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MURDER AT SEA
The SpectatorA BOUT the main facts concerning the new form of barbarism adopted by Germany at sea there can be no dispute. The mines that sank the Dutch liner Simon Bolivar' on Saturday, the...
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The Munich Bomb Story
The SpectatorNo one is surprised that Herr Himmler, Chief of the German Police, has succeeded in finding a scapegoat for the bomb explosion in the Munich Beer Cellar on November 8th, or that...
NEWS OF THE WEEK
The SpectatorT HE War is showing rather greater signs of liveliness. It might indeed by this time have developed into all the full intensity of the latter months of 1914 if Germany had not...
The Future in India
The SpectatorNot much news is coming through about developments in India, but what is known is on the whole reassuring. The situation is no worse, and in some respects it seems a little...
The Terror in Prague
The SpectatorNazi rule knows no half-methods of terror when it finds itself confronted with any symptoms of discontent or unrest caused by its own tyranny. The city of Prague has been...
Marking Time in Finland
The SpectatorNo steps have yet been taken to promote a resumption of the Finnish-Soviet negotiations, but that the question is far from being shelved is shown by a threatening article in...
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The Best Investment for Small Savings
The SpectatorSir John Simon's announcement of the new plans for enlisting the savings of small investors as a contribution to war finance comes at a moment when much attention has been give...
Russia and Japan
The SpectatorIt can no longer be regarded as extraordinary that with one hand Russia is extending support to China and with the other endeavouring to reach an understanding with Japan. The...
The Army's Progress
The SpectatorA survey by the War Minister of the military situation when the military situation is comparatively static gives no great scope for descriptive eloquence. In such circumstances...
A Balkan Peace Bloc?
The SpectatorCount Csaky, the Hungarian Foreign Minister, speaking in the Hungarian Parliament last Tuesday, spoke of a realistic reconstruction of Danubian questions. The shadow of possible...
Men for Home Defence
The SpectatorThe War Office announcement that 20,000 men are urgently required for Home Defence Battalions gives an opportunity for men between 35 and 5o to perform military service, mainly...
Turkish Trade
The SpectatorM. Numan Menemenjoglu, the Turkish Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, is now on his way to London for economic talks. It is of the utmost importance for this country no less...
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WELDING THE ALLIANCE
The SpectatorW AR spells inevitably devastation and destruction. The greater, therefore, the value to be attached to any constructive effort which unites nations, and the individuals...
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SOCIAL REFORM IN WAR-TIME
The SpectatorT HE reasons which Sir John Simon gave for dropping the Criminal Justice Bill were such that he could scarcely be pressed to alter the decision. Yet his sug- gestion that the...
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The war, which has been responsible for the death of
The Spectatormany journals, is to see the birth of one to which I look forward with rather lively interest. It is a village product, its title The Abinger Chronicle, and the contributors to...
Even though it is denied by Dr. Goebbels, the statement
The Spectatorthat Field-Marshal Goering's Swedish wife has just borne him a second child at Lausanne recalls the fact that Field- Marshal Goering's Swedish brother-in-law is well known as an...
There is something cynically attractive about the story, sent by
The SpectatorThe Times correspondent at Belgrade, of the Czecho-Slovak margarine factories which are compelled to pack their produce in paper sent from Russia and marked U.S.S.R., the idea...
We have been all too well familiarised with the name
The SpectatorSimon Bolivar in the last few days. The great liberator's surname is invariably pronounced by the B.B.C. announcers with the accent on the first syllable. I had always thought...
A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
The SpectatorT HERE are few things more difficult today than to reach .1 any assured conclusion about the state of Germany. What appear to be best authorities, whether Germans outside...
The verdict given in the Court of Appeal on Monday
The Spectatorin the libel action Newstead v. The Daily Express well illus- trates (failing a reversal of the judgement by the House of Lords) the pitfalls which the law of libel prepares for...
" Finnish Military Chiefs Provoking War."
The Spectator" Troops Moved Up to Frontier: All Calm on Soviet Side." —The Daily Worker. jAN1JS.
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THE WAR SURVEYED : THE BELGIAN INITIATIVE
The SpectatorBy STRATEGICUS T HE events of the last week call the attention back to Holland, and it is impossible to gather what is Germany's intention with regard to it. Obviously if...
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4. Extract from a sermon preached on November 12th, 1939
The Spectator(Armistice Sunday), by the Rev. Theodore Venables, Rector of Fenchurch St. Paul, Lines, and printed in that week's issue of " The Fenland Weekly Comet." . . . It is well, I...
WIMSEY PAPERS II
The SpectatorBy DOROTHY L. SAYERS TALLBOYS, PAGGLEHAM, 17th November, 1939. Nit. GREAT PAGFORD, HERTS. . . . I've been trying to write an article about war-aims and peace-aims, though I'm...
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THE STRENGTH OF FRANCE
The SpectatorBy V. S. SWAMINATHAN A LL along the line France is stronger today than twenty- five years ago. During the last war the enemy advanced over the whole Lorraine field, shutting...
