When, last Friday, the French Government finally authorised the police to fire in self-defence against the strikers in the coalfields there was a curious attempt to represent...

B Y common consent the Steel Bill is the most important item on the agenda for the new session of Parliament. By common knowledge the general public is in the dark on the whole...

It is surprising with what suspicion anyone connected with the coal industry regards the proposition that that industry, being public property, is a matter of public concern....

There is something crude about Communist propaganda on Greece, which involves not so much an underestimate of Western intelligence' (or any other intelligence) as a positive...

A single dissentient voice served rather to emphasise than to impair the unanimity with which the House of Commons on Wednesday endorsed the Prime Minister's proposal for the...

Meagre though most of the daily communiqués regarding the work of the Commonwealth Conference have been, the last of them, reviewing the sessions as a whole, reveals...

Chinchow (at the latter place a Nationalist general and the armoured force under his command are reported to have been taken by the Communists) ought on current form to seal the...

A LABOUR Member of Parliament who put on his top hat and morning coat for the opening ceremony by the King was chided by a colleague for his slavish adherence to tradition. He...

A debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday revealed impres- sively the weight of opinion existing inside the House as well as outside against the Government's decision to...

Evidence that trade unionists generally have at last realised the necessity for an active campaign against Communism in industry in this country is the more welcome in...

T HE repulse by the Soviet Union of the Security Council's endeavour to find a way through the Berlin deadlock affects in the first place the three 'Western Powers, as...

a diversity of Mr. Churchill's own views, as to what label Mr. Churchill wore when he stood in the historic by-election in the Abbey Division of Westminster in 1924. I now have...

National Union of Journalists and the Institute of Journalists- has failed to materialise because the latter body polled far short of the 75 per cent, of favourable votes...

I T is clear that the new Parliamentary session will be both long and heated, though so far as can be seen the acutest controversy will centre round two measures only, the...

our last surviving links with the world of pre-Raphaelite and late Victorian literature and art. The friend of Robert Browning, Coventry Patmore, and Sir Henry Taylor, Meynell...

Strings of initials after names are, of course, a matter of taste. Some people think the more the _better, some (of whom I am one) think the fewer the better. Opinion on such...

than may seem. Mr. Justice Hilbery, sitting in the King's Bench Division, elicited from a witness that he had been employed by a Regional Petroleum Office as a Grade 3 clerk at...

By SELWYN LLOYD, KC., M.P. F OR a considerable time there has been a rather vaguely but widely held opinion that the law and practice relating to defamation require revision...

By J. J. TAWNEY F ORTY years ago a German District Officer picked up a black object in a river bed of southern Tanganyika, not far from Lake Nyasa. The colour came off on his...

By EDWARD MONTGOMERY T HE American election campaign is almost over. Technically the result will be decided on November 2nd, and as to its nature all the prophets are dogmatic....

By THE MARQUESS OF READING rill-IERE certainly had been a storm. From eleven o'clock one I night to eight the following morning thunder, lightning, wind, rain and hail had...

of the Exchequer and others are constantly reminding us of the urgent need of dollars. The present revenue received from American tourist traffic can apparently be doubled...

By CANON J. McLEOD CAMPBELL A CCREDITED delegates from rc churches have been treading out the grapes in the wine-press of Amsterdam. New wine will need new bottles. What they...

By GEOFFREY HOLDSWORTH F EBRUARY 13th, my diary tells me, is consecrated to San Benigno. I don't know who San l3enigno was, and I have never met anyone who knew, but it is a...

SUBSCRIPTION RATES Ordinary edition to any address in the World. 52 weeks ,C1 10s. Od. 26 weeks 15s. Air Mail to any Country in Europe 52 weeks £2 7s. 6d 26 weeks LI 3s. 94....

By HAROLD NICOLSON W HEN walking yesterday to the Underground station I was accosted by three little boys. Their faces had been blackened with cork, their lips were pink, the...

The Art of Denmark FOR the important new exhibition, Danish Art Treasures through the Ages, opened on Wednesday afternoon by H.M. the King of Denmark, the main entrance of the...

"Bonnie Prince Charlie." (Empire.)—" The Guinea pig." (Carlton.) — " Quartet." (Odeon.)—" No Room at the Inn." (Warner.) Now I am a sincere advocate of Technicolor, for I...

THE THEATRE The Way a the World. By William Congreve. (New.) THE trouble with most Restoration comedy is that it is exceedingly difficult to remember, and often almost equally...

THE first of the Royal Philharmonic Society's autumn concerts on October zoth was conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, and should have been a musical event. Certainly the playing of...

DENTISTS AND THE STATE Sift,—The dental profession and the general public have been confused by the actions of the British Dental Association concerning the National Health...

