T HE American Government's appeal for an immediate truce in Palestine deserves more support than it is likely to receive. Unfortunately, it is not possible to arrange for a...

The arbitrary action of the Russian authorities in Berlin in imposing drastic restrictions, in flagrant violation of the Potsdam Agreement, on Allied and German traffic into and...

Long before the Italian elections came to be regarded as a phase in a struggle between East and West it was clear that they would decide not only the composition of the next...

From the day in June, 1946, when Mr. Gromyko told the United Nations Atomic Commission that its decisions must be subject to the agreement of the. Security Council, and...

So many unsuccessful attempts have been made to push French prices down from above that the news of one or two of them falling of their own accord seems a little too good to be...

It is likely that at least a year will pass before the charter of an International Trade Organisation of the United Nations, agreed by the representatives of 53 countries at...

A United Nations Conference on freedom of information can easily be little better than a farce under the conditions existing in Europe. Certainly the speeches of Mr. Hector...

TUST before Easter circumstances moved me to give thought j to the difficult question of style in Parliamentary speaking. The circumstances in themselves were entirely pleasant,...

There is little to quarrel with in the considered statement on Communists in the Civil Service made by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons before Parliament adjourned for...

In stating the Government's attitude in regard to a fixed Easter (discussed in an article in The Spectator last week) in the course of the adjournment debate in the House of...

O N both sides of the Atlantic the familiar controversy between Russia and most of the other members of the United Nations is in progress. At Lake Success the British and...

years since I last visited one of these nobly-named institutions, as Mr. Chesterton called them. That, no doubt, is why I failed to appreciate the much- advertised Miss Martha...

no importance to their own name is incredible. Again and again I get letters quite tolerably written—and in any case the context usually clarifies what is obscure—culminating in...

every season—I came on the record of an odd conversa- tion between Louis XVIII and the Duke of Wellington. Louis, the Duke told Greville, had an astonishing and accurate...

mean that it succeeds. It will be a thousand pities if the gallant endeavour of EDAC (Education for Action and Leisure) to provide good music " at cost price " fails to achieve...

A PPROVAL of the steps the Government is taking regarding Communists in the Civil Service is sufficiently widespread to make any elaborate defence unnecessary. If anyone doubts...

record Boat-race—having myself certain affiliations with the victors— I find the problem satisfactorily solved by an Oxford colleague, who tells me (and vouches for the fact)...

possibly broccoli). For what was described as a medium-sized specimen I was asked more than one and a half times the value of a week's meat ration. The relationship, translated...

By GEORGE BRINSMEAD p AN-AMERICA is now in conference at Bogota. The discussions will provide a severe test for Mr. Marshall and his colleagues. The future role of Latin...

By C. M. WOODHOUSE Both their Greeks were terrible; Barba Niko's English was fluent by comparison. Or rather his American was fluent ; for he was one of the Brooklidhes, one of...

By W. H. EDWARDS I N recent weeks German democrats have been subjected to two heavy shocks. Modern medical therapy has discarded the nineteenth-century conception that every...

By G. B. THOMAS T HERE is nothing new or surprising about the hostility of the Kremlin to the conception of Western Union. It is not the product of post-war complications ; nor...

By T. C. SKEFFINGTON-LODGE, M.P. A RE we decadent ? Joad has written a book to prove that we are. I am prepared to admit that he establishes his case. That, however, is not...

By HAROLD NICOLSON H ISTORY, we are assured, never • repeats herself : but she does furnish us with certain analogies and from these, if we are careful, we can derive...

THE THEATRE c. Dark Eyes." By Elena Miranova and Eu g enie Leol a tovich. (Strand.) IN the days before honest citizens began to lie awake at night wondering what goes on behind...

" Escape." (Marble Arch Pavilion and Gaumont.) "Snowbound." (Odeon, Marble Arch.) — " Spring in Park Lane." (Empire.) MR. JOHN GALSWORTHY'S Escape has once again been filmed,...

(Apollo.) QurrE why, in these post-war days, St. Swithin's School for Girls should find itself billeted on Hilary Hall School for Boys is never Made plausible, but the art of...

