19 JULY 1946

Page 1

THE GOVERNMENT AND BROADCASTING

The Spectator

T HE Government's declaration of policy regarding the future of the B.B.C. does not inspire confidence. The case for an imme- diate enquiry into the whole future of broadcasting...

Page 2

The Atom and the Veto

The Spectator

The search for another compromise formula to fit the diametri- cally opposing requirements of Russia and the Rest continues, this time in the field of atomic control. The point...

Omens in Persia

The Spectator

The general 'strike which paralysed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Corn-. pany's fields in the Khuzistan province of Persia on Sunday was so sudden that explanations have mostly begun...

After Paris

The Spectator

The Conference of Foreign Ministers.ended on Friday in time to give its participants a fortnight's respite (so far as a return to their normal departmental duties constitutes...

The End of Mihailovitch

The Spectator

The tangled story of Mihailovitch has been hard for English readers to unravel, though controversy about the condemned leader's vices and virtues have been almost as acute in...

Hours of Work

The Spectator

The principal argument for a five-day week in industry is that, through the beneficial influence of increased leisure, a larger total output can be produced in a shorter time....

Page 3

THE LOAN AND AFTER

The Spectator

I F it were possible to be sickened with talk of such delectable possibilities as a tank full of petrol, a tobacconist's visible shelves crowded with cigarettes or a larder...

Page 4

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

The Spectator

T N view of the stir caused by Mr. Morrison's completely uncalled- for for injection of the question of an inquiry on the state of the Press into a discussion on an inquiry on...

Mr. Ray Stannard Baker, whose death at Amherst, Massachusetts, is

The Spectator

just announced, had a double literary personality. He was known first and foremost as an assiduous, enthusiastic and not completely discriminating biographer of Woodrow Wilson....

Lord Templewood's book on his Ambassadorship at Madrid, when it

The Spectator

is published in ten days' time, will provide perhaps unexpected fuel for the fires the anti-Franco brigade in this country are trying to kindle. Lord Ternplewood as Ambassador...

• * * * Some scores of M.P.s who gathered

The Spectator

at to, Downing Street on Wednesday at Mrs. Attlee's invitation to hear something of the work of the Y.W.C.A. came away considerably chastened after listening to two speeches...

Mr. Shinwell can only look for gratitude from car-owners com-

The Spectator

mensurate with the measure of his bounty. An increase of 5o per cent. on the basic ration was less than was commonly expected, or might reasonably have been hoped for. The other...

The statement that the University of Berlin is completely under

The Spectator

Russian control is highly unsatisfactory: Some time ago a question about the whereabouts of a most important and valuable collection of coins in the Kaiser Friedrichs Museum in...

I always read with a little sardonic amusement, as I

The Spectator

have this week, the announcements inserted in The Times after a Royal Garden Party that Lord and Lady X, or Sir Pompey and Lady Y, or Mr. and Mrs. Climber, " were unavoidably...

" We are also abolishing the category of children of

The Spectator

under one year." Mr. John Strachey in the House of Commons. Rather disturbingly

Page 5

THE CHANCELLOR'S CHANCE

The Spectator

By A. C. M. SPEARMAN, M.P. T HE Socialists won many votes at last year's elections by attri- buting to the Conservatives the responsibility for unemplOyment in the pre-war...

Page 6

EUROPE'S NEW FRONTIERS

The Spectator

By M. J. BONN T HE Paris Conference, though inconclusive, has outlined the future map of Europe fairly clearly. Russia, having renounced Western Poland and the major part of...

Page 7

A NEW RURAL INDIA

The Spectator

By BRIGADIER F. L. BRAYNE T HE plans for the post-war development of India so far pub- lished by the Central Government and provincial governments have not excited enthusiasm...

Page 8

MALARIA IN HISTORY

The Spectator

By E. ASHWORTH UNDERWO9D T HE announcement of the result of tests on the new anti-malaria drug, " paludrine," prompts some assessment of the part which this disease has played...

