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ON ALL FRONTS I N all the main battle-zones the time-factor
The Spectatorhas become a matter I of vital importance. In Russia its urgency lies in the need to drive the enemy back from the strong advance-points from which they hope to launch-their...
Prince of Wales' and Repulse
The SpectatorThe controversy about `Prince of Wales' and 'Repulse ' falls Into two parts — why were these capital ships sent at all without the support of aircraft-carriers, and, secondly,...
Australia and Britain
The SpectatorMr. W. M. Hughes, who was Commonwealth Prime Minister in the last war, has spoken out frankly about the stream of " anti-British, anti-Empire " propaganda which has been poured...
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Ethiopia Restored
The SpectatorThe treaties with Ethiopia and Iran, the text of which has now been published, follow the lines predicted here last week. That with Ethiopia is of particular importance, and...
Airmen in the Making
The SpectatorThe first year's experience of the Air Training Corps has been successful to the point when it assures for some time to come a continuous stream of good recruits for the Royal...
A Men's Committee on Women's Services
The SpectatorIn appointing a committee to examine welfare conditions in the three women's services commonly known by their initials. the A.T.S., W.R.N.S. and W.A.A.F., the Government have...
Financial Aid to China
The SpectatorThe policy which makes it profitable for Britain and America tc give the utmost possible aid to Russia is applicable for exactly the same reasons to China. Just as Russia is in...
Soviet Views on British Industry
The SpectatorIt has been an excellent thing in every way that the Russian trade union delegation to this country should have been able to make an extensive tour of our industrial towns, and...
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DIPLOMACY AND ECONOMICS
The Spectator0 reform in our constitutional practice is more urgently necessary than the restoration of the Foreign Secretary the position in relation to Parliament, the country and binet...
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" It only remained for him to suffer in silence,
The Spectatorand to bear with fortitude, but without reply, the popular clamour against him for not having provided the very safeguards which he himself had clearly foreseen to be necessary...
A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
The SpectatorF OR an imaginative man Mr. Churchill shows himself surpris- ingly unimaginative in the periodical reshufllings of his administration. New men are rarely brought in—despite the...
A week or two ago a puhlic man whose words
The Spectatoron any subject carry more weight than most public men's said to me, " If I had my way I would abolish the India Office altogether." I was the more interested, therefore, to see...
Sir Stafford, by the way, has just put on paper
The Spectatorsome important observations about Russia. He was one of the originators, and, I believe, the chief financial supporter, of the Labour weekly, The Tribune, which publishes this...
On the detailed merits of the controversy Mr. Stanley Unwin
The Spectatoris carrying on in the columns of The Times with Trinity College, Dublin, I have no desire to pronounce. But on the fundamental fact on which the argument hinges there is room...
S.P.C.E. Corner I am asked to affix the official damn
The Spectatorof the Society to the use of "-like " as a conjunction (" like many bad writers use it "). Most certainly. Double dams hereby affixed. " WHO WOULD You Puv In, by Lord Winster "...
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FIRST THINGS FIRST
The SpectatorBy STRATEGICUS SURVEY of the war suggests that the next phase will be conditioned by decisions on 'priorities that are being taken ow. The Middle East and the Far East claim all...
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WHERE THE FOREIGN OFFICE FAILS
The SpectatorBy SIR WALFORD SELBY* T HE conditions under which this country found itself at war in September, 1939, have turned the attention of public opinion to the problem of the...
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" THE DYNASTS IN WAR-TIME
The SpectatorBy SIEGFRIED SASSOON I MAY as well say at once that in my opinion those of my readers who have not read or re-read The Dynasts since September, 1939, would be wise to do so. To...
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POGROM POLITICS
The SpectatorBy DAVID THOMSON N Hitler's speech of last Friday one passage deserves special I attention. " The -farther the war spreads," he declared, " the farther anti-Semitism is going...
During the summer of 1940 I several times overheard myself
The Spectatorthinking "How that reminds me of something in The Dynasts! " That something was usually an essentially countrified episode or state of affairs—something simple and permanent in...
