When it was first announced, some months ago, that some form of combination of the American and British zones of Germany would be attempted, there was no great rejoicing, for...

T HE critical state of political feeling in India is demonstrated by the decision taken this week that the Viceroy should come to London to confer with the British Government,...

The transference of negotiating power from the special Egyptian Treaty Delegation to the Egyptian Cabinet seems likely to bring the protracted negotiations to a head at last....

John L. Lewis's ultimate reply to the efforts of the United States Government to end the strike of soft coal miners of the United Mine Workers' Union is that it is not possible...

The defeat of the Government in the House of Lords on Wed• nesday over Lord Templewood's resolution urging the immediate introduction of a Criminal Justice Bill reflects...

The Preparatory Committee of the International Conference on Trade and Employment, which for the past five weeks has repulsed public inquisitiveness by meeting in private in...

Whilst the situation which has caused a further slowing in the rate of release from the Services must be deplored, there could be no responsible disagreement with Mr. Attlee...

The circular addressed to local authorities by the Home Office and the Ministries of Health and Education in regard to the recom- mendations of the Curtis Report must be looked...

I N Parliament this has been the week of the still, small voice after the thunderous reverberations of its predecessor. It is interest- ing how often—I think quite...

Sooner or later a dictatorial announcement on the closed-shop issue was bound to lead an employer into acute embarrassment. This embarrassment the Willesden Council has brought...

T HE gloomier prophets are preparing to pronounce the failure of the New York conferences of the United Nations and the Council of Foreign Ministers, and so far the gloomier...

p UBLIC opinion cannot always be nicely measured, but it gener- ally knows how to make itself felt, and there is no doubt what it wanted in the matter of food parcels for...

The choice of Mr. J. R. M. Butler as " chief military historian" will give much satisfaction to all who recognise how well adapted Mr. Butler is for so important and responsible...

House of Commons, at any rate, about the proposed Roosevelt statue. With all respect to the distinguished sculptor, Sir William Reid Dick, the model finds little approval in any...

nates the annuity of f.,5,000 a year paid to the holder of the title of Earl Nelson since the year 1806, is to be taken in the House of Commons next week, and since several...

recalls a remark Dr. Stresemann once made a • t Geneva, that adven- tures and achievements in peace could be as inspiring as any in war. It is hard to imagine anything more...

normally be regarded as a subject for party skirmishing, but Mr. Strachey's announcement on that topic raised issues which Members on both sides of the House were quick to...

widely deplored, especi- ally by readers of this journal, to which he frequently contributed reviews of theological books conspicuous for their depth of know- ledge, liberality...

By DEREK PATMORE G REECE, throughout her long history, has always been menaced by invasion from the north. Ancient Greece finally fell before the troops of Philip of Macedon in...

By THE REV. D. H. C. READ C IVIL Internment Camp X is reputed to be the worst in the British zone. It is one of the numerous " cages " in which we are holding all ex-Nazi...

By H. J. PULLEIN-THOMPSON T HE Report of the Ince Committee on the Juvenile Employment Service, published in September, 1945, was approved by the Cabinet in the summer of 1946,...

By FRANK SYKES A N Agricultural Bill is to be introduced during the present ses- sion of Parliament. Rumour has it that it will contain more than a hundred clauses. To a large...

A FIGURE fighting, suspended, One arm half reaching up Held back by clinging toils— The other struggling to strip away The encumbering wreaths of darkness. Agony, vision,...

By R. A. J. WALLING D ARTMOOR has " high priority " in the outlined plans for National Parks. It is the most clearly suitable compact piece of country in Southern England for...

IN U.S.A. AND CANADA by Air This service should ensure THE SPECTATOR being in the hands of readers in the U.S.A. and Canada within a few hours of publication. Subscription...

By HAROLD NICOLSON O N a certain morning during the past week I reached the age of sixty. That is a formidable thing to happen. On the Wednesday night I had retired to rest, a...

"A Stolen Life." At the Warner. THE camera's infinite capacity to tell lies has bean, from cinema's earliest days, a constant temptation. The comparatively simple deceptions of...

THIS last week has seen a recrudescence of the monster performances which became popular in England in the second half of the eighteenth century and dominated the whole...

BALLET Mardi Gras. At Sadler's Wells. Tins new ballet, with music by Leonard Salzedo, was given at Sadler's Wells on Tuesday. It is an interesting work—the experiences of a...

THOUGH we search vainly in our newspapers for signs of peace, small indications of the end of the war accumulate. In the West End new galleries appear and older ones reappear....

THE wind whistled shrilly through three radio dramas during the week, but this sound-effect was the only thing they had in common. Has the lapse of years and long absence from...

SIR, -It is more than probable that the majority of medical men will follow the lead of the British Medical Association and refuse to nego- tiate with the Minister on the...

Snt,—Once again a housing debate in Parliament has shown the com- plete inadequacy of our preparations for building the 4,000,000 to 5,000s000 houses which, it is now stated,...

issue of November 22nd that we have a direct responsibility to see that those refugees in the " assembly centres " in our zone in Germany who have proved leaders among their...

invited in the plebiscite to declare their refusal to take their share in the working of the National Health Act ; they are asked to state whether they wish their...

