At Berlin last Sunday Communists and Social Democrats con- firmed the earlier decision of smaller conferences held throughout the Russian zone that the two parties should be...

The proposed loan from the United States to Great Britain now awaits its turn on the floor of the Senate, having successfully weathered all storms in the Banking Committee....

W HEN a dispute exists between a Great Power and a small State, when the Great Power protests that the dispute is not a matter of public concern, when the small State maintains...

The chances of ultimate success for the talks between Indo- nesian and Dutch representatives are gradually growing. It would be useless to pretend that the extreme nationalists...

It is,not to be expected that the scheme announced in Parliament last week for admitting foreign women (of any nationality but German) to domestic service in Britain and...

The Government have made another addition to the patchwork which does duty as a national service and defence policy, by announcing a new offer of short-term engagements with the...

The question of the regulation of international trade is inseparabl.. from the policy of full employment to which the Government al.. committed. We cannot pursue an expansionist...

Every time the food crisis seems likely to subside something occurs to revive it. Not all the new factors are real. Half the sur- prises which the British public have had in the...

T HE assertion that the Christian world thinks less each year of the origin and history of Easter may perhaps be challenged, but not with much conviction. The Christian world,...

it is something of a novelty for a film to be commended on the ground (among others) that it is probably one of the least expensive ever manu- factured. But the claim, I should...

become the makers of cannon the millennium may be expected to begin. The remarkable career of Mr. Oliver Franks, the new Provost of Queen's at Oxford, villa left the Chair of...

peculiarly dramatic form in the matter of the mining operations at Wentworth-Woodhouse in Yorkshire. It is perfectly intelligible that the owner, Earl Fitzwilliam, should exert...

gives, or tries to give, to his threat to get mid-week sport stopped on account of the absenteeism it creates in the coalfields. The miners themselves would probably resent it,...

was set on foot. It is well, moreover, in that connection to remember that " forest" does not necessarily mean woodland—compare Forest of Dartmoor, which has only rare...

A S the Nuremberg trial winds its slow length along the problem of a permanent record of the trial becomes more acute. It is immensely important that many of the damning...

By BRIGADIER J. G. FRERE B RIGADIER LONGRIGG in his recent article in The Spectator painted a broad picture of the immediate future of the Levant States, with which I agree in...

By CLOUGH WILLIAMS-ELLIS O UR annual national Budget estimates are commonly looked forward to with mingled hopes and fears, and always there are surprises—usually small and...

By KENNETH LINDSAY, M.P. I HREE months ago I left England to give some lectures to the Royal Navy, and promised also to speak for the British Council in places where there...

By SIR SHULDHAM REDFERN.* T HE recent announcement that the King and Queen propose to visit South Africa early next year will be warmly welcomed, not only throughout the Union...

BY the myth of unique significance Men have become so absorbed That the wisdom of the caterpillar Leaves them undisturbed, And the vast glory of stars Calms neither joy nor...

By THE RT. HON. LORD MACMILLAN W HEN Nietzsche said that the choice lies between a yea-saying and a nay-saying to life that not altogether admirable philo- sopher propounded a...

By HAROLD NICOLSON I N December, 1938, M. Gregoire Gafenco became Rumanian Minister for Foreign Affairs. In the following April, a few weeks only after Hitler by occupying...

Sadler's Wells Ballet. At Covent Garden. THE new ballet Adam Zero, music by Arthur Bliss, choreography by Robert Helpmann, scenery and costumes by Roger Furse, is a distinctly...

THE SPECTATOR, printed on thin Bible paper and weighing under one ounce, can now be sent by air mail to civilians any- where in Europe (except Germany) for L2 7s. 6d. per annum,...

" Portrait of Maria." At the Ritz.—" You Only Live Once." Revived at the London Pavilion. THE sleuthing type of cinema-goer, if he can penetrate the queues besieging the Empire...

" The Long Mirror." By J. a Priestley. At the New Lindsey Theatre Club. " PRESENTING Vital Plays " is what the announcements say that the New Lindsey Theatre Club is doing. If...

The Re - opening of the Tate. THE six elegantly redecorated rooms containing the multiple exhibition which marks the. re-opening of the Tate firmly under- line the recent and...

Gallery. THERE have been precious few women painters whose pictures dis- play the qualities romantically associated with the sex. Berthe Morrisot was one, Winifred Nicholson is...

Sweden are anxious to know more about what is happening in world affairs, and particularly the British view on the subject. Unfortunately, the blocking of currency in most of...

SPRING is that time when sleep and dream draw close To life. Last night I dreamed I walked with you Along a grassy road to a white gate. We drifted through on the warm...

Germany, one can only feel horror and shame that we are not allowed to fulfil the elementary Christian duty of sharing our food with them. Why does the Government not allow...

SIR,—The Times correspondent in Warsaw states that, as a result of Mr. Hoover's enquiries, it has been established that millions of Polish children are sub-normal from...

" CONSERVATISM'S TASK " SIR,—I was surprised to find, after his rather illogical first five para- graphs, that Lord Hinchingbrooke had so clear a view of the choice before the...

SIR,—LL-Col. Byers in his analysis of Liberalism seems curiously un- informed as to its past history and formation. He denies that there is anything rigidly doctrinaire about...