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THE DOCTOR'S EDUCATION By A MEDICAL STUDENT W AR—the great enzyme,
The Spectatorrevealing and accelerating hidden tendencies—has not lost its character. The medical pro- fession has seen some radical changes at its hands already ; and more must come in one...
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When I compare Herr Ibben's three constituents of German humour
The Spectatorwith my own memories of German gaiety, I find that he has illumined for me an area of perplexity. How often (walking back under the small trees of the Tiergarten) have I...
MARGINAL COMMENT
The SpectatorBy HAROLD NICOLSON I WAS reading recently in Die Zeitung (that intelligent news- paper which is published in London) an article by Hans Karl Ibben entitled "Have the Germans a...
Herr Ibben is not wholly clear in his mind regarding
The Spectatorthe differ- ence between a sense of humour and the capacity for wit, ins- vective, irony, ridicule or nonsense. Nobody could deny that the Germans have a native wit, although it...
We are proud of our sense of humour, and there
The Spectatorare moments when we become a trifle conceited about it. At its best, it cer- tainly does indicate a balanced instinct for proportion and a wise conception of the proper relation...
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COUNTRY LIFE
The SpectatorIF anyone wishes for a picture of the new era in British farming let him visit the centre from which the County Agricultural Committee exercises its functions. He will find...
THE CINEMA
The Spectator6 In the Rear of the Enemy " and " A Drop of Milk." At the Tatter. ✓ is one of the more exasperating characteristics of the British or at any rate English) temperament that a...
The Armistice
The SpectatorThe close season, which begins after, not on, the first day of February, proved for once in a way not too late. The partridges showed more inclination to pack than to pair, and...
In the Garden
The SpectatorOne of the most agreeable products of the garden that has been introduced to my palate since the war opened has come from the kitchen of a farmhouse. The flower garden as well...
A Maternal Pullet
The SpectatorA poultry-keeper in the village noticed that one of the pullets was sitting longer than seemed necessary for the matter in hand, and so to say, with more intention. As she began...
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LETTERS TO
The SpectatorTHE EDITOR THE PRODUCTION MUDDLE Stn,—While your leading article of the 23rd ult. on the .upply muddle and your subsequent note on the T.U.C. demand for an overhaul of our...
SIR,—Your leading article deserved its prominence. My engineering connexion brings
The Spectatorme into fairly wide general contact with the industry, and I am shocked at the waste of time and capacity occurring daily for various reasons, some unavoidable, others not so....
SIR,—The very obvious Government policy of dealing soleh with "
The Spectatorbig businesses " for their main war supplies ignores at one and the same time the value of human contact between employer and employee, and the inherent craftsmanship and trade...
THE ALLIES AND FRANCE
The SpectatorSm,—In Mr. Belon comments on my letter 1 detect one or inc very familiar red herrings. Nazi propaganda long ago discovered the mental chaos which can be produced by making...
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A PLAN FOR EDUCATION SIR, —May the Headmaster of a public
The Spectatorschool, financed entirely out of L.E.A. funds and admitting its pupils, between 7o per cent. and So per cent. of whom come from elementary schools, on the too per cent. Special...
NEW TAXATION
The SpectatorSta,—The time is drawing near when the Chancellor of the Exchequer has to find fresh sources of revenue to meet the war expenses . of the country. This task is becoming more...
ANTI-SEMITISM IN ENGLAND
The SpectatorSIR, —Mr. Harold Nicolson's fear of the growth of anti-Jewish feelings in England was broached by him in your columns some weeks ago, and a Mr. Mayer touched upon it in a short...
SIR,—Mr. Jacks' article on the contribution to be made by
The SpectatorPublic Schools to the national education was timely and in many ways most admirable. However, I think there are a few points to be noticed Which generally seem to escape...
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WOMEN DIPLOMATS
The SpectatorSIR,—How nobly some of our feminine mouthpieces " are trying to fight the cause of woman ! Women Diplomats, says Miss Eleanor Rathbone in her letter to you, might be most useful...
