T HE statements that have emerged from the Roosevelt-Churchill conversations do not add a great deal to the sum of human knowledge, nor is it to be expected or desired that they...

Laval's broadcast on Monday marked a new stage in his collabora- tion with the Germans. He announced in effect a bargain between himself and Hitler whereby French soldiers will...

It is unfortunate that the debate on the Colonial Office Vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday should have been the first since June, 1939. There has been no lack of...

Much the largest part of our coal is consumed in industry and transport, and it is there, consequently, that fuel economy can effect the greatest practical relief. It is...

"The Russians," said Dr. Leslie Burgin last Saturday, "have something beyond military efficiency—intense pride in their country, which makes them in the true sense a deeply...

The House of Commons motion in favour of family allowances was agreed to last Tuesday without a division. More than one excellent speech was made on its behalf in the course of...

Almost simultaneously a statement has been issued by General de Gaulle defining the aims and intentions of the Free French movement. The statement represents an agreement...

The unanimous acceptance by the Mineworkers' Federation of the findings of Lord Greene's Board of Investigation on the miners' wage claims is satisfactory as far as that...

pFi.is may be worse news to come from the Middle East I. yet. In any case what has come already is bad enough. We have sustained a defeat of the first magnitude in Libya. We...

of the public about Libya in general and Tobruk in particular. That, I believe, is discussed elsewhere in this issue, and I will add nothing here. But there is another question...

Wilson, Permanent Secretary of the Treasury and Head of the Civil Service, vacates those offices in August on reaching the retiring age of 60, he is to be succeeded in both by...

1942," I try to decide both what my emotions are and what the should be. There is a wistful nostalgia about the contents. Fo example: "The Passing of Antoine." "Alfred Housman,...

the genet reliability, or popularity (I imagine the latter depends on the former of the news in Swedish broadcast respectively by the B.B.C., t German and the Russian radio. The...

on tht Libyan situation a little difficult -is a pair of messag like these: "The Gazala-Mekili line, which we held for the last months, was not a really good defensive...

of how far a nation's destinies may depend on one man's eyes. Dr. Ortiz was elected President in 1937 and assumed office for a six-year term in 1938. In 1941 he was...

House of Comm° this week, Mr. Harold Macmillan spoke of the great vogue bicycles in many colonies. There is an aspect . of that on which apparently did, not touch. In some...

By STRATEGICUS T HE fall of Tobruk is a serious military blow. Indeed, it is much more serious than most of the critics appear to realise. If we wish to appreciate its loss at...

T 0 be transported suddenly from war-time Germany to war - time Britain is an experience that brings home more convincingly than any propaganda how incomparably better off the...

By J. L. HODSON T is not unnatural, perhaps, at the moment when our Eighth I Army in Libya has suffered a reverse, that one should hear growls concerning the " heartening "...

By WILSON HARRIS B Y J. A. Spender's death this country loses its greatest journalist ; nor can I think of any other country that can produce a greater. That judgement may be...

from time tO time of the conduct of the people of Paris under German occupa- don. The city itself ignores its conquerors with unseeing eyes, retaining a marble impassivity...

" Imaginary Conversations" by Andre Gide. Some of these have been admirably translated into English in The pages of Horizon. In these interviews Gide discusses certain aspects...

think of Paris under the German heel. But with what agony of soul must the French exile recall his beloved city, or read how at sunset each day a German platoon marches under...

NICOLSON By HAROLD I N Odette Keun's recent book, And Hell Followed, there is a passage which is strange and welcome to me as coming from one who in the past has been so angry,...

to risk his life in dropping the flag of France upon the Arc de Triomphe? I like to feel that this story has been read by every French exile, and that the whisper of it has...

" It's About Time !" At the Comedy. As intimate revues go this one is pleasant cnough entertainment, although its material differs little from all the other intimate revues....

"The Maltese Falcon." At the Regal.—" Roxie Hart." At the Odeon. WHAT a fine actor is Humphrey Bogart. Ever since he first made his mark in the Petrified Forest—tossing into...

The " Leningrad " Symphony. THE London Philharmonic Orchestra commemorated the anniversary of the German attack on Russia with a broadcast performance of Shostakovitch's latest...

that he is perplexed by Lord Wardington's recent speech in the House of Lords, but it seems to me that he misses the point of it by taking an income of £4,000 a year as his...

