T HE nation has spoken, and with no undecided voice. That, on the whole, is satisfactory, even to those who deplore the change of Government most. A stalemate at such a crisis...

The three reports—one of Mr. Justice Asquith's General Com- mission, one of Col. Walter Elliot's African Commission, and one of Sir James Irvine's West Indian Committee—on...

With all that sense of tragic drama which the French possess in a unique degree, the late head of the French State, a soldier once venerated by the people, has been brought to...

The only reliable news that Potsdam has yielded this week is that the Conference agrees about the necessity of co-ordinating the zones of occupation, and that Germany is to be...

In a letter to The Times last Tuesday, Sir Angus Gillan deals with two opposite arguments about the British Council, both of which in his opinion are wrong. The Times, in giving...

Public opinion is fully aroused to the necessity of using any and every means to-increase accommodation for families urgently in need of dwellings ; and the resort of the...

P OTSDAM, it is clear, will have an immediate bearing on San Francisco—so much so that if, by any disaster, the conference at Potsdam were to fail it is hard to believe that...

Health should appear to have taken action in the matter of requisitioning of empty houses as a direct result of the campaign of the Vigilantes, and still more unfortunate that...

use their time so ill, I should make an earnest attempt at abrogation of the law, or the interpretation of the law (tor I believe no specific statute is involved), whereby in...

great deal is to be led about this nation's holiday habit , from a singularly interesting Booklet (called simply and sufficientb. Holidays) published by the Oxford University...

Another aeroplane flight in which a Minister and a number of other important public servants were concerned ended, as some chance and a good deal of skill on the part of the...

and Country Planning of a Committee to make recommendations on the whole question of National Parks coincides to the day (most appropriately) with the publication by the...

B.B.C. news services on Sunday that Armenians living in certain Turkish areas adjacent to the Soviet Union had petitioned the Big Three at Potsdam to agree to their transference...

members of my profession. or attributed by them to others, would stop. As a physical process ocular friction is open to many objections ; as a literary cliché it is open to...

By GORDON HARRINGTON A CCORDING to the air photographs eighteen per cent. of Berlin was devastated by bombing, but from the ground the damage 'seems far greater. Even the...

By BRIGADIER STEPHEN H. LONGRIGG W HETHER they have been discussing Italy's colonies at Potsdam has not been stated, but it would be very surprising if they had not. Italian...

By MAX BELOFF T HEY are at pains to impress on one in Paris that the provinces are " different." It is certainly true of France, and may well be true of other countries on the...

By HELEN LIDDELL A T the end of this month the Voluntary Car Pool will be dis- banded. It was formed in July, 1942, by the Ministry of Home Security when private motoring came...

in his address last week to his Diocesan Conference, tendered the nation a timely service. No one will question our dire need of houses. Dr. Fisher has reminded us, however,...

but they listened to Valery's story with awed respect. The con- versation turned, as was inevitable, to current politics. The young men of the resistance were demanding...

to the composition of those aphorisms which seem so incidental, but which are in fact so profound. And then in 1922 came Charmes. Again we find that constant, almost scientific,...

where he came into contact with Pierre Lout's, who persuaded him to come to Paris and to devote himself to literature. Almost immediately he fell under the influence of...

By HAROLD NICOLSON T HE announcers of the B.B.C. have been trained to read the news in a flat monotone: they adopt exactly the same tone whether they be recounting some Far...

good fortune to see Valery again in Paris after many years. I met him in the company of several young leaders of the resistance movement, and it was with pleasure that I noted...

The First Gentleman." At the New Theatre. — " Ballets Jooss." At the Winter Garden Theatre.—Sadler's Wells Ballet. At the Sadler's Wells Theatre. HISTORICAL plays are not to...

The Promenade Concerts THE Promenade Concerts entered last Saturday upon a new series without their genial creator who had sustained them for fifty years. For the first night...

"Now — the Peace." At the London Pavilion. " I Live In "Now — the Peace." At the London Pavilion. " I Live In Grosvenor Square." At Warners and the Empire. RECENT writing on...

UNDER the auspices of the British Council another major English composition has now been recorded, Hoist's suite The Planets, played by the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra under Sir...

R.A.F. TRAINING SIR,—May I, as a former R.A.F. Education Officer, say a few words from first-hand knowledge about the troubles of Education Officers in connection with...

SIR,—Mr. Leonard Stein is, of course, correct in saying that the San Francisco Charter does not itself specify that discussion of disputes is to be regarded as a procedure...

