5 OCTOBER 1945

Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK

The Spectator

T HE letter which, it is now confirmed, was sent more than a month ago by President Truman to the British Government requesting that the doors of Palestine should be opened to "...

World Trade Unionism

The Spectator

The meetings of the world trade union conference at Paris have not been without some stormy episodes, but the sense that delegates were participating in an historic event in the...

The Speed-up in Demobilisation

The Spectator

Mr. Isaacs, the Minister of Labour, has redeemed his promise on behalf of the Government to arrange for the speeding-up of the whole procedure of demobilisation ; the revised...

Page 2

Local Government Changes

The Spectator

Many vital measures of social reconstruction in the near future will depend on the efficiency with which local authorities can play their part in administration, and these...

Education Prospects

The Spectator

In inheriting Mr. Butler's Education Act Miss Ellen Wilkinson inherits also the formidable difficulties of carrying it out, the greatest of which are shortage of teachers and...

Sir Stafford Cripps and Cotton

The Spectator

Sir Stafford Cripps has achieved a striking and rather unexpected success in Lancashire. His plan for appointing a " working-party " of employers, workers and independent...

The Condition of Germany

The Spectator

In view of the records of suffering which reach us from all the liberated countries of Europe, the British public has not a great deal of sympathy to spare for the misfortunes...

Liberation Problems in Java

The Spectator

In many parts of the Far East lately dominated by the Japanese " surrender " has been announced before liberation is by any means complete. Indo-China , and Java are cases in...

Page 3

AFTER FAILURE

The Spectator

T HE one fatal mistake in regard to the failure of the Conference of Foreign Ministers would be to attempt to palliate it. The first half of the injunction " Nothing extenuate...

Page 4

* * * * • The Home Secretary's decision to

The Spectator

send Borstal boys to Dartmoor really will not do. Public opinion will compel him to change it Dartmoor is not merely a convict prison, it is the bye-word among convict prisons....

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

The Spectator

I MPATIENCE over the Belsen trials seems to be growing, and ought to be. It is perfectly right, and in true accord with the best tradi- tions of British justice, that the...

No discovery more tremendous in its potential reactions could be

The Spectator

imagined than the account of the death of Christ said to be contained in contemporary manuscripts found in the course of excava- tions in Jerusalem. An official statement is...

* * * * I don't know whether there is

The Spectator

a shortage of wrist-watches in Russia, but there won't be for long, judging from what I hear of the move- ment of those commodities eastwards from Austria. Russian soldiers...

It is five months since the German war, and with

The Spectator

it the bombing of London, ended. The British Museum was naturally closed while the danger existed. It remains closed still—every department of it, I understand. This seems...

The retiring Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge delivered a singularly interesting address

The Spectator

on relinquishing his two-years' stewardship on Monday. The Master of Emmanuel is a man of original mind and clear-cut ideas. He talked challengingly of the creation of a...

The United Nations Association—the League of Nations Union adjusted to

The Spectator

new conditions—is launching itself publicly on the world at an Albert Hall meeting next Wednesday, when the speakers will include the Prime Minister, Mr. Eden and Mr....

A solution to the mathematical puzzle in this column last

The Spectator

week (six Parliamentary counsel + eight assistants = r3) is suggested. The witness who gave these figures was Sir Granville Ram, First Parlia- mentary Counsel ; asked what staff...

Page 5

END THE BIG THREE

The Spectator

By LORD VANSITTART T HE Big Three period has outlived its welcome. The institution served its purpose in military matters. Its political record was less satisfactory. In order...

Page 6

THE NEED FOR CHILDREN

The Spectator

By EVA M. HUBBACK T HE Royal Commission on Population has, after eighteen months' gestation, produced a very small mouse in the form of a statement which, neatly expressed as...

Page 7

COULD WE GO NAZI ?

The Spectator

By CONSTANCE REAVELEY T HERE is a very urgent task before us today, which unless much is going on in secret, we are neglecting. It is the task of under- standing the Nazis. I...

Page 8

NEWMAN'S RUBICON

The Spectator

By R. D. LLOYD J OHN HENRY NEWMAN performed two outstanding feats that contributed, more than anything else, to his fame. One was achieved on the night of October 8th, 1845,...

Page 9

PRESAGE

The Spectator

If, heedless of what now is known Of power that in an atom dwells, We let War's trumpet still be blown, Its blasts may vie with Gabriel's. And Earth, as when her course...