Page 9

VAGARIES OF THE GREAT

The Spectator

By PETER FLEMING F ROM these crowded pages* you can still ascertain Hitler's tele- phone number, though both his marriage and his death are recorded. You can still search (but...

Page 10

MARGINAL COMMENT

The Spectator

By HAROLD NICOLSON A GREEK gentleman who had not. visited London since 1940 remarked to me this week that what struck him most on return- ing to England was the kindliness and...

Page 11

THE CINEMA

The Spectator

" Courage of Lassie " and " Bikini—The Atom Island." At the Empire.—"Laurel and Hardy." At the Cameo.—"United Harvest." General Release. LASSIE, as you must know by this time,...

ART

The Spectator

MR. MERVYN PEAXE typifies the tendency among some of the younger artists to cast their net widely in different waters. He started as a painter, turned—partly for practical...

MUSIC " The Rape of Lucretia." At Glyndebourne Opera House.

The Spectator

A LOVELY summer day enhanced the pleasure of all music-lovers who went to Glyndeboume last Friday afternoon for the reopening of Mr. Christie's delightful opera house to hear...

Page 12

BASIC NEEDS IN EDUCATION

The Spectator

Sin,—The Headmaster of Northallerton Grammar School, writing on "Education and Politics" in The Spectator of July 12th, admirably describes the working of the present scheme for...

LETTERS TO

The Spectator

THE EDITOR A LIVING IN THE CHURCH Snt,—Any corporation, institution or business concern - which aims at recruiting capable employees must promise them, first, a living wage...

A SUPPRESSED NOVEL

The Spectator

Snt,—It is to be hoped that Lord Macmillan's account of Brougham's novel, Albert Lunel, will help to dispel the legend, still current Jo the antiquarian book trade, that a bare...

Sta,—Mr. H. Davies, in his article in your issue of

The Spectator

July 12th, says " Selection at eleven for these differing types of Secondary Schools presents many difficulties." The choice of i r as a dividing line was not originally made, I...

Page 13

QUIT PALESTINE ?

The Spectator

Sta,—We are quitting India because neither side wants us. Why not quit Palestine where neither side wants us? The League of Nations invited us to go there to found a National...

BROADCASTING IN AUSTRALIA

The Spectator

Sta,—I find myself in considerable disagreement with your contributor of the article " Sponsored Radio." I must explain that I have recently been released from service in the...

THE COMMUNISTS AND THE NAZIS

The Spectator

you permit me to state, although somewhat belatedly, that Mr. Edward Crankshaw, who so ably reviewed the recently published book, The Dark Side of the Moon, is mistaken when...

Sts,—May I point out that Lord Macmillan, in his highly

The Spectator

agreeable article with the above title, falls into an erros in attributing two novels to our Mr. Winston Churchill. He wrote Savrola, but not The Celebrity, which was the first...

100,000 JEWS SIR,—Like Mr. Home, I dislike pretence. Let us

The Spectator

consider only the facts. They are that we have forced more than half a million Jews into Palestine already, and now demand that another hundred thousand should be received,...

CASTING OF STONES

The Spectator

Sra,—I wonder why Mr. McClenaghan wishes to distort Mr. R. S. Hill's letter into a claim by Jews for " Christian charity." Mr. Hill's suggestion was that we, as Christians,...

Page 14

A DISSATISFIED CUSTOMER

The Spectator

Sex,—As a motorist of 47 years' standing, and as one who laid up his car when asked to by the Coalition Government; and bought another to enjoy the basic ration when received,...

THE IMPORTATION OF WINE

The Spectator

Sna,—This Government is, as is indeed obvious from its actions and appearances, a Beer and Whisky Government. Mr. Dalton has informed a listening world that he " enjoys a glass...

Nature's Melodrama

The Spectator

Just before midnight the lightning began, flashing out in broad sheets up and over the sky, in a bed-making movement. The castings gradually became continuous, so that one could...

