T HE New Year breaks for Germany with sombre omens. Not by reverses in one element only, but by land, sea and air alike, have the closing days of 1943 been signalised. The word...

The bringing of the Scharnhorst' to action in the Arctic twilight off the North Cape and her destruction by Home Fleet units was a brilliant feat of seamanship. Her purpose was...

The Allied preparation for coming events begins to assume its new shape with General Eisenhower appointed Supreme Com- mander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces which are to...

" You must win the air battle before you fight the land or sea battle." Such is the dictum of General Montgomery, a soldier who has won land battles in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia,...

The French National Committee has been giving its attention to the important but by no means simple problem of the means of restoring democratic government in France. In the...

Nothing but good has resulted from the visit of Dr. Benes to Moscow and from the signing of a Soviet-Czechoslovakian treaty ; for not only is that treaty in itself a valuable...

General Catroux is to be congratulated on the statesmanlike discernment and the rapidity with which, having restored the status quo in the Lebanon, he has negotiated and...

The announcement that the American railway strike has been called off is a triumphant vindication of President Roosevelt's resolute action in taking the railways over. The...

cc T HE only thing needed for us to win the European War in 1944," said General Eisenhower at Algiers on Monday, " is for every man and woman all the way from the front line to...

T HERE is something almost legendary about the Prime Minister. That explains the popular feeling about his illness. It caused concern, of course. That a man of sixty-nine, who...

By STRATEGICUS T HE division of the war into sections of months or years is admittedly arbitrary. Human affairs do not develop in that way ; and though the war seems to take...

By COMMANDER STEPHEN KING-HALL, M.P. A N intricate and complex problem confronts the British people and its political leaders. It has short- and long-term aspects. From the...

By JOSEPH MACLEOD T HE announcement of a project for the establishment of a Children's Theatre in London suggests the wisdom of learning what there is to learn in this field...

By J. R. GLORNEY BOLTON P RIMATE, Prime Minister, Cardinal Archbishop: one day, when Bishop Griffin receives a Cardinal's hat, Birmingham will have provided this country with...

DARKEST December, when the flowers fail And empty tables lack their lucent lading, And far beyond the window's rainy veil The landscape stretches, into twilight fading, And all...

By AMBROSE HOOPINGTON S OME twenty years ago men who had just been called to the bar were apt to say cynically that nothing but another war would ever get them a practice. The...

By HAROLD NICOLSON I N the gap between Christmas and the New Year, the gap between the Dionysia and the Lenaea, six days seem to be but discards from the pack of the year, mere...

Humpty Dumpty." At the Coliseum.—" Cinderella." At His Majesty's.—" Peter Pan." At the Cambridge. Humpty Dumpty is far the best of the new Christmas shows and is, in fact, the...

A SECOND abler I (I know not how, or why) Forms with me an indissoluble conjunction, More than I know it knows ; It never needs repose ; But when I sleep can still serenely...

MR. PRESTON STURGES, indefatigably in search of his director's soul, scrapes in at the end of the year with a film which, though not rank- ing among the best in 1943, certainly...

To feel once more the fresh cold touch of wintry air Across my face. While eyes are feasting on that spire in flaming West With sweet rapture. To be once more among my own...

more precise, founded upon a loose interpretation of that sentence of the Atlantic Charter you quote ? "The right of all peoples to choose the form of .government under which...

springs mainly from three causes? SIR,—Don't you think that the love of fiction in females springs mainly from three causes? t. Women are much more interested in individuals...

Stn,—The Labour Exchange, knowing we needed more men, recently sent us a carpenter, an ex-soldier, discharged through wounds. We tried him out in the joiners' shop first, but...

last week's Spectator is a terrible indictment of our schools. For our schools must be to blame. Travel by 'bus, or train, with any group of girls from a Secondary School....

LETTERS TO THE 'EDITOR SIR, —As one who bore a full share of the price paid in " imprisonments, hunger. strike, forcible feeding " and the rest in the agitation for the...

SIR,—Sir Henry Slesser's letter raises a point concerning which there should surely not be the least misunderstanding. It would be intolerable if after winning the war we...

SIR,—Will you forgive an admirer from expressing his feeling that your notes on Eugenics in The Spectator of December 17th have not quite the classical approach to knowledge...

SIR,—The problems of physical and chemical changes in the soil are being solved with rapidity and certainty. Biological activities in the soil are another matter. The formation,...

SIR,—In discussing the queition of the colour bar, a few comments on the status of the Maoris in New Zealand may be helpful in attempting to arrive at a reaonable solution to...

SIR,— I'm not sure if I was quite awake, Or whether I'll win your credence, But once in a' tangled forest brake Methought I heard the ends of a snake Debating about...

SIR, —With reference to your issue of December 24th and the paragraph headed " Social Security—another scheme," I think your summary of the scheme is slightly misleading. You...

Sra,—Your plea for a free general election as soon as the occasion requires suggests the question, Why not free by-elections? Hitherto by-elections have, as a rule, been in all...

SIR,—It is not generally understood that the apparently obstinate attitude of Catholics towards the Education Bill springs from something more fundamental than any Government...

Sut,—One of the greatest evils in the present supply of light and power occurs in rural districts when the two commodities, gas and electricity, are under the control of one...

SIR,—The campaigns of the Lord's Day Observance Society are not intended as jokes, though " A Spectator's Notebook " suggests that they are. I am glad that you recognise the...

brief fame while Keats was writing and dying, said of the close winter months that " The landscape sleeps in mist from morn till noon ; And, if the sun looks through, 'tis with...

Allenby by Wavell Allenby in Egypt. By Lord Vltava. (Harrap. ios. 6d.) THIS, of course, is a very good book ; for that is what we have learnt to expect from the author. The...

IN this, the fifth winter of our discontent, a text-book appears relating to the history of England between the Teutonic settlements of the fifth century and the Domesday...

Crime and Psychology. By Claud Mullins. (Methuen. 8s. 6d.) Ma. ('LAUD MULLINS admits that all the psychologists he consulted will " probably disagree with parts of the book."...

GOOD books on music are sufficiently rare to justify a warm welcome to Mr. Gerald Moore's unpretentious but valuable book on a much neglected aspect of the art, namely,...

Pemberton. By David Footman. (The Cresset Press. 7s. 6d.) I'm a Stranger Here Myself. By Anthony Thorne. (Heinemann. 75. 6d.). There Was No Yesterday. By John Stuart Arey....

[A 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, January nth. Envelopes...

The winner of Crossword No. 249 is Miss RUSSELL, 9 Hill Terrace, Arbroath, Angus.

the " language " of birds ; and although the high hopes with which one opens Mr. Turnbull's well-written book are not fulfilled in the reading, there is nevertheless much here...

By CUSTOS FOR the vast majority of investors 1943 has been a good year, Those who have been content or been compelled to hold gilt-edged securities have seen values well...

Britain and Canada. By Gerald S. Graham. (Longmans. 6d.) THE temptation to spend six months in a country, then come home and write a book about it is generally one to be...