Sunday evening, i9th November, 1939.
The Spectator. . . So I rushed over to the Vicarage, and there was Mr. Goodacre taking dead leaves out of the bird-bath. " Oh, Vicar," I said, " what has happened? I've played the volun-...
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SHOULD THE MIDDLE CLASS SURVIVE ?
The SpectatorBy R. A. SCOTT-JAMES T ODAY many persons who belong to the so-called middle classes are looking back a little wistfully at the past and facing the future with resignation. The...
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AN ANGLO-FRENCH FEDERATION ?
The SpectatorBy LIONEL ROBBINS HE rapidity with which in recent weeks the idea of T federalism has been accepted as a desirable principle of the future peace settlement must necessarily be...
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MR. KEYNES AND WAR COSTS
The SpectatorBy F. A. v. HAYEK T HE outstanding topic in fi nancial circles in the past week has been the ingenious proposal which we owe to the most fertile mind among living economists....
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ROMEO'S NIGHTS
The SpectatorBy CLELAND SCOTT I N many ways there is a similarity between lions and man ; in adolescence there is a good deal of the hoyden about the male, and as he grows up he generally...
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Nature Calendars
The SpectatorIt is a pity that some of the smaller societies have not been able to hold on. Among those that have suspended animation is B.E.N.A., whose periodical and annual diary have been...
An English Vintage
The SpectatorThis year will remain famous in country annals for the superabundance of apples, especially of bitter-sweets or cider apples. Trees of Rayon d'Or broke themselves in pieces with...
Autumnal Rivalry
The SpectatorThe claim for Warwickshire and Hertfordshire that they were still producing plentiful raspberries seems to have stirred general rivalry, and accounts of overflowing dishes of...
COUNTRY LIFE
The SpectatorAn Altruistic Bouquet Some of the little evacuated urban children will have to be classed with the green plover as supreme friends of agri- culture. I met one little girl...
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I have been driven to these reflections by reading Mr.
The SpectatorAmery's Days of Fresh Air. The tonic quality of this book has filled me with envy and regret. Mr. Amery seems to have climbed everything, even the mountain of which he is the...
PEOPLE AND THINGS
The SpectatorBy HAROLD NICOLSON T HROUGHOUT my life I have suffered from being " bad at games." By this I do not mean merely that I am less proficient than are other- men at catching or...
It was a Frenchman who first released my soul from
The Spectatorthis feeling of perpetual inferiority. Of the many debts which I owe to France it is this debt which warms me with the deepest gratitude. He was a professor at a small...
My professor, observing that I would return wet and exhausted
The Spectatorfrom these long and gloomy expeditions, suggested that this passion for taking exercise was " an English fallacy." " It is," he explained, " a fallacy which is highly dangerous....
The Greeks, I suspect, would not wholly have approved of
The Spectatormy five French professors. Socrates, who in many ways was a tolerant man, took young Epigenes fiercely to task for his neglect of physical exercise, and Plato was most emphatic...
I have no conception why so vast a disability should
The Spectatorhave fallen to my lot. Astigmatism is not a sufficient explanation, nor can I in any sense plead lack of vitality or ill-health. I have my hearty sides ; I like cold baths in...
Or was I? Am 1? When I look back upon
The Spectatorthe last thirty years, I observe with surprise that the high points of enjoy- ment which rise above the level plain of memory are in most cases associated with a mood of...
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THE CINEMA
The Spectator• Juarez." At Warner's.—" Rulers of the Sea." At the Plaza. Juarez (pronounced, so the programme tells us, War-ezz) is what is known in the trade as a distinguished film: it...
STAGE AND SCREEN
The SpectatorMUSIC The Sad Case of the Count di Luna THE production of 11 Trovatore was the most successful event of last year's season at Sadler's Wells, and its present revival is very...
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ART
The SpectatorContemporary British Painting at Oxford How much more enjoyable it is to be rude about pictures than to praise them: to fire off a volley of unqualified abuse about a painting...
THE SPECTATOR COMPETITIONS No. II THE manager of a circulating
The Spectatorlibrary recently stated in an interview that a large proportion of his customers selected their reading exclusively by examining the opening pages of the books displayed. Prizes...
REPORT ON COMPETITION NO. 9 PRIZES were offered for the
The Spectatorbest answers in not more than 300 words to the question : " Which of the recognised classics of Literature do you most dislike and why? " The shadow of the School Certificate...
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Spectator(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...
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NAZI-SATANISM FORETOLD
The SpectatorSIR,—.May I express my deep gratification to the Archbishop of Canterbury for having confirmed by an authority of the Church the political judgement we have expressed in exactly...
THE WAY TO FEDERALISM Sta,—In your issue of November 3rd,
The Spectatorin your leading article " The Way to Federalism," the suggestion is put forward that one might argue that " if the League of Nations has failed because its member States were...
WAR AIMS SIR,—The numerous amateur efforts to indicate what are,
The Spectatoror should be, our war aims, which have appeared in your paper and elsewhere, are calculated to fill one with a deep despon- dency. Can there still be people, with any...
