N O doubt it is politic, in a world which longs for peace, for every Government to avoid giving the impression that its military preparations are being pressed with undesirable...

The next few weeks will be one of the critical periods in the history of European economic recovery. On both sides of the Atlantic decisions will be taken which will determine...

Dr. Sun Fo, who has just resigned the Chinese Premiership, was often accused of being " an obstacle to peace." His disappearance will presumably be the signal for renewed...

The Sofia People's Court having carried through, with the zeal of proselytes, the full ritual laid down by Russian Communists for the conduct of political trials—accusation,...

Public opinion in every country tends to credit foreign intelligence systems with possessing much more ability than its own. American public opinion is today going through a bad...

The recommendations of the Select Committee which has been discussing expenditure on the Polish Resettlement Corps, and the assumption that they will be accepted by the...

T HE week has been marked and marred by the absence from the Chair of Mr. Speaker. His health is so consistently good that this is the first occasion since this Parliament began...

Each new estimate of Government expenditure in 1949-50 adds a few millions more to the sum which will have to be found by the taxpayers. Each new straw arouses fears that it may...

If the Bill requiring local authorities to provide every practising midwife with analgesic drugs and apparatus, and training in their use, attracted a smaller attendance last...

T . BE reshuffle in the ranks of the Soviet hierarchy is open to almost any interpretation anyone may choose to put on it. M. Molotov relinquishes the post of Commissar for...

it. Of general advertisement, indeed, it stands in little need. The name itself may induce curiously different reactions. Many persons, like myself, will think first of their...

this time classic. A recent London picture paper's WIDOW FINDS START LOST WOMAN CHECK-UP, runs it fairly close. Apropos of that (and it is only fair to give this much aid to...

Governor goes back to his charge. The attempt to pillory the Colonial Secretary and convict him of making needless mystery about the business can find no warrant in the facts....

T HE announcement of the King's impending operation must have reminded many of his subjects of the operation his grandfather, Edward VII, had to undergo almost on the eve of the...

who are left alone in the world, but could pay two or three pounds a week for board and lodging and social amenities and a little special care when ill, has always appealed to...

By RICHARD CHANCELLOR A T this season one cannot help comparing the latest reshuffle of the Soviet leadership with the permutations of an over- trained rugby side when...

By PETER TOWNSEND N ORTH SHENSI is a cheerless part of China . The wind- borne loess has made the country a pattern of plateaux and ravines and narrow valleys. The slight and...

By PROFESSOR W. J. GRUFFYDD, M.P. Now what does Wales want ? Does she want a Minister for Welsh affairs as promised by the Conservatives and refused by Labour ? Does she want...

WEST INDIAN FUTURE By PHILIP HEWITT-MYRING T HE conference that met in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in Septem- ber, 1947, diverged strikingly from the 'general pattern of post-war...

By DR. C. K. ALLEN, K.C. T HE motor vehicle may deplete the population, but it enriches unceasingly the law reports and the legal profession. An important type of motor vehicle...

WRITERS IN THE MAKING By PETER KING (Jesus College, Cambridge) I 6 T is midnight and you talk of bed: yet we have not decided on the certain existence of a Deity." It is the...

By HAROLD NICOLSON in W had been settling down to Russia and beginning to take the variations for granted. In such a manner did the habitants of Southern England become adapted...

THE CINEMA "Goupi Mains Rouges." (Curzon.) - " All Over the Town " (New Gallery and Tivoli.)-" Canon City." (New Gallery and Tivoli, March 17th.) IT takes quite a time to sort...

THE Halle Orchestra's concert at the Albert Hall on March 4th made the same break in the usual routine of orchestral concerts as the visit of a foreign orchestra. The only other...

ROLAND, Browse and Delbanco's very pleasant new exhibition has been called Aspects of British Romanticism—with the charitable object, it may be, of helping the critic to pull...

Edgware) is an organisation that all should encourage who wish well to gardens. It particularly aims at the increase of gardens in and about towns, factories and new housing...

A PARTICULAR task--of obligation and pleasure—is recommended when cold weather comes in early spring. Nearly all birds—including, as is often forgotten, game birds—are in their...

of the phenologists that barley ought to be sown when the blackthorn flowers has suggested a parallel passage from Spain. In thepeighbourhood of Barcelona it is an almost...

question of river pollution to the interests of fishermen, though coarse fishing is one of the most democratic (whatever the word may mean) of sports. Yet fishermen are the best...

of species of bird noticed in central London parks has suddenly increased by a very high percentage ? Is it because the Ministry of Works is paying more attention, and more...

The pale moon hangs in its appointed place, Stereoscopic, lambent. Set among the stars The other planets dutifully trace Their orbits, Saturn, Venus, Mars. So coldly gleaming,...

published in the Spectator of February 25th, will have aroused the interest of all who read it, especially those in Germany. But I feel that a slight elucidation of some of the...

