IF the excitement of a Budget speech is measured by the new burdens it imposes on the tax-payer or by the relief it offers, then Sir John Anderson's statement must be judged...

T is a fitting turn of fortune that the opening of the San Francisco Conference, at which a new League of Nations is be built, should have synchronised so closely with the two...

the week-end was in- teresting—particularly for the terms of marked cordiality in which he referred to his two Labour colleagUes whom he was creating Doctors of Laws....

By STRATEGICUS T HE battle of Berlin has matured very swiftly. In about ten days a third of the capital has been occupied, and there is little reason to doubt that the rest...

By WALTER ELLIOT, M.P. T HE strange thing about Stalin is that so little, really, is known about him. This is the conclusion forced upon one by the study of the literature. The...

By IRENE WARD, M.P. W E have become so accustomed to accurate and objective presentation of conditions in European countries when our Press correspondents are allowed access to...

By A. P. McDOUGALL Why have Local Authorities been stripped of practically all their agricultural responsibilities with the exception of small holdings? Though education has...

IT is little I expect from the efforts of the planning folk, Though my own were included in the show ; It is little I expect from the efforts of the planning folk, Though they...

By SIR GEOFFREY MANDER, M.P. I NTEREST in the pre-Raphaelites is reviving, and by a chain of circumstances I happen to have been brought into touch with a number of survivors...

By HAROLD NICOLSON Thiiringer forest, the Inselsberg and the distant Hartz, they sat together upon the grass while Goethe's servant Frederick unpacked the hamper which they had...

Hortobagy was shown privately some years ago to the Film Society and George Hoellering, who made it, has tried many times since to persuade the British Board of Film Censors...

THE THEATRE IT is very rare to find that a long-established reputation is not justified, and this superb production of The Duchess of Malfi makes no exception, but is...

New Watercolours by Paul Nash. At Tooth's Galleries. Early English Watercolours. At the Fine Art Society. MR. NASH'S most successful watercolours have been, and are, within a...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Snt,—I read with interest the letter in your issue of April 13th from a Personnel Officer. It is unfortunate that this officer worked at first with a...

Sta,—The claim of your correspondent, Mr. D. B. Srivastava, that India is not overpopulated and food supply has kept ahead of population is erroneous. Sir Azizul Huque, Food...

SIR,—I have been reading your issue of December 29, which reached me a few days ago, and I must express my astonishment that a responsible publication such as yours should have...

Stn,—We are advised that the food sitoation in this Country is serious, and that there is little likelihood orally appreciable increase in rations for some time, but, as most...

Sus,—In your note on Dr. Moore's letter in The Spectator of April 13th you say: "The fundamental question is whether there is to be a compre- hensive National Health Service or...

the coal industry miss the - main point. After fourteen monthi as a " Bevin boy," I can see, of course, that mechanisation is needed—as Sir Miles Thomas, of the Nuffield...

Stn,—The column "Country Life," by Sir W. Beach Thomas, is read week by week with great interest and enjoyment by the writer of this letter. In the issue of April 13th, under...

Sitt,—The decision, as announced in the Sunday Times of 15th instant concerning the B.B.C. and the broadcasting of the leading Symphony Orchestras fills one with dismay....

SIR, —Your adverse editorial comment on the unusual entry of the first Scottish Nationalist M.P. into Parliament indicates a misunderstanding of the issue involved. Dr....

Sin,—! should like to express my keen appreciation of the leading article " TWo. Presidents" in this week's Spectator. May I venture to point out, however, a small slip—the...

Six,—Many people will agree with " Janus " that a Roosevelt statue in London is next door to a necessity, and we are not without sculptors fitted for the job. The only thing...

ENGLAND had seemed utter paradise. It was difficidi .th:feel that any other spot on the sphere was equal to it; but in the rnidst of the - enjoyment came a letter from Florida,...

Sin,—Your readers will have noted the pained surprise with which Nazi prisoners and many of the inhabitants of their conquered cities learn how their nation has incurred the...

SIR,—Mr. Ajibola's letter headed "The Nigerian Student" impressed me greatly ; his statements reinforce the opinions I formed during my sojourns in Africa many years ago, when I...

Sta,—It seems probable that the Nazis have decided to fight to a finish in Holland, Denmark and Norway, and to drag those countries down with them into utter destruction and...

SiR,—Many, I'm sure, were glad to have read Professor Hayek's and other letters on the future of Austria ; but you have done her a far greater service in your pregnant and...

Survival-Value of Liberty The Free State. By D. W. Brogan. (Hanush Hamilton. 65.) THIS excellent book is a defence of the Free State againsi those who think that liberty can be...

Reinhold Niebuhr. (Nisbet. 7s. 6d.) A Christian Polities The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness. By Reinhold Niebuhr. (Nisbet. 7s. 6d.) IT has been evident for...

intelligent interest in food a book from the pen of such an authority as the President of the Wine and Food Society would be welcome at any time ; but coming just now it is...

Industrial Record : 1919-1939. Review by Cadbury Bros. (Pitmans. 8s. 6d.) THIS is an outstanding work which should be carefully studied, not only by business men but by...

Chronicle of Dawn. By Ramon J. Sender. (Jonathan Cape. 7s. 6d. ) Gone for a Burton. By Arthur Gwynn-Browne. (Chatto and Windus. 10s. 6d. ) Aunt Ansa. By Jean Ross. (Eyre and...

Lon g Ran g e Desert Group. By W. B. Kennedy Shaw. (Collins. 12s. 6d. ) NEARLY a hundred years ago, in a Manual of Outpost Duties, -there was published a diary written by a...

[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 al ter noon on Tuesday week, May 8th. Envelopes...

The winner of Crossword No. 318 is LIEUT. N. A. BREEZE, R.N.V.R., H.M. M.T.B. 777, c/o G.P,O., London.

Ploughman's Folly. By Edward Faulkner. (Michael Joseph. 8s. 6d.) FOR centuries the basis of agriculture has been the plough ; and it Mr. Faulkner's revolutionary proposal that...

By CUSTOS WELL prepared for a mark-time Budget the City has taken kindly to Sir John Anderson's statement. Only the blither type of optimist is' disappointed at the...