HETHER the full facts about the clash between an American naval patrol aeroplane, a B-24, and Russian fighters in the neighbourhood of Libau will ever be known is problematic....

To'say that there is more in the latest exchanges over Trieste than meets the eye is to understate the case. Practically nathing meets the eye. Count Sforza's offer to negotiate...

The temptation to read too much into the agreement which his emerged from the discussions between the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan must be resisted The agreement itself...

It is steadily becoming dearer that a large number of trade unionists—possibly a majority—are determined to learn about the perils of inflation the hard way. One by one the...

Mr. Maurice Webb may yet have to suffer for the popularity which be now enjoys. The hope that he would work some sort of miracle at the Ministry of Food has risen too high and...

It may yet be decided that Senator Vandenberg's recent message assuring Mr. Hoffman of his support marked a turning point in American foreign policy. Already the malaise which...

Reports of Red Army personnel manning anti-aircraft batteries in the Shanghai area have been current, though unconfirmed, for some time ; and now the Nationalist Air Force has...

I T has become axiomatic for British and American statesmen to assert that the salvation of the Middle East is to be sought . through ordered economic progress. So often has...

organisation against the charge of pro-Soviet bias, states that out of 185 handbooks, pamphlets, &c., published in a period of nearly three years, 182 said nothing about Soviet...

Derbyshire Education Committee to establish a school for climbers in a mansion at Buxton purchased, it is said, for £17,000, should be severely criticised by the Buxton Liberal...

certain, have been profoundly impressed by the letter on " The Message of Easter " from Canon H. K. Luce, the headmaster of Durham School, which appeared in that paper on...

ceremony till this year. The offer of a privileged place close to the sanctuary where the King and Queen sat was not to be declined lightly—or indeed at all. The brilliance of...

towards the end of last year ; but we have had to wait till this week for the exposition of the full details—which the University Press now provides in two admirably-produced...

the Festival of Britain site on the south bank of the Thames is laudable, but I am not greatly impressed by any of the suggestions advanced so far. For that matter I don't...

W ITH your permission and indulgence we will address ourselves to the subject of Flying Saucers ; and we will begin with a short lament for the lost days of certainty. By the...

By CHRISTOPHER HOLLIS, M.P. M R. EDELMAN'S* political tactics are magnificent but they are not war. Huey Long used to say, " It is child's play to form a Fascist party : all...

By WILFRED TAYLOR T O be a competent Scot has always been rather a formidable undertaking. As a career Scotsmanship is continuously fraught with terrible responsibilities and...

By A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT T HE end of June marks the conclusion of the first year of the present Anglo-Argentine trade agreement. The impending discussions in Buenos Aires are...

By LORD KINROSS I NTERNATIONAL co-operation in the Middle East 05 enters next week upon a new and important phase. An agency is to be established, with headquarters in Beirut,...

By PHYLLIS D. HICKS A HUNDRED years ago, on April 16th, 1850—a year before the Great Exhibition—there died in London an old lady of ninety who for a century and a half has been...

Getting Into Journalism By N. R. LONGMATE (Worcester College, Oxford) T HE saddest event of the Hilary Term at Oxford passed largely unremarked, though The Isis gave it a few...

FRANCE.—The Paris and Avignon Railway Bill has afforded occasion for interesting debate. The line proposed would bring London into direct communication with the Mediterranean,...

By HAROLD NICOLSON 0 N April 6th the Hotels Committee of the British Tourist and Holidays Board published the result of the investiga- tions which they have been conducting...

THEATRE "The Man With the Umbrella." By Louis Ducreux. English adaptation by Roma June. (Duchess.) THE best kind of tricks are tricks which comprise, or anyhow appear to...

was a unique phenomenon. To have reached those heights in dancing to which he soared and to have at the same time created three ballets, each one a masterpiece of its own type,...

" Ballet Imperial." (Covent Garden.) SINCE the announcement some weeks ago that M. George Balanchine would come to London to stage one of his works at Covent Garden, there has...

IN a letter written in August, 1788, Schiller, who had recently turned his attention to the Greek dramatists, explained to his friend Korner what he expected, besides enjoyment,...

Molti Sogni." (Continentale.) —“ The Inspector General." (Warner.) — " She Wore a Yellow Ribbon." (London Pavilion.) ANNA MAGNANI is always in a starving condition, but in Molti...

name without cheating ? There are twenty-three in Messrs. Wildenstein's loan exhibition in aid of the Hertford Hospital in Paris—nine more than were to be seen recently at...

Report by Guy Kendall MR. HERBERT READ, in his book on Wordsworth, expresses the opinion that the poet's abrupt flight from France in 1793 was due to the fact that he was in...

Set by Peter Fleming The Order of Merit is bestowed on British citizens by the King for " especial distinction in any field." There are at present two vacancies in the Order,...

2,500 N.H.I. panel and 4,000 N.H.S. panel patients is filled with erstwhile private patients will not bear examination. Private patients as compared with panel patients formed a...

