6 FEBRUARY 1942

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ON ALL FRONTS I N all the main battle-zones the time-factor

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has 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

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The 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

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Mr. 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

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The 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

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The 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

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In 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

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The 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

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It 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

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0 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,

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and 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

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F 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

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on 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

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some 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

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is 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

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of 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

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By 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

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By 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

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By 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

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By 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

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thinking "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,

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revealing 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

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with 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

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By 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

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the 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

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are 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

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IF 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

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6 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

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The 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

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One 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

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A 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

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THE 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

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me 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 "

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big 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

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Sm,—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

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school, 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

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Sta,—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

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SIR, —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

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Public 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

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SIR,—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.

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SIR,—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

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the 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.

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Snt,—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

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Sut,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

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Sue,—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

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is 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

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am 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

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What 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

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PROFESSOR 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

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NOVELS 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

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A 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

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Fiscal 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

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The 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

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is Mrs. B. S. Hogarth, ercial Bank House, Ayton, Berwickshire.

4 , THE SPECTATOR " CROSSWORD No. 152 prize of a

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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 m arked with the words "...

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Life on the Land. By Fred Kitchen, with woodcuts by

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Frank 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

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is 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

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By 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

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THE 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...