D. W. Brogan opens a New Series COMPTON MACKENZIE The Influence of Reviews JOHN ARLOTT : Football History JAMES POPE - HENNESSY : Another London Sketch CHRISTMAS QUESTIONS

The question which emerges, still unanswered, from Presi- dent Eisenhower's series of meetingS with congressional leaders on the legislative programme to be presented in January...

M. Pierre Montel, the candidate who split M. Laniel's vote in the ninth and tenth ballots for the election of the French President, told the editors of " Who's Who in France "...

proposal for an international pool of atomic energy materials is its avoidance of the big and explosive subjects—dis- armament, banning of atomic weapons, international...

No. 6 5 4 8 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1953 PRICE' 7d.

The Bill, at present before Parliament, to modify the administration of the National Art Collections has roused a good deal of opposition. Nobody has contested the purely...

The Secretary of State for Scotland said last week that he was satisfied that in the Edinburgh " conspiracy case " no use had been made . by the police of agents provocateurs...

The immoderate criticisms of the quality of workmanship in British aircraft made by Mr. B. S. Shenstone, chief engineer of British European Airways, have presented the public...

the sudden announcement from Moscow that the case against Beria is complete, accom- panied by a vicious whipping-up of the " people's fury " against him and his six former...

T HERE is a temptation today to celebrate Christmas as a feast of the West. In a sense it is right to do so. The Western World owes its whole character to its Christian origins,...

E XTRACTS from the journal of The Devonshire Regiment, which show that in its 1st Battalion there has been a certain amount of inter-company rivalry about the number of ,Mau Mau...

But there is a• big difference between a few men being occasionally brutal and a whole unit being systematically bloodthirsty. It is this charge to which evidence like that in...

The Spectator offers three prizes, each of books to the value of eight guineas, for articles to be written by boys and girls in schools In the United Kingdom. Entries should be...

I assume it was professional jealousy which caused the pundits who compile the Spectator's " Christmas Questions " ' to reject my well-meant offering. Here it is : The words "...

" Capitalist society is basically hostile to the needs of children." The Daily Worker, Dec. 21st. STRIX

There is only one odd thing about a letter which takes me to task for some half-forgotten reference to Philistines who object to the State subsidising art. The writer expresses...

On the last Sunday before Christmas the Sunday Times makes a practice of inviting various eminent people to say what books published during the year they have liked or admired...

By D. W. BROGAN, I N the last number of Time magazine to reach me, one of the main foreign stories is headed " Great Britain—Decline or Fall ? " and it is illustrated by a map...

Has Britain come to the end of a period of power, influence and respect in the world ? A new series of articles in the Spectator offers answers to this question. Each article is...

By J. P. B OTANY BAY is to Australia what the Tower of London is to England or (more accurately) what Plymouth Rock is to the United States. There, one can truly say, it all...

ByJAMES POPE-HENNESSY . I T is a rather disturbing experience to set off to visit a monument one has often seen in the past, and to find that it simply is not there. This...

post-war London contributed by Mr. Pope-Hennessy to the Spectator. The whole series Is to be published in book form by Messrs. Constable.

Set by Six Fellows of St. John's College, Cambridge 1. What were the names by which the following were known before they succeeded were elevated or to peerages ? a. Lord...

You have remembered all your friends — except one. He, of course, remembered you. It's embarrassing and you want to do something about it. Well, with the best will in the...

DARK is the northern night, silent the forest under snow, lonely the lake, hard-won the livelihood. Dark too are the tones of " Finnish art : still, cold and hard, yet with an...

Trouble in Store. (Dominion and New Victoria.)—All the Brothers were Valiant. (Empire.) As the Spectator goes to press early this week I shall not be able to review the newest...

CHAMBER MUSIC Now that the old Queen's Hall is being rebuilt, it is to be hoped that the need for a smaller hall, suitable for chamber music, will be borne in mind. Two visits...

stories reference is made to imaginary cases which the public never actually had a chance to read, e.g., the whole story concerning the politician, the lighthouse and the...

Competitors were invited to submit a "drank you" letter for an embarrassing Christmas present, as written by any one of the following: Queen Victoria, Rev. Sydney Smith, Lord...

A London Actress. By Emma Litchfield. (Arts.) THE fierce rush of life on the West End stage has left only one play to notice this week, but, I am glad to say, it is solid stuff....

