for three weeks. The la German air-attacks have neither abated nor changed their fundamental character. Here and there signs appear of some definite attempt to hit military...

The events at Dakar this week create a disquieting situation, With consequences not easily predictable. On Monday morn- ing General de Gaulle with a Free French Force accom-...

The craven submission which the French authorities in Indo- China have made to Japan may be due to the Vichy Govern- ment's habit of surrender, or pressure from Germany, or...

There may be truth in the report that comes from Rome that Germany and Italy propose to call a Balkan conference in which Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece will be invited to take...

Much the most important event, potentially if not actually, in the United States in the past week has been the series of general conversations—the term negotiations is...

The Australian General Election (the final results of which are not to hand as we write) confirms Mr. Menzies and his coalition Government in power, but with something less than...

The statement made by Brigadier-General George Strong on behalf of the American Military Mission which has spent a month in Great Britain cannot fail to impress America and give...

It is regrettable that there should be any split in the Egyptian Cabinet at a time when national unity against the Nazi menace is so essential, but the fact that the difference...

or for a Welfare Board. This is the price London is paying for years of negligence, for tolerating such expensive luxuries as the Metropolitan Water Board, with its vast...

The performance of the Post Office, which is usually so good, has in the last fortnight been so unbelievably bad that it is reasonable as well as charitable to believe that...

problems in Wales, Lancashire, South-West Scotland and else- where. Those who are trying to think out post-war problems, such as Lord Balfour of Burleigh's Committee, will find...

real function of a Ministerial Head of a Department? Is the poli- tical life a suitable training for such .office? If so, why are Sir Andrew Duncan and Lord Woolton conspicuous...

Our Parliamentary correspondent writes : As I have pointed out before in this column, the War is throwing a searchlight on the whole mechanism of Government, central and local ;...

When the layman contemplates our apparently illimitable expenditure on armaments and the destruction of property by enemy action he is naturally inclined to think that the end...

T HE Ministry of Home Security announced last Monday the new and fuller measures it is adopting to protect civilians in heavily raided areas, and especially in London. The...

the sug- gestion I made a fortnight ago that soldiers should be called in where desirable to reinforce the civilian defence services. The reasons are obvious. Some of the...

broadcast talk a week ago put in a special word of recognition of the work of the shelter-marshals. These voluntary workers, who work long night hours at by no means negligible...

have distracted public attention from other grave problems like the treatment of alien internees, but it would be a great mistake to think that with the appointment of one or...

VOTHING, naturally, arouses more eager and earnest interest 11 than suggestions that an answer to the night-bomber will S003 be found. There is little doubt that it will, but in...

his capacity as leader and inspirer of Free Frenchmen, the average Englishman knows comparatively little of his inherent qualities. The little book (De Gaulle's France, Simpkin...

than ever, is much too little appreciated, is the town-clerk. Parliament passes Acts, but municipalities administer them, and the head of each municipal administration system is...

By STRATEG1CUS I T is inevitable that the present phase of the war should be difficult to evaluate. We are in the midst of things. We cannot stand off and view the drama...

By KENNETH LINDSAY, M.P. ONDON was always a vulnerable target for aerial bom- bardment, but three weeks' experience has shown that it may become either an impediment to the...

0 NE year ago, on September loth, Canada entered the war. Looking back over the twelve months there can be no question that the Dominion has made a splendid beginning. But it is...

By ADMIRAL SIR HERBERT RICHMOND A MONG the great changes that have taken place in the AL world in the hundred years since Alfred Thayer Mahan was born, on September 27th, 1840,...

By RICHARD CHURCH O NCE during an attack of influenza, I was forced to lie in bed for a week. The dear tyrant of the household decided that it was better for me to do so not in...

production of Rock Garden plants has been given up largely to the growing of Belladonna. Poison is substituted for beauty : such is the influence of war, even on gardens Happily...

never been so manifest as this autumn. The better part of the rural popula- tion has been about the hedgerows and has found a most welcome harvest. It is still a common...

Entertainment Films in War-time IT is perhaps too often assumed that the impact of war causes cataciv‘mic changes in film technique. In point of fact—at any rate as far as the...

Rural Bombs The bombs, explosive, igneous and oily, that have been sprinkled with careless generosity over meadow, tilth, stubble, spinney and churchyard have made apparent a...

of the little green quarterly, the Countryman, is represented by that popular berry the Logan. A few years ago I heard one of our experts in botanical science deny scornfully...

Sni,—Two letters on India in your issue of September 6th call for reply. Both assume that the Congress represents the great majority of the people of India. It does, perhaps,...

embargo on cheap sneers at the policy of Munich." So controversial a policy could not fail to draw exaggerated expressions of approval and of dis- approval—the one from those...

fin view ot the paper shortage it reduce the number ot letters, but is essential that letters on these pages should be briet. We are anxious not to unless they are shorter they...

Sts,—Those familiar with the vital facts of British foreign policy in the last twenty years will, reading Sir Stanley Reed's letter in last week's issue of The Spectator,...

Sta,—I am a Pole. I came here two years ago to learn English. I passed Matriculation and I shall join the Forces as soon as I am old enough to do so. I am thoroughly loyal to...

Sta,—Colonel Lorimer's letter induces me to ask whether any of your readers can tell me the authentic version of the saying about the Scottish intelligence, commonly given in...

Slit,—Many will strongly agree with you in your attitude to a Conti- nental adventure on a large scale. Our weakness so far has not been reliance on the defensive, but...

of the Indian politicians to accept the promised status of equal partnership with the other members of the British Commonwealth of Nations is due to the feel- ing that as the...

StR.—While not wishing to defend this country in its many obvious errors, I cannot help, as an Englishman and host of our brave Anzacs, wishing Mr. Sydney Melbourne had brought...

Disaster and Recovery HERR KLEIN holds an honoured name among Continental journalists. Austrian by nationality, he served under that great editor, "Old Benedikt," of Vienna ;...

A History of Afghanistan. By Brig.-Gen. Sir Percy Sykes. (Macmillan. 2 VO1S. 505.) WrrH the transformation of Kabul in less than a generation from a forbidden city into the...

A Deed Without a Name. By Dorothy Bowers. (Hodder and Stoughton. 8s. 3d.) 7s. 6d.) THE ingenious Mr. Carter Dickson deserves well of his public. His settings are often unusual,...

The War for Peace. By Leonard Woolf. (Routledge. 7s. 6d.) I REGRET that the notice of this important book has been delayed by the presence of a time bomb outside St. Paul's....

Purbeck Shop. By Eric Benfield. (Cambridge University Press I2S. 6d.) THE Cambridge University Press has a happy knack of dis- covering the articulate country craftsman. To...

My Alpine Album. By F. S. Smythe. (A. and C. Black. I2S. 6d.) AMONG climbers Mr. Chapman has the reputation of being a bit cracked; his decisions are sudden, and once they are...

Sergeant Lamb should be put into - every school library and. read by every boy or girl learning about the American War 01 Independence: and to say this is not in the least to...

By CUSTOS EVEN in these days, it seems, Mr. Keynes's powers of per- suasion are not altogether lost on the gilt-edged market. It would certainly be hard to explain Tuesday's...

Token for one guinea will be given to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword puzzle to be opened. Envelopes shiuki marked " Crossword Puzzle," and...

The winner of Crossword No. 81 is Mrs. J. Copson, 250, Gr.inville Road, Sheffield, 2.