S INCE the general election the present British Government has continued British foreign policy in a way which has only differed from that of its predecessors in having con-...

ESTABLISHED 1828 No. 6654 FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 1956 PRICE 7d

IF , RENCH politics, unlike British, are always burdened by an opposition to the parliamentary system on both flanks, so that opposition to the government of the day does not...

TT may be some time before Mr. Macmillan makes his first 'speech as Chancellor. But it is to be hoped that he is already thinking hard about it because it will be scrutinised...

D R. CYRIL GARRETT, ninety-first Archbishop of York, who died on New Year's Eve, was a man whose industry, ;nagnanimity, mastery . ' of affairs and zest for living did not...

'THE thirty-three-year-old Secretary-General of the Malayan Communist Party, Chin Peng, . . . a slight young man with a limp . . The Observer, January 1, 1956 ‘. . . Chin Peng,...

BY HENRY FAIRLIE T HERE are two ways by which a political commentator can struggle through a Parliamentary recess. One is by substituting an 'Economic Diary' for a 'Political...

T HIS week's main news has been the results of the French elections, which have powerfully reinforced the normal British tendency to self-righteousness at the expense of...

a half-column to the annual report of the Press Council. `The popular Press,' it began. 'is invariably on the side of patriotism and legality, of courage and chivalry . . .' and...

I WAS amused to see that the Daily Express had managed to decipher from the official photograph of the new Foreign Secretary all the papers on Mr. Selwyn Lloyd's desk. They...

engaging the attention of the Press Council at the moment. Copies of the Honours List were given to Lobby Correspon- dents on Friday on the understanding that nothing was to he...

reprieve of Thomas Bancroft, who was sentenced to death . for murdering a five-month-old infant : his original refusal of a reprieve; and his change of mind and decision to...

for announcing at London Airport on his arrival from Sydney that all this talk of interplanetary travel is 'utter bilge' and 'rather rot.' I have no particular objection to...

`Now the dangers of UNO have been multiplied. _There are sixteen new members. They include Spain and Eire, both spoiling to let rip spurious grievances against Britain.' Daily...

Paul's on Sunday, 'be he the Archbishop of Canterbury or the humblest member of any Church congregation, suppose that it is consistent with the gospel of love to support the...

many tributes to Dr. Gilbert Murray this week, Mr. Ivor Brown mentioned how undergraduates of his generation used to bicycle 'on rainy winter afternoons up the Victorian...

BY DR. DONALD Md. JOHNSON, MP HE doctrine of the responsibility of individual Minis- ters for their departments is, so we are told, inherent in our Constitution. 'I am...

BY CHARLES CURRAN w HEN somebody at last compiles that Dictionary of Unfulfilled Forecasts, for which all students of British politics are waiting, he will label one great area...

any of your friends residing in any part of the world at the following rates : 52 weeks, 35s.; 26 weeks, 17s. 6d, In addition a Birthday Greeting Card will be forwarded stating...

BY GERALD HAMILTON A ' HUNDRED years have passed since Frank Harris was born, and various recent events have contributed to the revival of my memories of him. A few years ago...

By A. H. BARTON M OONEY and Cranmer looked across Sliema Harbour, watching for a ship's boat and each remembering the same event. 'Couldn't happen now,' said Mooney, 'with ships...

By JOHN BETJEMAN I DOUBT if there are many people who knew Livonia Street, Soho, London. It was the last untouched Georgian Street in that district, and was a cul-de-sac on the...

for sad changes in its scenery. The Year Book of the Devon branch of the National Farmers' Union recommends that old cider orchards should be grubbed up and laid down to more...

England's beauty that you may have the impression that no one cares for any- thing except by-passes, concrete lamp-standards and making things convenient for motor-cars. But I...

about the Christmas-card ramp to which I referred a fortnight ago. He says : 'This year we have had about 300 cards—this includes a number of trade cards from hotels. etc.—but...

T T a party the other evening I listened while a man who holds a position of trust at the centre of affairs gave an entertaining account of the blunders and vacillations...

SIR,—May I comment briefly on two points raised by John Betjeman in his article con- tained in your issue of December 30. First it would appear reasonably obvious to me that...

are not for the ham-fisted or inexpert. Before Cyprus can be entrusted with them she must show, as the Gold Coast has recently shown, by her respon- sible behaviour, that she is...

your Christmas message as seasonable. Bubbling though I was, and am, with recipro- cal bonhomie, I could not call it 'reasonable.'— Yours faithfully, EVELYN WAUGH Piers Court,...

Strategy for Macmillan Sir Robert Boothby, MP Cyprus Lord Kinross, Lord Stanley of Alderley Christian Unity Evelyn Waugh, Norman St. John-Stevas Church Custom The Duke of...

Greek point of view on Cyprus, Mr. Leigh Fermor dismisses the Turkish point of view as a sudden and, he implies, unforeseen irruption, causing 'astonishment' both to the Greeks...

Unity,' your reference to 'the Church' was to the Church of England is erroneous. As I read it, the writer was using 'Church' in the sense of Pro- testant Christians, namely, as...