HOMEWARD FLIGHT

The Spectator

By JOSEP.H STEELE HERE was a hint of English austerity before we reached the I airport. From the Air Booking Centre in town we travelled in a brown lorry fitted with rough...

Page 10

I defined common sense as the vigilant avoidance of nonsense

The Spectator

; and as the most frequent and dangerous cause of nonsense, or the incorrect approach, I indicated the thoughtless acceptance of formulas, whether British or foreign. I...

MARGINAL COMMENT

The Spectator

By HAROLD NICOLSON I WAS lecturing at Eton this week on the subject of " The Approach to Foreign Affairs." I found my gaze wandering from the alert faces of my audience to the...

* * * * I am aware that any rich

The Spectator

country, possessed of sufficient mineral and industrial resources, will within the next year or so be able to " perfect " the atomic bomb. I am also aware that a small country...

The subject of my lecture that evening was one on

The Spectator

which I have spoken to very divers: audiences at different times. Its purpose was to indicate how the ordinary citizen, possessed of no specialised know- ledge or experience,...

I admitted that his compelling directive had been modified in

The Spectator

many material matters by events and inventions which had occurred since 1907. The perfection of the air-arm had modified, if it had not transformed, the efficacy of maritime...

Page 11

THE' CINEMA

The Spectator

" The Story of G.I. Joe:" At the London Pavilion. " Conflict." At Warners.—" Painted Boats." At the Tivoli. IT is a pleasure to see an American war film which conscientiously...

THE THEATRE

The Spectator

" Henry IV " (Part I). At the New." The Rivals." At the Criterion. I SHALL have nothing to say about the present splendid revival by the " Old Vic " Company at the New Theatre...

ART

The Spectator

The Philip Guedalla Collection of Caricatures. By Max Beerbohm— Paintings by Dorothy Annan. At the Leicester Galleries— Paintings by Henryk Gotlib. Roland, Browse and...

Page 12

SAVE EUROPE NOW "

The Spectator

SIE,—There are one or two impressive—and possibly significant—features about the spate of " Save Europe Now " appeals which has recently been launched in the form of letters to...

SELLING BRITAIN ABROAD

The Spectator

StE,—Mr. Philip Carr in his article " Selling Britain Abroad," repeats the frequently heard criticism of the British Council's failure to provide English periodicals for foreign...

PEACE THROUGH FEAR . . . ?

The Spectator

sm,—It is perhaps dangerous for a newcomer to venture to enter a con- troversy which is already under way, but as a man in the street I should like to have the opportunity of...

SIR,—The value and interest of the article " Selling Britain

The Spectator

Abroad " in your last edition of The Spectator is without question. I should like to stress the importance of the last paragraph, that country hotel-keepers should " show a...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Spectator

DIVIDED EUROPE Slit,—I have read, and many times re-read, the article " Divided Europe " in last week's edition of The Spectator. And, since this article states very...

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

The Spectator

StE,—I can only express astonishment that Mr. Comyns Carr could use such a ludicrous argument as he does in your issue of September 28th. In order to ascertain what the effect...

Page 13

DRINK AND THE STATE

The Spectator

Sut,—I feel perturbed after reading the article " Drink and the State " in your issue of September 28th. The writer, a Licensing Justice, has fallen into the error that all...

CONSUMERS' COMMITTEES SIR, May I refer to the interesting letter

The Spectator

from Mr. W. E. Simnett to your issue dated September 21st? This Council, which represents some 70,000 independent shopkeepers and traders (that is, the smaller type of shop),...

HOSPITAL HABITS

The Spectator

Snt,—Some of us are very grateful to Mr. Robert Hyde for putting down on paper what we have long been thinking. I had a month in the Whitby Cottage Hospital three years ago and...

ENGLISH • COOKING Sin,—Mr. John Fuller is, I think, somewhat'

The Spectator

too optimistic. English cooking is, and I am afraid will remain, renowned for many years as the worst in the whble of Europe. What is wrong with our professionals and, above...

4, MASTER AND BROTHER " Szn,—In his kindly notice, in

The Spectator

your issue of September 14th, of my book, "Master and Brother," Mr. Wilson Harris says that I make a " strange blunder " in asserting that it was Col. Seely (Lord Mottistone)...

HILL-FARMS AND MACHINERY-POOLS Sta,—" Imagine a harvester-thresher on a Welsh

The Spectator

hill farm! " So writes Sir William Beach Thomas ; and on my Welsh hill farm I have just harvested three-quarters of my oats with a combine at nearly 1,300 feet. I got over a ton...

