10 DECEMBER 1943

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NEWS OF THE WEEK T HE second Cairo Conference, between Mr.

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Churchill, President Roosevelt and President Inonti, was unexpected, and so may some of its consequences be. Many recent events have conspired to change Turkey's general...

Yugoslav Chaos

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The news that the Partisans have set up a new National Committee of Liberation, with the functions of a Provisional Government, in the liberated territories of Yugoslavia throws...

General Smuts' Reflections

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In a "general informal talk" last week to the Empire Parlia- mentary Association, in which he claimed to be expressing "no dogmatic beliefs," General Smuts in fact made some...

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Punishment of War Criminals

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Lord Vansittart said in the House of Lords on Tuesday that if the Allies meant what they had said the numbers of war criminals in Germany would run into scores of thousands....

The Self-governing Empire

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It is too seldom that the House of Commons has the opportunity of discussing a question that is vital to this country as a Great Power—the question of our relations with the...

Ministers . •Under Criticism

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The House of Commons sprang to life last Tuesday with an almost unanimous protest against the failure of the Government to reach decisions on • the central problems of domestic...

Labour and the Land

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The Labour Party's statement of policy on agriculture as outlined in a pamphlet Our Land follows in many of its most important recommendations the Report of the Liberal Party's...

An Observation

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Hansard for December 1st, in its report of the Home Secretary's speech in the Mosley debate, contained the following paragraph, on which a word of comment is requisite : "The...

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WAR AND PEACE

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T is hard to know whether to rate higher the fact of the 1. Teheran Conference or the results that emerged from it. The contact established for the first time between the head...

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A SPECTATO R'S NOTEBOOK B Y Saturday, the iith, this war

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will have outlasted that of 1914-18, so far as this country is concerned. The war began for us on August 4th and ended on November uth four years later. This war began for us on...

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AFTER TEHERAN

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By STRATEGICUS • Even the most interesting operation that is at present taking place takes on a new colour. Every operation can be conceived in two ways : as an operation of...

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LABOUR AND MONOPOLY

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By PROFESSOR HERMANN LEVY T HE British working-class population has always been the strongest opponent of monopoly. This is easily explainable. The purchasing-power of...

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JOHN PYM

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By STEPHEN G. LEE T HREE hundred years ago, on December 8th, 1641 died John Pym, probably the greatest Parliament man of this or any other country. Somerset born, Cornish bred...

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RECORDERS OF WAR

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By J. L. BODSON A PIN grown rusty from old age fastens into my war corre- spondent's licence a typed slip addressed to the Chief of the General Staff to military commanders...

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OMNISCIENCE FOR ALL

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By FRANCIS GOWER F OR anyone- who writes, and no less for anyone who attempts to read intelligently, life without an encyclopaedia is, as Plato put it, o Z Stun - Os — not...

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MARGINAL COMMENT

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By HAROLD NICOLSON I T N the last war conferences between the allied and associated leaders generally took place in small contiguous localities within the zone of the armies....

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THE THEATRE

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INFLUENZA is ravaging the corps de ballet at the New Theatre but this fact is not perceptible in any falling-off in the performances as seen from the auditorium. It was,...

THE CINEMA

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The Childhood of Maxim Gorki belongs to a group of three Soviet biographical films dealing with the Russian writer's life. Another of them, My Universities, already has been...

ART

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English Drawings IT is draughtsmen such as James Ward, William Mulready and the early Millais that the artistically self-belittling English need remind- ing of, and artists and...

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LAWRENCE AND ARAB FEDERATION

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SIR,—" Most Frenchmen are convinced that Lawrence's dream of a vast Arab Federation under British influence is a dream which successive British Governments have adopted as a...

CYPRUS

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SIR,—In The Spectator of December 3rd I see that your Special Corre- spondent advocates returning Cyprus to Greek sovereignty. He has forgotten that Cyprus has never been owned...

Sia,—In reading your article last week on Greece's expectations I

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should like to object to one passage. You say that though the King is a faithful ally, the Greek nation was and is much more so. It is difficult to compare one individual with...

GREECE'S EXPECTATIONS

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Sut,—Poor service would be rendered to Greece and Yugoslavia by the partition of Albania between them as suggested by your Special Corre- spondent. The...

SIR,—Many friends of Greece who are also friends of Albania

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will be saddened at reading the article entitled "Greece's Expectations" by •• A, Special Correspondent" in your issue of December 3rd. We had understood during the war between...

