THE misgivings expressed in these columns and elsewhere regarding the closing of the Burma road into China under pressure from Japan have found swift justification. There was...

The Pan-American Conference, which closed at Havana on Tuesday, must be counted an unqualified success. That is a great deal more than some of its predecessors have been, and a...

• The degree to which Rumania's Government has subordin- ated itself to Germany is shown by its action in detaining British vessels on the Danube, expelling British subjects,...

With Germany in occupation of one half of France and in control of the -other it soon became evident that Great Britain must devise new means of making the blockade of enemy...

"Divide and Govern," is being systematically applied by the Germans in occupied countries. In Belgium they have not failed to make the most of the old antagonisms of the Flemish...

Letters continue to reach us from many parts of the country showing how general is the concern about the policy and methods adopted by the Government in the treatment of enemy...

The new agreement by which Spain and Portugal have this week strengthened the ties which already bind them will be viewed with satisfaction in this country. Its effect is to...

Great Britain is now the home of many Governments which are unable to function in their own countries but are the true representatives of peoples now subjected to German rule,...

far no one has made a penetrating analysis of the Budget's contents. Almost every newspaper has described it as "timid," "tinkering," or "interim." The unorthodox financial...

and the country. Perhaps the time has come for a radical reorganisation. Lord Perth, Lord Macmillan, Lord Camrose, Sir John Reith and others have come and gone. Scores of able...

By a not uninstructive coincidence two local authorities on Tuesday provided admirable examples of a just and sane, and an unjust and prejudiced, way of dealing with...

Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes: The debate on the Budget continues; the uneasiness about our liberties continues ; the disquiet about the Ministry of Information...

foreshadows a much-needed reform in setting up a Standing Committee to consider changes in the organisation and procedure of the War Office and the Military Commands. This great...

TN his broadcast last Sunday evening Mr. Priestley asked very pertinently what we intend to do this time for the men who are fighting the war for us today. Many similar...

II's remark that his generals frightened him. Now I am told that it was not George II, it was Wellington, and it was not generals but troops: "Well, gentlemen. I don't know what...

theme for an acid pen. A friend of mine recently had a fall and cut his head. Place London, time 4 a.m.—which no doubt had financial consequences. Anyhow, a surgeon came and...

and reminiscent mood. JANus

me a surprising volume of correspondence—embedded amongst it the observation that I am obviously not a philatelist, which is very true. It appears that there have been many...

bilities of a mass attack by German aeroplanes. None the less the failure of such attack as there has been so far is little short of mysterious. Some idea exists, I know, that...

HE announcement that Sir Maurice Peterson, the late British Ambassador in Spain, has been appointed Director D I f Overseas Publicity at the Ministry of Information draws atten-...

regularly three days a week, exercising its essential functions not only of legislation but of criticism and revision, the value of it is lamentably though inevitably diminished...

serving obviously under General de Gaulle, with the customary French naval porn-porn cap, but with a ribbon bearing the legend " H.M.S. Victory." Temporary association with a...

By STRATEGICUS A FULL month has now passed since France went out of the war, and it is possible to see how far the gains Germany expected to make from the occupation of the...

By A FREE FRENCHMAN W ITH France as she stands today, the action of free Frenchmen is the only hope of an honourable future. In a recent Spectator Charles Morgan wrote of the...

By MAJOR C. E. WAKEHAM T HE strains and stress of this war between the champions of freedom and decency and the protagonists of im- posed serfdom impinge ever more forcibly on...

By DOROTHY L. SAYERS O NE of the strangest campaigns of the war has been fought and won. In its active phase it was a Blitzkrieg, and the victory was with the defence. The...

By J. R. C. FINLAYSON I T might almost be said that too much is known about the origin of "Rule Britannia." Even imagination can weave no intriguing story out of the mass of...

(especially the dandelion root, with an increase of near:37 a thousand per cent-) has been recorded in this column, but some old local herbalists still neglect money-value in...

village made enquiry of an aged countryman. Regarding them with a look of infinite cunning he asked "Be you furriners? " They assured him that they were Britons to the core ;...

of white butterflies this summer. Those who fear for the ruin of their cabbages by the greedy progeny may gratefully remember that these are the only kind that do any harm to...

and was it ever lovelier than this year, thanks both to the season and the war? Harvest began in the third week of July ; and is different in some regards from any harvest in...

Last week I pulled up the plants from a very unpatriotic bed of asters and sowed carrots in their stead. Hating to kill the flowers, I thrust them into a serried group in a...

"Men of the Lightship." At the Gaumont, New Gallery, Tatler, etc. Men of the Lightship is a factual record of an incident in the war. In the light of later events that incident...

"The Devil's Disciple." At the Piccadilly Theatre. Ms. SHAW'S self-styled melodrama has recently been seen at Buxton and elsewhere under the aegis of the Old Vic. Its appear-...