S1R,—May I express gratitude for the many admirable comments on Franco-British affairs which have been appearing in your columns. I think in particular of articles by Mr. Harold...

Stit,—It always comes as a shock to me to read in English and American newspapers or magazines that the order not to fraternise with the Germans is not popular in your armies....

SIR,—May I, as one who knows the Aleppo district and the Beduins of that part of Syria, say that I entirely agree with all that Mr. Brian Stuart says in the excellent article of...

SIR,—I am sorry that Miss Freda White does not like the sentence in my letter which contrasted the right of veto given by the Charter to the Big Five in the Security Council...

England " Towards the Conversion of England," which deals with the question of Evangelism by Advertising, leaves the question of what shall be advertised for future...

Sta,--Considering the record of housewives in this war, is it presump- tuous to ask that the Government may cease to regard us as morons? During the last few years the Ministry...

SIR,—Mr. Edward Thompson does not strengthen the argument of his etter in your issue of July 13 by inaccurate statements about an Indian State, obviously about Hyderabad. He...

Sta,—Dr. Sangster raises . a very important point when he says that the specimen of a possible advertisement reproduced in the text of the Evangelistic Commission's Report, "...

SOME while ago—apropos shellholes that became fishponds—I wrote something about the mystery of the arrival of fish in such places. Both the best example I know and the best...

S'ut,—" Janus " alludes to the signature of King John on the Magna Carta. Could he write? Is any royal autograph known earlier than that of [" Janus " writes: It may be so ;...

SIR,—Mr. Grant's letter in your issue of the zoth July surely discloses a very disturbing state of things. Mr. Grant says that before the war the average number of bricks laid...

Do birds suffer in reputation from the acts of quadrupeds? The question is. suggested by the observation of some young women who watched a field mouse climb into a cherry tree...

SIR,—I congratulate Janus on nailing to the counter in your last issue the suggestio falsi directed against the Prime Minister in a recent number of the Manchester Guardian. You...

have found its optimum of conditions this summer is the barberry known as Dictyophyllum. It has g rown beyond precedent,, and the whiteness of the bark is the more startling as...

to its successful conclusion by a close neighbour of mine. On her house, as on mine, flourishes in unusual profusion a red honeysuckle, much enjoyed as a nesting sire. This...

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 world, except...

Law and Orders. By Carleton Kemp Allen. (Stevens. 15s.) LORD JUSTICE SCRUITON once declared that " war cannot be carried on according to the principles of Magna Carta."...

Hunted by the Gestapo Freedom Was Flesh and Blood. By Jose Antonio de Aguirre. (Gollancz. 7s. 6d.) Tins is the first of what will probably soon be a long procession of books....

Time's Winged Chariot. By Ernest Thurtle. (Chaterson. 10s. 6d.) Tins book is part autobiography, part political commentary. When the author is not in Parliament, we learn what...

GENIUS is not a result of " the infinite capacity for taking pains," and yet there is a half-truth in this saw. Genius, to coin a slightly different maxim, is to some extent the...

A South Sea Diary. By S. W. Powell.—Escape to Switzerland. By G. R. de Beer.— The Island of Captain Sparrow. By S. Fowler Wright.—Within the Tides. By Joseph Conrad.—La Franc...

The Winds of Fear. By Hodding Carter. (Gollancz. 8s. 6d.) Young 'Un. By Herbert Best. (Cape. 9s. 6d.) Through the Storm. By Philip Gibbs. (Hutchinson. 10s. 6d.) Folly Bridge....

[4 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, August 7th. Envelopes...

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the election result? To this question, uppermost in the minds of investors, the answer will be known by the time these notes appear in print. To attempt a forecast so close to...

Hostels for Old People. (Friends Book Centre. Is. 6d.) IN a population which, the statisticians tell us, is rapidly ageing, more thought must be given to the happiness and...

READY. One shilling and sixpence should be enclosed with instructions and addressed to INDEX DEPT., " The Spectator," Ltd., 99 Gower Street, W.C.1,. England.

THE sixtieth annual general meeting of Harland and Wolff, Limited, was held on July 19th at Belfast. Mr. Charles J. G. Palmour, chairman the company, presided. The Chairman...

WELLMAN SMITH OWEN ENGINEERING IMPORTANT WAR ACTIVITIES T HE twenty-sixth ordinary general meeting of the Wellman Smith Owen gineering Corporation, Limited, was held on July...