ANTI - NAZI SLAVE LABOUR

The Spectator

Sta,—I write once more to point out that nothing has been done to stop the wickedness and stupidity of retaining the slave labour of authentic anti-Nazis, men who consistently...

One of Nature's Stylists— I described recently the actions of

The Spectator

a . cuckoo striking his gong. Last evening I watched a yellowhamther while he repeated his familiar ditty about "a little bit of bread and no cheese.". He perched on a porcelain...

COLOGNE NIGHT 'LIFE

The Spectator

Six,—To avoid possible misunderstanding, I should like to make it dear that the article on " Cologne Night Life," published in your issue of June z8th, refers to conditions...

COUNTRY LIFE

The Spectator

THE evening preceding the night of that abnormal storm on July 3rd which swept the south-east coast like a tornado was extraordinarily calm. A newish moon was sinking westward ;...

How Fares the Fruit ?'

The Spectator

I got up next morning thinking to discover disaster. But the corn- field showed no signs of the struggle. The farmer will not have to cut by hand, for the wheat stands firm, in...

ABSTINENCE AND INDULGENCE Sm,—Your correspondent, Mr. Hotson, is evidently unaware

The Spectator

that whisky contributes far more to this nation's food supplies than . it takes away. If you consider last year's exports of whisky, ke example, you find that for every Li...

In My garden

The Spectator

Two particular pests this year are the flea-beetle and the ant. I have no compunction about sprinkling a mixture of D.D.T. and derris dust on the former as he consumes my youilg...

The Spectator

Page 16

Passing Periodicals

The Spectator

La Nef No. 19. Editions Albin Michel. 90 fr. ; Poesie 46. No. 32. Pierre Seghers. 66 fr. • Revue de la Mediterranee. La Universite d'Alger. 60 fr. ; Synheses No. 1 and No. 2....

BOOKS OF THE DAY

The Spectator

The Tribute to Shaw G. B. S. 90. Aspects of Bernard Shaw's Life and Work. Edited by S. Winsten. (Hutchinson. 21s.) Mx. SHAW is ninety ; he was born two years after Wilde, who...

Page 18

Dining Out

The Spectator

The Merry Wives of Westminster. By Mrs. Belloc Lowndes. (Macmillan. 12s. 6d.) The Merry Wives of Westminster. By Mrs. Belloc Lowndes. (Macmillan. 12s. 6d.) THIS latest volume...

Dr. Johnson

The Spectator

Dr. Johnson and Company. By Robert Lynd. (Penguin Books. ls.) Da. CAIRNS, formerly Minister of Davidson Church, Eyre Place, Edinburgh, who died in 1944, evidently loved his...

Page 20

Indian History

The Spectator

PEOPLE can no longer complain of a dearth of literature about India, and this efudite volume shows how far we have advanced, thanks to the devoted work of a generation of...

Fiction

The Spectator

IN The Heretics Mr. Humphrey Slater has written a curiously shaped and somewhat Anieven novel which this reader for one has found exceptionally interesting. It falls into two...

Page 21

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 382

The Spectator

Ing i ngne l n iMILIIINOPID Emmen B II 0 0 El IN eft MMMEIND nennn flE41710 00 unman unmumnem Emlakin m uRnimM Es n O El IN GI 10 'MEM MINIM CJ in 0 13 IN 13 EN:1101111121...

" THE SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 384

The Spectator

[A Btiok Token for 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, 7uly 3orh. Envelopes...

Page 22

Shorter Notices

The Spectator

Herbert Farjeon's Cricket Bag. (MacDonald. 8s. 6d.) THERE is a slick facility about this book which is rather disconcerting. The late Herbert Farjeon was, of course, one of our...

Tins is a select gathering ot solicited articles, cultured, competent

The Spectator

and eminently civilised. Here ate articles under the best names on Art, Architecture Music, The Film (nothing on the Theatre), all illustrated with ' beautiful and well-produced...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

The Spectator

By CUSTOS THOSE of us who expected a vigorous response in the stock markets to the American loan ratification have been proved in the event a little too optimistic. While there...