been uniformly good— inn most theatres good beyond expectation. In Libya Dema has been captured, though the haul of prisoners was not, as in the case of Bardia and Tobruk,...

Germans are making on the Bulgar-Rumanian frontier point to an early crossing of the Danube and an invasion. of Bulgaria—though ice-floes in the river may prevent the successful...

value of Mr. Wendell Willkie's visit to this country—and to Eire. Its ultimate iroPortance will only be assessable when Mr. Willkie has got back and made his considered...

The need that will continue in the years immediately follow- ing the war for united national action has already been indicated by Mr. Churchill and discussed by Mr. Attlee. To...

The far-reaching powers which President Roosevelt has demanded before the United States can go full steam ahead in carrying out his promise to give aid to Britain can only be...

It is the task of such men as Mr. J. M. Keynes (one wishes there were many of them) to assess the material damage that is being or may be done by war in its proper 'proportions....

It was not to be supposed that General Hertzog, having resigned his leadership of the Re-united Nationalist Party of the Free State and parted company with Dr. Malan and the...

Gradually the balance of power in the air is• being redressed. and today the Germans are as much concerned about our ai r offensive as we about theirs. The big sweep of a large...

The question of the Government's attitude to the future of Abyssinia, recently raised by Miss Margery Perham and others, has been promptly dealt with by Mr. Eden in a statement...

public life a virile, independent and courageous advocate of many related causes. It is all the more sad, because after many years of advocacy he was at last in a powerful...

a variety of jobs, but perhaps Mr. (now Colonel) Elliot's new post is of special interest. Presumably he will now face the Press in a different capacity from his old Ministerial...

Kingsley Wood their provisional conclusions on the new Deter- mination of Needs Bill. This was a wise precaution, because no subject has created more feeling and bitterness in...

Duff Cooper, Croft belong to the latter camp: the Radicals are more difficult to name. But with Amery and Lloyd there was a blending of domestic radicalism with their love of...

On or before last Wednesday occupiers of commercial pre- mises and factories in the London region should have reported on the arrangements made for dealing with fires caused by...

The Air Training scheme announced a month ago by Sir Archibald Sinclair has fired the imagination of thousands of those who are still too young to attest for the Air Force,...

Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes: The House has settled down to detailed treatment of the War Damage Com- mission Bill. This naturally involves a certain dullness in...

T HERE is no doubt that France is moving swiftly towards a crisis, which may have broken before these words are read. Not a word has been said officially about the latest phases...

in Cambridgeshire will quarrel with the judgement that Sir Pendrill Varrier-Jones was in his way u great man. I had known him since we were freshmen of the same year at...

the national resources in brain-power and executive ability, a loss not only for what the late Colonial Secretary was but for what he might have become. For the growth and...

to come out of Abyssinia one of these days. The Emperor is back in his own country, and the tribes are rising everywhere against the Italians. Much of that s spontaneous, but...

Sir Edmund Ironside is taking the title of Baron Ironside of Archangel indicates a deplorable disregard of political considerations. The Allied force which the new peer...

by Major- metal J. H. Beith—Ian Hay—after relinquishing the post f Director of Public Relations at the War Office should be on e subject of the now famous " old school tie "...

M R. WENDELL WILLKIE has come and gone, having in the ten days he was here done an amazingly good job of work. His mere physical endurance is astonishing. On Tuesday, his last...

By STRATEGICUS A PERCEPTIBLE slackening in the pace of operations against Italy should not blind anyone to their importance. In point of fact the operations in Greece, Libya...

By G. H. GRETTON HE definition of our war-aims has unfortunately been from the beginning a theme of controversy. There have n the extremists of the Right, who, perhaps because...

By ERWIN D. CANHAM By Air Mail. T HE " Loan-Lease " Bill, giving President Roosevelt un- precedented and sweeping powers to expedite aid to Britain and other beleaguered...

By C. S. LEWIS R. JOAD'S article on " God and Evil " last week sug- gests the interesting conclusion that since neither mechanism " nor " emergent evolution " will hold water,...

By ASHLEY SMITH M ERRICK was a pocket-sized man, but every inch of his small, wrinkled face showed acute displeasure when he saw Johnson standing in front of him. " Well? " he...

I , Quiet Wedding." At the Plaza.----" The Mark of Zorro." At the Odeon. Quiet Wedding is a very English and very refreshing phenomenon. Produced under the most difficult...

Drawings at the Courtauld Institute This exhibition, helped by a brilliant catalogue, shows drawings dating from about 154o to about 183o of houses, ceilings, monu- ments and...

[In view of the paper shortage it is essential that letters on these pages should be brief. We are anxious not to reduce the number of letters, but unless they are shorter they...

Robert Vansittart's Black Record from your correspondent, Miss Bullet I also know Germany well ; and I had a humble part to play in the Baghdad Railway negotiations conducted by...