THE BREADLESS RICH SIR,—I am grateful to "Janus" for his reference to my remarks in the House of Lords on the subject of the position of the largest Surtax payers. He had only...

12th on Dr. Arnold, has suggested that intellectual education should come before religious education. Would it not be more true to say that the former is an essential part of...

It was found time passed that to confine praepositorial power to the Sixth form 'li d not work, because there were often cases of weak creatures with ins who were no match for...

leave unchallenged the surprising statement of Messrs. Ellun ants Scott that prowess at sports gains more approval in the school than intellectual ability. In my opinion this is...

Stn,—Mr. Oscar R. Hobson's thoughtful article on thic subject must be read with some qualifications. Of public utility companies he writes, "in getting rid of - the profit...

" Rome " and "Geneva," I protest most strongly against the suggestion made in your leaderette, "The Status of the Clergy," that in the matter of the purchase of advowsons there...

Sig,—It has been most gratifying to notice the subjects you have recend raised in The Spectator, and I should be obliged if you would add few words on the very necessary claim...

Sts,—The recent letter of Mr. Armstrong, the President of the Methodist Conference, evinces satirical Sympathy with the R.P.A. membership figures. Having regard to the fact that...

" Janus' " contention holds good (there is no reason to doll it), it is surely folly to suppose that any allowance for the second c which is within "the nation's purse" will be...

guaran- teed income from interest as socially more desirable than profits is as timely as it is important But, being mainly concerned with the financial aspects ot a policy...

The Autobiography of Dr. Jacks THIS is a book written with the most candid of pens. Quo fir ut omnis Votirx. pateat velut: descripta tabella Vita sera's. It is so frankly...

On Art and Connoisseurship. By Max Friedlander. (Bruno Cassirer and Faber. 21s.) • IT was not without reason that during the nineteenth century the man who did most to awaken an...

This Blessed Plot. By Hesketh Pearson and Hugh Kingsmill. Illus- trated by Maurice Weightman. (Methuen. 8s. 6d.) WHILE wandering in the present these twin passengers let their...

The Land and Planning. By F. J. Osborn. (Faber. rs.) THESE four ,booklets, so modest and slender in appearance, expose with shocking clarity the obstructions and conflicts...

Growing Up and Other Stories. By Edward Gaitens. (Jonathan 4. I Am the World. By Peter Vansittart. (Chatto and Windus. 98. 6d.) 8. Ficriort continues to drowse along. One can...

Education for Death. By Gregor Ziemer. (Constable. 7s. 6d.) GREGOR ZIEMER was for many years President of the American Colony School in Berlin. By repeatedly bribing a high...

The winner of Crossword No. 170 is Mr. A. Munstead Belt, nr. Godalming, Surrey. Harvey Trollope,

guinea will bs awarded to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week. Envelopes •houll be received not later than...

the covers of the Duli. frames (which nursed crops of various vegetables sown simultaneousl are now cleared off and the space is occupied by bush vegetable marrow which are...

small boys were helping—or hindering—in the work of clearing the potato crop, when one of the workers discovered a plover's nest. They were filled with excitement at the...

experiencing has some flames that are bright far beyond the normal. There is, to give a particular example, a large locust-tree which brushes against a mill so old that it is...

(Faber. 8s. 6d.) MR. ROBERTS has not burdened himself or us with a definition. Enough that most of the nonsense, parody and comic satire which he has included is English, though...

of such vermin as stoat and weasels and indeed otters. What line are we to adopt regardin queen wasps? Personally I never kill them, having so often watche wasps engaged in...

IT was the last stage in the haymaking. In front a heavy farm horse was pulling a side-delivery rake, and behind followed a cart into which the rakings were pitched. Hands were...

The Plays of J. M. Barrie. The Definitive Edition. Edited by A. E. Wilson. (Hodder and Stoughton. 30s.) THE reputation of Barrie became clouded some years before his death ;...

Post Office, Dec. 23. 1896. Printed in Great Britain by Sr. CLEMENTS PRESS (1940) LTD., Portugal St., Kingsway, NV.C.2, and published by Tut: SPECTATOR, LTD., at their offices,...

THE SPECTATOR VOLUME THE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHTH, • 1912 - , • 1 . \ . INDEX FROM JANUARY • 2nd TO JUNE 26th, 1942, INCLUSIVE. r • j 34 2 NEWS OF THE WEEK EROPLANES, the...