T HE one hopeful feature during this tense week has been the transition from loud-speaker oratory to diplomatic Notes. Herr Hitler has been, so far as the public is con- cerned,...

If war breaks out it will not be for lack of powerful appeals for peace. The Pope, President Roosevelt, King Leopold of the Belgians, M. Daladier, the Prime Minister of Canada,...

While the Notes that have passed between Berlin and London have quite rightly not been published, enough is known of their tenor to make it clear that Herr Hitler has his mind...

The need for national unity has at length persuaded Prince Paul, the Senior Regent of Yugoslavia, to accept the results of the agreement reached between the Prime Minister, M....

The only comfort Japan has as yet received is Herr von Ribbentrop's airy declaration that the agreement with Russia must strengthen German-Japanese friendship, and Signor...

In no country might Germany expect to obtain a greater return from the German-Soviet Pact than in Turkey : but her expectations have been disappointed. One immediate sequel to...

In Japan the Soviet-German Pact has led directly to the fall of Baron Hiranuma's Cabinet, including the Foreign Minister, M. Arita, the chief architect of the Anti- Comintern...

No greater test than the present crisis could be devised for the almost undefinable ties which join Great Britain and the self-governing Dominions ; and only such a crisis...

The House seemed in more resolute mood when it met again on Tuesday. Members have been deeply affected by the spirit of the people, and contact with the constituencies seemed to...

was rightly desirous of erring on the side of under-statement. His speech, however, did not seem quite to catch the temper of the House. Both Mr. Greenwood and Sir Archibald...

On Monday the first series of regulations were issued under the Emergency Powers Act, which was passed last week. They cover the most varied spheres of national life, and confer...

evidence of their strong desire to maintain an attitude of neutrality in a European conflict, as the best means of preserving their independence ; in both countries that desire...

The Presidential Address at the Modern Churchmen's annual conference usually provides food for thought, and the paper by Sir Cyril Norwood, President of St. John's College,...

Mem- bers reassembled on the 24th those who had predicted that a crisis would occur before the end of the month, and that Par- liament would have to be summoned, were naturally...

" HE lamps are going out all over Europe," in the 1 historic phrase used by Sir Edward Grey on that day in August 1914 when Germany presented her ulti- matum to Belgium. By the...

I •1 a few words Sir Thomas Middleton put before the British Association this week the paradox of British farming. " During the decade 1831-40 the land of Great Britain...

is to be large and blonde, and whose misfortune it is to look in consequence Teutonic, has just returned from a motoring trip in Italy. Wherever he was known to be British he...

allowed, among other things, t oz. of soap per week. Not being entirely clear what that means in terms of familiar soap measurements I have had an ordinary tablet of toilet soap...

N OTHING better exemplifies the contrast between this country's attitude today and a year ago than a compari- son between two speeches by the Prime Minister. Last week, on...

of a London club for profusion of verdicts on the situation— unless it be the lobby of the House of Commons. Here is a selection from ten minutes' harvest: " War is absolutely...

Britain and France has been one of the more important and reassuring events of the past week. But from all I hear the British Treasury deserves sharp con- demnation for the...

inconveniences arising from the fact that L.C.C. elementary schools, admirably equipped in all other respects, lack one necessity of life—the telephone. The reason can hardly be...

pundits by his remark (in the Sunday Times) that " the history of diplomacy is in large part a record of double-dealing, as indeed the word `diplomacy' implies." Surely it is...

By MAJOR B. T. REYNOLDS B RITAIN is a World-Power. That is why the defence problem with which British soldiers, sailors and airmen h a ve to deal is far more complicated than...

By H. ROSINSKI I N more than a thousand years of struggle French and German soldiers have crossed swords and come to appre- ciate each other on countless bloody battlefields,...

By LEN ORTZEN D ARTS, like London, is defended against air-attack in I - two ways: by the A.R.P. and by evacuation. But the difference between the two capitals is considerable,...

By D. R. GILLIE A T the present moment the French Government sinks into insignificance against the background of the nation. This is a tribute to the nation, not a criticism of...

By NIGEL TANGYE Y OU read in the newspapers, every now and then, letters from indignant dti7Pns protesting against the policy of the Air Ministry in selling first-line aircraft...

By F. J. SUTHERLAND F ORMERLY I used to think of the all-night journey from London to Glasgow, or Paris to Marseilles, as a consider- able undertaking. But I have revised my...

By A CHAIRMAN OF QUARTER SESSIONS S OME fifteen months ago the Home Secretary appointed a Departmental Committee to inquire into and report on the conditions of service of...

T T'S been a queer restless summer. I have to go every .1. day to the office just as I've done for the last twelve years. Liba and little Jan have to eat whether Herr Hitler or...

By HAROLD NICOLSON H UMAN beings, when tuning themselves to resist great ordeals with placid resolution, become unduly sensitive to minor irritations ; the concentration of all...

the importance, at this tremendous juncture, of the Russo- German pact. The nightmare which has for so many years haunted the sleep of our own Foreign Office officials has at...

lingers in the west. On Saturday night it was feared that a German aggression on Poland was a matter of hours only. Nothing happened. Anxiety was renewed on Sunday night when...

be such violent inconsistency! Herr Hitler may well have been sincere in stating that he did not desire war with France or Great Britain but wished only to deal with his Polish...

Herr Hitler's revolutionary policy, I do not believe that it was the intention. He hoped, by this sudden change in the balance of power, either to induce France and Great...

is fundamental to the present conflict. It is true that we are fighting to maintain our own position as a Great Power, our own possessions, and eventually our own independence....

anger. It is not due, I think, to mortification at the defeat administered to our own diplomacy. Still less, I trust, is it due to any personal prejudice against Herr von...

