The sending of Sir Stafford Cripps to Moscow as leader of a British trade mission is a wise measure. It was highly desir- able to use the method of personal discussion rather...

T HE minds and thoughts of the whole of the British Commonwealth—and the United States—are centred on the few square miles of ground on the Belgian frontier where the British...

If the older standards of diplomacy still prevailed the formal success of Sir Wilfrid Greene's mission to Italy would indicate improved relations between that country and...

Among the records of the military events of the last three weeks, most of them disappointing, there has been one unfailing cause of encouragement and congratulation in the...

The appointment of Sir Samuel Hoare as special envoy to Spain is a wise step in so far as the importance of his mission is demonstrated by the importance of the position—member-...

The obvious dangers to which Ireland, both North and South, is exposed through the possible designs of a dictator to whom neutrality is meaningless have had salutary effects in...

The operations in the Narvik region in the north of Nom have been long drawn out, but the Germans in the town and on the railway were strongly entrenched, and until recently the...

The events of the last three weeks have brought home to the people of the United States the fact that even they can no longer regard themselves as safe from Nazi attack. The...

did little more than explain the obvious difficulty of combining speed with accuracy in information, and the constant anxiety lest something should be revealed which would...

Bill, which would ordinarily have been a considerable parlia- mentary occasion. This debate aroused only a tepid interest. It was opened by Sir Kingsley Wood, followed by Mr....

matters concerning the Local Defence Volunteers and other methods for dealing with attacks from overseas. For the first time since 1805, when Napoleon's great army was assembled...

Mr. Duff Cooper has made so admirable a beginning as Minister of Information, and his own frequent broadcasts have so effectively met the needs of the particular occasion, that...

In these days of desperate crisis the country cannot afford to take the least risk in regard to persons, aliens or British, whose loyalty to this country is suspect. There was...

Lord Woolton, the Minister of Food, gives the assurance that a complete local organisation for the distribution of food is in being, providing against military emergencies which...

Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes: Under the threatening shadow of events abroad our debates have an air of unreality. We seem to be living in the pages of Thomas Hardy's...

T HERE is one very familiar sentence which beyond all others expresses our situation today : He that endureth to the end shall be saved. It is true, but it must be rightly...

SHORTSHORT LY after Herr Hitler had thrown out his hint LY a secret weapon against which there was no defence the Allies came to the conclusion that he was referring to the...

F ROM everywhere, north and south, city and town and village, comes the same story, of places of worship crowded to the doors last Sunday, and in some cases of the doors them-...

this country than anything else so far. It is not so much that Boulogne is actually lost, while the fate of Calais, a mile or two nearer still to our shores, is still (as I...

Moscow to discuss a trade agreement with Russia if the Soviet Govern- ment agrees, returned about a month ago from a world tour of 45,000 miles, 32,000 of them by air, in the...

this column and elsewhere, that some of the best brains in the country were regarded as superfluous in the hour of the country's need. Four men in particular were mentioned—Sir...

from an officer serving in Flanders, to the truth of the semi-official statement circulated on Wednesday that British troops are filled with irrepressible anger at the brutal...

was much the best he has ever delivered. The ex- planation as regards manner is, I believe, the King's patience and assiduity in rehearsal. He was not, I imagine, consciously...

the past week of the successes of Czecho-Slovak airmen in France. We are laying too little stress on our friendship and unity of purpose with the Czechs. Because they are not...

By STRATEGICUS W ARS are fruitful in surprises, but few, if any, have been so prolific as this, and the latest—the surrender of the Belgian army—was wholly unexpected. The army...

By SENATOR FRANK MACDERMOT F ROM the beginning of the war Mr. de Valera's Govern- ment has had to face the possibility of external or internal attack. Apart from a momentary...

By DR. HENRY GUPPY [Librarian of the john Rylands Library, Manchester] F OR the second time within the space of a little more than twenty-five years the famous library of the...

By JOHN NEILL T HERE must be thousands like me, though perhaps they do not feel so snobbish: thousands of men who cannot help being conscious that they were educated at a...

By RANJEE G. SHAHANI [An Open Letter to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel] DEAR SARDAR PATEL, The word patriotism, like propaganda or mysticism, is a • portmanteau-word, and can be...

By MARK INGRAM T HE lorry swung off the main road past a rambling cream- washed inn, crossed the river by a graceful stone bridge that Cotman would assuredly have painted, and...

ordering " The Spectator " regularly, since newsagent can no longer be supplied on sale-or-return terms.

THE CINEMA ;‘ The Shop Around the Corner." At the Ritz. Arty person who has vowed never for one moment to forget the Blitzkrieg must on no account see The Shop Around the...

THERE are strange sights at Hertford House just now. Here at the home of the Wallace Collection are being shown pictures and sculpture that were collected for the Biennale...

SIR, —There must be many who are disturbed by the change which is becoming apparent in the attitude of the nation towards the wider issues of the war, as suggested by statements...

[In view of the paper shortage it is essential that letters on these pages should be brief. We are anxious not to reduce the number of letters, but unless they are shorter they...

