E LECTION manifestos are part of the ritual of Parliamen- tary elections, and as such ought to be respected, which is to say that they ought not to be subjected to too exacting...

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 1955 PRICE 7d.

T . understand the events at present taking place in Southern Indo-China it is necessary to bear in mind two facts : first, that the situation there is dictated by the rivalries...

stampede their employers into concessions or to alarm the Government so much that it would force the employers' hand. Naturally when this happens the public begins to cast a...

W HO could have guessed ten years ago, when the policy of unconditional surrender was being pressed home and Gertnany lay broken and bleeding beneath the invading armies, that...

S Fleet Street settled into its pre-election stride, one newspaper could be observed ahead of the field : the News Chronicle, whose Gallup Polls coverage keep it well out in...

An American correspondent writes : While the Secretary's penchant for what polite circles, from inability to employ a better phrase, call 'sharing responsi- bilities' should be...

BY HENRY FAIRLIE M UCH too much fuss is being made about the Govern- ment's decision to abolish all purchase tax on non- woollen and domestic textiles. It is extremely doubt-...

BY IAIN HAMILTON O UT of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki explosions a cloud of guilt fell on to intellectual America, and on none more stingingly than those who had conceived and...

his Sunday newspaper readers last week whether we should be represented at high-level talks by Sir Anthony Eden, `the expert diplomatist whom Americans trust,' or by Clement...

support an excellent Royal Fine Art Commission and withhold from it the power to do anything effective in the areas where its corrective influence is most needed. In the City of...

I HAVE MANY memories of Arthur Deakin. I sat with him once, at the other side of a large polished table in Transport House, discussing the question of Communists in the trade...

'Off the Party Line,' which the News Chronicle is running during the campaign under the direction of Mr. Percy Cudlipp. Five 'independents' have been asked to contribute their...

I S it a mere accident of history, or has it a deeper sympto- matic meaning, that the restoration of sovereignty to Western Germany comes ten years, almost to the day, after the...

age of 79, held for many of the inter-war years an ill-defined but invaluable position on the staff of the Spectator. He was a sound leader-writer and a shrewd, though generally...

wait till last week before taking its revenge on the Archbishop of Canterbury for his remark that the newspaper stories about Princess Margaret and Group Captain Townsend had...

the newspaper strike has been even more serious than expected. The loss in circulation to the evening newspapers is, I believe, something like fifteen per cent.

BY BRIAN INGLIS surprised to find horns growing under his Homburg. But he is always the lawyer, mindful of his brief. Before he ever went to Ireland, he was convinced that...

editor, Mr. Sydney - Elliott. For some time there has been a battle for power being waged on the Board of Odhams between Mr. Parrack on the one hand and Mr. Surrey Dane on the...

BY JOHN ARLOTT T HE first County Cricket Championship matches and the opening fixture of the South African touring team will begin this weekend. By the same date in 1930,...

BY DAVID LOSHAK (BRASENOSE COLLEGE, OXFORD) T HE broadcast was due to begin at eight. They had told me to be at the studio just before seven. I arrived just before seven. I had...

to sleep lately for thinking of Mon- mouth. Is it Welsh or English? If a Welsh Nationalist puts up for it in the coming election, how will the Men of Gwent, as Monmouth people...

BY IAN MALL I N one respect the past month failed to produce the sort of weather that one somehow associates with traditional spring. We had few showers; but if the showers were...

ground fell away rapidly, a drop of 300 feet and more, and my companions paused to admire the view of the valley and the river winding through it and glittering in the afternoon...

trees in his garden may fuss about them or, as is more often the case, leave them to do their best without nursing; but how different things are for the man with a commercial...

rain or a light watering with a fine rose on the can, when unwanted plants can be easily pricked out. If necessary, the thinnings can be planted elsewhere in moist soil, but the...

I NEVER met Jim Corbett, who died the other day. He must have been one of the greatest big-game hunters of his time, and I shall always remember, as an example of how to conduct...

SIR,—Anyone who was associated with the Spectator in the years between the First World War and the Second will have read with sad- ness in Tuesday's paper of the death of Wil-...

SIR,—What is the scientific background be- hind Dr. Thomson's superficial letter? He says Nature has added fluorides to our drink- ing water. Does this mean that if a hole is...

Christians and Humanists A. R. Lacey, P. G. J. Pulzer W. V. Copper Derek Verschoyle The Troubled Air A. D. C. Peterson Fluoridation Charles Dillon, Doris Davy Cold Feet in the...