SIR, —Mr. Isaacs's too emphatic protestations in Parliament of the im- potent innocence of the T.U.C. tallies ill with past history and present happenings. As well as its...

of Anthony Trollope's writings are more choleric than critical, and tempt one to challenge his use of such expletives as " disgusting," " old fool," and " filthy drivel"? To say...

Sue—Those of us who have spent many of our best years in the service of the Sudan wili agree in principle with much of Abdullah Bey Khalil's article in your November 22nd issue,...

days, when so much originality and individuality in the British character seems to be lost, to read the resounding anti-Trollope barrage by Sir Patrick Abercrombie. And it says...

SIR, —It is interesting to observe from Mr. J. P. L. Thomas's letter in your issue of November 22nd that the practice stigmatised by more than one Conservative as the " selling...

SIR,—I had looked far some likely commentary on the article entitled Teaching Scripture, appearing in your issue of November 15th, but met with disappointment on what is, after...

religious education in schools, Mr. A. Victor Murray does not refer to the most important person responsible for the child's religious education— namely, the parent ; and this...

Sot,—Like Mr. Wiener, I was delighted when A.B.C.A. became B.C.A., and my sixth form and I were able to spend some profitable, or at any rate interesting, hours discussing the...

Government chooses a somewhat abortive measure for implementing the report of its own Curtis Commission. It does no more than instruct these bodies to do the job they should...

SIR,—In the House of Commons on November 19th, Mr. H. Wilson Harris, deploring the fact that the King's Speech did not show any inten- tion to give effect to the recommendations...

Having in the past and in my neighbourhood seen how much Czech experts could teach us in practical farming, I ant interested in a suggestion put forward to me on behalf of some...

" POOR Devon," writes a native of that adorable shire. " Has any place suffered so badly? " This was written on the subject of Braunton Burrows in the north of Devon, but the...

A herb dish of which I have never heard is recommended by a corre- spondent from a Westmorland village who is also a believer in " Sauce- alone " or hedge mustard as a savoury...

SIR, —May I endorse the suggestion made by 7anus that Sir William Reid Dick's design for the statue of President Roosevelt be reconsidered? Truly the President made of his life...

in how to make gardens pay give asparagus as one of the best-paying crops, though perhaps flowers pay better. Asparagus has improved greatly in the last few years, partly...

The East side of England has been luckier than the West, though it seemed more vulnerable. The Norfolk line of sanctuaries remains almost intact, and we may take it as a note of...

Stk,—Two months ago I pointed out, in The Manchester Guardian, the inadequacy of first-class facilities on the Manchester-London run. A lively supporting correspondence was only...

Sin,—Hope deferred makes the heart sick, and if the deferment is due to injustice the resentment may harden into bitter and dangerous hatred. The deferment of the demobilisation...

when he attributes to me the authorship of the lines, " How odd of God to choose the Jews." The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations gives William Norman Ewer as the author. May I...

Ursa Major. A Study of Doctor Johnson and His Friends. By C. E. Vulliamy. (Michael Joseph. 15s.) MR. VULL1AMY has a pronounced liking for the old. He derives a lively if...

Montgomery Pie Montgomery. By Alan Moorehead. (Hanish Hamilton. 12s. 6d.) ALAN MOOREHEAD has written this book not as a biography nor simply as a sketch ; " it is a pie," he...

The Bible Today. By C. H. Dodd. (Cambridge University Press. 7s. 6d.) THE open lectures which Professor Dodd delivered at Cambridge, now available in book form, are more than...

The Orchestra in England. By Reginald Nettel. (Cape. 12s. 6d.) IT is interesting, and somehow improbable, to find that a history of the orchestra in England virtually resolves...

The Northern Tangle. By Rowland Kenney. (Dent. 12s. 6d.) MR. RowLitstro KENNY has fulfilled a very useful task of disen- tangling certain main lines and fundamental...

THIS latest volume in the official series of popular accounts of operations and campaigns is well up to the standard of the best of its predecessors. As usual, the photographs...

Russian Humorous Stories. Edited and introduced by Janko Lavrin (Sylvan Press. 10s. 6d.) SINCE humour is the quality most easily lost in translations, this collection of eleven...

The Weimar Republic; Overture to the Third Reich. By Godfrey Scheele. (Faber. 18s.) Germany from Defeat to Conquest. By W. M. Knight - Patterson. Foreword by Lord Vansittart....

Puritan Architecture and Its Future. By Martin Shaw Briggs, F.R.I.B.A. (Lutterworth Press. 8s. 6d.) Tins is a brief history of Nonconformist architecture and guide for its...

A Foolish Wind. By Francis Askham. (The Bodley Head. 8s. 6d.) Thieves In The Night, Mr. Arthur Koestler's new and solid documentary novel, takes a deal of reading, is shocking,...

A MEASURE of the vitality of literature in this country is the large number of selective miscellanies which make their introductory bow, all too often, unfortunately, to meet...

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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 opened after noon on Tuesday week, December loth. Envelopes must be...

has consistently championed the rights of rail stock- holders and on occasion advocated the purchase of several of the junior stocks, I must confess to surprise and...