25 FEBRUARY 1944

Page 1

THE PRIME MINISTER ON THE WAR

The Spectator

of fighters, substantially. The Prime Minister, indeed, went so far as to contemplate the " almost complete elimination" of Germany's fighter defence ; she would then have...

Page 2

A Four-year Plan for Agriculture

The Spectator

Speaking at Taunton on Saturday, the Minister of Agriculture dealt comprehensively with the recent past, the present and the future of the farming industry in this country....

B3 -election Emotions

The Spectator

The essential fact about the West Derbyshire by-election was that it was won by the anti-Government candidate, who is said to have offered his support to the anti-Government...

NEWS OF THE WEEK

The Spectator

• I N his speech on Tuesday Mr. Churchill did not omit to touch on the operations in the bridge-head at Nettuno, but he did not answer the question of " what went wrong " there...

Lord Wavell on India

The Spectator

If the Viceroy of India's first address to the Legislature at Delhi did not fulfil all the expectations cherished regarding it that was rather because the expectations were set...

The Battle at Truk

The Spectator

The war in the Pacific entered upon a new phase when, having successfully attacked in the Gilbert Islands and the Mar- shalls, American naval and air forces last week suddenly...

Page 3

A HEALTH SERVICE FOR ALL

The Spectator

T HE spirit in which the Government has fulfilled its promise to launch its new programme for a National Health Service will give encouragement where it is much heeded. The...

Page 4

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

The Spectator

D R. GOEBBELS, I should imagine, has never proved his value more decisively than at the present moment, for he wields a weapon of enormous value which no one can easily strike...

Page 5

THE GERMANS' DILEMMA

The Spectator

By STRATEGICUS The crushing of the Kanyev pocket, a smaller Stalingrad, reveals even more startling facts. The commander was found dead. The troops were ordered to stand, and...

Page 6

THE NEXT STEP IN INDIA

The Spectator

By WING-COMMANDER R. GRANT-FERRIS, M.P. T HE speech delivered by the Viceroy of India last week to the two Houses of the Indian Legislature will serve to focus atten- tion on...

Page 7

ONE WAY WITH GERMANY

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By WILSON HARRIS T HERE has been published in the past week a small book which in time-worn phrase, deserves the careful attention of the public, for it may be symptomatic of...

Page 8

MIHAILOVICH AND TITO

The Spectator

By ROBERT POWELL T HE Prime Minister's reference to Yugoslavia in his speech on Tuesday has reawakened interest in the complicated problems of that country, though without...

Page 9

THE SKYLARK I heard the rising lark, the skyline's daughter,

The Spectator

And her voice seemed through infinity hurled, The notes of music fell as sacramental water Sadly sprinkled on a raging world. BROUGHTON GINGELL.

THE BADGER DEEPER than your graves I dig The endless

The Spectator

tunnels of my home, Brock, the old grey badger-pig In my mazy catacomb. Silent and assiduous, Storied levels I have mined, Galleries promiscuous, Exits you will never find....

SHEPETOVK A

The Spectator

By V. SACKVILLE-WEST (Shepetovka was recaptured by the Red Army on February itch.) “T HE important railway-junction of Shepetovka. . . ." Thus do small, lost, forlorn, unknown...

Page 10

MARGINAL COMMENT

The Spectator

By HAROLD NICOLSON D URING the past few weeks there has been much discussion, in the Press and elsewhere, of the problem whether military necessity can justify the destruction...

Page 11

THE THEATRE

The Spectator

MR. Dm/um WOLFIT has begun a season of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and Ibsen at the Scala Theatre, and it is to be hoped that the War Oflice may be able to allow him to finish this...

THE CINEMA

The Spectator

field." Generally released.—" Naval Log of Victory." Gener- ally released. Candlelight in Algeria and Naples is a Battlefield (a Ministry of Information film) approach the war...

MUSIC

The Spectator

Hindemith's Symphony in E flat. It is a long time since the name of Paul Hindemith has appeared in our concert-programmes, and its omission can hardly be due to any bias...

Page 12

"AU PILORI"

The Spectator

" A Spectator's Notebook " of February 18th, 1944, over the signature of " Janus," you printed a paragraph concerning the feature called " Au Pilori " in the B.B.C. French...

MACHINERY OF DEMOCRACY

The Spectator

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Stn,—In your article on the Machinery of Democracy you make an interest- ing plea for proportional representation. I fear, however, that you have...

IS ENGLISH DOOMED ?

The Spectator

SIR, -It is not clear from Sir Herbert Grierson's letter whether or not he agrees with Mr. Lewis that the Norwood Report has " doomed " University Schools of English ; and this...

