6 JUNE 1952

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- COLD WAR WARMS UP

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T HE provocations and counter-provocations in and around Berlin are a miserable business, which might quite easily become dangerous, though the Allies certainly, and Russia...

Eisenhower in the Spotlight

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Those observers who have persisted in regarding General Eisenhower's very late start in the Presidential campaign as tactically wise must at this moment be a little...

Page 2

Supreme Court and President

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The ruling of the Supreme Court on President Truman's action in seizing the steel industry in order to prevent a strike which would gravely impede armament production is itself...

A New Disarmament Approach

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The reaction of the Soviet delegate to the proposals put forward in the Disarmament Commission by the British delegate, Sir Gladwyn Jebb, last week is characteristic, except...

The African Ferment

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The constitutional deadlock in South Africa is proceeding according to plan, without any hint of compromise emerging. It now looks almost inevitable that South Africa will soon...

Mr. Senanayake's Victory

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Within a few weeks of the death two months ago of her Prime Minister, Mr. D. S. Senanayake, Ceylon was plunged into a general election. There could be no better testimony - to...

Stubbornness in Durham

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The chairman of the Durham County Council, speaking about the Council's dispute with the National Union of 'teachers on the closed shop issue, is reported as saying: " I do not...

Page 3

THE KOREAN MENACE

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I N going to Korea to face at close quarters all the grim and intractable problems that are to be found there Lord Alexander is setting a badly-needed example of realism and...

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A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

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M R. HAROLD NICOLSON's Life of King George V is in the Press and will presum- ably be published in the autumn. It is almost time to wonder who will be entrusted with the Life of...

I suggested a few weeks ago that Lord Altrincham, the

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Editor of the National and English Review, would no doubt be dealing in that journal with the statements in the new volume of The History of The Times regarding his alleged part...

Confusion between Mr. Ifor L Evans, Principal of University College,

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Aberystwyth, and Dr. B. Ifor Evans, Provost of University College, London, has been constant. It will now unhappily end, through the death.of Mr. Ifor L. Evans last Saturday. He...

The talented authoress of Forever Amber (which I may read

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some day) has recovered some £9,000, or its equivalent in dollars, from the income-tax authorities in America on the ground that she is not a professional writer; she just...

I wonder what Mr. Morrison thought he was gaining by

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telling a Danish.audience that if a Labour Government came back it would press for the admission of Communist China to the United Nations. I wonder too, incidentally, on what...

The Fire Brigade Committee of the Durham County Council (which

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has been making itself notorious in other directions) is protesting against the appointment of a man from the South of England as Chief Regional Fire Officer for Durham and two...

▪ * A gentleman remanded on bail at Cambridge on

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a charge of assaulting an undergraduate protested vigorously against his arrest and said he had written about it to.Mr. Justice Lynskey, The People and Gilbert Harding. It seems...

I am proposing to learn to speak, fired to that

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adventure by an admirable pamphlet on the subject by Mr. S. H. Wood, late of the Ministry of Education, written for, and published by, the National Association of Girls' and...

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Caravans and Cabins

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By 1 HOMAS GARNER JAMES M ORE than one in every hundred of the prosperous citizens of the United States now lives the year round, happily and by choice, in a caravan-trailer....

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St. George and the Dragon

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By IAIN HAMILTON T HE week-end before last I attended two meetings at which the present state of " culture " in Britain was the prime concern. One, on the Saturday, was the...

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Health Means Test ?

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By SIR RONALD DAVISON S INCE 1948 we in Great Britain have had a National Health Scheme which offers us free medical treatment, both the comprehensive variety in the surgery or...

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Republican Revival ?

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By ROBERT WAITHMAN Washington. T HE view that it would be a far, far better thing for every- one if the twenty-year rule of the Democratic Party in America were broken and a...

- God Wot

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I don't garden. Because, when I garden, Not only does it make my arteries harden (Whereas when I lie flat on my back They have every encouragement to remain supple and slack)...

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AN IDEAL BIRTHDAY GIFT

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We will post -the SPECTATOR to any of your friends residing in any part of the world at the following rates :— 52 weeks, 35s. ; 26 weeks, 17s. 6d. In addition a Birthday...

UNDERGRADUATE PAGE

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As to Motor-Cycles By JOHN W. CRAWFORD (Glasgow University.) "F forty thousand casualties in a single year will not shock motor-cyclists into driving more carefully, what will...

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MARGINAL COMMENT

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By HAROLD NICOISON I IMAGINE that for my grandchildren the phrase " a famous hostess " will seem archaic, having associations as outmoded as those suggested to my own...

