29 AUGUST 1947

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AUSTERITY ANTI-CLIMAX

The Spectator

The fact is that the measures which have so far been taken are those which are dictated by circumstances. Given that the dollar loan had disappeared, these cuts were the bare...

Coal Deadlock

The Spectator

It is almost beyond belief that at this moment nothing whatever is being done by the miners to secure a rapid increase in the output of coal. It has been agreed in principle...

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Freedom for Science

The Spectator

Resuming, deliberately, its meetings at Dundee so brusquely interrupted on September 1st, 1939, the British Association is this week entering in the same city on a series of...

Food in the World Market

The Spectator

At the second annual meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organ- isation a year ago it was proposed that a world food board should be created for the purpose of buying supplies...

Scotland Shows the Way

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The example which Scotland is giving to the whole of Britain at this crucial moment is all but perfect. While in the wider sphere economic crisis is being stemmed with...

Issues at Canberra

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The Commonwealth Conference at Canberra is one of the en- couraging signs in a discouraging world. As things have turned out, it is far more opportune than when it was first...

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THE VETO CRISIS O PINIONS may differ about the desirability of

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a discussion on the veto by the Security Council at this juncture. There was something to be said for leaving the whole question till the meeting of the General Assembly next...

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The way I came to be at Lord's last Monday

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was that my colleague Harold Nicolson some time ago wrote an article distinctly derogatory of cricket and Sir Pelham Warner thought he ought to see some proper cricket so I...

A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK

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E VERYONE who listened to the nine o'clock news on Wednesday night must have felt considerably deflated. We had been keyed up for stern sacrifices that would have gone a long...

In connection with the two privilege cases now before the

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House of Commons I have heard various questions asked as to what penalties the House has it in its power to inflict if it wants to inflict any, and who was the last occupant of...

* * * *

The Spectator

Taken all round, I thought Mr. Morrison's the best of the three political broadcasts with which we have been favoured at recent week-ends—though how far we are really the better...

In various odd corners of The Spectator lately fortunate persons

The Spectator

who have resumed contact with Switzerland have been drawing polite but firm comparisons between that country and this, usually to the advantage of the former. I heard this week...

When I say (on the authority of Sir Henry Dale,

The Spectator

President of the British Association), that di-isopropyffiuorophosphonate has proved very effective in annulling the action of cholinesterase, I am sure my readers will feel...

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REASON OR HUNGER ?

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By LORD BEVERIDGE T HE House of Commons debates on the economic crisis will have left most people with a sense of frustration and bewilder- ment. This is particularly...

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SATELLITE JAPAN

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By SIR PAUL BUTLER HE United States was the principal agent in bringing Japan to I her knees, and she has since supplied the forces and met the expenses of occupation, with...

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ASPECTS OF ULSTER

The Spectator

By CYRIL RAY T 0 reach Belfast by way of Dublin is to be tempted into unfair comparisons. The industrial town built by Victorian business- men—a town not so much actively ugly...

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SUMMER DAYS IN ROME

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By DEREK PATMORE One senses this new urgency and energy in the Italians when visiting the intellectual circles. Too poor, most of them, to take holidays by the sea or in the...

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IN LORRAINE

The Spectator

By D. W. BROGAN 0 F course I knew the song: " En passant par la Lorraine avec mes sabots," and it was absurd never to have visited that famous province. So my friend the deputy...

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THAT MAN AGAIN

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By W. J. BROWN, M.P. WAS staying at an Irish hotel in the wilds—the very beautiful I wilds—of Kerry. It was a Saturday night. And Mr. Churchill was to speak on the wireless at...

ASCENT OF BEN MORE, ISLE OF MULL SEEKING to trespass

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in their marriage chamber, With profane tread scaling the ancient throne Of mountain's and of sky's immense communion, Surprising vapours intimate with basalt, Cloud-fringes...

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MARGINAL COMMENT

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By HAROLD NICOLSON M R. GEORGE ORWELL is a stimulating writer. It is not only that his opinions are sensible and sharp: it is also that he suggests a train of ideas. He handles...

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THE CINEMA

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"The Master of Bankdam." (Leicester Square.) — "Douce." (Curzon.) IT is always a pleasure to see the name of Walter Forde on the screen, if only because of the memories it...

CONTEMPORARY ARTS

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THE THEATRE "The Girl Who Couldn't Quite." By Leo Marks. (St. Martin's.) FREUD widened the horizons of psychology chiefly by revealing how vast was the territory of the mind...

MUSIC

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Edinburgh. THE Floral Clock in Princes Street Gardens has joined the cultural fashion of the hour, and round its dial are planted and blossoming the names of four great...

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ON THE AIR

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DinuNG the past fortnight three Cabinet Ministers and the Leader of the Opposition have come to the microphone. They provided an interesting study in broadcasting styles....

ART

The Spectator

UNTIL the end of September the Tate Gallery is showing the Hogarth, Constable and Turner pictures which have recently been exhibited in Canada and the United. States, and the...

Page 15

Stn,—With reference to Mr. Kenneth Bradshaw's admirable article on the

The Spectator

pernicious football pools, what would be valuable as a follow-up would be some evidence of the evil they do in the home, by an experienced social worker. Here is a case which...

" FOOTBALL POOL PROBLEMS"

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Stn,—May we congratulate you on publishing the excellent article on football pool problems by Kenneth Bradshaw? We are aware of the strange apathy towards commercialised...

THE CONTROL OF LAUNDRIES

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Stn,—I would be grateful if I might be allowed to bring to your notice what seems to be a very dangerous gap in our defences against disease. During the past few years there has...