SIR,—I am sorry that Sir Alfred Zimmern should have so misconceived my suggestion that "the final verdict of history may well be far 'less severe on the democratic leaders who...

SIR,—It was good to be reminded by your leading article on October 22nd how leading statesmen in Canada, in the United States and in this country have come to see that the only...

Sm,—It was pleasing to read Mr. E. J. Bryce's letter in The Spectator of September 24th about the over-cutting in German forests. Most English people who have recently served in...

SIR,—In 1919-1925, after the German Fleet was sunk, we opposed French efforts to protect France against the next German invasion. In 1932 we dismantled many of our shipyards. In...

SIR, — Mr. Nigel Balchin, in The Spectator of October 22nd, discusses this very important question. Much of his argument is sound, but much of it is based on an assumption that...

our day ;' that is, how to make work which carries little or no responsibility more interesting and worthwhile. The usual argument one hears is: "There are many monotonous,...

SIR, —Whilst the National Trust is extremely grateful to you for the valuable space which you gave up in The Spectator of October 15th to a review of National Trust Guide:...

Sia,—As a Liberal I agree with Mr. Clive Bell on the need to replace the present Government, but I cannot agree with all he says. We might jump out of the frying-pan into the...

vine by the cottage porch finds' mention as a common feature. Why has the out-of-door culture of thn vine been quite abandoned ? Vineyards were once common, and we made our own...

Sra.,—In Mr. C. R. Hewitt's otherwise admirable article there is surely one statement open to criticism. To say that Dutch resembles no other language is a misuse of words. It...

of less concern! to the specialists than single spies ; and the distinction of this Devon report is the number of different species observed. They include, for, example, ten...

Luis Palos (barrister at law) at Bolt& Postale 818, Madrid, you will learn all you may wish to know concerning Prince Eugene Lascaris, who freely uses his inherited title of...

on me this week, ) especially of those two old rivals (in the title of preserved cream as in much else), Cornwall and Devon. Cornwall is notably strong in local poets. Much the...

been returned to the! United States, after exhibition in England, gave it the name of "Kitty Hawk." Why ? When I visited him years ago in Ohio, he told me that both he and...

rightly deplores the plight of those country-dwellers who are compelled to work a car hard over hard roads, and who find that the export drive makes it difficult to get a...

fallen, from poplar, birch, lime4 and chestnut, birds become much more apparent, but the lack of cover is only one reason. You may see a score or so of ravens in Devon or a like...

Victorian Photography Julia Margaret Cameron : Pioneer of Photography. By Helmut Gernsheim. (Fountain Press. 21s. WO IT is fortunate that among the recipients of the lavish...

Reflections on Our Age. Lectures given at the Opening Session of Affairs. Is.) U.N.E.S.C.O. and a World Society. (Ministry of Education. Is.) SOONER or later the educational,...

Prejudice and Judgment. By P. J. Grigg. (Cape. 16s.) BORN at Exmouth in December, 1890, the son of a journeyman carpenter, Sir James Grigg proceeded by way of the infants'...

ADMIRAL JAMES has produced a concise and well-balanced narrative of Nelson's career and an appreciation of his character which, although falling short - *of being profound or...

tA History of Musical Thought. By Donald N. Ferguson. Second edition. (Routledge and Kegan Paul. 25s.) Mn. MELLERS has collected fourteen essays published in various journals...

Malaya's First British Pioneer : the Life of Francis Light. By H. P. EVERYONE interested in the subject should study Sir Richard Winstedes book. It incorporates in a readable...

Barnouw. (Allen and Unwin. 8s. 6d.) IN this little book Professor Bamouw presents a very readable account of the history of Holland, but has taken ;little notice of the...

The American Union. A Short History of the U.S.A. By H. G. Nicholas. (Christophers. Ws. (d.) Tim writing of short one-volume histories of the United States has almost become a...

Longmans Miscellany has. a wild look about it, as if the editor, setting off with the good intention , of bringing together the very 'best English-Indian writings about India,...

J.4 I B1E RN an g' E E V E L.I L T Inl 111 Ca t e 1.. A 0 E v r e f L L EICIEVIENUI Min 13 A E •IS1 MI T N r; A,RIR CP.S ct Ft E r4 1 13 N 5 ile1 • , N Go5 g I5 C U -; ' T...

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 November 9:11....

Fienburgh and Richard Evely. (Gollancz. 3s. 6d.) AMONG the list of acknowledgements at the end of this book its authors include a word of thanks to an official of the Labour...

By CUSTOS On a long view this policy seems to me to be appropriate to the needs of the gilt-edged market. Prices have recovered well in recent months under the influence of...

latest number in the Vision of England series has the advantages of its predecessors ; between sixty and seventy good photographs, a quarter-inch map folded into the back, and a...