1 JULY 1943

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The South African Election

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It is just because there has not been complete unity in South Africa on the war-issue that the General Election normally due is not postponed—and even at this stage the issue...

NEWS OF THE WEEK N his speech at Guildhall on

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Wednesday the Prime Minister I presented the Germans with an addition to their growing list of invasion-dates. There will be heavy fighting, he predicts, before the leaves of...

Progress in Algiers

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It is all to the good, so fa: as it goes, that the attention of com- mentators in Algiers should have been fixed somewhat more on the meetings of the French Committee of...

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Labour Positive and Labour Negative

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It is a notable fact that Mr. Herbert Morrison, who, as a member. of the War Cabinet, might be supposed to be constrained by his posi- tion in the Government, has been the most...

Politics in Australia

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The situation which has necessitated a dissolution of Parliament and a General Election in Australia is very different from that in South Africa. So far from any party being...

Faction in the United States

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The immediate danger of a stoppage in America's coal supplies is averted, and with the calling-off of the strike by Mr. John L. Lewis the miners are drifting back to work....

Electoral Reform

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No system of representation or of voting can be made completely satisfactory in the midst of total war, but at least—as the Govern- ment has recognised—the more glaring...

Mr. de Valera's Difficulties

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Mr. de Valera, not for the first time in his life, finds himself in a difficult position which is to a large extent of his own making. He has insisted upon a war-time General...

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AVIATION AND EMPIRE

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HE importance of civil aviation in the future is seizing public T attention increasingly, and it is none too soon. The subject is of capital importance, and the difficulties and...

Page 4

A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK

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B OMBING, which fills so large a proportion of the B.B.C. news bulletins, is the outstanding visible activity (how constantly we forget the invisible, indispensable activity of...

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PROGRESS OF THE NEW OFFENSIVE

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By STRATEGICUS I T is not only the Axis Powers who are bewildered by the present phase of the offensive. The Allied peoples are equally adrift from their moorings. It might...

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YUGOSLAV POLITICS

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By ROBERT POWELL A FTER two unsuccessful attempts a new Yugoslav Government was formed last week-end, with M. Milos Trifunovich as Prime Minister. Whether this reconstructed...

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DEADLOCK IN EIRE

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By PETER MATTHEWS Unless a new General Election gives a different verdict, the young Irish democracy will experience the compromises and party pacts which, on the Continent,...

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LOOKING IN ON LISBON

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By ROSE MACAULAY I T is probably presumptuous for someone who has only spent two recent months in Portugal, and only part of that time in Lisbon, to attempt even the most...

Page 9

THE UNBORN MILLIONS

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By DR. NORMAN MACLEAN So far from there being too large a population already, the fact is that it is far too small for our safety or for the security of the British Empire. No...

A FANCY

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I saw in the fire's red blaze The mask of a black fox Stare with malignant gaze From a cave of flaming rocks. He had taken shape from the blind Chance of the tumbled coal, But...

Page 10

MARGINAL COMMENT

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By HAROLD NICOLSON T HE Air Ministry, with their accustomed ingenuity, organised last week an educational course for Members of both Houses of Parliament. Having obtained the...

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THE CINEMA

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This Land is Mine could have been a great film. Here is a piece of anti-Nazi propaganda courageous enough to quote a reasoned case for Nazism and for collaboration with the...

" The Judgement of Doctor Johnson." At the Arts Theatre.—

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THE THEATRE " Ghosts." At the Duke of Yorks'. " The Master Builder." At the Westminster. Ir was not surprising that G. K. Chesterton should have written one of his only two...

MUSIC

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Vaughan Williams's Fifth Symphony VAUGHAN WILLIAMS has always been stimulated to symphonic composition by some literary or pictorial theme—Whitman's poetry of the sea, his own...

Page 12

Strt,—After reading the number of interesting letters provoked by my

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article on " Healthy Agriculture," I think it may be useful to set out afresh and, I hope, with more clarity, some of the fundamental economic propositions on which my...

AGRICULTURAL POLICY

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Sta,—I think we are all indebted to Mr. Naylor for his letter. He puts his points admirably ; the only difficulty is that he has not read some, or most, of...

