Page 1
NEWS OF THE WEEK
The SpectatorT HE Security Council deserves to be congratulated on its handling of the Persian appeal against the Soviet Union. From a situation which was capable of causing acute embarrass-...
The Council's Decision
The SpectatorHaving rightly asserted - its competence to discuss the dispute, the Council has now decided that the best solution is for the negotiations between Russia and Persia to be...
Negotiation with Egypt
The SpectatorThe political crisis which has blown up, and temporarily sub- sided, at Cairo appears to have been due partly to personal rivalries between the Prime Minister, Nokrashy Pasha,...
M. Gouin's Programme
The SpectatorM. Gouin, who presented his three-party Government to the Assembly on Tuesday, deserves to succeed because of the courage and honesty of the programme outlined in his...
Page 2
Trade Unions and the Government
The SpectatorThe Bill to repeal the Trade Disputes Act of 1927 will do more to alienate middle-class supporters of the Government at the last election than all the measures of...
The American Strikes
The SpectatorThe American labour unions are at the moment giving a tolerable impersonation of the American eagle—with an olive branch in one claw and a bunch of arrows in the other. The...
The National Theatre
The SpectatorA new step forward towards a National Theatre has been taken by the successful merging of the Shakespeare Memorial National Theatre Committee and the Old Vic, as announced this...
Much Talk—Little Flying
The SpectatorCivil aviation in this country will not fail for want of preliminary discussion, but it may well take years to recover from the handicap of a late start. The debate in the...
Page 3
THE FUTURE OF COAL
The SpectatorT HE thoroughness with which the Government's proposals for the nationalisation of the coal industry are being ventilated is a heartening thing. It is not particularly easy to...
Page 4
The careers of Prime Ministers' sons seem to be well
The Spectatorworth watching. Apart from Malcolm MacDonald, there is Sir Cyril Asquith, who has gained distinction in law rather than politics ; Major Gwilym Lloyd George ; Mr. Richard Law ;...
The writer of the weekly comments on the United Nations
The SpectatorAssembly in last week's Spectator may be right in saying that the style and title United Nations Organisation is incorrect, but that the abbreviation U.N.O. will remain...
One alarming prospect that threatens the nation is a new
The Spectatoroutbreak of peace celebrations. Why, with two V-Day double holidays— involving, if I remember the figures rightly, the loss of something like 2,000,000 tons of coal alone—behind...
Critics have always been generally agreed about what are the
The Spectatorbest biographies in the English language. Boswell's 7ohnson is by general consent placed first ; Lockhart's Scott second ; and, with less unanimity, Sir George Trevelyan's Life...
Ever since the appointment of Mr. Bryce in 1907, British
The SpectatorAmbassadors at Washington have been not of the professional but of the non-professional variety. Lord Halifax was of the latter type, Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, who succeeds him,...
* * *
The SpectatorOne of the principal Parliamentary problems of the moment is congestion. There is no adequate time for the work to be done. There are so many Bills to be introduced, so many...
A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK
The SpectatorM R. EDEN was justified, I think, in saying at Preston on Monday that over a large field of existence the country is possessed by a sense of exasperation and frustration....
Page 5
A UNO DIARY
The SpectatorBy A DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT T would, of course, be grossly exaggerating to say that, as a result I of what has happened during the past week, the United Nations has found...
Page 6
THE POLES IN ITALY
The SpectatorBy ELIZABETH WISKEMANN O NE of the great obstacles to the free development of Italy is the afflux to her territory of refugees and expatriated citizens from many East European...
Page 7
FARMING IN FRANCE
The SpectatorBy H. D. WALSTON T HE present difficulties which are facing the French Government are the natural outcome of the difficulties of living which the whole of Europe is...
Page 8
MINERS AND MINEOWNERS
The SpectatorBy VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH W ITHIN a few months the Bill to nationalise the coal mines will have passed through the House of Commons. The Conservative Party have announced that...
Page 9
I 00 YEARS OF ANAESTHETICS
The SpectatorBy OUR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT E VERY major discovery in medicine, as in most of the arts and sciences, has had its various tributaries. Observations and experiments—sometimes...
Page 10
MARGINAL COMMENT
The SpectatorBy HAROLD NICOLSON M ANY of those who during the last fortnight have had occasion to attend the sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations have been left with an...
Page 11
PASTORAL
The SpectatorBEDALES — SUMMER 1945 THIS is the green country of peace of mind ; of gentle curving hills and shining water, of great firm-rooted oaks and shimmering birches, of wide...
MUSIC
The SpectatorNew Voices at Sadler's Wells READERS of my remarks upon the Sadler's Wells Opera a week ago may have discerned in them a certain gingerliness, a reluctance to quench with too...
THE CINEMA
The Spectator" Saratoga Trunk." At the Warner. Saratoga Trunk is the smoothest and most entertaining film that Hollywood has sent over for a long time. Recent productions have suggested...
ART
The SpectatorAN exhibition of Mr. Michael Ayrton's drawings is now on show , at the gallery of Roland Browne and Delbanco.
Page 12
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The SpectatorVILLAGE SCHOOLS Sta,—As Bishop of the most completely rural of English dioceses I thank the Bishop of London most heartily for what he has written about village schools. The...
Sta,—Many countrymen will be grateful to the Bishop of London
The Spectatorfor drawing attention to the danger which now threatens country life through the policy of closing large numbers of village schools. Parliament can never have expected the great...
LAWS AND THE PEOPLE
The SpectatorSIR,—The letter of Mr. Road Knight, which for the most part will command the assent of all liberty-loving peoples, discloses a confusion of thought when he treats the case of...