Is the moon in the pond As real as the moon in the sky ? Is the gleam on the gate beyond As real as Or the hush As the owl'i cry ? H. H. BASHFORD.

brought into being—by the LC.I.—to increase the stock of this most interesting bird. Quite apart from its prime object, which presumably was to increase the use of cartridges by...

WHEN I said something to an old type of agricultural worker about the beauty of the weather, his response was : " We shall want our greatcoats in June." However, after this...

game some peculiarly interesting evidence has been supplied by one of the small but by no means extinct bands of hawkers. One expert was called in to defend our airmen. Birds...

SINCE 1893, when Verdi's Falstaff appeared, the fat knight has had -a good musical sun. Elgar started in 1913 with his symphonic study, and then came Hoist with his folk-song...

SPECTATOR SUBSCRIPTION RATES :- 52 weeks. d. 26 weeks. f s. d. Great Britain and Overseas by ordinary mail 1 10 0 15 0 Air Mail to Members of the Forces in any part...

A country gardener said to me the other day: " So long as you've plenty of carrots and onions you can always make a stew." It would be wrong, of course, to belittle green...

to have been overlooked, and which to the outside layman appears fundamental. It is urged against the B.M.A. that the present scheme differs little " in principle " from that...

Suz,—Many parents and other members of the public will share Janus's disappointment that the L.C.C. has seen fit to reject 270 of the boarding places in independent schools...

SIR, —In the excitement of witnessing the battle between the Minister, of Health on one side and the doctors and dentists on the other, the public, for whom the Health Act was...

THE INFORMATION FAMINE SIR, —Janus quotes approvingly some of the points made in a long letter censuring the British Press and radio by Mr. Walter H. Cummins, an Australian...

SIR,—I do not wish to prolong this discussion with my friend, Mr. Tony Gibson, unless it may serve to clear all our minds on the complicated situation in China. Neither of us is...

SIR,—I read with great interest and admiration my old friend Mr. Harold Nicolson's brilliant description in your issue of March 19th of his sufferings as a Parliamentary...

SIR, —As a constant reader and admirer of your paper, I am both amused and annoyed at the articles which have appeared in it from time to time on the subject of Ireland. This...

Sun,—Mr. Wilson Harris, in his review of my sister's book (3. L. Garvin: A Memoir), in your issue of March 5th, published a number of state- ments concerning my father which are...

Siat,-*-The Public Relations Officer of the B.M.A. scarcely displays in argument that urbanity and good-humour one would expect from " an old Manchester Guardian hand." I sought...

Sut,—Having been very intimately connected with the agricultural co- operative movement from soon after the end of the first world war up to the present time, I was very pleased...

Six,—Your leading article in The Spectator of March 19th presents an admirable analysis of the existing threat to peace and freedom. But what remedies does it propose ? You...

The Free Society. By John Middleton Murry. (Dakers. 12s. 6d.) THIS book is a portent. Its author, once a well-known pacifist, now revives the old discredited slogan of the "...

Traditions of Civility NOBODY who knows anything about Sir Ernest Barker can think of him as living in retirement. The habits of a lifetime and a strong and urgent sense of...

THESE are two books that it is impossible to review in the orthodox manner. They are collections made deliberately to illustrate a faith. It is that faith which is the important...

A Century of British Painters. By Samuel and Richard Redgrave. (Phaidon Press. 10s. 6d.) Tuns book is a classic, and there is every reason why it should be, since it is highly...

THE late Professor Hudson opens his book by quoting an epigram on epigrams: " The epigram is a witty kind of writing—though not all who write it are witty." And, he adds, not...

IT is so difficult nowadays for a novel not to deal in some form or other with the sickness of our time (the lack of a satisfactory integrating symbol, myth or faith) that one...

APRIL 16th The winner of Crossword No. 469 is: THE HON. MRS. HormE, Chelsea House, Beaconsfield.

[A Bask Token . for one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct solution cif this week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week April 13th....

for the toughness of investment morale in these uncertain times that with a Crippsian Budget looming ominously near industrial share prices are as steady as a rock. So far from...