ARE WE BETTER OFF ?-l1 By COLIN CLARK N my article in last week's Spectator I showed that the population of this country as a whole was substantially better off in I930 than...

There is so little in these days that divides the Govern- ment from the Opposition, that Labour Members are forced desperately to search in the most unlikely quarters for an...

* * * * The debate, however, failed to shed any new light on the problem of the distressed areas. Though every mcmber who spoke for the Opposition declared that the proposals...

Some of the Under-SecrCtarics are beginning to make a real mark. Mr. Wcdderburn, the newest recruit to the Ministry, moved the second reading of the Distressed Areas Bill in a...

The Report on Nutrition The First Report of the Advisory Committee on Nutrition contains much that may concern us in our personal habits, but not so much with an immediate...

Next Week's " Spectator " In next week's issue of The Spectator a short series of articles on " Eccentric Englishwomen " will begin. The first article is by Bonamy Dobrde on...

Houses Which are Treasures The National Trust has issued an interesting statement about its attempts to save country houses of historic or architectural interest from the...

The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary correspondent writes: The debates on the second reading of the Distressed Areas Bill Produced some good Parliamentary performances from...

CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM [To tHe Editor of Ti*w SPECTATOR.I SIR,-M. friend, the late Mr. R. B. (Cunninglhame Grahali, appointed me to write his biography. I ,hould be grateful it any...

THE SECRET BALLOT IN UNIVERSITY ELECTIONS [To the Editor of THE SPECTArOR.] SIR,-Probably Mr. Cozens-Hardy, like many other peoplemyself included-is in a position where he ,naY...

THE AMBERLEY PAPERS IT) the Editor of TimE- SPIEICTAlR.1 SIR.-Thc review of The AubL'rlev IPapers which appeared in your issue ot March i9th calls for correction On two points....

THE BENCH AND THE OPEN STORE IT,) riTe 1- ditor of Til: SRI(C 1ATOR.1 SIR.-I am (unpaidi amenable to Janus's censure. \When a lad was brought before our Juvenilc Court charged...

FASCISM AND RELIGION To thie hl otor of Tiff SPEITA1 0R.| SiR,-In a letter in a recent issue of your journal, Mr. Gordon 1'. Evans states that both Communism and Fascism make...

" SEEING WITH THE MIND " [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-I anticipated that the spiritualists would rush to the support of Kuda Bux and his alleged miracles (which he...

BAREFOOT THROUGH MAURETANIA I By Odette du Puigoudeau Accompanied by her friend Marion Senones, the author made an expedition into the little-known interior of French West...

9.15 FROM VICTORIA CURRENT LITERATURE By Victor Bayley The author of 9.15 from Victoria (Hale, 12s. 6d.) belongs to the select and enviable company of men who have achieved...

SCIENCE VERSUS CRIME By H. M. Robinson This is an American book (Bell, 7S. 6d.) in which houses are not burgled but burglarised. Its style is better than that of our...

RULERS OF AMERICA: A STUDY OF FINANCE CAPITAL By Anna Rochester This book (Lawrence and Wishart, 12S. 6d.) represents a great deal of labour and provides food for a good deal...

ISCEPTICISM AND POETRY By D. G. James The major part of Mr. James's book (Allen and Unwin, 12s. 6d.) is occupied with a refutation of the theory contained in Mr. I. A....

THE fighting in Spain is swinging in the north against the Basque supporters of the Government and in the NEWS OF THE WEEK south and round Madrid in favour of the Government,...

Developments in India The political situation in India is confused. In the five provinces where Congress was unsuccessful Governments have been duly formed and are settling...

Dr. Benes at Belgrade The remarkable popular enthusiasm that has marked the visit of President Benes to Belgrade this week is no doubt interpreted rightly as a demonstration of...

CONDITIONS IN MENTAL HOSPITALS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [Ccrrespondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is rcasonablv possible. The most suita5he length is that...

RELIGION IN SPAIN [To uie Editor of THE SPECTATOR.) Snt,-On my return from Spain I find a pile of Spectators on my desk, and I hope that you will allow me to reply belatedly to...

Lojd Emsworth and Others. WODEHOUSEANA By P. G. Wodehouse. (Tenkinz. 7S. 6d.) 'RAItA VIRUNQUE CANO," the schoolboy will know in future, was suggested to Virgil by Mr. P. G....

.1andits in a Landscape. BOHEMIAN ARTISTS Bv W. Gaunt. (Studio. Ic. 6d. MAR. GAUNT gives as sub-title to his book : A study of Romantic Painting from Caravaggio to...

PRISONS AND WARDERS [To the Editor of THiE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-I'm very surprised to find myself, as the contributor of an article dealing solely with penological principles,...

SIR,-I hope you will allow mc the further hospitality ot flour [To the Editor of 1THE SPECTATOR.] limited space to reply to Mr. John Watson, who appears to be rather annoveed...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK HE transference next autumn of Sir William Beveridge from the Directorship of the London School of Econ- omics to the Mastership of University College,...

Untrammelled Belgium Great Britain and France, though no official statement on the subject has yet been made, have agreed to free Belgium from any obligations she assumed as...

Railws ay Disasters Rarely if ever in post-War times has England known such a series of railway accidents as occurred in the first days of the present month. True, the number...

Air Raid Precautions: Who Shall Pay? The task of organising anti-air raid precautions-which is extremely urgent if our civil populations are to escape panic and massacre in the...

The Fall of Yagoda The decision of the Soviet authorities (whoever they may really be) to arrest and bring to trial Yagoda, till recently head of the G.P.U., only makes the...

