The MacArthur Crisis By D. W. BROGAN THERE is for the moment in American domestic and foreign politics the strained silence that follows when someone it a party knocks over a...

At Brighton The annual conference of the Trades Union Congress is not unique among political gatherings in that at it slabs of common sense alternate with slabs of nonsense....

'NEWS OF THE WEEK Inquest on Korea Sooner or later there will probably be an official inquest into the manner of America's intervention in Korea; in the meantime the...

Defending Europe A technique which is sometimes used with success in charitable appeals is for a rich man to guarantee a pound for every pound that is raised by other...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dogma and Fact SIR,-May I comment on your description of the intended definition of the bodily Assumption of the Mother of God as " a proclamation of the...

Two Years SIR,-The information given by Mr. Bruce Dick in your issue of August 25th about the German one-year volunteers i neither accurate nor complete. They had to engage to...

Men for the Ministry SIR,-I am sorry Archdeacon West considered my letter about his bishop's article merely a bit of bishop-baiting. Other correspondents who wrote to me direct...

"Scottsboro Boy" SIR,-Mr. Gollancz makes two complaints of my review of Scottsboro Boy. First as to Mr. Conrad's share in its writing. I made no charge of deception or any...

THEATRE-EDINBURGH FESTIVAL "The Atom Doctor." Be Eric Linklater. (Glasgow Citizens' Theatre.) LINKLATER'S Witty, sometimes over-exuberant, sometimes disjointed but always...

CONTEMPORARY ARTS THEATRE " The Second Mrs. Tanqueray. " (Havmarket)- " View Over the Park. " (Lyric, Hammersmith.) IT wvas Mr. Belloc's Matilda's Aunt, you will remember,...

CINEMA " Union Station." (Plaza.)-" Destination Moon." (Leicester Sqiuare.) IED on a regular drugging diet of crime, criminals and violent death, it is rare for a tough old...

All -about CanalsI British Canals, an Illustrated History. By Charles Hadfield. (Phoenix House. i6s.) The Canals of England. By Eric de Mare. (Architectural Press. i8s.)...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK M Y suggestion for making the British Council at once more efficient and less expensive to the taxpayer is to reduce the staff everywhere, at home and...

GENERAL ELECTION? W HIHEN Parliament meets on Tuesday, September 12th, Nv it will find plenty of specific questions to discuss. The proposal to increase defence expenditure to...

Brief Biographies H. G. Wells. By Norman Nicholson. George Borrow. By Martin Armstrong. (Arthur Barker. The English Novelists' Series. 6s. each.) The problem of writing...

Scottish Painters Three Scottish Colourists: Peploe, Cadell, Hunter. By T. J. Honeyman. (Nelson. i8s.) Here is a book which would seem to prove that some Scottish painters...

Reviews of the Week Mayerling Rudolf, the Tragedy of Mayerling. By Count Carl Lonyay. (Hamish Hamilton. I5s.) If it was Count Lonyay's aim to strip the Mayerling tragedy of...

Festival Traffic By R. H. CECIL THE Festival of Britain still gets a mixed Press; and although it had the support of all political parties in Parliament, it has many opponents...

Book Notes T HE continuing uncertainty arising from the dispute in Tthe printing trade may mean that reviews of certain books, wN'hich we should lhave wished to bring to the...

New Novels Across the River and into the Trees. By Ernest Hemingway. (Cape. 9s. 6d.) Follow the Seventh Man. By Robert Standish. (Pe?ter Daviei. Os. 6d.) The Morning Room....

MARGINAL COMMENT By HAROLD NICOLSON IT is evident that neither by abstinence, faith, or what is known as " taking regular exercize," can one avoid becoming old. But if one...

Rights of Way By VICTOR BONHAM-CARTER W HEN the National Parks and Access to the Country~V side Act came into force last December, it was sincerely felt that this would prove...