The international talks on trade and employment have quietly entered upon their second stage, with a speech from the President of the Board of Trade which presented to the...

T HE adoption last Sunday of a new draft constitution for France, by the affirmative vote of only 36 per cent. of the electorate, settles very little. Even the statement that...

The decision of the Moslem League to join the interim Govern. ment in India will be received with satisfaction, but it must for the moment be a qualified satisfaction. This is...

The four railway companies' latest statement on their future, con- tained in a pamphlet issued last week-end, is so clear and reasonable that it is almost a pity that it...

If facing the facts would keep us warm in the coming months we should have little reason to complain. In his speech in the House of Commons on -Wednesday Mr. Shinwell put all...

Mr. Truman's capacity for making mistakes is apparently infinite, and the depths to which he will sink , in the ineffective pursuit of party gain bottomless. His latest...

The thirty-fifth anniversary of the Chinese republic last.week was observed by the Government re-establishing military control over all civilian administrations and making all...

Even those who had most reason to expect few results from the recent recruiting campaign must have been startled by the figures quoted by the Under-Secretary for War in the...

The Report of the Care of Children Committee, presided over by Miss Myra Curtis, is almost as valuable for the light it casts on the deplorable conditions under which homeless...

TECHNIQUE and tactics are as important in the House of Commons as in other arenas of conflict ; and this week's proceedings have provided two interesting illustrations. The...

M R. MOLOTOV has spoken his last word at the Paris Con- ference and it was the same as his first. The treaty drafts as drawn up by the Council of Foreign Ministers should not be...

joining the French Foreign Legion in considerable numbers, and that the Legion is quite ready to welcome them. Indeed, a receiving-centre has been opened at Kehl, on the German...

cupro-nickel. That leaves Canada, where nickel comes from, a little discontented. But every cloud has its cupro-nickel lining, and South Africa, where copper comes from, ought...

question of any importance he has had to handle as Secretary of State should be the sentences on the paratroopers at Kluang. His first statement, before the report on the legal...

T HERE will be general relief that the long-drawn ordeal of Nurem- berg is over at last—the end synchronising, by a strange coinci- dence, almost to an hour with the conclusion...

clear how much more he is than a great commander. His response at the luncheon after he had beW given his honorary degree at Cam- bridge (in company with Field Marshal...

over the sailing of the ' Queen Elizabeth.' News of it was received with special regret by the large number of Members of both Houses of Parliament who went to Southampton on...

ALAN BULLOCK L AST week, in an article on Communist theory, I pointed out that the most important question which the Communist thinks you can ask about any society is : What is...

By VIATOR I T has always been the declared intention of the British Government that executive authority in the British occupied zone of Germany should be handed over to the...

By GUNTHER STEIN [Though this article was written before President Truman's announcement on Monday that control of meat-prices would forth- with be abolished, it indicates...

By RICHARD RUMBOLD I HAVE been spending my summer holiday in a monastery. It was an interesting, unusual and, in many ways, a moving experience. I chose Prinknash Abbey in...

• By PATRIC DICKINSON " And if men say no drop in rapture's cup but is some beauty known, and re-engendered now, as hereafter, for the millionth time, remember lost Atlantis...

By HAROLD NICOLSON T HE British visitor, passing casually or in transit through France, will be amazed by the evidences of prosperity and comfort which he observes. To him...

" Snow - Maiden." By Rimsky-Korsakov. At Sadler's Wells. Tins is the best production of opera that I have ,Seen at Sadler's Wells, and it looks as if the powers that be, at...

" The Magic Bow." At the Odeon, Marble Arch.--'i A Girl in a Million." At the Marble . Arch Pavilion.—"All Quiet on the Western Front." NeW London Film Society. THERE has been...

" An Inspector Calls." By J. B. Priestley. At the New Theatre. " Piccadilly Hayride." At the Prince of Wales Theatre. This is a most effective and skilful play. There are...

are delaying their gift of autumn coloration the vine that we used to call Ampelopsis Veitchii has been singularly punctual and splendid. It is a glorious creeper with a curious...

THERE occurs currently, whether by chance or design I do not know, • a most interesting opportunity to compare the work of two of our most eminent sculptors. Miss Barbara...

A NATURALIST of no little fame went out one day this summer to look at a nest of the short-eared owl in some rough ground near his house. He found the nest empty of eggs and the...

superstition that blackberries must not be eaten after the last day of September: the Devil has poisoned them ; but I was surprised to discover that the berry is totally avoided...

beginning to wake up, to run and flower and set fruit in abundance. Since we have already had ground frosts, this belated activity is likely to be useless ; but something may be...

lately been reported to me ; and it would be interesting to know where, if anywhere, it is still current. " Sauce Alone" is the charming name and it was used, I believe, of the...

