HE Seretse affair can manifestly not be left where it is ; the issues it -raises are far too momentous for that. Let it be admitted that mixed marriages are generally...

For the time being the more exaggerated expressions of German- nationalism are confined to the least responsible quarters. Dr. Schumacher, the leader of ')position at - Bonn,...

There is only one question worth asking about the possible return of King Leopold to Belgium, or about last Sunday's referendum in which the Belgian people expressed their views...

Fifty American diplomats have just dispersed after a conference In Cairo to consider the problems of their territory—the Middle East. The term on this occasion was used in its...

Nationalist air-raids on Shanghai from bases in Formosa and other Chinese cities continue, and so does the blockade of the China coast, which is having so disastrous an effect...

Whether or not there is currently an increase in the number of crimes of violence (or, as one judge has maintained, an increase in the degree of violence, if not in its extent),...

For the rise of its majority to 25 on the Conservative amend- ment on housing on Monday, the Government was mainly indebted to the Liberals, six of whom opposed the amendment on...

After more than six months of stalemate there is now the flicker of hope that the Kashmir deadlock may be broken by peaceful agreement and not, as has seemed increasingly...

* * * * The scene on the approach of these divisions has been unexampled. The benches have been packed tight with members down their whole length. Others s have squatted on...

Various Parliamentary questions asked during the past week have found their inspiration in the recent trial of the extraordinary Dr. Klaus Fuchs. The questioners have reflected...

Next week's Spectator will be a special Spring Number. The bill of contents is headed by a new one-act play by Laurence Housman—the latest addition to the series already...

1 44 BELIEVE," said Sir Stafford Cripps, " it is necessary to call a halt to further development of this service." He was speaking, of course, of the National Health Service,...

attributed the decline of the urban sparrow population partly to the rarity of urban horses. Any sentimental nostalgia occasioned by his remarks will have been decisively...

0 N at least one of the rare, regrettable occasions in the past when I have acted as locum tenens for Janus I have written something about health and there seems no need to...

would have to be carefully worked out and could be varied in the light of experience) don't really matter. What is important is to recognise the principle that good health ought...

president, Llewellyn Rees) is presumably something to do with Unesco, from whose Paris headquarters it sends me, un- bidden, its monthly bulletin called World Premieres,...

it to be altogether forgotten must be a rare combination of circumstances. We all know that Stanley asked : " Dr. Livingstone, I presume ? " How many of us can quote Dr....

By D. R. GI LLIE Paris p ERHAPS it is the sunlight of early spring, the distant echoes of crowds cheering President Auriol in London and the sight of his own cheerful face on...

By G. H. CALPIN Durban W HEN Dr. Malan's Government introduced the Mixed Marriages Bill last year, it was recognised that its pro- visions would affect Europeans and Coloureds...

and Hitler By ELIZABETH WISKEMANN T HE interpreter is a relatively new figure in international affairs, since diplomacy before 1914 was a more conven- tional exercise...

By SIR HENEAGE OGILVIE (Editor of the Practitioner) RANNY IS GONE " is the title of an article by Harold E. Stassen in the Reader's Digest for February, 1950. The article has...

By CYRIL RAY Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia E D on the map, from the head-waters of the White Nile to the banks of the Limpopo, stretch the six colonies and protectorates of...

Tir Nan Og By STEWART SANDERSON (University of Edinburgh) T HE island lies many miles away. Its cliffs rise sheer from the water, even where the constant waves have corroded...

THE SPECTATOR readers are urged to place a firm order with their newsagent or to take out a subscription. Newsagents cannot afford to take the risk of carrying stock, as unsold...

4 . By HAROLD NICOLSON FORTNIGHT ago upon this page 'I made a passing but A friendly reference to the Maltese poodle possessed by Publius and elegantly lauded in one of...

THEATRE “ Home at Seven." By R. C. Sherriff. (Wyndham's.) PUNCTUAL to the minute, the bank-clerk returns to his suburban home. Take care, you would have thought, of the minutes...

a good play. Mr. Gillie is the schoolmaster in a Scottish village. The promise and the aspirations of his youth, the book he once wrote, the offhand integrity of his character...

PLACES, like people, have their ups and downs ; and Vienna, which until we first heard that zither a few months ago most of us had associated exclusively with romance, nostalgia...

"The Happiest Days of Your Life." (Carlton.)--- ,, When Willie Comes Marchin g Home." (Leicester S g uare.)-- ,, Black Magic." (London Pavilion.) • IT would be permissible to...

THE chief business in the House of Commons last night was the financial statement of the year, by Sir Charles Wood, in Com- mittee of Ways and Means. His estimate of the income...

BRITTEN'S Spring Symphony, which had its first English performance on March 9th at the Albert Hall, is a symphony in the Greek sense—as of several voices performing together—but...

Set by R. Kennard Davis A prize of £5, which may be divided is offered for a poem In twelve lines beginning :- Bravely in my garden grow Drangea (high) and Belia (low) . ....

• Competitors were asked for a set of three original limericks on place-names chosen from the following list (e.g., "There was a young girl of Trebarwith . . Portcurno, Nosely,...

