THE CHRISTMAS CRIB By Nesta de Robeck Many Anglican churches now- ekhibit small modelled representations of the Nativity at Christmas time, thus reviving a very old and...

NASSAU SENIOR An Outline of the Science of Political Economy In pursuance of their policy of making easily available to contemporary readers the less accessible works of the...

OUR OWN TIMES, 1913-1938 By Stephen King-Hall Commander King-Hall has brought his lively survey of world affairs up to date by adding a hundred pages on the last four years...

THE BANKERS OF LONDON CURRENT LITERATURE By Percy Arnold This haidy little Who's Who of high finance (Hogarth Press, 4s. 6d.) does not, as its publishers claim for it,...

THE TWO NATIONS By Constance M. and Harold King Mr. and Mrs. King, who preside over the Liverpool University Settlement, have written a valuable account of its activities...

A ROYAL CORRESPONDENCE Edited by John Stephenson Mr. Stephenson's collection of the letters written by King Edward VII, Queen Alexandra and King George V to his father, the...

FORESTRY AND STATE CONTROL By R. S. Troup Dr. Troup's little book (Clarendon Press, 2S. 6d.) draws attention to the neglected condition of our forests and woods in private...

THE NEW HISTORY OF THE C.W.S. By Percy Redfernl -Mr. Redfern, the managing editor of the Co-operative Wholesale Society's publications, has in his new history of the society...

THE BRITISH ARMY AND THE CONTINENT, 1904-1914 By J. E. Tyler As one may guess, despite the vague title, Mr. Tyler's very able and lucid essay (Arnold, ios. 6d.) is concerned...

HAMPSTEAD IN LIGHT AND SHADE By Mary Hill Miss Hill's engaging little book which she has illustrated with her own accurate drawings (John Bale, Sons and Curnow, ss.) will...

AT THE THREE SUGAR LOAVES AND CROWN By Owen Rutter Mr. Rutter's brief history of the firm of Messrs. Davison, Newman and Company, of I4 Creechurch Lane, E.C.3 (who publish it...

JOURNAL OF OCCURRENCES IN THE ATHABASCA DEPARTMENT By George Simpson Students of Canadian history must warmly commend the Hudson's Bay Company for deciding to publish its...

HASTE, POST, HASTE By George Walker The Rev. George Walker's book on "postmen and postroads throughout the ages " (Harrap, ios. 6d.) is somewhat sketchy for the earlier...

sNv Eskimo Life. POLES APART By Paul-Emile Victor. (Hamish Hamilton, 12s. 6d.) SouthernLights. ByJohnRymill. (ChattoandWindus. 3is.6d., WRITERs review books by their friends;...

" Room Service." THE CINEMA At the Odeon- Free to Live." At the Regal THE films of the Brothers Marx have hitherto been the results of an essentially simple recipe; take the...

Verdi's -Don Carlos." STAGE AND SCREEN OPERA At Sadler's Wells SOME of the music is almost incredibly weak, the action is at once too slow and too elaborate, and the opera...

THE SOVIET ARMY [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,-I rather expected, when I sent you the letter published on November 25th, that it would call up Mr. H. P. Vowles again, to...

FIGHTERS OR BOMBERS [To the Editor of Tin SPECTATOR] SIR,-It is vitally important to this country to decide whcther the Royal Air Force at home should consist mainly of bombers...

SIR,-Mr. Nigel Tangyc's protest against the rcvcrsal of our [To the Editor of TImE SPECTATO:R] air defence policy in regard to the ratio of bombers to fighters must depend for...

SIR,-The answer to the doubts of your correspondent Mr. [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Edwvn Bevan as to the capacity of the Soviet Army nmay perhaps be found in the article...

The calibre of new Members is nowadays very high. Last week Mr. Quintin Hogg's maiden speech was pronounced the most successful in this Parliament, but on Tuesday Mr. Vernon...

