peninsula. The visit of the Spanish Foreign Minister, General...

An article in last week's Spectator on the success of rehabilitation methods in cases of fracture and other injuries lends importance to the announcement made this week...

A sharp exchange in the House of Commons last week on the question how far a report on the reduction of output per man in Scottish coal-mines had allocated responsibility for...

A ND the last? That is the question men of every colour and tongue are asking as the festival which commemorates those blessings of peace and goodwill which are being tragically...

G ERMANS who are writing to the papers to urge that the crime of the mass-murder of the Jews shall be laid at the door, not of Germans as such but of the Nazis, are raising one...

By STRATEG ICUS T HE new offensive in Russia has faced Hider with a fresh problem, and now it is possible to form some picture of the design behind the winter attacks. The...

By THE VEN. ARCHDEACON FOSBROOKE C HRISTIAN education has recently taken a large place in the thought of the nation. To some extent this is no doubt due to general and somewhat...

By COL. WALTER ELLIOT, M.P. It happened in 194t—the year after Dunkirk—the early summer ; much of it before the Russian war, all of it before the American war. It was an...

By PROFESSOR E. N. da C. ANDRADE, F.R.S. Let us glance at his performance. The flowering time of his genius was the period of 1665 and 1666, which he spent at Wools- thorpe,...

WE never knew what became of him, that was so curious ; He embarked, it was in December, and never returned ; No chance to say Good-bye, and Christmas confronting us ; A few...

By HAROLD NICOLSON B EFORE adjourning for the Christmas holiday the House of Commons made a most unusual demonstration. In reply to a question by Mr. Silverman, the Foreign...

ART PUBLIC interest in good painting has increased astonishingly since the beginning of the war. One-man shows, mixed shows, travelling shows and stationary shows have been...

THIS week we are again reminded that the greatest power of the whole mammoth appprRtus of movie-making lies in the ability of the camera to transport us to the .scene of great...

THE THEATRE THIS play by the American writer Robert Sherwood made a stir in his own country, and a film version was made which I have not seen but I can imagine its being...

Sta,—May a soldier be allowed space in your columns to express appreciation of the very frank and open manner in which you have conducted the discussions on the great and...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Sm,—In the multitude of writings and speeches on this subject there seems always to be one great assumption, that in post-war Europe there must...

Snt,--May I say how much I appreciated D. E. Estoourt's article " Youth and All That" ? To separate the citizens of a nation into age groups, each requiring special treatment,...

SIR,—Lor l d David Cecil ',aid others affirm, with a confidence which I wish I could at least understand, that the acceptance of what are called Christian ethics, a very...

Sta,—There are a great many advertisements and advertisement hoardings all over the country. They are a hideous feature of the English scene. They use up quantities of metal,...

Sta,—Mr. Falk criticised Sir Wiliam Beveridge's scheme, but " Janus " made a personal attack on Mr. Falk. On page 567, the article " Beveridge Afterthoughts " says that Sir...

Sur,—I am sorry that you should question the desirability of practical experience of the world coming beween school and university It has been my lot, during the last...

SIR,—With reference to Mrs. Dugdale's article in your issue of Decem- ber 11th, I should like to draw your attention to the fact that not only the Polish Jewry is being...

Snt,—In his article Professor Hermann Levy says; "Funerals should be standardised, and democratic equality should be regarded as a fitting honour to the dead. . . . Cemeteries...

SIR, —A cold, soulless machine for the detection and prevention of crime or the warm helpful strong right arm of the Chief Constable and his Force? That is the struggle now...

Rufus " 4 6 FOR a son to write his father's life has at any rate the advantage that he is likely to command accurate information of his family origin and early days. Rufus...

The Nelson Touch: An Anthology of Lord Nelson's Letters. By Clemence Dane. (Heinemann. z5s.) Tint great store of Nelson's letters is contained in Sir Harris Nicolas' seven...

Retreat to Victory. By Allan Michie. (Allen and Unwin. 12S. 6d.) HERE is a book, written by an eminent and intelligent American journalist, to dispel any belief among his...

THIS book was written principally to interpret India to America, but it should be read by everyone who is anxious to learn what India is thinking today. As Louis Bromfield says,...

ONE needs to be very guarded about this book, for it would be easy to be carried away into sentimentality by the circumstances of its writing. To be, therefore, as...

The Fall of Paris. By Ilya Ehrenburg. Translated from the Russian by Gerard Shelley. (Hutchinson. los. 6d.) To commit a novel, which by its form asserts itself to be a free...

The winner of Crossword No. 196 is F. D. MERRALLS, Lynclunere Green, Haslemere, Surrey.

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. Envelopes should be received not later...

CIVILIAN Welfare organisations, which now flourish in most counties, find themselves regarded as universal aunts. Every sort of problem— often not printable—is brought to them...

LIKE fire after plague, the story of the Highland' Division in the Battle of France burns up the contagion that lingers from the " malady of defeat." It is an epic: in its pure...

Last Essays. By Eric Gill. (Cape. 55.) THIS posthumous book may be properly regarded as an appendage to Eric Gill's Autobiography. If one has not read that, or has not an...

SEAN O'CASEY'S latest play is likely to prove something of a disappointment to his many admirers. It is really " Irish," in the English popular sense of the word, and therefore...