THE S.P.C.E.
The SpectatorSIR,—How glad I am that " Janus " has invented the S.P.C.E.! For now we have a court to which we can bring atrocities with the comforting knowledge that they will at any rate be...
Stit,—Mr. Harold Nicolson writes: "The French, and to some extent
The Spectatorthe Italians, being logical and insular . . ." Is it not the height of insularity to describe a Continental nation as " insular "? At the same time, it is difficult to suggest a...
MUSIC AND THE B.B.C.
The SpectatorSnt,—May I be allowed an inch or two in your valuable columns to endorse most forcibly your quite unanswerable article on " Music and the B.B.C." written by W. J. Turner in your...
FOREIGN PLACE NAMES
The SpectatorSut,I hope Mr. Nicolson likes as much as I do the rather ingenious Lompromise adopted by some announcers—the use of the English name for foreign towns, but pronounced in a...
THIS FREEDOM NONSENSE
The SpectatorSue,—With reference to " Janus's " comment on the Master of the Rolls, it is extremely undesirable that a Roman Catholic should occupy such a position, as it is equally...
Sm,—In family relationships, in occupation and in public life, woman
The Spectatoris a born ambassador and diplomatist, her inherent patience, tact and perseverance against odds specially qualifying her for the work. She succeeds as a Member of Parliament and...
• CAPTAIN BALFOUR'S BROAC CAST
The Spectatoram amazed at the enclosed, written by you in The Spectator. How you can approve of the Headmaster of Rugby's impossible letter is more than I can understand. Captain Balfour's...
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BOOKS OF THE DAY
The SpectatorWhat We Want to Know Victory From The Air. By Auspex. (Geoffrey Bles. ios. 6d.) THIS book answers exhaustively those questions which are always to be heard when the air war is...
The Anti-Nazi Nietzsche
The SpectatorPROFESSOR BRINTON'S book on Nietzsche is the first in a n series of monographs, " Makers of Modern Europe," which th University of Harvard is publishing ; if the other volumes...
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Fiction
The SpectatorNOVELS appearing during the last six months or more have by now established an average of dullness which must surely even in the well-flattened field of fiction, an all time...
America for_ Schools
The SpectatorA Brief History of the United States. By Allan Nevins. (Clarendot Press. 3s. 6d.) WE owe this book to the American Ambassador, Mr. John Cl Winant, and therefore the reviewer's...
Economic War
The SpectatorFiscal Policy and Busioess Cycles. By Alvin H. Hansen. (George Allen and Unwin. x8s.) The Battle for Supplies. By E. V. Francis. (Cape. 8s. 6d.) THE first of these books is...
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Shorter Notices
The SpectatorThe World Crisis, 1911 - 1918. By the Rt. Hon. Winston Churchill. (Macmillan. 'Ss.) As an admirably, if accidentally, timed answer to Hitler's recent rhetorical question, " What...
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SOLUTION ON FEBRUARY 20th The winner of Crossword No. 15o
The Spectatoris Mrs. B. S. Hogarth, ercial Bank House, Ayton, Berwickshire.
4 , THE SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 152 prize of a
The SpectatorBook 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 m arked with the words "...
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Life on the Land. By Fred Kitchen, with woodcuts by
The SpectatorFrank Ormerod. (Dent. 12S. 6d.) IN his new boolg Mr. Kitchen tells the story of a year's work on an English farm month by month, and binds to it the story of the men and women...
THE appearance of a second edition of this important book
The Spectatoris of value primarily as calling attention again to the book's existence. It is by no means free from faults, particularly on the political side. The criticism of Sir Edward...
FINANCE AND INVESTMENT
The SpectatorBy CUSTOS REPORTS from Washington that we are about to witness the adoption of a common currency are, to say the least, premature. I cannot believe that-we have moved far...
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COMPANY MEETING
The SpectatorTHE BRITISH-AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY, LIMITED THE thirty-ninth annual general meeting of the British-American Tobacco Company, Limited, was held on February 2nd at the London...