Page 14

Mysterious Arrivals

The Spectator

Not only fish make their unaccountable appearance in pools and brooks which were just now dry land. I built a shallow concrete pond some two yards in diameter and planted a...

ERITREA AND ABYSSINIA

The Spectator

Stn,—Suggestions have appeared in your columns and elsewhere that the hill country of the late Italian colony of Eritrea should be transferred to the Sudan, and that only the...

COUNTRY LIFE

The Spectator

NO one has put more effectual energy into the means of reviving - food production in Europe than Sir John Russell, just now the DireCtor of Rothamsted. Everyone will regret that...

A National Park I happen to have walked over, during

The Spectator

the late summer, a good part of that adorable district in Cumberland which is now offered as a National Forest Park, so-called. It always was a national park in essence. On my...

SOUTH TYROL

The Spectator

Sin,—I am very glad to see that, in your current issue, you say " Un- questionably South Tyrol should be restored to Austria." As one who has visited the South Tyrol, better...

Why Hornets ?

The Spectator

Can any wise entomologist explain (t) Why hornets should be more numerous than in any year within memory and wasps fewer? You would think that the same conditions would help or...

In My Garden What a blessed race is the Cotoneaster!

The Spectator

If you have a Simonsii to stand upright and a Horizontalis to lie down you will never miss winter berries. The birds seem less fond of them than of the very similar Pyracanthus,...

THE ATTRIBUTES OF SCIENTISTS . •

The Spectator

Stn,—Mr. Hampson's answer to my first question (" Which attributes? ") is a stream of unqualified reviling no more worthy of our respect than the infamous pronouncement which...

The Spectator

Page 16

The High Court of Parliament

The Spectator

Our Parliament. By S. Gordon. (Hansard Society. 6s.) THERE are some books which it is difficult to praise too highly This is one of them. More than a generation has elapsed...

BOOKS OF THE DAY

The Spectator

Millennial Dawn The Jehovah's Witnesses. By Herbert Hewitt Stroup. (Columbia University Press. $2.50; Oxford. 16s. 6d.) IT is a curious fact that the body of believers calling...

Page 18

Older Than Fascism

The Spectator

An Italian Diary. By Flora Stark. (Murray. 6s.) WAR provided the occasion for this little book. Mrs. Stark, who had lived for fifteen years at Asolo, where she ran a silk...

Fresh Air

The Spectator

MANY teachers, particularly women, must at one time or another have simpered at the compliment, " But I should never have thought you were a teacher." As Miss Strudwick...

Page 20

Fiction

The Spectator

"You must read Warren Beck's Final Score." "You must read At Mrs. Lippincote's by Elizabeth Taylor." Novels, we are told by reliable experts, are read, not because publishers...

Page 21

COMPANY MEETING

The Spectator

ASSOCIATED BRITISH PICTURE SIR PHILIP WARTER'S SPEECH THE eighteenth ordinary general meeting of the Associated British Pic- ture Corporation, Limited, was held on Thursday...

is THE SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 343

The Spectator

MEMIMIMEE111 111 • • • • EINEM ••••••••• • • NENE MENNE ISMEIMINSEM • • • • • • • El ill NI NEMESES' MEE= •••••••• EMMEN 111•••••••• •••••••• Nua i rr i n • • •...

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 341

The Spectator

SOLUTION ON OCTOBER 19th The winner of Crossword No. 341 is Miss BANKS, 21, Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, 2.

Page 22

Adventure Is Never Done. By Douglas Dixon. John Gifford. 10s.

The Spectator

6d.) IN spite of the " penny-dreadful " title and jacket, this account of one of the war's smaller exploits is well worth reading. Since 1942, the Admiralty has been employing...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

The Spectator

By CUSTOS IT is a striking indication of the hopefulness of investment sentimcn that the steadily accumulating evidence of the transition difficulties of British industry is...

.Shoriet 1\o/ices

The Spectator

The Dutch Navy at War. By Lieutenant-Commander Kroese, Royal Netherlands Navy. (George Allen and Unwin. 6s. od.) ALTHouox Dutch warships haw. fought many actions during the...

THE Ministry of Supply have granted additional paper for periodicals

The Spectator

to be sent overseas. This will enable copies of The Spectator to be forwarded to friends of our readers, both civilians and those in the Forces, in any part of the world, except...