Health Costs Sta,—The views of Dr. Ffrangcon Roberts are, I think, incontrovertible, although his statement of them in the Spectator of March 10th may be rather misleading. One...

SIR,—The letter of " King's Counsel " is interesting as indicating the more extreme views of some members of his profession. There are, of course, some psychiatrists who would...

Harris stated that the declared policies of the Liberal agtd Conservative Parties at the general election were almost identical. Mrs. Naylor, in her letter in the Spectator of...

the State, writes: " A national Church ought to have the right to order its own services and to determine- its own doctrine," when these are " allowed by the two Convocations,...

SIR,—To the classical pets, which Mr. Harold Nicolson so charmingly recalls, let us not forget to add Tertia's playfellow. According to Plutarch, Paulus Aemilius being "...

SIR,—My experience of the Post Office is almost similar to Mr. Dale's. A letter posted in the City to me correctly addressed, except that S.E.20 was put instead of S.E.19, took...

SIR. —May I suggest that the rejection by Parliament of the Revised Prayer Book in 1928, which the Bishop of Chichester cites in support of the claim for freedom of the Church...

the general elections of 1922, 1923 and 1929, I should like to say a word in support of the views expressed by him in the Spectator of March 3rd. The Conservative and Liberal...

so the better, so to speak. The other day I received from Paris a letter addressed simply, " Monsieur le major Simnett, Londres 1'! It reached me practically without delay, but...

says that there is something far more basic than a party manifesto which separates Liberals. from Conservatives. I do not agree with her, however, when she says that in matters...

SIR.—I was puzzled by Mr. Alan E. Thompson's reference to tied cot- tages in his article, Confessions of a Candidate. Does the law in Scotland differ so widely from that of...

inefficiencies of the G.P.O. Not one of these complaints, so far as I can remember, has called forth an official reply, explanation or apology, although quite a number of the...

IT is often—and accurately—forecast that fogs will prevail especially near large towns ; and, of course, the " London particular " has been long notorious. The reason doubtless...

In a very pleasant and dainty book of poems, Flowers of Fancy (by that ardent botanist, George Montagu, Earl of Sandwich), there is an address to " Huntingdonshire Elms." Now in...

When the various creatures emerge from their long winter sleep they seem sometimes to be only half awake. I watched, for example, a newly awakened hedgehog, a very large one,...

SIR, —A glance at " Dahl " should have shown Miss Mitchell that no word chuka exists in the Russian language. Shchuka, on the other hand, means " Pike," just as Lin stands for...

Sut,—In the Spectator of March 3rd Sir William Beach Thomas says: " To clean a bird of oil is difficult but it can be done with success." It would be interesting to know the...

At one time I used to lament that the west of Britain cared much less for its natural history than the east. Perhaps Norfolk, with its Naturalists' Trust, still stands supreme,...

Flowers have their fashions ; and In the lead is likely to be the camellia, which had been quite neglected. The R.H.S. are enhancing the new vogue with great vigour. On March...

The War at Sea Sea Warfare, i939-194s: A Short History. By Captain John Creswell, R.N. (Longmans. 2ss.) THIS one - volume history of the naval war succeeds almost fault-...

Maria Edgeworth. By Isabel C. Clarke. (Hutchinson. 18s.) THE appearance of this book is almost inconceivably ugly. It is presented in a shiny jacket as hideous in colour as it...

WHAT is the critic's function, asks Professor Grierson in his initial essay, now that he can no longer presume to instruct, to arraign the breaker of rules fixed by Aristotle...

Last Chance in Africa. By Negley Farson. (Gollancz. iss.) KENYA stimulates. There is apparently some particular combination of dramatic scenery, gilitical problems and...

A. J. A. Symons: His Life and Speculations. By Julian Symons. (Eyre & Spottiswoode. i is.) The Quest for Corvo was one of the most original and, as an experiment, most...

The Artist and the Country House. By John Steegman. (Country Life. 3os.) NINETY-SEVEN reproductions of paintings and drawings relating to English country-houses make this book a...

Secret Forces. By F. 0. Miksche. (Faber,. r Ss.) LEST the title might be deceptive, it should be made clear from the start that this book is not another romance of resistance,...

John Milton. By Rex Warner. (Max Parrish. 6s.) How refreshing it is to find a critic t2day who is eager to pay homage to Milton, the master who f?aPbeen so much out of the...

BY most people, who have no intimate and personal connection with them, hospitals are usually taken very much for granted as necessary but somewhat regrettable institutions (in...

The Road to Nirvana ; a Selection of the Buddhist Scriptures Translated , -from the Pali. The Quest of Enlightenment : a Selection of the Buddhist Scriptures Translated from the...

The Masterpiece. By Emile Zola. Translated by Thomas Walton. (Elek. r 2s 6d.) ZOLA published L'Oeuvre in 1886. The only English translation hitherto seems to be Vizetelly's,...

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By CUSTOS THERE are now some strong cross-currents pulling at Stock Exchange prices. In the gilt edged market a downward pull is being exerted by the obvious inadequacy of...