SIR,—There seems to be one section of the community which has not suffered from the BBC's sound barrier. On Thursday of last week I was billed in the Radio Times to pre- side...

Euston 3221

29, claims that the religious revival in Cambridge represents a reawakening of the social conscience and of reforming zeal. If this were so, few people would quarrel with it....

for works of quasi-science sufficiently to consult a text-book on anatomy, he will discover that we taste not with our palates but with our tongues.

SIR, — In your correspondence columns last week you permitted Lord Wootton to appeal for funds for the Conservative Party. May I ask if you will be good enough to extend the...

fluoridation extended to my children, and I contest the right of the majority—if it be a majority, which I doubt— to inflict it on them. It is the rights of minorities, not of...

Laski's political theory,' basing this state- ment apparently largely upon two weaknesses within his political and social reasoning: (a) that 'Laski's political theory is full...

filthy vermin, Their vile proposals you assume Must be obstructed, you determine. J. S. M. JACK

SIR, Mr. David Ormsby Gore unwittingly makes the views which I hold about the future of Germany look ridiculous and even dan- gerous by identifying them with the entirely new...

you like to call it) has a positive, an Orwellian quality; in All's Well That Ends Well we arc reminded, rather, of Frederick Lonsdale in his later and less happy vein. The main...

Tut: BBC is much too polite to give a Bronx cheer to the Labour Party, but I can imagine there were some hollow laughs in Portland Place when the party manifesto solemnly...

THEATRE KIND Hems' IV (PARTS 1 AND 2). BY William SHAKESPEARE. (Old Vic.) — Ton JAZZ TRAIN. (Piccadilly.)—THE MERRY WIDOW. (Palace.) LET it be said at once that these two parts...

the works in the 18,7th summer exhibition of the Royal Academy five seconds apiece. You will find that it produces fewer blushes and contains more pleasant and quietly competent...

THE GOLD RUSH. (National Film Theatre.)— SAWDUST AND TINSEL. (Academy.)—Tin. BEACH. (Cinephone.) ANY revival of a Chaplin film is an occasion not merely in its own right, but...

HOUSE THIS is "a sorry sight." After all the trumpet ings that ushered in this great feast of art—the parade of dishes, and the splendour of the covers—it turns out little...

Stork, Stork, Long-Legged Stork BY KINGSLEY AMIS A modern Andersen, presumably, would have outdone Kafka, or so it could be argued after looking through 'The Red Shoes, say, or...

EARLY VICTORIAN ARCHITECTURE IN BRITAIN (two Volumes). I LIKE the subject of this book and I like the author, whose occasional personal asides in the text show him up as witty...

VOICES FROM THE PAST: A CLASSICAL ANTHOLOGY FOR THE MODERN READER. By James and Janet Maclean Todd. (Phoenix House, 30s.) SELECTED FABLES OF LA FONTAINE. By Marianne Moore....

WHEN all else fails at the party, and George has finally found the drink, we can always play Fit the Author to the Quotation. We'll start with two easy ones : 'I saw no hampers...

'THIS monumental work' is how the blurb describes this book, and for once the blurb is right. The first two words are: 'Broadsides—Shoot 1' and for the next 450 pages the...

'PROFESSIONAL' is a word of critical approval that leaves behind it something of an after-taste. It suggests perhaps a proficiency slightly suspect, technique stiffening into...

MR. HYAMS does not lack for confidence in his approach to satire. In his latest entertainment he has a go at intellectuals, farming, science, newspapers, the English climate,...

By NICHOLAS DAVENPORT LOOKING again at the chart of the price movements of our industrial equity shares (Financial Times index) it is clear that its behaviour since February...

By CUSTOS THE Stock Exchange account closed on Tuesday on a quietly lower note, and there was no tendency to extend business on Wed- nesday, when markets became irregular. The...

COMPETITION No. 273 Set by W. Norman Dixon A prize of £5 is offered for a list of ten posts in a modern Cabinet filled by heroes of Greek story. A few words should be added to...

ACROSS 1 Is this muscle better than one? (6). 1 4 `Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut, 2 Made by the joiner - ' (Shakespeare) (8). 8 Ancient bird pecks among the ancients (8)....

SPECTATOR COMPETITION No. 270 Report by R. Kennard Davis SPECTATOR COMPETITION No. 270 Report by R. Kennard Davis The usual prize was o f fered for an extract from a leading...