Sta,—Mr. Owen Tweedy's eloquent plea on behalf of Arab refugees in their terrible plight performs a valued service at this time when both parties are at last seated around the...

MORALS AND MORALE IN B.A.O.R. have read " Gunner's " letter in the Spectator of February 25th. I do not think that parents of sons in Germany necessarily fall into the group of...

Sta,—I trust you will forgive me if once more I crave your hospitality in order to reply to Miss Pankhurst's letter in the Spectator of March 4th. The trouble with Miss...

suffering which the birth of their State has caused" to the Arab inhabitants of Palestine encourages me to throat' further light on the subject. The Press reports this week that...

Sta,—On reading through J. T. Evans's criticism of an article on the Student Underworld I felt somewhat in sympathy with the writer of that article, although it was difficult to...

Snt,—It is with very great gratitude that we acknowledge the contribution of £146 10s. from the readers of the Spectator, to be used to help the boys of Serendah Schol,...

Sut,—In her review of Children's Illustrated Books by Janet Adam Smith, Honor Croome wonders about an old favourite missed, " who was responsible . . . for that glorious colony...

Sta,—Mr. Gordon Smith's comments on Mr. Hill's article on Kenya need elucidating. Mr. Smith writes: "Their decline the decline of the Masai) and division remain a noteworthy...

Sm,—I was very glad to see the last sentence of Mr. Vulliamy's letter. I would not pretend to discuss with him the respective merits - of the rhymed stanza and free verse, but...

SUBSCRIPTION RATES Ordinary edition to any address in the World. 52 weeks £1 10s. Od. 26 weeks 15s. Od. Air Mail to any Country in Europe. 52 weeks £2 7s. 6d. 26 weeks LI. 3s....

Snt,—As letters addressed to the Ministry of Transport and to the British Railways have received no acknowledgment whatever, I venture to bring a complaint to your notice. It...

Sta,—About thirty years ago I came across a case of severe injury inflicted on a young girl as the result of circumcision by an ignorant midwife. I reported the case to the...

Sut,—No one who has seen these astonishing cave-paintings will doubt, as . Mr. Nicolson says, that they are " one of the wonders of the world." That is partly because of their...

Snt,—In reply to Mrs. J. M. Harper, who asks why no one has brought forward Bills to extend the - right to sit in the 'House of Commons to Moslems, Hindus or Buddhists, there is...

Still Life . THERE can be few more important tasks for the intelligent voter to set himself than getting to understand what makes America " tick." It is no doubt equally...

Saints and Their Emblems fp English Churches. By It L. P. Milburn. (Oxford University Press. 12s. 6d.) THE Rev. R. L. P. Milburn, Fellow and Chaplain of Worcester College,...

The Scandinavians in History. By S. M. Toyne. (Edward Arnold. 18s.) THE general knowledge of Scandinavia and Scandinavian affairs in Britain was never impressive. It is true...

The Scots Household in the Eighteenth Century. By Marion Lockhead. (Moray Press. 25s.) THE eighteenth was the final Scotch century "—that was Lord Cockburn's verdict in 1847....

FOLKE BERNAriorris was truly in the humanitarian tradition which, even in European affairs, has never quite died out. To him impartiality was of the essence of humanitarianism ;...

All the Way. By Viscount Cecil. (Hodder and Stoughton. 21s.) WHEN Lord Cecil published his book The Great Experiment (an examination of the League of Nations) one reviewer...

THE definition of " period " is always a difficult matter, and I doubt whether it is possible to ascribe a definite character to a single decade ; unless, indeed, it is a decade...

The Lambs. By Katherine Anthony. (Hammond and Hammond. 15s.) ONE evening in the autumn of 1796, Mary Lamb, then working as a seamstress, quarrelled with her apprentice. Old...

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, March 22nd. Envelopes must be received...

0 c A M A N 0 O 0 PI 5 A K E E D ZIH A IM TIRI AIMI 'FEN Pri 0 RID ip U o IN 0 0 L w E. / E K P11101 . 0 tiArnit A A 0 13 T E o L N le fa NI Pf A S E s EN gUT DOES...

Sleep of the Pigeon. By Wallace Fowlie. (Harvill Press. 7s. 6d.) Sometime Never. By Ro ald Dahl. (Collins. 8s. 6d.) ONE of the few literary advances of recent years is the fact...

My Father's Son. By Richard Lumford. (Cape. 10s. 6d.) THIS strange and vivid book is the autobiography of a man now aged about forty. The names are changed but the facts are...

By CUSTOS FOR no very obvious reason—at least for no reasons that have not been obvious for many weeks—stock markets have begun to yield ground. What seems to have depressed...