SIR,—Sir Compton Mackenzie's categorical statement that " the -BBC, however, is an instrument of the State " must mean either that he regards that body's charter as a sham, or...

the Scottish Conspiracy Trial; the subsequent letters of Sir William Hamilton Fyfe and Mr. James Shaw , are not unworthy of closer inspection. Sir William can find some excuse...

some general disquist as to its future: a longer view might reveal the urgency of considering another aspect of the problem. Smoking and mechanical entertainment already absorb...

referred to " the extent to which England and Scotland are separate countries," the implication being that they are essentially separate. But to what extent are they really...

SCOTTISH CONSPIRACY SIR,—My purpose in taking part in this correspondence, arising from Compton Mackenzie's recent article on the above sub- ject, is most certainly not to...

of the Conspiracy Trial at Edinburgh will have been confused by Sir Compton Mackenzie's Sidelight on the subject in your issue of 11th Decetfiber. Perhaps a little background...

SIR,—In practice there is really no difference— except in nomenclature—between a verdict of " not guilty " and one of " not proven." if a jury in England brought in a verdict of...

SIR,—Scores and blood money 'have apparently shocked public opinion. But why should this be so as there is nothing new in either ? During the last war all will remember the...

SIR,--Mr. James Pope-Hennessy's article under this title sent me back to John Ruskin, to re-read that stirring Ihtroduction to The Crown of ,Wild Olive in which he contrasts the...

SIR,—May we suggest that Sir Carleton Allen's problem would solve itself if the idea of there being a " senior " partner in marriage was dropped, and husband and wife were...

change hear a little of feminine modesty. These women have taken almost everything we possess, without a blush; even our very trousers. And now they want to march ahead of us on...

Sir Carleton Allen seeks judgment depends neither on " formal status " nor " chivalry," as he suggests, but on ordinary good manners as generally accepted. if he and his wife...

SIR,—Why does Mr. Martin Cooper say on p.723: "After more than thirty years the music of Prokofiev's first opera, Love for Three Oranges, has reached this country via the Third...

in bringing to notice the great difficulties faced by such organisations as the one to which I have the honour to belong. In these days of high charges it is becoming...

A REMARK of mine that a review in the Spectator had stimulated the circulating libraries into increasing their original subscription for my first novel evoked an Interesting...

Football History By JOHN ARLOTT T HE issue of a large and fifty - shilling volume, The History of the Football Association (Naldrett. 50s.) coincides with the ninetieth...

Full Circle BY ELIZABETH JENKINS O UR long-continuing insensibility to social abuses is equalled only by the vehemence with which we redress the balance once we have been...

A large gull that had been sailing about gathering its courage finally swooped down to the field for a piece of bread that someone had thrown over the hedge a moment or two...

When the lawn is heavy and wet it will benefit by being aerated with a pronged tool or a hollow-tined fork. It should be thoroughly done at this time of year when the ground...

The rabbiting trade has been flourishing lately. I meet one or two teams of rabbiters setting out for the back country almost every morning or afternoon. The expeditions might...

A farmer friend told me that the little dream running at the end of one of his fields used to have a large number of small trout in it, and I went down along the bank of the...

Ease of Reference By J. D. SCOTT C OOD reference books are the sign of a self-conscious —i.e., of a truly civilised—culture, and England excels LI in them. To create a...

A Pocketful of Rye. By Agatha Christie. (Collins. 10s. 6d.) The Passionate Victims. By Lange Lewis. (Bodley Head. 9s. 6d.) Crows Can't Count... By A. A. Fair. (Heinemann. 9s....

To the puzzled intellectuals of the twentieth century, the "reflective doer" appears as the apostle of human perfection; under each of Koestler's "thoughtful corporals" there...

By CUSTOS GOOD dividend news is keeping the share markets firm, if not very active. Con- stantly a company annbuncemult is made which reveals how cheaply a share has been...

Fleet Admiral King: A Naval Record. By Ernest J. King and Walter Muir Whitehill. (Eyre & Spottiswoode.. 30s.) THE Silent Service has recently been growing less silent. Of the...

By NICHOLAS DAVENPORT THERE will probably be a good deal of table talk this Christmas about wages and inflation and I only hope that the most censorious will not be the most...