Additional paper is being released, and we are now in a position to accept orders for an unlimited number of subscriptions for THE SPECTATOR. Subscription rates : Inland or...

THE TORY PROGRAMME Sta,—I wonder whether Mr. H. G. Rawlinson, whose despairing letter on this subject appeared in your last issue, was himself at Blackpool? I think not. If he...

rith hits the nail right on the head. How long is the progressive wing of the Conserva- tive Party to be dragged down by those who, in Sir Herbert Williams' classic phrase,...

Sra,—The answers to the questions put by Mr. Gerald Samson in your issue of September zoth are very simple. Both sides in China have considered the destruction of communications...

SIR. —The article on this subject by Mr. Leo Page is provocative and interesting. His criticism of our present legal system, in that the Judge has frequently no knowledge of the...

Sia,—I have recently returned from a visit to Holland, a country whose scholars are largely dependent upon works in the English language. I found the shops stocked- to capacity...

SIR,—By the paragraph in his " Country Life " column of September 13th, Sir William Beach Thomas must have given to many of your readers the impression of a neglected inland...

SIR,—Arising from the hero-worship accorded to the paratroop mutineers is a question to which I have so far been unable to elicit a reply from comrades of the Far Left. What...

almost all of it has deplored the policy of bringing wives to Germany. Spectator and other journals, often over distinguished signatures, and SIR.—A certain amount of...

SIR,—In his letter in The Spectator of October 4th, Mr. Hugh Goodwin goes far beyond the limits of my letter to you, but I suppose I must follow him. It is surprising that he...

SIR,—I was much interested in Mr. Herbert Addison's gracious tribute- to the flying-boat in your issue of October iith. May I point out, however, that although the " C " Class...

SIR,—In his article on "The Closed Shop" which appeared in your issue of September 27th Mr. Dingle Foot wrote:- " A public monopoly, owing a duty to the public, is using its...

eaders are urged to place a firm order for it with their newsagent or to take out a subscription. Subscription rates 30s. for 52 weeks, 15s. for 26 weeks. Instructions, with a...

Servant of the State Wellington. By Richard -Alclington. (Heinemann. 18s.) THIS book is much better than might be expected. In general I am not much in favour of literary men...

The Cult of Power : Essays. By Rex Warner. (John Lane. 7s. 6d.) THE first of Mr. Rex Warner's essays gives this book its title, and introduces the thetne—" the conflict between...

"A VAGUE dissatisfaction with the history he was teaching in school," which Mr. McNicol indicates as the starting-point of his enquiries, is too common an experience among...

Tim volume was prepared for publication in Russia. Its editor is a specialist on Gorky, well known in his own country ; and his aim was to give characteristic extracts from the...

Climax in Crete. By Theodore Stephanides. (Faber and Faber. 8s. 6d.) THE time has not yet come to sum up the campaign in Crete. It may not be long, indeed, before we know our...

George Canning. By Sir Charles Petrie. (Eyre & Spottiswoode. 12s. 6d.) IT is very difficult to write a satisfactory life of George Canning. There was something which set him...

MR. CHUN-CHAN YEH must be counted as a most distinguished recruit to the number of foreigners writing in English. For their matter alone the nine stories that make up The...

University of St. Anirrews. By R. G. Cant. (Oliver and Boyd. 8s. 6cl.) THIS history of Scotland's earliest university has been compiled almost entirely from published sources....

Martin Ross. (Longmans. Ids. 6d.) Dr. SOMERVILLE has given a sub-title to her new book Happy Days. " Essays of Sorts " is a recognition of the fact that these writings have...

been faced in 1758 with the complexities of life as they prevail today it is possible that he might have been discouraged from his great task of founding the Annual Register, a...

7s. 6d.) HERE is another slim modest volume to join the shelf of similar slim modest volumes of personal experiences in the war at sea that have appeared in the last five years....

'COURTS DAY BY DAY James A. Jones The first collection of the London Evening News feature which has been running for many years now and has become an institution. Foreword by...

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for one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword to be opene4 after noon on Tuesday week, October 29th. Envelopes must be...

controversy in financial circles as to whether or not the peak of prices has for the time being been seen. Certainly the optimists have recently had some severe shocks, first in...