the result of the election is to be welcomed. Domestically, a Democratic administration is likely on the whole to be faced with less industrial trouble than a Republican, and...

victory is some attempt at the assessment of its political effects. In one respect, a most important respect, the situation has altered immensely for the better. For the last...

O N election day in the United States the odds were 15 to i against Mr. Truman. It may be doubted whether any responsible official of his party believed in the possibility of...

Asa result of-the recent fighting in Palestine the armies of Egypt, the Lebanon and Syria have ceased to be of any military impartance. The irregulars (mainly Palestine Arabs)...

The French coal strike is running down after four weeks of sabo- tage and occasional outbursts of bitter fighting. It is not ended yet, because the leaders of the...

The present economic situation in Western Germany typifies the whole relationship between the occupying Powers and the German people. There has been steady progress ever since...

The Nationalist debacle in Manchuria is complete and the main Communist forces may shortly be expected to advance south of the Great Wall. Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist...

I T is a tradition as old as Parliament that at the beginning of a Session Members have the right to voice the grievances of the nation before the King's Ministers can proceed...

Most families will find the promise of an extra ounce of fat a week more deserving of fireworks than the anniversary of Guy Fawkes. It is true that the doubling of the...

Though the Wantage Rural District Council has very properly turned down the recommendation of one of its committees that the inhabitants—or most of them—of the Berkshire village...

The speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Monday on the economic situation at home and in Western Europe generally contained both encouragement and warning. The inclusion...

T HE close study of the Iron and Steel Bill is not a rewarding task. The opponents of nationalisation were already per- fectly sure, on perfectly good grounds, that the Bill...

the result of items in the world news or other indications of prob- able subjectivity to reference interest among consultants and other reference centers in this country." This...

111HIS week's election in the United States has been generally described as the most exciting since 1916. That is certainly true, but for those who remember it 1916 still holds...

price (£3o,000) put on his head by his club focuses attention afresh on the extraordinary traffic in human beings which prevails in League football circles. The transfer fee...

parties, from Conservative to Communist, is very welcome, for Finland is in many ways in a very difficult position and sympathy here with her is strong. Incidentally, moreover,...

says today all sensible people will be saying in two or three years' time recalls that in our issue of March i6th, 5945, a letter pointing to the dangers of the veto provision...

one waiting for more details about the still incomplete American election returns, did not so much as mention the American election. However, it told us about foot-and-mouth...

to women—that of Children's Officer under the Children Act which arose out of the Curtis Report—is not making a stronger appeal. The need for com- petent, understanding and...

on successive commissions of enquiry on the Palestine problem was hardly second to that produced by Dr. Weizmann.. His presence and eloquence may have been less, but the...

By HONOR CROOME E VERY now and then there appears in some local paper—the item lacks novelty sufficient to warrant wider notice—the report of an argument among councillors over...

By WILLARD PRICE p ERON has hitched Antarctica to his chariot. The " redemp- tion" of the Polar regions has become a personal issue. He has made it one of the criteria by which...

By DR. C. K. ALLEN, K.C. A COLD in the head (Mr. Oliver Stanley has recently observed) is the only free thing left in this free country. In that- respect, if in no other, all...

By CYRIL RAY A HUNDRED years ago this week, the firm of W. H. Smith and Son opened its first railway bookstall at Euston Station. Both the railways and the " son " were...

By PETER FLEMING But their curtailed =opportunities for field research were probably no handicap. If the boot had been on the other leg—if four senior members of an American...

By MAURICE EDELMAN, M.P. T WO exhibitions have been taking place at the same time at Earl's Court—the exhibition of visitors' pre-war cars, stretching their dingy way, bumper...

One bright October morning I rolled my scholarly sleeves, And leaving indoor learning, Went out to rake the leaves. I piled them high and burned them, Wrapped in an acrid...

SPECTATOR The demand for this journal overseas continues to grow but currency restrictions in European countries make it impossible for many would-be readers to take out a...

Not to be born, the old men say, Not to be born is the best for man. When the marrow's boiled away The bones are hollow in the pan. A backbone like a barren tree Promotes the...

By HAROLD NICOLSON T HE English are, I suppose, a most complacent race. Having for generations exercised dominion over palm and pine, losing one Empire only to pick up another,...

IT has been a week of great virtuosi—Elizabeth Schumann at the Central Hall on the 26th, Rubinstein at the Albert Hall on the 29th, Thibaud at the Central Hall on the 1st and...

"An Act of Murder." (Leicester Square.)—" Ruthless." (Gaumont.) —" Secret Beyond the Door." (New Gallery and Tivoli.) An Act of Murder sets out to show how a man found legally...

THE THEATRE The Anatomist. By James Bridie. (Westminster.) THIS excellent play, to which Mr. Alastair Sim's revival does full justice, draws its strength and its subtle...

A g new are presentin g pictures from the Devonshire Collection in aid of the " Friends of the Museum." C o mment is scarcely called for. The royal collections apart, few...

THERE is a very full a utumn list, and I can do no more than mention those records which seem to me especially interestin g . From the purely musical point of view, apart from...

SIR,— Whilst the motives which inspire " General Dental Practitioner ' I : do him great credit, as he obviously wishes to do the best type of wor for those who consult him, his...

