at the O.E.E.C. session, a great deal depends on agreement about assump- tions. In Britain and in a number of continental countries it has come to be assumed in the past few...

C OMMON to both the fourth annual review of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation and the statement issued after the recent Common- wealth Conference was a...

It is not surprising that Marshal Tito should have reacted with some vigour against the attacks which various ecclesia- stical personalities in this country have thought proper...

The .terms in which the Peking Government finally rejected the United Nations resolution for a settlement of the prisoners of war question in Korea were- so emphatic, abusive,...

The stopping of the flow of oil from Persia has always looked like an outrage against nature, and in particular against the nature of the American oil companies. It has always...

There was much more than national pride at the root of the long disagreement between Britain and the United States over the command of the Mediterranean. Britain's attitude was...

In Morocco and Tunis the situation remains tense and the orderly handling of it becomes still more difficult for the French. Both the Nationalist and Communist parties of...

It has now become practically impossible to criticise Mr. Harold Macmillan's enterprising housing policy without appear- ing to advocate the building of fewer houses. The...

The ultimate responsibility for the" winding enginemen's strike in the Yorkshire coalfield, which threatened to do more than 100,000 miners out of their " bull week " wages for...

T HE House of Commons tends to become slightly feverish in the week leading to a recess. Back-benchers, alarmed by the notion that Ministers will be out of reach for a week or...

December 24th.

T HE debate in the House of Commons on Kenya on Tuesday was calculated in the event to do more harm than good. No exception could be taken to the Oppo- sition's action in...

particular instance adoption from the French (or the imagined French) may be only in an early stage. Inhabitants of Brighton had the opportunity last week of admiring "...

of what appears to be baseless improvisation on the part of one of Lord Beaverbrook's papers. In the case of Mrs. Maclean the alleged invention was on the part of the Daily...

Manchester Guardian is very much to be welcomed, for during the three years he has served the Labour paper this talented cartoonist has been virtually in eclipse. It is all very...

he stays with the Manchester Guardian for three or four years; for within that time, I have reason to believe, the Guardian will be on sale in London as early as the London...

T HE Crown is so essential a symbol of the unity of the Commonwealth that, as the Commonwealth evolves, some modification in the style and title of the reigning sovereign is...

Piece at Cambridge Tom Hayward was one of them; Jack Hobbs is another; even Ranji used to play there on occasion, though his natural home was Fenners. Today Parker's Piece is as...

of creating prima donnas who behave like prima donnas that is rather

ByMARK ARNOLD-FORSTER Vienna, Monday. I T is now ten days since the principal organisers of the " peace-fight," as the German Communists call it, forsook their offices in...

By COLIN MASON H OW long could you persuade an American in Manchester for the first time on arrival in England that he was in London ? How long would it take for his dis-...

ByCANON ROGER LLOYD I N heaven, where the truth of things is known, the angels will very likely call this year of grace in British history " The Year of the Many Missions."...

In his fine hands Have lain the destinies of ancient lands ; His instruments Flickered about the heart of excellence ; On his precision Hung happiness, and life on his...

By Dr. FFRANGCON ROBERTS F ROM time to time new diseases make their appearance. Some are attributable to social or scientific progress—to contact with new products of chemical...

When the sterile winter bound his tongue in ice And the snow lay heavy on his tired brain She drew him to the season of her love And slowly, with great patience, gave release....

By J. P. W. MALLALILU, M.P. I HAD not come to look at the view; but Home Park almost took my mind off serious business. Most professional football grounds are tatty. Their...

Fourteen Days in Lilliput By JACK KNIGHTS (Downing College, Cambridge). T HE first thing I was given after my arrival at the toy- department was a pale yellow duster. I...

By HAROLD NICOLSON S OMETHING of the old Saturnalian spirit - still animates our Christian festival. The Romans were vague, and therefore mysterious, about the origin and...

THEATRE THE two forerunners of the pantomimic horde which within days will have the London theatre in its grip are as nicely contrasted as David and Goliath, and their early...

The Politically Purposeful Symphony. ALAN Buses, whose " Nottingham " symphony had its first London performance this week, is one of the few composers in this country who have...

Hans Christian Andersen. (Carlton.)—The One Piece Bathing Suit. (Empire.) I AM at a loss to understand why Denmark is tearing its blonde hair with rage over Mr. Sam Goldwyn's...

Max Ernst (I.C.A.) and other exhibitions. AFTER surrealism reached the Press advertisements and the revue backcloths, after Mr. Dali was anagrammed into Avida Dollars, most...

I AM sure that Edward Lear would have been delighted with Ballet Workshop's presentation of his The Dong with a Luminous Nose, for in this new ballet Michael Holmes has...

Carpeted on the bare wood's empty floor The russet leaves lie still, and stir no more : Midwinter's pale thin sunlight on them glances, But no birds pipe and not a fairy dances...

Once on a time by Lough Fea in the mountains The tall grass was shaking and I, come to climb To the crest of the mountak§ with a heart I thought breaking, Stood still for a time...

Set by Marghanita Laski There exists a revolting form of humour that parodies famous lines so cunningly as completely to overlay their original flavour. A classic example is...