Private Members have made excellent use of their timc this year and Mr. Noel Baker is to be congratulated, both for initiating a most interesting discussion on the colonial...

Sir John Anderson stands high in the regard of his fellow Members, but he has still to cultivate a House of Commons manner. This, however, was not the chief reason why...

The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes: It took the House of Commons only four hours and a quarter to approve the Report of the Select Committee on the...

The Condition of the Land The collapse of Mr. Morrison's Milk Bill once again illustrates the failure of the Government's agricultural policy. The Ministry of Agriculture is...

The Freedom of the Press In so far as the passage of arms between Mr. Geoffrey Mander and the Home Secretary in the House of Commons on Wednesday resulted in a repetition by...

"BABES IN THE WOOD" ? [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,-You published last week a letter in which, at considerable length and with some solemnity, Mr. Geoffrey Parsons...

HOCHSCHULWOCHE [Von einem deutschen Korrespondentenj Es ist nicht einfach, hinter das Geleimninis der deutsclicin Erziehung zu kommen. Der dichte Schicleer, ge%% oben aus...

OUTRAGEOUS and disturbing though they are, the anti-French demonstrations in Italy have in one way NEWS OF THE WEEK been of advantage to France, or at least to M. Daladier,...

Persecution and Business German brutality to the Jews is in one sense unique; the German authorities both take pride in torturing a helpless race and make money out of it. This...

The Iron Guards The attempted murder of Professor Goanga, of Cluj University, led last week to severe reprisals against Rumania's National Socialist Movement, the Iron Guard....

Czecho-Slovakia with a Hyphen In the last week Czecho-Slovakia, for it now has a hyphen, has elected its new President, Dr. Emil Hacha, and formed a Federal Cabinet, headed by...

The Issues at Lima The issues at the eighth Pan-American Conference, which opens on December 9th at Lima, emerge more clearly when they are seen in the perspective of previous...

Mr. Pirow's Return Mr. Pirow, the South African Defence Minister, has returned from his tour of Europe more gloomy than he set out. He left South Africa with a plan which, by...

Zulu in Germany. USIKOTA AMONG THE NAZIS By Usikota. (Gollancz. 6s.) THIS book exemplifies that most exasperating of phenomena, a good idea gone wrong. What could be more...

John Cornford: A Memoir. CAMBRIDGE AND SPAIN Edited by Pat Sloan. (Jonathan Cape. 7s. 6d.) Julian Bell: Essays, Poems and Letters. Edited by Quentin Bell. (Hogarth Press....

SIR,-May I thank you on behalf of my Council for your [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] very sympathetic consideration of our proposals for abolition of capital punishment ? In...

THE HOME OFFICE AND CRIME [ To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,-I too, like Mr. Thompson, fail to see why flogging should be reserved for attacks on prison warders. No doubt...

SIR,-It seems a curious lack of logic on the part of Mr. Svdncg 177 To h Editor- of T.il: SI'i lATIOR] Ihompson to assume because the figures of juv enile delillnquncyIC have...

SIR,-Being a male between the ages of 17 and i9-and therefore [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] faced with the probability of rendering 6 months' approved national service, I...

A NEW DEAL FOR AFRICA [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] S i,-Mr. Michael Huxley's proposal, which was called "A New Deal for Africa," would really mean a raw deal for Africa....

A NATIONAL REGISTER I To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,-Sir Cyril Norwood, in his article, " A National Register," says: "Meanwhile our Government will not, and perhaps dare...

EXPERIMENT So.mE believe the slumber Of trees is in December When timber's naked under sky And squirrel keeps his chamber. But I believe their fibres Awake to life and labour...

THE VALUE OF GLIDING - By TERENCE HORSLEY NYONE who has cruised in a glider along the English hills, or over their valleys, and the crests of sometimes- when thermal currents...

A PERISHABLE STAR. BOOKS OF THE DAY By WILLIAGM PLOMER A BRILLIANT opportunist, an immensely successful journalist and writer of thrillers and melodramas, a popular...