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A POLISH PERIODICAL

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SIR, —The Editor of the Trybuna Polska, Mr. K. D. Lapter, affirms that his paper is published "by the progressive section of the Polish emigra- tion in Great Britain, known as...

THOUGHTS ON ACTIVE SERVICE

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Stn,—Your paper is an enormous delight to anyone serving abroad. Apart from the articles and reviews, letters from such as he who burnt an offending copy of The Spectator are...

THE CRISIS OF THE NATIONAL STATE

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Snt,—Except for a disjointed quotation, I have been unable to discover any relation between inY book on The Crisis of the National State and the book which Professor Brogan...

ON ARRIVING IN OXFORD

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Sin,—Mr. Harold Nicolson's graphic description of the horrors of arriving at Oxford in the black-out led me to think of the beginning of term when I was an undergraduate...

MR. CURTIS AND FEDERATION

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Stn,—In your issue of December 3rd you tell your readers that "the burden" of my open letter to Lords, Commons and Press "is a pontifical castigation of the Press for not...

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SIR WILLIAM STRANG

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sm,—may I point out to " Janus " that although Sir W. Strang was never a pupil at either Eton or Harrow, or a student at either Oxford or Cambridge, he attended two institutions...

NATURE RESERVES

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Stx,—May I be allowed to correct the assertion by Sir William Beach Thoras that "the British Field Sports Society prefers the amusement of local wild-fowlers before the...

THE RISING GENERATION

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Snt,—I am not particularly convinced by Mr. Nicolson's suggestion that the rising generation is a forsaken and abandoned one. On the contrary, as far as any generalisation is...

COUNTRY LIFE

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THOSE naturalists who are now striving in every single county to urge on the planning authorities the preservation of this and that sanctuary or reserve are meeting a certain...

NONSENSICAL NOISES

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Sot,—Thanks to " Janus " for his timely protest against the "jangling noises" of the B.B.C. All my acquaintances agree that the incidental " music " makes it painful to listen...

IMPROVING PROPAGANDA

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Snt,—Mr. Gets, in his letter which you published in your issue of December 3rd, says : "After four years of war we can hardly see any effect of our propaganda on Nazi Germany."...

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.BOOKS OF THE DAY

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A Scholar's Memories Fourscore Years. By G. G. Coulton. (Cambridge University Press. 2 ONE reason why there is so much that is admirable in Dr. Coulton's autobiography is that...

Rediscovering Delight

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izs. 6d.) IT is very agreeable to discover a champion of the humanities coming from Oxford after so long and humble a prostration before the gods of Cambridge. Mr. Whitfield,...

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A Cambridge Prophet

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Good News of God. By C. E. Raven. (Hodder and Stoughton. 5s.) UNDER a strong sense of urgency, Dr. C. E. Raven,, Master of Christ's College and Regius Professor of Divinity in...

Americans in Africa

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The Battle is the Pay-Off. By Ralph Ingersoll. (John Lane. 7s. 6c1 Tim enemy - were holding a strong position in the funnel-shape valley through which the road runs from El...

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Coloured and Plain THERE is a Certain kinship between these two of the last batch of "Britain in Pictures" volumes, for the kind of man who kept a jour- nal was likely to be...

Fiction

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Comedy in Chains. By Dennis Gray Stoll. (Gollancz. 75. 6d.) The Small Back Room. By Nigel Balchin. (Collins. 8s. 6d.) Two unusually interesting novels this week—that makes...

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"THE SPECTATOR" CROSSWORD No. 248 [.4 Book Token for one

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glutted will be awarded to the sender of the first correct ! .lutiots of this week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week, D,,ember 21st. Envelopes should be...

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 246

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SOLUTION ON The winner of Crossword No. 246 is W. E. GROVES, 4, Lytellton Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham. DECEMBER 24th

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Opera Nights. By Gerald Newman. (Putnam. 35s.) IN this book

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Mr. Newman gives a detailed analysis, with musical illustrations, of twenty-nine operas, the earliest in date being Gluck's Orfeo ed Eurydice, and the most recent Berg's...

Shorter Notices

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Sir Waiter Raleigh. By Milton Waldman. (Collins. I2S. 6d.) SEPARATE monographs could be, and possibly have been, written on some half-dozen d:fferent aspects of Raleigh's life....

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

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By CUSTOS How Stock Exchange sentiment, which plays an important part in fixing security values, has changed in the past few weeks is now being illustrated in the reaction of...