S1R,—Mr. David Thomson, in his article published in your issue d January 31st, argues that, if the Italian people got rid of Mussolini and established a more trustworthy regime,...

to Tell Italy " expresses the customary view that " Sanctions threw Mussolini into Hitler's arms " What actually brought this about were not the sanctions which were used as an...

the fact that persons wing under a totalitarian regime may be largely or wholly unaware FT they are living under a tyranny does not prove that no tyranny xists, and I further...

Sta,—My attention has been drawn to an article by Mr. Donald Taylor in your issue of January 17th, under the title " The Case of the U.D.F." The partisan nature of this article...

Sta,—Honour ought to be given where honour is due. The existing, and most valuable, Air Defence Cadet Corps has now been absorbed in the more comprehensive Air Training Scheme,...

SIR, —As one of the signatories to the letter criticised by Sir Herbert Kealy, may I answer some of his questions? (t) "The offence for which Congress leaders in India are...

Ste,—Mr. Lyon's proposal can be briefly summarised as a scheme designed to " cream " the elementary schools of the country for the benefit of just those schools which have...

SIR,— Interest in wild birds, and in small birds especially, has been described as a modern phenomenon, and perhaps one of the oddest paradoxes of our age is that though...

Sne,—Letters have appeared frequently of late in most daily and weekly papers stating certain opinions about Education and Religion. The writers agree that Post-war Britain...

SIR,—The letter which you published some time ago from Mr. S. J. Benham on a Winchester College boy describes treatment in some respects similar to that received by a Sherborne...

the scarcest winter vegetable it is a fairly safe bet that tomatoes will be the scarcest of all market produce during the coming summer. At this time in 1940 excellent Canary...

s rR ,....4n the course of his kindly attack on me Mr. Clough Williams- pais advocates the removal of as many as possible of the Wren churches "to less boorish and less menacing...

grows wild have been few—but rather because of the rareness of correspondents, I fear, than of localities. But it is interesting to hear of it from three counties: Wiltshire,...

sympathies) sends me details of a " highly nourishing, well-flavoured food " of which, at least as a food, I have not heard before. This is none other than tares, which is...

" A Shaming Record " The countryside, I think, can supply a comment or two on " the shaming record " of the appalling road-accident figures for December. One of those comments...

South-West Persia. By Sir Arnold Wilson. (Oxford University Press. 15s.) THERE is pathos about this book, though not in it. With the sub-title of " A Political Officer's Diary,...

More of the Truth About France Farewell, France I By Oscar Paul. (Gollancz. 6s.) THERE is good strong broth in the cauldron of French politics which M. Bois, former editor of...

An Enquiry into Meaning and Truth. By Bertrand Russell. (Allen and Unwin. 12s. 6d.) THE tendency of philosophy in the twentieth century is to substitute the study of language...

THIS book is difficult to appraise. It claims to embody messages from spirits transmitting facts, ideas, teaching about conditions of existence far beyond our sphere of life. Is...

THIS is an account of the double invasion of Poland as it was experienced by a young historian who worked in the U niversity of Cracow. It starts with his closing the pages of...

Assam Adventure. By F. Kingdon Ward. (Jonathan Cape. 125. 6d.) IN his latest book Mr. F. Kingdon Ward describes his 1937 journey of z,roo miles through north-west Assam across...

Some Memories of W. B. Yeats. By John Masefield. (Ty e Cuala Press, Dublin. izs. 6d.) ANY book produced by the Cuala Press is pleasant to look at and handle and all...

IT is perhaps Miss Marsh's chief merit that she almost succeeds at the impossible task of preserving an equilibrium between the realistic and the phantastic sides of the...

Chiltern Country. By H. J. Massingham. (Batsford. 8s. 6d.) MR. MASSINGHAK if his practice were as good as his theo ry, would represent an admirable change in guide-book...

THERE is a touch of the heroic in the way this library continues to appear, shoring up the remains of classical antiquity at a time when the Romantic spirit is loose over...

IN spite of the preface, which explains : " It is hoped that Fifteen Poets will serve as a link between the normal type Of anthology, in which a large number of poets are each...

IT is pleasant to think that in spite of the distractions, and the burdens, of war, the Royal Historical Society has been able thi s year to continue the publications of the...

(Dent. 12s. 6d.) THE rather unbearable ramblings, mental and physical, of an artist who explored the Thames in a punt. Hearty, muscular; humorous and naughty, Mr. Gibbings...

EFFECT OF TAXATION ON REVENUE SIR HUGO CUNLIFFE-OWEN'S STATEMENT TH:E 13th annual general meeting of the Tobacco Securities Trust Company, Limited, was held on January 30th at...

By " CUSTOS WHEN we see war expenditure running at the rate of Li i,000,000 a day, the Chancellor's Budget problem begins to take shape. It is already pretty clear that he can...

Crossword No 2 St. Ives, Huntingdonshire FEBRUARY 21st . 98 is Miss M. Lloyd, Ramsey

a Book Token for one guinea will bo given to the sender of the fi rst correct solution of this week s crossword puzzle to be opened. Envelopes should be MIL ked I:1th the words...