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THE sweet bird's throat itself (not to mention the harsher

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homing note of an occasional aeroplane) was something of a distraction in the early part. Did the sweet artifice of the comedy seem a little shaky in the plain light of London ?...

CONTEMPORARY ARTS

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THEATRE Timon of Athens. By William Shakespeare. (The Old Vic.) WATCHING Timon was, I found, rather like going to some scandalously sophisticated party at which, halfway...

Meet Mr. Callaghan. (Garrick.)

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THE curtain was raised, as far as I was concerned, to denote little more than the passage of two-and-a-quarter hours. This adaptation of one of Mr. Peter Cheyney's crime-stories...

CINEMA

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So Bright the Flame. (Empire.)—The Quiet Man. (Plaza.)— Just Across the Street. (Leicester Square.) DR. EMILY DUNNING was one of the Florence Nightingales of America at the...

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Troy-weight

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Pure gold, Helen, you were pure gold, And never undervalued, never cold. Uncommon currdncy, your fortune weathers The exchange of foreign values, language, date. But Helen,...

MUSIC ArrEa the Halle Orchestra's Dream of Gerontius -1 was

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reminded of Andre Gide 's answer to the question " Who is the greatest French poet ? " " Victor Hugo, helas ! " sighed Gide, scrupulously honest but wishing that he could hand...

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SPECTATOR COMPETITION No. 118 Report by John Usborne A prize

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of £5 was offered for the best native comments on British weather in one triolet stanza beginning either : " It's bound to stop now That I've got my umbrella." The rain's bound...

SPECTATOR COMPETITION No. 121

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Set by R. Kennard Davis A prize of £5, which may be divided, is offered for a character- sketch of Stalin taken from either Carlyle's " Russian Revolution," or Gibbon's "...

The spectator, lure 5th, 1852

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The most recent accounts from the United States speak of a likelihood that Mr. Fillmore will withdraw his claims to the Presidency, in favour of Mr. Webster. This still leaves...

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Sul,—Under this pathetic heading your correspondent, " Senex," voices the

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unsubstantiated opinion that " there seem to be many medical men today, especially in country districts, who resent patients on their panel whom they consider quite well enough...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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- A Policy for Rivers Sut,—A few weeks ago the Pride of Derby and Derbyshire Angling Association Limited were granted an injunction and damages against British Celanese...

Patients' Plight

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Sta,—In reply to the letter from "Senex," may I say first that I am entirely in favour of the National Health Service, of which now well over ninety per cent. of the population...

should like to endorse the lament of "Senex " about

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the situa- tion under the N.H.S. 'of patients who " could" pay. When we became N.H.S. patients the doctor made it unmistakably clear to us that we could not expect the same...

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Silencers and Speed SIR,—Your correspondent, Mr. B. D. Spencer, asks

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you to press for legislation to compel young motor-cyclists to use silencers. It is already illegal to drive a motor vehicle with an ineffective silencer. And what is more, on...

Competition - for Scientists Snt,—Your unhelpful editorial comment on the use

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of good scientists amounts to burying your ostrich head in the sands, and killing the grammar-school sixth-form goose which has laid golden eggs. One considerable alleviation to...

The New Kingston Hospital Sm,—The reference by Janus in A

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Spectator's Notebook of May 23rd, to the proposed new hospital for Kingston and Malden was very gratifying to us, because it stresses two important points often over-...

SIR, —Mr. B. D. Spencer will be disappointed to hear that

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some motor- cycle silencers are so carefully designed that they actually increase the efficiency of the engine and therefore the possible maximum speed of

Legalised Lotteries SIR,—Apart from the fact that Mr. Phillips is

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a mathematician and I am merely a linguist, I do not know that he is better qualified than I am to criticise football-pools; and when he says that "the forecasting of draws is a...

Nurses in the Home SIR, —I am in full agreement with

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Mr. R. L. Kitchin that " poorer patients (most markedly in villages) were much better cared for thirty years ago." In the days of voluntary district nursing associations in our...

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Dr. Truby King

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SIR,—In a recent number of your journal there was a reference to the work of the late Dr. Truby King. It was stated that Dr. King, like Madame Montessori, began his work in the...

Dr. or Herr?

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Sut,—The B.B.C. is certainly not consistent. In the French Service of the B.B.C. from London the German Chancellor is always referred to as " le Docteur Adenauer." So why not on...

Federation and Confederation

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Sm,—Is it right to found the distinction between federal and confederate union on the assumption that the latter is a mere alliance creating no superior authority ? Is it not...