Deserters SIR, —" Ex-Sergeant" may, as he appears to believe, speak for the majority of ex-servicemen. " I know," he writes, " what I am talking about, for in bygone years I...

imagine, be turning a bright purple colour. A King's hard bargain (let me tell " Ex-Sergeant ") is not a deserter, but a pensioner who lives on and on and on, drawing his...

am surprised that Mr. Bavin consulted Dr. Leslie Weatherhead on the subject of euthanasia. Had he consulted someAld the leaders of the medical profession he would ' have...

SIR.—May I add a slight correction and a comment to the delightful review, by Dr. H. W. Garrod, of University Slang in your issue of March 31st? The Rev. (and Hon.) Talbot Rice...

Slang, I can testify that during my time (1906-10), the terms " Radder " and " Bodder " were in common use, and that, at least at Pembroke, of which he was dean before going to...

inference from Sir Ernest Graham-Little's point that overworked general practitioners refer trivial cases to hospital. Consultants rarely see the the majority of these cases: it...

SIR,—I suggest that Janus in his comments, February 24th, on what he calls private news-sheets, but which I call news-letters, misunderstands their purpose. The news-letter with...

SIR,—Your correspondent Mr. Cyril Bavin, in his otherwise persuasively argued letter repeats an objectionable assumption which has been made a good deal too often and which...

SIR, —As Dr. Jane Meiklejohn has taken me to task regarding the racial policy of the Dominions, will you grant me space to make a brief reply ? With the greatest respect, I...

SIR,—If the State makes grants for the preservation of the fabric of our cathedrals and ancient parish churches, then inevitably the State will claim to have a voice in the way...

A hope was expressed the other day that the kite, successfully protected in West Wales, would soon spread abroad. I have just heard of this now rare and splendid hawk being seen...

S1R.—There will be many of your readers who are, like myself, not Competent to judge between Mr. Moore and Dr. Sitwell as regards the literary issues in dispute. We can,...

Recruits to the already excessive number of critics of the Forestry Commission have been multiplying in Wales ever since some 20,000 acres. including a number of farms, were...

S1R,—Mr. Felvus Walker appears to object to the Court of Final Appeal proposed by the Commission on Canon Law because it would not be " directly appointed by the Crown, [and]...

East End, where the chief occupation of the inmates is to sit " round a large room " and pray for death, would not the appointment of a new matron, or the resignation of the...

EASTER and the end of Lent (which means spring) coincided or perhaps just preceded the most exciting of dates, in short the sweet o' the year. The wild cherry, of which Housman...

The arrival of " summer time " at the height of spring is not popular with farm-workers, for they are already early risers and know how heavy the dew can be ; but of the many...

When, at the latest show of the R.H.S., I could divert my gaze from the camellias and forget the overwhelming scent of the magnolias and look at humbler flowers, I seemed to...

T HE first great turning-point of known date in the history of human ideas was in the fifth century B.c., when Greek thinkers diverted their attention from the object to the...

Foundations of Christendom Law, Liberty and Love. By Columba Cary-Elwes, O.S.B. (Hodder & Stoughton. los. 6d.) " Tim great task before the world today " (said Field-Marshal...

SIR ROBERT BRUCE LOCKHART tells the story of a recruit at a Marine depot who, suddenly asked by the commanding officer to repeat the motto of the Royal Marines, could think of...

From the Ground Up. By Jorian Jenks. With an Introduction by MR. JENKS desires to turn our present attitude of mind inside out ; and as a result his book — which is a model of...

Poetry and Humanism. By M. M. Mahood. (Cape. 16s.) " WHEN the fire of London destroyed almost every other monument in St. Paul's, it left Qonne's figure untouched, as if the...

Collected Shorter Poems : 1930-1944. By W. H. Auden. (Faber. 1 ss.) A POET-CRITIC (a pygmy, but a symptomatic one) not long ago dismissed Auden as " already a period-piece." Now...

Our Changing Schools. By Roger Armfelt. (H.M.S.°. as.) AT first sight, Mr. Armfelt's account of our schools would seem to be " roses, roses-all the way." The book is lavishly...

Portrait.of a Genius, But ... By Richard Aldington. (Heinemann. ss.) IT is possible that every prophet who has yearned for power, like every - man of action who has attained...

My Time, My Life. By George Camden. (Dent. 8s. 6d.) THERE is no relief greater than waking from a nightmare ; no horror to be compared with the nightmare from which there is no...

n rrrrM a mean emm °Pm ®R R MmRmem°R°R Heir m m amm V/ El Ell . e d MOD 11 MIOMM .R M MMM O 5 Warrior Square, SOLUTION ON APRIL 28 The winner of Crossword No. 575 is...

[A 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, April 25th. Envelopes...

THROUGHOUT this year the Bunyan Meeting at Bedford is celebrating its tercentenary. What is now a united Baptist and Congregational institution was founded in 1650 by a group of...

By CUSTOS IN face of the coming Budget stock markets have held up remark- ably well. The unexpectedly sharp improvement in the gold reserve has given a much-needed stimulus to...

Mosr colonial servants, when posted from London to the Gold Coast, would think twice before deciding to drive themselves there. They would think a good deal oftener than twice...