Euston 3221

SIR, — While° accepting the general principle that authors are fair game I feel that I must reply to the points of detail raised by Mr. Amis in his comments on my book...

last January on Morals without Religion, Strix gives the impression that the reaction of press and public was overwhelmingly hostile. This was far from being the case. So far...

W. M. James's reasoned argument for the genuineness of the Casement diaries require comment. The first is his dismissal of Dr. Maloney's book, The Forged Casement Diaries,...

of those who deplore the coming Russian visit. Our visitors will not be the freely elected representatives of the Russian people—such representatives do not exist— but the...

The Course of Ballet AFTER their longest period of evening-starva- tion since 1945, London balletgoers can begin again to indulge their favourite orgy, for the Sadler's Wells...

I, TOO, used to resent the way in which radio critics devoted so much of their attention to television. In the past few days I have been listening, instead of viewing : mainly...

paper a grievance which I shared with many others who have taken to bed-making in their riper years, that blankets were not marked with a line down the middle which would help...

SIR,—In the answers to the above the six Cam- bridge dons made a frightful 'bloomer' in calling the Sudras Untouchables (Question 13 d). The Sudras are the cultivators and...

Tim matter of patronage has for long been one of the conventional artistic talking points, but perhaps we do not sufficiently distinguish in our arguments and grumbles between...

IT was Michael Tippett who started off 1955, musically, with the first performance of his opera The Midsummer Marriage, and it was he again who closed it, with a new sonata for...

FRUITS D'ET6. (Marble Arch Pavilion.)—Trin GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING. (Rialto.) —Gtoay. , (Gaumont.) IN the shadow-play world 1956 started off on a brisk risque note with a...

JANUARY 8, 1831 No one will deny that the proper business of a Member of Parliament is to legislate for the good of the country, and that it is his duty to put aside all motives...

The Cockney's Homer BY KINGSLEY AMIS Dickens gone! The 'Spectator' says he beat Shake- speare at his best, and instances Mrs. Gamp as superior to Juliet's nurse. This in a...

KENYA'S OPPORTUNITY. By Lord Altrincham. (Faber, 25s.) 'MEMORIES, hopes and ideas' is how the late Lord Altrincham described this book. Written almost twenty-five years after...

THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS. By Albert Camus. Translated by Justin O'Brien. (Hamish Hamilton, 15s.) M. CAMUS is an exacting writer, speculative, rhetorical, poetic, immediate; and what...

F.A.N.Y. INVICTA. By Irene Ward, MP. (Hutchinson, 21s.) IT is a sad fact about Literature, as apart from Life, that whereas in reality human goodness is the most beautiful and...

ITALY's dramatic recovery since 1945 has been of paramount importance in the struggle to preserve European freedom, a point inadequately grasped by the contemporary Englishman...

MORE FOR YOUR GARDEN. By V. Sackville-West. (Michael Joseph, 15s.) IN Japan gardening qualifies as a religion, with its own mystique, and during the Left Book Club Thirties it...

IT would be rash to expect any considerable revival of interest in Christina Rossetti, for her delicate, sensitive poetry is too limited in its range. But there is no doubt that...

THE WORLD AND THE FLESH AND H. ALLEN SMITH. Edited by , H. Bergen Evans. (Arthur Barker, 16s.) AMERICAN pomposity, pretentiousness and like humbug differ somewhat from the...

BY IAN NIALL THERE used to be more time for conversation on a journey in the days of the pony and trap. Today one is much more likely to be offered a lift by the driver of an...

Shortly after two o'clock yesterday, noticed that the sheep were missing from the hill I can see from one of our windows. In the morning they had been evenly spread on the...

Is there any more strenuous labour than that indulged in by sea anglers in search of bait? It is true that there are substitutes for the lugworm. One encounters resourceful...

If you have an asparagus bed and live near the coast, a dressing of seaweed at this time of year will prove beneficial when the crowns begin shooting. If seaweed is not to be...

13v PHILIDOR Nu. 31 Dr. J. J. O'Keeto and W. J. Smith Prizti 'Good Companions,' 19171 BLACK (12 men) 8 men I WHITE to play and mate in two moves: solution next week. Solution...

By CUSTOS THE recovery in British industrial shares has made further headway and the chart of the Financial Times index looks techni- cally quite strong. A rise of 33 points...

By NICHOLAS DAVENPORT Jr will do investors no harm to take a statis- tical look at the old year. It was a record in every respect—in national income, in pro- duction and...

ACROSS 1 The little marsupial swears a double oath, it seems (6). 4 The American went to the wrong 'shoot' to learn how to pronounce this! (8) 10 Norfolk yachtsman with a...

SPECTATOR COMPETITION No. 305 Report by John Barlow A prize of f5 was offered for brief (and imaginary) understatements from any three of the f011owing eminent Victorians : Dr....

the safety of a friend making a journey by air. Limit, twelve lines. Entries, addressed 'Spectator Competition No. 308,' 99 Gower Street, London, WC1, must be received by...

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