COUNTRY LIFE Sanctuary or Parade? Now it has come out into the open something further may be said about the question of public access to mountains. The chief opposition to a...

Propaganda in the Next War. TWO VIEWS OF PROPAGANDA By Sidney Rogerson. (Bles. 5S. Propaganda. By R. S. Lambert. (Nelson. 2S..) IT would be a little unfair to compare these...

I -Married a German. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE GERMANS? By Madeleine Kent. (Allen and Unwin. 12s. 6d.) WHAT is wrong with the Germans ? It is perhaps the most important question...

THE ANARCHY OF PROFESSIONALISM [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,-Tyranny is the employment of the forces of government outside the functions of government. Tyranny neglects...

NO COMPROMISE! [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,-Attacking the Government, which during the last five years has been raised, in the eyes of an increasing public, from the...

NEW MAPS FOR BRITAIN [ To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,-In his article, "New Maps for Britain," appearing in your issue of November i8th, Mr. Michael Spender suggests that...

THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS By SIR ALEXANDER MACEWVEN I HE depopulation and worsening economic condition of the Highlands and Islands, which contain 9 million acres, or about...

THE NAZI CENSORSHLP OUTSIDE GERMANY FROMI A SCANDINAVIAN CORRESPONDENT HE Continent of Europe is suffering from a terrible disease-the paralysis of free speech. With the...

FINANCIAL NOTES MORE UNEMPLOYMENT ONE feels rather less confident that the bottom of the trade recession has been passed after the publication of the November unemployment...

BRITISH POLICY NOW [To the Editor of TI-rE SPECTATOR] SIR,-Neither Mr. Spender nor Mr. Paine attempts to answer the two points I strove to make in my letter. The first of these...

FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [Correspondents are. requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. Signed letters are given a preference...

Pilgrim to the Left. A PUGNACIOUS PILGRIM By S. G. Hobs:n. (Arnold. 12S. 6d.' "BEFORE you read a book," says Mr. Hobson in the " Reflections " which form one of the later...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT MARKETS are again under fire and in some sections the shooting has been deadly. Gilt-edged, for example, have fallen a point or more under the pressure...

REFUGEES: BRITISH POLICY AND PRACTICE By FRANK SINGLETON HE Danube is always left for them," said Field-Marshal Goering, speaking of the non-Aryans in Germanv. Those...

KEEPING UP MILK PRICES Bfy HAROLD MIACMIILLAN,, M.P. HE MlMk Industry Bill was an atempt to reconcile the interests of producers, distributors and consumers. In face of the...

THE RAILWAYS AND TILE ROADS By ARNOLD PLANT (Cassel Professor of Commerce in the University of London) Y their well-ventilated demand for " a square deal " the four great...

FRANCE AND THE AXIS POWERS .T is a part of the grim irony of the times in which we live that on the very afternoon when M. Bonnet and Herr von Ribbentrop were signing in Paris...

BRITAIN AND THE REFUGEE PROBLEM IN the day on which these lines appear Lord Baldwin is to appeal at a Mansion House meeting for subscriptions from those of his fellow-citizens...

THE NATION'S OPPORTUNITY HIS week Sir John Anderson's plan for organising National Service passed its first trial in Parlia. I . 1 . -.- - mentary debate successfully. It...

'[he Snake in the Grass. FICTION By FORREST REID By Mlartin Armstrong. (Gollancz. 7s. 6d.) Mile End. By Kathleen Nott. (The Hogarth Press. 8s. 6d.) Doctor of the Lost. By...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK NEW aspect of the censorship controversy is raised by the intimation of the Board of Film Censors, after consulta- tion with the India Office, that a...

The Collected Poems of Hart Crane. NEW VERSE (Boriswood. 7s. 6d.) Poems. By Kenneth Allott. (Hogarth Press. 5s.) Poems. By Sheila Wingfield. (Cresset Press. 3s. 6d.) Kings...