Nineteenth-Century Water-Colours PYLONS straggle across the fields behind the Council houses in almost every English village. So much has changed in the country in a hundred...

SIR,—Mr. Churchill has no more convinced and faithful supporter than myself at the present time and for the duration of the war, but n 3 view of the general agreement that a...

[In view of the paper shortage it is essential that letters on these pages should be brief. We are anxious not to reduce the number of letters, but unless they are shorter they...

"friendly aliens" is that iniquitous system whereby wholesale orders are issued by London to the remotest parts of England, Scotland and Wales, orders which permit no powers of...

Sirt,—I see with deep gratification that a review as influential as The Spectator has taken up the cause of genuine refugees who have recently been subjected to a treatment that...

the hardships of refugees who have been interned in spite of their various medical complaints. It is widely recognised that the presence of refugees at large consti- tutes a...

Snt,—Mr. Barber states that only Mr. Winston Churchill "can claim to have warned the country to rearm." Surely this does less than justice to Sir Archibald Sinclair and his...

in the last number of The Spectator by pointing out the necessity for every community or society to have certain rules or Principles which its members must accept if they wish...

Sts,—One of the contributors to your issue of July 26th draws atten- tion to the necessity of enlisting the best brains in the service of the country. Another speaks of Mr....

Sis,—Professor Mozley's contribution_ to this discussion is not very helpful. The issue before us is, shall we abandon " dogma " and teach only " doctrine " based on individual...

Snt,—Surely the difference between French and English culture lies far less in the extent of their diffusion than in the nature of the beasts. English culture is essentially "...

say ditto to Daniel George. If I am permitted to say more, I will add that although I have never been a patient in a field hospital, I have been a soldier long enough, and am...

Sna,—Some extracts from a letter received from a French friend who has taken refuge in the South of France may perhaps interest your readers. The letter is dated June 29th. My...

"Science In War," he says: "The scope for the increase of home production by scientific methods is immense. Note, for example, the single fact: the consumption of nitrogenous...

SIR,—I should like to endorse the importance of the experiments mentioned by Kenneth Lindsay, M.P., in his article of July 26th, viz., the establishment of canteens and...

Sla,—In August and September last numbers of men between the ages of 28 and 38, many through the Officers' Emergency Reserve, were gazetted to commissions in the army. Many of...

oversea who listened to, or read, Lord Halifax's speech a few days ago must have felt a thrill of pleasure and of pride at his noble words. Nevertheless, one wonders whether the...

Chance states in your last issue, that the British people will respond to any reasonable war-time restrictions, but they would resent the setting up of a Liquor Control Board,...

Roger Fry IN the circle to which Roger Fry belonged there were many bril- liant people, and more than one of them would have been capable of writing his life. But Mrs. Woolf,...

Allenby : A Study in Greatness. By General Sir Archibald Wavell. (Harrap. x8s.) HERE is a piece of work well done, and apt reading for the times. General Wavell is at once the...

THE new series of "Master Musicians," edited by Mr. Eric Blom, set a high example with Alfred Einstein's Gluck, and J. A. Westrup's Purcell. Mr. Hussey's Verdi is not so learned...

The Story of the English House. By Hugh Braun. (Batsford. ' Os. 6d.) IN the preface to his present work the author states that he is "all too conscious of the gaps which mar his...

James George Frazer. By R. Angus Downie (Watts. 5s.) Mn. DOWNIE la's been acting for several years past as assistant to Sir James Frazer, and is thus well fitted to give us a...

THE somewhat dragging days of interim which we are going through at present ought to be good, one supposes, for novel- reading, and if that is so the habitual novel-reader,...

MR. ROBERTS thinks that motorists travel too quickly. He promises to go to Bath "very slowly," and at the end of the book one has the impression that he has amply kept his word....

By CUSTOS WHATEVER else may be said of British railway directorates, they cannot be accused of timid dividend policy. Here they are again, with the risk of air-raid damage to...

McDOUGALLS TRUST SOUND FINANCIAL POSITION THE seventh annual general meeting of McDougalls Trust, Limited, was held on July 29th at 3 Thames House, London, E.C. Mr. Kenneth...

los. 6d.) Au. who wish to study social questions relating to children and their welfare should certainly read Evacuation Survey. The book covers the national scheme for the...

ordering "The. Spectator" regularly, since newsagents can no longer be supplied on sale-or-return terms.

BURMA ESTATES, LIMITED THE seventh annual ordinary general meeting of Burma Estates, Limited, was held at 4 Lloyd's Avenue, London, E.C., on Monday, July 2 9 111 , 5 940. Mr....

lit prize of a Book Token for one guinea sorli be given to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword puzzle to be opened. Envelopes should be ' narked...

The winner of Crossword No. 73 is Mr. Ernest Taylors Hill, Godstone, Surrey. Carr, Lynton,