SIR,—As one who has, this week, returned from B.A.O.R., I feel impelled to associate myself with the views so ably expressed by " A Soldier in Germany " in your issue of April...

years, not fifteen. He does not explain why Conservatism failed to utilise the idealism of the post-1919 years ; nor does he comment on the stagnation policy of Baldwin nor on...

Sia,—The action of the Malay Sultans in refusing to attend the installa- tion of the first Governor of the Malayan Union must not be interpreted as being in any way an act of...

SIR,—The Government of Southern Rhodesia wants to expand its agriculture. It has decided to exterminate the wild game. The slaughter is entrusted to natives, men with little...

SID,—While the people of Europe are threatened with, or are already enduring, starvation, bread and other foods in this country are being systematically fed to greyhounds. In...

Sia,—I have so great a respect for your political judgement that I am loth to pit my own against yours in the scales of a just balance. Yet I feel I must venture upon an...

SIR,—At last I have come across in this pension a batch of Spectators, and I hasten to comment on the admirable article of Mr. Henn, " Inter- preting Britain." Having tried to...

Sta,—In stating that the Malay States used to be politically dependent Sir Richard Winstedt is obviously correct, but when he continues to say that they were juridically...

Sta,—Does Dr. Moore's statement represent the attitude of the ordinary doctor? Perhaps an ordinary patient may reply. If Dr. Moore had the opportunity to listen, as a layman, to...

Sut,—In a recent issue a doctor speaks highly of the value of medical records which had been compiled by various previous doctors on men they had to examine. Of course they...

Snt,—While the French and Italian Rivieras offer recent examples of the climatic changes caused by deforestation, older and more striking instances are furnished by the present...

SIR,—Mr. Bossom has done scant justice in his article on "How to Heat the Home " to the. excellent report on " Domestic Fuel Policy." He selects a very few figures which are...

SIR,—After living in this lovely part of England for seven months, I can now well believe the numbers of folk who have had to leave the district as they could not endure the...

Sn1,—ComMissioner -Lamb in- his interesting article on Salvation Army history writes, "After publication of his great book In Darkest England and the Way Out, General Booth. .....

Snt,—The paragraph of " Janus" with regard to the Russian article on the visit to our country of the Moscow team leaves me unevenly poised between mirth and depression. But I...

Sm,—Some years ago, as a result of representations by the R.S.P.C.A., some of the jumps at Aintree were modified, in order to avoid the risk of accident. There is no doubt that...

by the Government is to be Stevenage, which is roughly halfway between the two first "gardepi cities "—Letchworth and Lemsford, falsely called Welwyn. Tp see good land and a...

in which Mr. Burnell exposed your own cart-horse-like action, these lines came to me: There once was of prose a cultured amator, Who for lively examples did scan The Spectator,...

art critic should dislike the work of Alfred Stevens, as it is axiomatic with the younger school of critics that anything, whether it be music, art, literature, the drama,...

The ingenious little Avicultural Magazine, edited by Miss Barclay- Smith (of the Zoo, if I may say so), is making play with a more or less new term. It has issued a special "...

EASTER should prove to coincide with the peak of bluebell time, when the half-open woods are at their loveliest and indeed some other un- expected sites. The hyacinth that we...

to an end I regret especially two or three plants, which greatly pleased in their due season: a golden hop, a tamarisk and an ivy-leafed blackberry. There is no good reason why...

1 1 Sta,—Could one of your more erudite readers inform me as to the curious usage of writing certain names with a small ff instead of a'• capital letter? I have always...

The late director of Kew started an experiment • to see whether plucking bluebells, even down to the bleached part of the stem, did them any harm. He rather thought not. His...

The Clash. By Arturo Barea. (Faber and Faber. 12s. 6d.) ARTURO BAREA has been living in this country for the past half- dozen years, during which time his volumes of...

An American Sailor THIS is a deceptive book. Written in the clever, slick, catchy-phrased style of an American professional commentator, it is very easily read ; chapters slip...

STILL unwritten is the book which sets out and defines the intimate and secret experiences common to the men who took part in the invasion of Europe. It will have to be a book...

The First Epistle of St. Peter. The Greek Text with Introduction. Notes and Essays by Edward Gordon Selwyn, D.D. (Macmillan. 25s.) JUST over eighty years ago J. B. Lightfoot...

Anything Can Happen. By George and Helen Waite Papashvily. (Heinemann. 7s. 6d.) Tins is the autobiography of a Georgian immigrant to the United States set down by his American...

The Innocents of Paris is a first work by a new French author. Well above the low average of recent fiction, it tells the story of a gang of small French boys, spending their...

has produced a sound and honest piece of reporting with none of the frills which too often disfigured war correspon- dents' work. He describes only what he himself has seen, and...

Press. 10s. 6d.) THE author of these lively autobiographical sketches was a Canadian painter whose work is just beginning to be recognised in her own country. Miss Carr was...

and C. Black. 10s. 6d.) THE present time is surely opportune for the publication of a good competent book, such as this, on the arts of lettering. Public authori- ties have now...

3rd The winner of Crossword No. 369 is DR. PEARSE, A mbleside, Westmorland.

IA 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 3oth. Envelopes...

By CUSTOS As might have been expected, the Stock Exchange has decided to capitalise Mr. Dalton's propcsal to abolish E.P.T. rather than to ir. , ...u;ge in any pessimism which...