ENGLISH opera, after years and years of gradual decline, has now fallen to the condition of a puppet - show; the Marionettes, at the St. James's Theatre, are the only operatic...

Report By .1. A. R. Pimlott Readers were invited to submit an excerpt from The Mad Hatter's Christmas Party. THE probItm for competitors was to achieve a convincing balance...

The house lives there yet in its summer haze, Red sandstone in thick-rooted ivy it is very old, A drive leads to the house through lawns of baize Past the three tall sycamores...

African Policies SIR,—Our African policy seems to lack a definite objective and to avoid facing unpalatable facts. In a recent article in The Times a comparison was drawn...

_SIR,—Mr. Barton, in his interesting letter in your issue of December 5th, stresses the unfortunate result to patients of .a policy which is intended, in many cases, to reduce...

SIR,—As one who came to Kenya more than fifty years ago I feel that I must refute the extraordinary statement made by Stephen Martin that under certain ordinances the natives of...

SIR,—Your contributor Janus repeats this week the misstatement I allowed to pass last week: that in a Sunday newspiper I wrote about Marshal Tito " in the name of my fellow...

SIR,—Janus must have misunderstood the remarks of the Recorder of Colchester and the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeal in the oath case The case could not have turned...

A DOG barked in the field beside the road, and, although it wag still daylight, the afternoon bus went uphill with its lights on, disturbing three pigeons that were perched on...

a small slip in the Rev. W. J. Conybeare's interesting account of Edward VII's coronation ? The Sub-Dean whom he mentions was not Canon Armitage Robinson but my great-uncle,...

a subtle effect on the whole countryside. A mist drifts among the elms, smoke hangs about the cottage-chimneys and the surface of the road becomes damp; but the stillness that...

to the boundary and asked the farmer if they belonged to him, but he denied that they were of his flock. He asked about the markings, and shook his head. They did not belong to...

SIR,—In the course of his interesting review of Mrs. Miller's book, Robert Browning: a Portrait, Mr. J. M. Cohen, an acknowledged authority on Browning, makes the surprising...

Look over stored fruit and remove any apples that are becoming discoloured or soft. If the weather changes suddenly, as it has been doing recently, great damage can result in a...

SIR.—Of a radio-station in Korea Mr. J. M. Spaight asks why this " military_objective " has not been bombed. I suggest a much more urgent need is to re-establish some standard...

SIR, —The Vulpicide who shot the dog fox as your correspondent describes and afterwards photographed his victim, an exploit of which few would have been proud, might have saved...

at once that A. and B. were off to " bury ": someone. They were dressed in black topcoats, and uncomfortable black boots. They had black ties, too, and a solemn air suitable to...

Sta,—In your issue of December 12th it is stated that, in the House of Lords recently, General Lord Jeffreys preferred a plea for the restoration of a red tunic to certain...

The Singular Preference. By Peter Quennell. (Collins. 1,6s.) LITERARY comment of this kind is becoming regrettably rare. Mr Quennell's own preference, singular enough in these...

Dr. Johnson's Letters "No edition of letters can hope to be final. But this approaches much nearer that goal than was possible for Hill in 1892 or would have been possible when...

The Four Gospels. A new translation by E. V. Rieu. (Penguin Classics. 2s. 6d.) TRANSLATIONS of the Bible, or parts of the Bible, in common speech have been numerous from the...

EVEN the tiro in chemistry knows 'something of the work of Lavoisier —the French aristocrat whose intellectual feather-duster swept away the cobwebs of the phlogiston theory....

the Abbe H. Breuil. (Fernand Windels. English Agents: Zwemmer. £7 10s. 00 THE original great discoveries of Upper Palaeolithic cave art were made a long time ago; that of...

Chekhov: A Life. By David Magarshack. (Faber. 30s.) THIS is the third study of Chekhov to appear within the last two years, and it is also the best. Mr. Magarshack has waited...

Poems of Baudelaire : a Translation of " Les Fleurs du Mal." By Roy Campbell. (The Harvill Press. 21s.) The Password and other Poems. By James Reeves. (Heinemann. 10s. 6d.) Rod...

The Angled Road. By Norman Levine. (Werner Laurie. 10s. 6d.) Dr. Ischenasch. By D. M. Dowley. (Peter Davies. 12s. 6d.) " SENSITIVE " is the comprehensive adjective for this...

(Gryphon Books. 4s. 6d.). A further selec- tion from Mr. Lancaster's " Pocket Cartoons," many of them very funny indeed. The Days Before Christmas, by Fritz Wegner. (Hamish...

Common- wealth Conference communiqué has yet been seen in the stock market, except for some slight disappointment at the lack of specific proposals for restoring convert-...

g11311E1B131113 ° Am OBIREIREIRIFI PIE121, le o n riiREISA ME M O WEEM1111301911 INMI+CI El MA_= El clEIM Solution on January 2 The winner of Crossword No. 707 is: MICH/IL...

IA Book Token for one guinea will be awarded to the sender Of the first correct solution opened after noon on Tuesday week, December 30th, addressed Crossword, and bearing...