NEWS OF THE WEEK GRICULTURAL front, the, 1 167 ; agricultural wages, 346 ; new plans for agriculture .. 766 Air raids .. 827, 855 Aliens, enemy .. 63 Allies, the lesser .. • ,...

T HE astonishing successes of the Finns against Russia make a revision of all assumptions regarding immediate developments in the war with Germany necessary. In Finland itself...

Scarcely a day passes without some fresh evidence that proves the need of a more strenuous and intelligent prose- cution of the war on the economic side. Two letters have...

THE WEEK O NE passage in the speech made by M. Daladier in the Senate on December 29th has attracted considerable attention. After dwelling on the closeness and the efficacy of...

In his New Year proclamation to the German people Herr Hitler restated his familiar argument that the territorial " successes " of 1939 were achievements removing the " in-...

President Roosevelt addressed notable words to the United States Congress on Wednesday, but it is well for readers of his speech on this of the Atlantic to observe that,...

Mr. Chamberlain's speech at the Mansion House next Tuesday is likely to be of very considerable importance, both as the first of a series of addresses to be delivered in...

Every day during the last week the estimates of the killed or wounded in the disastrous Anatolian earthquake have been rising, and there is still insufficient material for...

As soon as it became necessary to limit the consumption of certain kinds of food rationing became inevitable, and its postponement was undesirable. In time of war, with the...

There is no economic question of more vital importance to this country today than that of the so-called " vicious spiral " of rising prices and rising wages which is now under...

The prosperity of the country during recent years has to a large extent depended on the activity of the building trade. A sudden cessation of building has the immediate effect...

The vigorous protest made by the United States against British interference with American mails in American or other ships should be read in the light of the undisguisedly...

The recurrence of I.R.A. -activity in Eire has been fol- lowed, with commendable swiftness, by the introduction by the Government of Eire of an Emergency Powers Bill, em-...

N O man or woman capable of reflection at all can be failing to reflect, as 194o opens, on the bearing of the war on the whole of their future lives. There is no one in any of...

T HE Royal Proclamation of last Monday, extending liability to be called up for service to all men over 19 and under 28, adds nearly two million men to those who are either...

thoroughly badly, in some cases at any rate. One officer of my acquaintance on getting home a week ago applied at his local post-office for the necessary form. Com- plete...

the price of the 7s. 6d. novel to 8s. 3d., in view of the increase in the costs falling on both publishers and booksellers. Com- pulsory insurance of the latter's stocks is a...

Labour Federation in consequence of a re- solution tabled by its executive committee has been widely reported. The resolution itself is an astonishing perform- ance. The war, it...

ditionary Force is at present three steeds. One is ridden, on occasion, by the Commander-in-Chief. Who bestride the other two I am not sure. Perhaps the two corps-commanders,...

a correspondence that has been going on in The Manchester Guardian regarding the sincerity of Dr. Strese- mann. I say not merely academic because the conclusion reached has...

T DO not myself share the view that appears to be gener- 1 ally taken about the significance of Lord Haw-Haw, and I hope the B.B.C. will think very seriously before they decide...

By order of the Admiralty Marshal. Ex. s.s. Helvig '-200 doz. Babies' Rubber Pants." The Times. 2,40o German babies pantless? War on women and

By STRATEGICUS F we are asked how the war will develop in the year I that is now beginning we have to admit that there are still too many unknown factors to permit us to make...

By DOROTHY L. SAYERS [These extracts from the war-time letters and papers of the Wimsey family appear weekly in THE SPECTATOR] 12. Colonel Marchbanks to Lord Peter Wimsey...

By PHILIP FRANK S INCE the outbreak of war wages have increased in various trades and occupations by sums varying from is. to 5s. 1od. per week. Sometimes only the cost of...

By PHYLLIS D. HICKS A HUNDRED years ago, on January 6th, 1840, there died in London an old lady of eighty-seven, whose life had for long been so hidden from the curious public...

By C. E. M. JOAD A N interesting question touching the nature of conscience was raised by the Ministry of Labour representative at the first sitting of the Appellate Tribunal,...

By JOHN PARKER, M.P. T HE consequences of the catastrophic Turkish earthquake cannot easily be measured. The reports now available indicate a death roll running into tens of...

By BRYAN GUINNESS I MET him in a clearing in the middle of the wood. He was darting from bush to bush, picking blackberries as he went. He was a little man with a mop of...

By BRIG.-GENERAL C. F. ASPINALL-OGLANDER, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. THE news which arrived in England in the third week of October, that when the Germans launched their open- ing,...

words my gratitude to Providence for having spared me the ordeals which my friends accept with such silent and pathetic forti- tude. As I listen to their great boots clattering...

fine thing for the sons of the privileged classes to endure a process of decon- tamination from class superiority, and I have envied conti- nental countries their systems of...

may in the end accrue from the democratisation of our fight- ing forces. I comfort myself also by the reflection that it cuts both ways. Before Mr. Hore-Belisha issued his...

By HAROLD NICOLSON II PON the mantelpiece in my sitting room is accumulating a collection of grisly photographs printed upon post- cards. Since the first days of the war I have...

tion to which I am now devoting so much of my time. These postcards might at first sight be taken for portraits of some of the more perky denizens of Dartmoor or Parkhurst. But...

" Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." At the Regal.--" Each Dawn I Die." At Warner's. HERE is Capra, without the help of Riskin, back to his finest form—the form of Mr. Deeds. It...

MUSIC "Giselle " at Sadler's Wells By one of those facile analogies which are based not even upon a half-truth but upon some inessential similarity, Giselle has been dubbed...

SIR,—In your issue of December 22nd you state that Hitlerism is an attitude of mind and a method of behaviour, not a form of Government. This is difficult to understand as it...

[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must...

Sm,—Thz reference by " Janus " to the ways of the French censorship of the French Press made me think of a French censor's reaction to some passages in Sir Walter Layton's long...

Sta,—As a historian who is also a great admirer of Scandi- navian civilisation, I have read Mr. Bjame Braatoy's com- ments on my "Geneva Impressions" with sympathy and respect....

SIR,—I would like to. say hov, fully your leading article on " Homes for Heroes " has been appreciated by very many people whom I have met since it was published. You will be...

matter held by thousands of people and thus prove that The Spectator is not afraid of the truth? In spite of all the fine talk, we have infinitely less justification for this...

such level-headed letters on this subject as those written by Mr. G. Owles and Sir C. H. Robinson in your issue of December zsth. Both should go far to clear away misleading...

SIR, While it is well to " be on our guard against wishful thinking," to quote a contemporary cliché, I feel that Strategicus is jumping several stages when he concludes that...

SIR, —The letter from Mr. J. P. Van den Bergh in your issue of December 15th, far from correcting my mistakes, confirms and underlines the point which I was trying to make. In...

SIR, —The difficulty of sending gift parcels of books to the Forces has been referred to in recent letters to the Press. Would you, therefore, make it known that the members of...

Sta,—To resume my discontents. Since my last letter appeared in your pages I have read with interest the varying opinions of the Bishop of Southampton and the Bishop of Derby on...

Slit,—I fear my malice was prepense. Mr. Nettlefold cannot really think me so innocent as to be unaware of the Great Johannine Controversy, from the Alogian heresy to the Form...

SIR,—It is clear from " Janus's " reply to Miss Margery Perham's admirable letter that he considers it more important to hate the sin than to love the sinner. In this he ranges...

In several newspapers and illustrated papers one can see pictures of German captives taking their tea, lunch, &c., proving how comfortable they are made in this country. On the...

SIR,—Your printing of Mr. P. A. Shaw's letter on that ghastly machine, the cinema organ, encourages me to hope that you will allow me to protest about Mr. Henry Hall's signature...

SIR, —Your correspondent Mr. P. A. Shaw suggests that recitals on the church organ should take the place of many of the organ recitals given by the B.B.C. But might it not be...

from many parts of the empire the most intimate was a photograph of a wagtail nesting in a great naturalist's verandah in Cape Town ; and the most spacious a Christmas and...

A War-Cured Eyesore A view of rural England that has delighted many of us was being grievously marred by the extension of an unlovely factory. Quite suddenly the old view has...

said to his three under-gardeners who had no very obvious jobs : "Now go and have a look round. I've never seen the garden look so tidy! " Autumn has been called the worst of...

SIR,—In your issue of December 29th Mr. Graham Greene reviews the film The Rains Came. I have not yet seen the film, but I have read, and have been greatly impressed by, Mr....

as a potager, though of 30o acres—that ever I saw in England has assumed a new importance through the war ; and very wisely its record has just been published. The Land Our...

Doodle and Dither Last Lectures. By Roger Fry. With an introduction by Kenneth Clark. (Cambridge University Press 15s.) I AM moved by the publication of Roger Fry's Last...

I HAVE sometimes wondered, since reviews in this age have rather taken the place of sermons in the last, why our writers have not the courage to republish their reviews as the...

The Collected Poems of A. E. Housman. (Cape. 7s. 6d.) THERE is so much that is poignantly topical in Housman's poetry that it is hard to see it dispassionately as poetry. A...

The Spectator might well take 'for one of the weekly compe- titions : " What book would you choose if you were allowed only one for three months, and why? " A study of the...

Tint world, Heaven knows, has need enough of physicians, and Mr. Wells' services are fortunately always available. The gulf between New Worlds for Old and the present The New...

Men of Good Will. Books XV and XVI : Verdun. By Jules Romains. (Peter Davies. los. 6d.) IT may be that even those readers who are most loyally addicted to M. Romains' vast...

Paizag i of book tokens for £2 2s. and LI Is. are offered for the best topical poem (of not more than sixteen lines) on any event that has been reported or any subject that has...

AN eminent writer recently pointed out the extreme rarity in English literature of passages devoted to the descr tion of a happy day. The usual prizes were accordingly ered for...

" IT might have been worse " is, I think, the appropriate com- mentary on the investor's experience in 1939. In a year which brought the catastrophe of European war, security...

What of ordinary shares? Here one must make distinc- tions. If, as one must assume, our war effort is to be raised to its maximum this year, there is going to be a big diversion...

My advice to home railway stockholders to await events is proving right. Another wave of buying inspired by com- pensation hopes has given prices a fresh lift, with the result...

Martins Bank shows some remarkably good figures. As ex- pected, the final dividend is maintained at the higher rate of 71 per cent. established by the raising of the interim...

First among the Big 'Five to announce its results for 1939, the Westminster Bank fulfils general expectations. Profits are moderately lower but dividend rates are being main-...