"AFFECTIONATELY YOURS, FANNY"

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Sta,—In reference to Mr. C. E. Vulliamy's review of my biography of Fanny Kemble, Affectionately Yours, Fanny, may I protest against mis- representations which occur in his...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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A CHALLENGE. TO LIBERALS Slit,—While I am by every political instinct a Liberal, as were my fore- fathers, I cannot help deeply deploring what seems to me the failure of this...

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A BLANK CHEQUE

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Sta,—Tuming to A Spectator's Notebook first, as I always do, I fmd it " plain incomprehensible," as Janus would say, to assert that the Govern- ment has asked Parliament for a...

" SLUMS OF THE EMPIRE "

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SIR,—By a curious coincidence, on the very day—August 15th—on which I read Marc T. Greene's impressive article, headed as above, which appears in your issue for that week, I...

TERRIER FISHERS SIR,—Sir William Beach Thomas tells us that fishermen

The Spectator

have recently discovered that terriers can be trained to retrieve hooked salmon. May I be allowed to say that I made, between seventy and eighty years ago, the still more...

GOOD HUNTING

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Snt,—At a time when Alped spokesmen emphasise that the present hunger in Germany is caused by a world shortage of food, I am told that about 30,000 wild boars are roaming about...

CUSTARD AND AMBERGRIS

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Sut,—Mr. Harold Nicolson's delightful article on English cookery will doubtless result in his joining the Kitchen Committee of his club. As a member of the same club I view this...

" AGRICULTURE AND DOLLARS " SIR, —In your issue of August

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15th, Mr. H. D. Walston catalogued the factors which he considers "clamp the brake upon agricultural production." He heads the list with " shortage of labour," but he nowhere...

CRISIS AND BUBBLE Sia,—In your leading article of August 15th,

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you rightly point out that the Government have taken powers—" ensuring that the whole resources of the community are available for use, and are used, in a manner best calculated...

To ensure regular receipt of The Spectator, readers are urged

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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 copies are non-return- able....

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PAKISTAN

The Spectator

Sra,—Pak is an Urdu word taken from Persian meaning " holy." Istan (as in Afghan-istan) means " place " or " land," so that Pakistan would seem to signify "holy land." Surely...

FRIENDS OF INDIA

The Spectator

Sta, — As the friend of one of them, I find it a sad reflection that, in these days of the fulfilment of British rule in India, no tribute has been paid to the memory of two men...

A Rural Threat

The Spectator

A symptom that makes me fear for the future of rural England is the campaign against the hedgerow, preached by some of our economists, and now being definitely practised in...

Winter Frosts

The Spectator

The exceptional winter frosts showed us which birds and beasts, which shrubs and to some extent which insects, were good resisters. I think the mortality was high among a number...

CQUNTRY LIFE

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NEVER have I seen the country suffer so greatly from lack of the scythe. The machines that now do the harvesting are marvellous works of art. They make harvest a quick festival...

THE ANGLO-INDIANS' CASE

The Spectator

Sta,—Mr. KirkpatriCk's letter in your issue of August 22nd gives a wrong impression of the Anglo-Indian population, I think. The "creation " of this community was, of . course,...

A Happy Survival It was feared at one time that

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one British bird had been wiped clean out by the excesses of last winter and spring—to wit, the very local bearded tit. I hear with delight that just two pairs survived and have...

In My Garden One of the great advantages of - sowing

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some garden crops late in the season is that they are then quite free from their worst pests. For ex- ample: the late peas this year and the late carrots are insect free; much...

WHAT THE UNIONS THINK

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SIR,—To your pertinent criticisms of the T.U.C. agenda (in The Spectator of August 22nd) might be added some on the annual report ; for instance, that, during the year, nearly...

Postage on this issue : Inland, Ed.; Overseas, ld.

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BOOKS OF THE DAY

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The Two Thackerays The Letters and Private Papers of Wiliam Makepeace Thackeray Edited by Gordon N. Ray. ;Cumberlege : Oxford University Press. 4 vols. £6 6s.) THACKERAY has...

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F.D.R.

The Spectator

The Roosevelt I Knew. By Frances Perkins, U.S. Secretary of Labour from 1933-1945. (Hammond and Hammond. 18s.) "FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT was not a simple man. That quality of sim-...

The Psychopath in Power

The Spectator

THE descent of Rudolf Hess from the air on May toth, 1941, was perhaps the most fantastic event of the war ; indeed, it had been substantially anticipated in actual fiction by...

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Country Planning

The Spectator

MR. TILLEY, architect and a farmer's son, has written a book very apt to this present moment when a renewed drive to step up our home food production to yet higher levels has...

A Task Completed

The Spectator

The Victory Campaign. By," Strategicus." (Faber and Faber. 12s. 6d.) AN unavoidable austerity of peace is that we can no longer enjoy in these columns the lucid analyses of the...

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_ Fiction

The Spectator

FOR his new book Mr. Charles Morgan has taken the most serious theme it is possible for a novelist to handle; that of the integrity of the self and the tension of the opposition...

England's Beaches

The Spectator

Mew a family man (and woman) returning exhausted from the annual battle of the beaches must wonder how the English came to develop the seaside habit. Mr. Marsden suplies the...

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FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

The Spectator

By CUSTOS SOONER than even the most pessimistic observers had predicted Great Britain has been forced by the sheer pressure of events to suspend the fuller convertibility of...

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" THE SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 440

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[A 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 September 9th....

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 438

The Spectator

• A!N ! C . F_'S L E S C • 'H . Y.P 0 TIE:niivsIE u ' I N 't S 111 111 C.1 0 L 12 E - 11111Mc 5 s T S ti T L'L N - .^ in N fi !LI RIR T E iNiT' ALfice: T u A E AN•DiL'E...