Fritillaries

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Sm,—Although it is obvious from the context that the Turk's Cap mentioned by Matthew Arnold, to which Dr. Garrod refers in his letter in the Spectator of May 16th, is not...

Domestic Service

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SIR,—A woman speaker on careers, addressing girls at a secondary school recently, was asked by one girl a question as to domestic service, which the questioner intended taking...

Modern Mosaics

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SIR,—Having read your art critic's notice of the replicas of the Ravenna mosaics at present exhibited by the Arts Council at the New Burlington Galleries, I am impelled to...

Railway Regions

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SIR,—Compact and familiar names for our railway regions would be Great Western, Southern, North-Western, North-Eastern and Cale- donian. All of these, except Southern, date back...

Crockford Prefaces

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S1R, —How much I agree with Janus regarding the value of the Crock- ford prefaces. Seven 'years ago I was moved to recommend their publication in book form for the benefit of...

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Using Lawn-Clippings

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- These days, when the lawn has to be cut almost every seven days, there is an opportunity of adding one of the finest ingredients to the 'compost-heap. Lawn clippings can -be...

The Snail-Eater

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' " My old grandfer was a strong man an' very quick-tempered. Ho liked children, but he couldn't bear them makin' a noise. ` Stop that 'er tootin',' he'd say when I come in...

COUNTRY LIFE

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EVERYONE who had walked in a wood in summer has heard oihe drumming of the great or lesser spotted woodpeckers. Many people who have not seen either know the green woodpecker...

Underwater World

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In the calm, when the wind had gone completely, I amused myself by leaning over the side of the boat and peering into the water. The bed of a lake is a fascinating thing of...

An Old Outhouse Once the outhouse was used for. storing

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implements, but now it is going slowly to ruin. Slates have fallen off here and there, and the floor has become sodden. In spite of the ravages of the years, it still gives...

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American Spy Panic

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Ordeal By Slander. By Owen Lattimore. MacGibbon & Kee. 13s. 6d.) ONE of the great differences between the atmosphere of Britain in the two wars was the comparative absence of...

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

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Boswell and Zelide Boswell in Holland, 1763-1764. Edited by Frederick A. Pottle. (Heinemann. 25s.) " Boswell when cool and sedate fixes rules for Boswell to live by in the...

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Lord Simon Remembers

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Retrospect. By Viscount Simon. (Hutchinson. 25s.) IT has been almost roses, roses, all the way with Lord Simon, but not quite. Having decided to choose politics instead of the...

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Van . Eyck Problems THE number of important books on Van

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Eyck and his school is rapidly increasing. This last work, written by a former Director of the Vienna Gallery, comes after Professor Van Puyvelde's Holy Lamb (Collins, 1947) and...

Milne Pot-Pourri

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Year in, Year out. By A. A. Milne. (Methuen. 15s.) MR. MILNE has herded together in the fold of stiff covers a flock of thoughts which, during his many years as a writer, have...

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• .

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Ado p t ion : Facts and Opinions Child Adoption in the Modern World. By Margaret Kornitzer. (Putnam. 16s.) Child Adoption in the Modern World. By Margaret Kornitzer. (Putnam....

Vatican and Kremlin

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Cominunism, Democracy and Catholic Power. By Paul Blanshard. (Cape. 18s.) Cominunism, Democracy and Catholic Power. By Paul Blanshard. (Cape. 18s.) MR. BLANSHARD, who is already...

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Fiction

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Take The Cash. By Elinor Rice. (Heinemann. 12s. 6d.) THIS week's novels seem to be rather a jolly lot, pleasant books about likeable people with an unusual amount of plot to...

The French Romantics

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IN this sound, well-documented survey of French social doctrines, Dr. Evans does much to destroy the popular conception of Romantic ideology. Indeed, he lets the Romantics...

Hunter and his Times

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THERE is probably nothing new to be said about John Hunter. Every year, for many decades, a Hunterian Oration has been read by a selected orator before the Royal College of...

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FINANCE AND INVESTMENT By _CUSTOS IT is now a case

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of the long and the short of it in the stock markets. From the long-term investment standpoint many securities are looking cheap. In this category I will include medium-dated...

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THE "SPECTATOR" CROSSWORD No. 681

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[A Book Token for one guinea will be awarded to the sender of the first correct tolutYon opened after noon on Tuesday week. lune 17th, addressed Crossword. 99 Gower Street....

Solution to Crossword No. 679 Solution on The winner of

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Crossword No. 679 is: Miss E. C. PATERSON, 42, Murrayfield Gardens, Edinburgh, 12. June zo