EDUCATION IN EUROPE SIR,—Recent economic developments in Germany have created a major crisis for elementary and secondary education. The governments of the Lander and the local...

SIR,—I must indeed have upset my friend, " A.M.C.", for him to have written that I " damned nationalisation in general indiscriminately," in- eluding the Civil Aviation Act...

Sift,—The writer of the article commenting on the Report of the Porter Committee has, like many other lawyers and perhaps still more publishers and authors, misunderstood the...

SIR, —Mr. Leak's denunciation of Conservatives and Socialists is much 1' to my liking, but is it an answer to my argument? And is Mr. Leak not falling into the familiar,...

Sm,—For a number of years I have held The Spectator uncle; its present editorship to be one of the best all-round productions in current English journalism. I generally enjoy A...

Six,—Both Mr. Macdonald and Mr. Outwin seem to me to miss the point. All effort, whether in work or play, contains an element of the unpleasant. I cannot recall ever having felt...

suggestion that _Devon tits are more destructive than others Evidence accumulates that other tits in other shires, notably Hampshire and Norfolk, are expert-5 in the destruction...

IT happens often, as. it has happened this autumn, that the first general frost falls between- the two brief interpolated summers of St. Luke in October and St. Martin in...

Sia,—As a result of your review, I .obtained and read The Triple Challenge. I am glad I did so ; but I nearly refrained after reading those nauseating sycophantic stories about...

Evelyn Wrench in The Spectator of October 29th? Between Wigan and Preston near Chorley stands Duxbury Hall,where Miles Standish, one of ,the c` Mayflower's " voyagers, was born....

Sul,—To one who is an amateur of genealogy, and whose profession includes the presentation here of candidates for degrees which have been earned by established examinations, Mr....

the nuts of our ornamental almonds edible or identical with bought 'almonds? I have long thought the common - almond almost the loveliest and most usefUl of the prunus tribe....

StE,—In the article Men Who Made America it is stated that "members of the Washington family " of Washington, Co. Durham, moved " to Westmorland in 1376." But there were members...

The story of a lamb reared on a charming Cumberland fell farm throws an odd light on ovine mentality. The ewe died, and the lamb was brought n up by hand. It became so tame,...

itself ? ", was discussed at the end of October by that Most sensible and suggestive group of reformers, the Rural Reconstruction "Association. The lecturer, Mr. Friend Sykes,...

The White House Papers of Harry L. Hopkins. Vol. I. 1939-1942. Edited by Robert E. Sherwood. (Eyre & Spottiswoode. 25s.) WHEN Harry Hopkins burst on the Washington scene in...

A CRITICAL MOMENT By GEOFFREY FABER THE history of the English book trade is a history of crisis and change rather than of fair weather. At least so it seems in retro- spect ;...

Record of Friendship and Criticism. Edited with an introduction by Janet Adam Smith. (Hart-Davis. 12s. 6d.) Tin unwitting agent of providence was that essentially minor...

A Preface to Eighteenth Century Poetry. By James Sutherland. (Clarendon Press. 12s. 6d.) Is there any other literary period that contains so many fascinating minor figures as...

Foxhunting, Theory and Practice. By A. Henry Higginson. (Collins. 15s.) THERE can be few styles of foxhunting literature which have not by now been graced by the pen of Mr....

IGNORANCE in this country about the United States has not persisted through 'lack of books designed to enlighten. For well over a century America has been a favourite theme for...

Pre-Raphaelite Painters. By Robin Ironside, with a Descriptive Catalogue by John Gere. (Phaidon Press. 25s.) THE Phaidon volume of Pre-Raphaelite painters coincides happily...

The Recollections of Alexis de Toequeville. Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. Edited with many additions and introduced by J. P. Mayer. (The Harvill Press. 21s.) THIS...

Vedanta for the Western World. Edited with an Introduction by THIS country has long been linked with India, and in the past Great Britain has been of considerable help to her in...

Italy and Italians. By Count Carlo Sforza. Translated by Edward Hutton. (Muller. 12s. 6d.) nits appears to be a rearrangement and a better translation of several earlier...

Inquest on ari Ally. By Paul Winterton. (Cresset Press. 12s. 6d.) MR. WINTERTON has been overtaken by events. His self - appointed task was to demonstrate and prove that Soviet...

A Passing World. By Mrs. Belloc Lowndes. (Macmillan 15s.) This is the fourth volume in a series of reminiscences written by Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, and just because every fragment...

THE sole interest of this very dull poem lies in the many alleged echoes of Shakespeare, and to a lesser extent from the Arcadia and 'Hero and Leander. About the echoes from...

Tins is the first English study of a French composer who was most variously estimated lav his own countrymen and in his own lifetime. Satie's music was admired by Debussy and...

The Short Story. By Sean O'Faolain. (Collins. 10s. 6d.) MR. SEAN O'FAOLAIN calls his book The Short Story. Above a lesser name such a title to such a long book might well...

8s. 6d.) ONE of the novelist's main problems is to keep a balance between inner and outer life ; so to alternate action and thought as to give us the fullest understanding of...

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IA 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 November 76th....

By CUSTOS THE rawest of raw deals—that is the City's unanimous verdict on the proposed take-over terms for the iron and steel industry. In his obviously proud role of honest...