THE CINEMA " Professor Mamlock." At the Academy.---.. Dodge City." At Warner's.—" Five Came Back." At the New Gallery. Professor Mamlock is a Soviet film which attacks the...

[Von einem deutschen Korrespondenten] Ix diesen Tagen der Qual mag es vielleicht ein wenig entspannend sein, einen kurzen Erholungsausflug in Geschichte und Geographic zu...

A GOOD number of English places are acquiring names in very unorthodox ways. They are christened and labelled by private persons, without reference to any public authority. The...

The greatest of all the English sanctuaries is, I hear, re- covering rather more quickly than was expected from the inroad of the sea. This flooding disaster that did so much...

A more than nominal objection may be raised against another notice in the same neighbourhood. It announces that " this field and the beach are private property." Such exclu-...

A paean on the habit of walking, or, as he agreeably calls it, of foot-faring, reaches me from Hampshire, accompanied with a plea for more footpaths. My correspondent, who has...

are apt to desert our lawns and gardens in autumn? One observer who has kept records notes that they usually disappear for about a month. In his garden a brood of four was...

Such conversion of the beach into private property is not the only barrier to the charm of that part of Sussex which suffers very much as Hampshire suffers. On one side of the...

A good many gardeners perhaps would grow a great many more plants from seed if they realised how quick the results may be. Even such a shrub as a gorse will flower the first...

SIR, —May I venture to disagree with the passage of your otherwise admirable leader in your issue of August I tth dealing with the " War-guilt clause " of the Versailles Treaty...

[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must...

dancers, led by Ram Gopal, appearing at the Aldwych, confirms my own impression of " Hindu dance " as it obtains in India at present. There is in it an unmistakable emphasis on...

also be permitted to quite two cases typical of many others? 1. An orphanage in Lancaster which, until recently, used to house, feed, clothe and educate a considerable number...

SIR, —In the paragraph headed " A Warning to Mexico " in the " News of the Week " column of The Spectator of August ath, you express the opinion that the Mexican Government, in...

SIR,—May I be allowed to correct an error in Mr. Alan Dent's letter of last week, under the above heading? My husband, Sir Donald MacAlister, was not "well over eighty " when...

Sta,—Absence abroad has delayed my reply to Mr. Clarence Hatry's letter commenting on my review of his Light Out of Darkness. I agree that the point on which we differ is of...

SIR,—Your correspondent, Mr. Tudor Edmunds, before rush- ing into print should first of all acquaint himself of the facts. In his letter in your issue of August 4th, which,...

EVIDENCE FOR GHOSIS, Dame Edith Lyttelton 33 0 LITERARY LIVES, Evelyn Waugh ... 33 1 HISTORY OF EAST LONDON, Pamela Hans ford 7ohnson 332 TWENTY YEARS ON, T. K. Derry ... . ....

Rain Upon Godshill. By J. B. Priestley. (Heinemann. 8s. 6d.) Heaven Lies About Us. By Howard Spring. (Constable. Ss.) One Way of Living. By James Bridie. (Constable. 8s. 6d.)...

Sketch of a School. By Cheironax. (Heinemann. 5s.) GIVEN L250,000, and zo years to spend it in, required to found " a novel organisation with all the merits of the modern...

History of East London. By Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith. (Macmillan. I2S. 6d.) Mr grandfather bought his house in 1888. When I was born into it, it was one of a descending row...

Wyse Jackson , LL.D. (S.P.C.K. 6s.) THE imprint and sub-title of the Rev. Robert Jackson's short study of Swift suggest that it was written with a special public in view and,...

Towards an Understanding of the U.S.S.R. By M. Florinsky. (Macmillan. sos. 6d.) ONE of the virtues of this exposition of the political and economic structure of the Soviet...

John Graham of Claverhouse. By Alistair and Henrietta Tayler. (Duckworth. 12s. 6d.) THE pleasures of the long view and the detached judgement have no attraction for Miss Tayler...

THIS is the first English translation of a book originally pub- fished in German in 1880. Its author is, of course, one of the really great names in the history of jurisprudence...

By KATE O'BRIEN Hudson Rejoins the Herd. By Claude Houghton. (Collins. 7s. 6d.) The Elephant Is White. By Caryl Braluns and S. J. Simon. (Michael Joseph. 7s. 6d.) IF, by the...

By Major G. Harrison and F. C. Mitchell This admirable " book of facts about people " (Allen and Unwin, I2S. 6d.) was first evolved for the guidance of adver- tisers, but...

and Gold (Heinemann, Us. 6d.) belongs to that class of travel books in which the most is made of the more sensational aspects of the expedition. Actually neither fever nor...

As I write the crisis nears its climax. It may possibly be resolved before these lines are printed. Whatever the outcome, the City may be proud that it has provided no...

One justification for the Bank Rate rise is, of course, that the authorities could scarcely have avoided taking such an orthodox step before withdrawing the peg from sterling in...

MONEY RATE PROBLEMS I do not share this view. The answer is surely that the maintenance of a 2 per cent. bank rate and of other short- term money rates at something like to r...

COMMODITIES AND THE CRISIS The transition of Great Britain's commercial markets from a peace-time economy to a full war economy is at the moment of writing by no means...

There is no denying that Richard Thomas, the big South Wales steel and tinplate company, have gone through a thoroughly unsatisfactory trading period. Profits of the whole group...

Shareholders in Debenhams, Ltd., will welcome not only the excellent profit disclosed for the year to July 31st but also the concise way in which the preliminary statement is...

The winner of Crossword No. Colt Hill, Odiham, Hants. 25 is Mr. E. Bunter Stanwell, EXT EK

Book Token for one guinea will be given to the sender of the first correct solution of this week's crossword puzzle to be opened. Envelopes should be marked "Crossword Puzzle,"...