Page 13

DISARMING GERMANY

The Spectator

Stw,—I have read with much interest the letters which have appeared in your correspondence column on the subject of Disarming Germany, but so far, however, an obvious and most...

A PARENT'S EXPERIMENT

The Spectator

Sta,—Has " Officer's Wife " considered that in sending her children to an elementary school she is placing them almost entirely in the society of children of the lower class,...

MONTE CASSINO Mr. L. G. Wickham Legg asks an organist

The Spectator

friend to play him the Finale of Mendelssohn's Sixth Organ Sonata, he may find the solution to the musical problem set him in Monte Cassino monastery forty years ago....

UNIVERSITY SAILORS

The Spectator

Sn1,—The statement in your article " University Sailors " that " Under- graduate naval ratings . . . are the only fit young men of their age in this country now permitted to...

THE SUBSTANCE OF SOIL SIR, —As a commercial grower of vegetables,

The Spectator

I read with much interest Mr. Bowles' letter on this subject. The trouble is he offers no scientific evidence for his theories. Without this his letter will not cut much ice...

Page 14

THE INDIANS OF CANADA

The Spectator

StR,—Recently there was published in The Spectator an article by Miss Honor Croome on Canada. This article stated that the Indian popula- tion was now increasing, that the...

M.P.'s EMPLOYED ABROAD

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SIR,—In these days, when we hear so much about democracy, it is odd to find His Majesty's Government losing sight of the elementary demo- cratic principle that a member of...

ST. VALENTINE'S DAY

The Spectator

SIR,—Two notes. One for Mr. Harold Nicolson. Last week he regretted that St. Valentine's Day " should have lost all hold upon our national habits." Let me console him. I am...

CANADA AND THE WORLD

The Spectator

Sta,—Mr. Willis makes a fair point. I should not have used the word " exactly " in a geographical connotation. But I must emphasise that politically and psychologically my...

COUNTRY LIFE

The Spectator

ON the subject of imported animals, discussed recently in a report of the Ecologists, the number of species greatly exceeds those quoted. For example: a landowner in Southern...

MARRIAGE GUIDANCE

The Spectator

SIR,—We continue to receive so much correspondence as a result of the recent article on " Marriage Guidance," by Dr. E. F. Griffith, that perhaps you would kindly allow us to...

Page 16

Tiger Tim

The Spectator

No Man's Man. By Maev Sullivan. (Dublin : Browne and Nolan. 15s.) MRS. SULLIVAN is here performing a pious duty, the justifying of her father, Timothy Michael Healy, who began...

BOOKS OF THE DAY

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Yeats, The Father WHO are the best letter-writers in the English language? Opinion will vary according to individual interests and personal tastes, but I remember once...

Page 18

Odyssey of a Doctor

The Spectator

The Time of My Life. By Harry C. de Vighne. •(Robert Hale.' tos.641.) WHETHER as fiction or fact, and Dr. de Vighne's narrative bears the unadorned impress of truth, this...

Page 20

Fiction

The Spectator

So Little Time. By John P. Marquand. (Robert Hale. rm. 6d.) Pleasure Beach. By Frank Tilslcy. (Collins. Los. 6d.) Jack-in-the-Box. By J. J. Connington. (Hodder and Stoughton....

Shorter Notices

The Spectator

Island Farm. By F. Fraser Darling. (Bell. Iss.) FOR Dr. Fraser Darling the ownership of an island is not a means of escape from the irks and disappointments of communal living,...

Armoured Warfare. By Major-General J. F. C. Fuller. (Eyre and

The Spectator

Spottiswoode. 8s. 6d.) With Pennants Flying : The Immortal Deeds of the Royal Armoured Corps. By David Masters. (Eyre and Spottiswoode. 9s.) GENERAL FULLER here reprints his...

Page 21

" THE SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 259

The Spectator

FA Book Token for one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct sciution of this week's crossword to be opened after noon on Tuesday week, March 7th. Envelopes...

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 257 SOLUTION ON MARCH 10th The

The Spectator

winner of Crossword No. 257 is MR. E. T. RUDDLE, San Marco, The Common, Gerrard's Cross.

Page 22

The Taxation of War Wealth. By J. R. Hicks, U.

The Spectator

K. Hicks and L. Rostas. Second Edition. (Oxford : At the Clarendon Press. 12s. 6d.) IT is a tribute both to the timeliness and the quality of this book, which was first...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

The Spectator

By CUSTOS THE best that can be said of the home railway dividends for 1943 is that they are slightly better than had been expected. While the London Midland and Scottish and the...

Towards the New Italy. By T. L. Gardini, with a

The Spectator

Preface by H. G. Wells. (Lindsay Drummond. 9s. 6d.) SIGNOR GARDINI is an Italian subject exiled from his country since the Abyssinian War. His book is divided into three...