SIR, —As a regular reader of your paper, there is a paragraph in your issue of May 3rd upon which I should like to comment. It occurs on page 614 and deals with " Potential...

Sut,—In view of Mr. Nicolson's comments on the departure of Messrs. Auden, Isherwood, Heard and Aldous Huxley to the U.S.A. in your issue of April 19th, and Mr. Stephen...

Sm,,-,Mr. St. John Ervine's interesting comparison of the Belgian cost of defence with that of Eire admirably illustrates the extent to which the Allied fighting forces afford...

SIR, —Mr. Matthews' letter in your issue of May 24th assumes that skilled mechanics in garages are mainly occupied in helping joy-riders. In agricultural areas this idea would...

Sit John Simon " said (or meant to say)," I can only reply that my quotation was from The Times report of the ex-Chancellor's speech. It is somewhat remarkable that such a...

Spectator (as with themselves) in its loss in the national interest of the services of Mr. Harold Nicolson. The American authority quoted in " News of the Week " describes "...

SIR, —May I deal with one rather urgent aspect of Dr. Mallon's review of my book, East End My Cradle—an aspect that has important social implications for your readers? Dr....

Fewer birds, more butterflies, fewer rare shrubs, more pests, seem to be the most contradictory results of the severe winter. The forty degrees of frost that killed all cistus,...

The countryman is always more apathetic to problems of politics and war than the townsman. This is less true of the countryside in the neighbourhood of industrial areas, where...

The Obliging Duck "Most philosophers," says Sherwood Anderson, " must ha , .e been raised on chicken farms." Yet the desire to retire to the country and " keep a few hens "...

de- composition agents are often, like bath salts, nothing but the simplest chemicals under a fancy name. Gardeners, with slight trouble and considerable saving, can mix their...

consola- tion during difficult times in the Divina Commedia, express his appreciation of Mr. Woodward's article " On Re-reading Dante," adding, however, two minor criticisms?...

Culture and Survival. By Guy Chapman. (Jonathan Cape. 8s. 6d.) THIS is a stimulating and well-written book upon an exceedingly important subject. How important that subject—the...

An Anthropological Ramble Religion in Science and Civilization. By Sir Richard Gregory, Bart., F.R.S. (Macmillan. 123. 6d.) THE somewhat enigmatic title of Sir Richard...

JANET SCHAW, a cultivated spinster of Edinburgh, set out from Burntisland in October, 1774, to cross the Atlantic in an over- crowded vessel of eighty tons. She was accompanying...

Bickerstaff Papers. Edited by Herbert Davis. (Blackwell. 12s.) THE sardonic side of Swift seems so relevant to our times that we are apt to forget that he was once happy, for...

Life and Letters of Sir Austen Chamberlain. By Sir Charles Petrie. Vol. II. (Cassell. 165.) SIR CHARLES PETRIE'S second volume confirms the impression created by his first, that...

Philosophy for Our Times. By C. E. M. Joad. (Nelson. 78. 6d.) LET it be said at once that this is an excellent book. Dr. Joad has written with even more than his usual lucidity...

Personal ReCord 1928-1939. By Julian Green. (Hamish Hamilton. 12s. 6d.) JouuraLs are the most risky things to publish. If they do not happen, in the sense that Amiel's journal...

IT is a little difficult to imagine anyone reading novels by the time this is printed ; but if it should turn out that waiting, or bombless suspension of activity, is still...

of London's buildings and in d_ tions—for example, the Old Vic and the Proms—the right to familiar names. Prizes of book tokens for £2 2S. and LI r5. .:e offered for the best...

for a short passage of prose or verse on the subject of solitary meals. It was surprising to find how popular the practice of solitary eating is among our readers. A few...

By CUSTOS FULL marks for the British investor. His day of trial has cotae and he is standing up to the test with wholly praiseworthy calm. Shocks such as have assailed us this...

DURBAN ROODEPOORT DEEP LIMITED INCREASED PLANT CAPACITY DR. HANS PIROW'S SPEECH DR. HANS PIROW presided at the annual meeting of the Durban Roodepoort Deep, Ltd., which was...

THE eleventh ordinary general meeting of Cable and Wireless (Holding), Ltd., was held on Friday, May 24th in London. The Rt. Hon. Lord Pender (the Governor), presiding, said:...

CROWN MINES, LIMITED INCREASE IN ORE RESERVE MR. JOHN MARTIN'S SPEECH MR. JOHN MARTIN presided at the annual meeting of Crown Mines, Ltd., in Johannesburg on Thursday, May...

FURTHER PROGRESS THE twelfth ordinary general meeting of Beechams Pills Limited, was held on May 29th at the May Fair Hotel, London, W. Mr. Philip E. Hill (the chairman) said:...

ODHAMS PRESS SOUND POSITION OF THE BUSINESS THE twentieth annual general meeting of Odhams Press Limited was held on May 24th at Connaught Rooms, Great Queen Street, London,...

RAND MINES, LIMITED SATISFACTORY POSITION GOVERNMENT AND THE GOLD MINES MR. JOHN MARTIN'S SURVEY THE annual meeting of Rand Mines, Limited, was held in Johannes- burg on May...