South-West African Nazis That Germany should protest with vigour against the proclamation issued by the South African Government restricting the rights of aliens in the...

Herr Hitler and General Ludendorff The reconciliation between Herr Hitler and General Ludendorff develops in interest as its possible consequences unfold themselves. On the...

CHEZ LES TAUPES [D'un correspondant parisienj LE premier congres international d'urbanisrne souterrairl V. se reunir prochainement a Paris a 1'occasion de 1'Exposition;...

ART Picasso, 1930- 1934 IT iS said that after an interval of neariy three years Picasso has started to paint again, but nothing very precise seems to be known about the kind...

TWO GOOD-SIZED CARS Motoring THE two cars I have for review this wcck, the new !8 h.p. Austin 7-seater saloon and the I7 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley town carriage, are of rather...

THE RISE IN WHEAT FINANCE IN the recent Annual Report of the Food Council occurs the remark: " It has been estimated that bread and flour represent some 20 per cent. of the...

THE CONFESSIONS OF AUGUSTINE BIRRELL BOOKS OF THE DAY By E. E. KELLETT THOSE of us who, in early youth, read Obiter Dicta when it first delighted the world, and who...

JAPAN'S SOUTHWARD THRUST Commonwealth and Foreign By WN'ILLIANI HENRY CHAMB113ERLIN Taikoku, Formosa. THE old saying about the westward course of empire seems to hold good...

FINANCIAL NOTES GOVERNMENT STOCKS RALLY. TIHE principal feature of the Stock Markets during this week has been the revival of activity and strength in British Government...

THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES [T of a welter of rumours regarding the intentions of the President of the United States in the inter- national sphere one fact emerges...

COUNTRY LIFE The Value of Rain Now that the more superficial signs of a season wet beyond precedent begin to disappear we are discovering subterranean cvidence of a more...

STRIKES AND RE-ARMAMENT HEN Sir Stafford Cripps made his much-criticised speech advising munition-workers to hold up munitions, he was not (as had often seemed the case on...

Marriage with Genius. STRINDBERG AS HUSBAND By Freda Strindberg. (Cape. 12T:. 6d.) I FREDA UHL was the second of August Strindberg's three wives. He met her at a party in...

As I Was Going Down Sackville Street. DUBLIN AS HERO By Oliacr St. J. Gogarty. (Rich and Cowan. i6s.) A LUNCHEON party, casually and briefly introduced in a chapter dealing...

Prieface to Peasantry. A Tale of Two Black Belt Counties. A DECAYING SOCIETY ByArthur F. Raper. (University of North Carolina Press: Oxford University Press. i6s.) THIS book...

THE CALEDONIAN WATER-POWER BILL [To the Editor of THIE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-Your correspondent, writing under this heading in your issue of March 26th, assumes that Scotland was...

REPRESSION IN ALTO ADIGE [7ov the Lditor of THE SPECTATOR.] ' Ii,-It is reported that in a supplementary agreement to the recent treaty between Rome and Belgrade provisions are...

PROFESSOR TEMPERLEY ON INDIA [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,-Thomas Didymus was an incredulous man, but he believed when he saw. Professor Temperley's scepticism seems...

Mlusic and the Coronation STAGE AND SCREE N MUSIC THE musical celebration of the Coronation has already begun and, to judge from advertisements already published, will...

's Winterset." THE CINEMA At the Regal--, After the 1hid i\i.iM .'' At the Enipire linterset belongs to the same kind as ie 1etriJied Forest. Adapted from a romantic play, in...

Philosophical Fragments. A BEGINNING WITH KIERKEGAARD By Soren Kierkegaard. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by David F. Swenson. (Oxford University Press. 7s. 6d.)...

Inside Out. A BOOK OF VANITIES An Introduction to Autobiography. By E. Stuart Bates. Two vols. (Basil Blackwell. 42s.) I BEGAN to read this book at page one, v olume one,...

MARGINAL COMMENTS }3X- E. L. W OOD)WVARD) UBLISHERS, booksellers, and librarians tell us that women read far more novels than mcn. It is not merely that more women have time...

WISE INVESTMENT THE.; commodity price advance is acquiring an impressive sweep. Even President Roosevelt's broadside, directed against the " durable " group, is already...

THE ATLANTIC:- BONI) OR BAIRRIER ?-I Bv SIR ARTHUR NALLER'I' IMERiCAN opinion and policy towards the outside world is again fluid. A year ago they leant strongly towards...

THE CRUX OF A MURDER 1v F. S!!ERWOOD TAYLOR HEN Dorian Grav murdered Basil Hall-ard, he knew at once that the disposal of the corpse in the locked room was no task for his...

SCIENCE IN TIE SCHOOL By DR. J. II. SHACKLETON BAILEY N the twenties of the present century those secondary schools in which the teaching of science extended beyond chemistry...

Dead .Alan1 Leading. FICTION By E. B. C. JONES By V. S. Pritchetr. (Chatto and Windus. 7s. 6d. D)avid of Judah. By Richard Blaker. (Nisbet. 8s. 6d.) Trojan Horse. By Paul...

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO " THE SPECTATOR," APRIL 8TH, i837. At the Mansionhouse, on Monday, Robert Johnson and several other men dismissed from the British Auxiliary Legion in...

GUNS AND CARBOHYDRATES By IMICHAl-.1, SPENDEIR IHE summer tourist as he moves from beer-garden to beer-hall, from hotel to pension, is impressed with a definite picture of...

CUSTOS' REPLIES TO INQUIRIES AULD REEKIE (Edinburgh).-Although Crompton Parkinison is doubtless increasing its turnover and earnings again this year, I feel that prospects arc...