HIROSHIMA
The SpectatorSIR,—In your issue of January IIth Mr. Halliwell asks what there is to choose between the Japanese massacre of 6o,000 civilians in Manila and the Allied bombing of Hiroshima....
Page 13
SIR,—In The Spectator of January 1Ith, Mr. Halliwell assumes that
The Spectatorevery British citizen shares the " responsibility" for the two incidents of atomic bombing in Japan. What does he mean? No doubt there is truth somewhere behind the statement,...
JOB HUNTING
The SpectatorSnt,—Miss Downie has scraped beneath the surface of this problem, which is more than some of your correspondents have done. But her argument seems to me to have missed one basic...
NOBLE LORDS
The SpectatorSIR,—I share Mr. Gere's amusement. He accuses me of falling into a pit—and then drives into one himself, crank-Case over sparking-plug. No one will deny his facts and...
Snt,—In consigning Mr. V. C. Clinton-Baddeley to the pit which
The Spectatorhe is accused of digging for Miss Marguerite Steen, Mr. J. A. Gere has fallen into a fairly deep one of his own excavating. He writes: A lady in her own right marrying a peer by...
SARAWAK AND BRITAIN
The SpectatorSut,—In your Editorial comment last week on Malayan Reform appears the remark: " It is obvious that small administrative areas like British North Borneo, Brunei and Sarawak must...
AMERICA AND THE LOAN
The SpectatorSm,—Mr. Wigglesworth states that " the gold standard as an international standard was an utter failure after the last war." What can he mean? We went off the gold standard in...
Page 14
THE NEW AUSTRIA
The SpectatorSm,—May I make a slight comment on the paragraph entitled "The New Austria," which appeared m The Spectator of January11th? Dr. Renner, who is a Socialist, was elected to the...
In My Garden The bird-bath becomes also an addition to
The Spectatorthe scenery of the garden— as a number of examples in my neighbourhood suggest—if it takes the form of a shallow concrete pool, in the shape, say, of a cusp, with a weep- ing...
The Return
The SpectatorThe draining in war-time of little lakes and so-called ponds banished from the neighbourhoods quantities of most welcome birds—banished them as completely as the draining, say,...
Snt,—It is well to have Mr. Cozens-Hardy's protest, but, after
The Spectatorwhat has appeared in other papers, The Spectator's offence may be considered negligible. Several months ago the London correspondence of a great provincial daily included such...
ts N " OR «M"
The SpectatorSnl,—Miss Rose Macaulay still owes an apology, as she has made another mistake. Sim " Pappertit " sets all Dickensians' teeth on edge ; Tappertit
Village Playing Fields A humble but interesting little quarterly magazine,
The Spectatorcalled Playing Fields, has just come to birth and will be welcomed by both athletes and naturalists. Lieut.-Col. Webster, its editor, is the arch-priest of physical fitness, and...
CRIME AND PSYCHIATRIC EVIDENCE
The SpectatorSett,—A year or two ago there was some discussion in your columns on the question of extremely severe sentences in cases of homosexual crime. Just recently, a case has occurred...
AMONG newer delectations devised by the B.B.C. is a sort
The Spectatorof Brains Trust for young naturalists. It opened with the courageous support of what many would put in the class of heresies. The " sixth sense " in birds was supported, and one...
MANY people in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Holland, Norway and
The SpectatorSweden are anxious to know more about what is happening in world affairs, and particularly the British view on the subject. Unfortunately, the blocking of currency in most of...
Page 16
BOOKS OF THE DAY
The SpectatorPlants and Politics AT a rough estimate, one-third of the three-thousand-odd species of trees and shrubs now grown in the open in this country have been brought—mostly in the...
Telling the People
The SpectatorPress, Parliament and People. By Francis Williams. (Heinemann. 8s. 6d.) IN some respects the title of this important book is a misnomer. In the first sentence of his...
Page 18
Pontifical Premises
The SpectatorThe Approach to Painting. By Thomas Bodkin. (Collins. 8s. 6d.) ONE can almost hear the faint click with which the wicket gate of Professor Bodkin's sensitivity closed, sometime...
Brains Trusteeship
The SpectatorCome Alongside. By Commander A. B. Campbell, R.N. (Stanley Paul. 12s. 6d.) COMMANDER CAMPBELL is stated to be one of the founder members of the B.B.C. "Brains Trust " on the...
Page 19
SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 358
The Spectatoru Mk .ci 6 I i.. 13 S plikall - r E 0,V E iFt i,,IIIIill . I 1114" • s-rAAssouRG 't 4 , 1 . I._ ' -0 :a$ V 01 , 1D L :OC E .- fit "g El i KIIIIP. il , NU" L M f ., - .,, EMI...
" THE SPECTATOR" CROSSWORD No. 360
The Spectator. [A Book 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, February tzth....
Page 20
Theatre Shop
The SpectatorActors—Let's Talk Shop. By Barbara Burnham. (Allen and Unwin. 5s.) To talk shop about acting in the theatre with Miss Barbara Burnham is to be quite serious on the subject, but...
Fiction
The SpectatorJourney in the Dark. By Martin Flavin. (Hutchinson. 12s. 6d.) Bitten by the Tarantula. By J. Maclaren-Ross. (Allan Wingate. 7s.6d.) A READER unacquainted with the life of...
Page 22
Shorter Notices
The SpectatorThe Germans and Ourselves. By Karl Barth. (Nisbet. 2s. 6d.) THE eminent theologian here addresses his Swiss fellow countrymen on the problem of their future attitude to the...
FINANCE AND INVESTMENT
The SpectatorBy CUSTOS Film the City standpoint, the best that can be said for the Government's investment control plan is that it is no worse than had been expected. When a Government is in...