FACTORS OF COHESION

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Sts,—The article of Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr which you published in your issue of June 18th, is so full of substance that one is the mare temp'ed to query the points where one...

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" WAVELL'S , OPPORTUNITY, SIR,—I have read with interest the

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leading article, " Wavell's Oppor- tunity," in' your issue of June 25th. While your summary' of the present situation is one with which many of very different views can agree,...

JOHN HAMPDEN

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SIR, —One no more expects strict impartiality in a tri- or any other multiple centenary article, but I cannot help thinking that it is rather a pity to find so distinguished an...

THE DOCTOR'S PAY

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SIR,—Your correspondents talk of bringing the topic of the doctor's pay "down to brass tacks," so may I, a mere layman who counts a number- of doctors among his intimate-...

GENERAL DE GAULLE

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SIR, Please accept my sincere congratulations upon your 6,000th issue. May I be allowed a word upon the 5,999th issue in which, in common with many others, you do less than...

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THE GETTYSBURG SPEECH

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SIR,—Your review of Mr. Sandburg's Storm Over the Land is in error in saying that the words of Lincoln's Gettysburg speech have been " mutilated " by him. There are three...

THE DECLINING POPULATION

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Sta,—I am glad to reply to Mrs. Sykes who asks an explanation why an increase in the birth-rate is essential. From the point of view of this country it isn't. Wit . taker's...

COUNTRY LIFE

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WE all know how unwise it is to generalise about England, so various are " the coloured counties." It would seem to most of us that this year, at any rate, we could all safely...

CENSORSHIP IN EIRE

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Sur,—Mr. M. O'Brien's comparison between Eire and other neutral countries greatly assists the argument of my article. He refers to an article in The Times about a country which...

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Both Ends of the Candle : The Autobiography of Sir

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E. Denison Ross. With a Foreword by Laurence Binyon. (Faber and Faber. 215.) Denison Ross DENISON Ross belonged to the company of the Orientalists. It is a most fascinating...

BOOKS OF THE DAY

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A Second Marathon Ma. Comvrox MACKENZIE has produced an interim history of the Battle of Greece. He brings special qualifications to the task, having served in Greece during...

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The Church and the Synagogue

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The Christian Failure. By Charles Singer. (Gollancz. 3s. 6d.) DR SINGER'S challenge—an indictment not of Christianity, but of Christians—would appear to rest upon a...

King Henry's Scholars

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Brox reached her 5ooth year since the war came and made celebra- tions out of place for the present; though gratitude to her saintly founder and to the spirit which moved him...

Combined Operations, 1940-1942. (H. M. Stationery Office. Is.)

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Pushing Together To write contemporary history is never an easy task, but the author of this volume has had to triumph over two particular handicaps-k- the over-riding need for...

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Indian Perplexities

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MR. FIELDEN'S little book is a plea for a more dispassionate effort to understand the Indian 'problem. His experience as controller of broadcasting has convinced him of the...

Fiction Tales From Bective Bridge. By Mary Lavin. (Michael Joseph.

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8s. 6d.) Isle of Saints. By E. M. Ward. (Methuen. 8s. 6d.) Chenies. By Taffrail. (Hodder and Stou g hton. 8s. 6d.) Lord of the Horizon. By Joan Grant. (Methuen. 9s. 6d.)...

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FINANCE 'AND INVESTMENT

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By CUSTOS IT often seems, after a prolonged period of inactivity, that investors return to market for no better reason thasi that they have become tired of doing nothing. This...

Shorter Notices

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This book does not live up to its title. It is not a general survey of the American scene, but a not very acute account of the American political' system ; an enthusiastic,...

Horizon Stories. Chosen by Cyril Connolly. ;Faber.. 8s. 6d.)

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WHEN life is unusually precarious and eventful, it is not so dasy to sympathise with a hero or heroine's inner scruples and sensations, unless we are made to feel them as real...

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" THE SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 225 LA Book Token

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for one guinea will be awarded the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week, 78.ay lath. Envelopes should be...

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 223 • JULY 16th SOLUTION ON

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The winner of Crossword No. 223 is MRS. K. W. GEE, 5 Richmond Road, Stockton-on-Tees.