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RABBITS FOR FOOD
The SpectatorSIR, — May I answer the letters of your correspondents about rabbits in your issue of November loth? Nothing I have written applies to tame rabbits, with which no one can have...
TWO PARALLELS
The SpectatorSia,—(r) (a) "Qualls artifex pereo! " Suetonius, Nero, c. 49 (b) "He was by nature an artist . . . . and as an artist he would end his days." Hitler (about himself) to the...
SIR,—A visit to the conscientious objectors' tribunal at Leeds this
The Spectatorweek made clear to me the difficulties which quite sincere men trained only in law find when trying to assess " conscientious objection." The chairman deserved great praise for...
SIR, — Your remark that Mr. Churchill's speech of Novem- ber 12th,
The Spectatorwith its references to " Hitler and his Hum " and " General Goering—I beg pardon, Field-Marshal Goering," failed curiously, in spite of its brilliance, to gauge the temper of...
BRITAIN AND THE DOMINIONS Sit, May I be allowed, through
The Spectatoryour kindness, to thank Sir Norman Angell for his article in the November loth issue of The Spectator, especially for the paragraph dealing with the relationship of Britain to...
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FREEDOM OF SPEECH
The SpectatorSIR,—In his admirable letter, published earlier this month in The Times and elsewhere, Mr. Stanley Unwin spoke of the wording of the New Defence Regulations as " ominous." He...
BRITISH " REFUGEES " FROM ENEMY TERRITORY
The SpectatorSm,—Mr. Hamilton confines his fully justified remarks to Germany, but Britons who left Czecho-Slovakia on account of the War are in the same position. Now many of them are...
ARTHUR VAN SCHENDEL SIR, —In my review of November 3rd in
The Spectatoryour journal I stated erroneously that Grey Birds by Arthur van Schendel was the first novel of this Dutch author to appear In transla- tion in England. I have since been...
MRS. CHESTERTON ON RUSSIA
The SpectatorSnt,—Owing to absence from London I have only just seen your issue of October 27th. I should be very grateful if you would allow me space for a reply to the correspondence of...
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Between Two Wars
The SpectatorAn Introduction to World Economic History. By J. P. Day. .(Macmillan. 3s. 6d.) An Introduction to World Economic History. By J. P. Day. .(Macmillan. 3s. 6d.) MR. FRANCIS' book...
Books of the Day
The SpectatorA Realist in Search of a Utopia The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1919-1939: An Introduction to the Study of International Relations. By Edward Hallett Carr. (Macmillan. tos. 6d.) THE...
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A Great European
The SpectatorThe Emperor Charles V. By Karl Brandi. Translated by C. V. Wedgwood. (Cape. ors.) THE career and destiny of Charles V exerted a fascination upon the minds of his contemporaries...
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_ A Place in the Sun
The SpectatorOrchard's Bay. By Alfred Noyes. (Sheed and Ward. 8s. 6d.) Orchard's Bay describes in the first place a garden retreat in the Isle of Wight, describes it with a tender richness...
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In Defence of Freedom
The SpectatorMay God Defend the Right ! By Nathaniet Micklem. (Hodder and Stoughton. 3s. 6d.) As a Tract for the Times, this " open letter ".to the author's fellow-Christians could hardly...
Quebec and the Far West
The SpectatorCANADA'S success in handling her large French-speaking minority is a fact of great importance in these days when racialism run mad is devastating much of Europe. Thus Mr....
Enter a Child
The SpectatorEnter a Child. By Dormer Creston. (Macmillan. 7s. 6d.) OF all the sinister shadows that hang over the life of man, threatening injury and destruction, few if any can be com-...
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New Novels
The SpectatorMiss Lucifer. By Ronald Fraser. (Cape. 7s. 6d.) What Are We Waiting For By Michael Harrison. (Rich and Cowan. 8s. 6d.) Viper's Progress. By Mary Mitchell. (Methuen. 8s. 6d.) No...
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FINANCE AND INVESTMENT
The SpectatorTHE Chancellor of the Exchequer is launching his first offensive with a drive to tap small savings. While there is nothing particularly novel about either the new series of...
E.P.T. AND TEXTILES
The SpectatorIt is just over a month ago since Mr. Kenneth Moore, chairman of Trinidad Petroleum Development, exposed a serious defect in the Chancellor's Excess Profits Tax. He pointed out...
RAYON PROGRESS
The SpectatorThe two leading rayon producers have come into the news during the last few days. Courtaulds' £16,000,000 Unit:td States subsidiary, American Viscose, has acquired from the...
LOAN PROBLEMS AHEAD
The SpectatorFrom the Stock Exchange standpoint, of course, this sort of drive to tap the nation's savings brings no grist to the mill, but the City is well aware of the financial exigencies...
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SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 37
The SpectatorRev. H. C. ■ SOLUTION NEXT WEEK The winner of Crossword No. 37 is the Sidnell, 72 Wadsley Lane, Sheffield, 6.
" THE SPECTATOR" CROSSWORD No. 38
The Spectator[A prize of a 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...