8 MAY 1942

Page 1

MADAGASCAR AND SOME SETBACKS

The Spectator

I fl HE landing in Madagascar—it is still premature to speak of the seizure or occupation of the island, which is twice the of England and Scotland—overshadows every other...

Realism in India

The Spectator

In a general statement he made on Monday Mr. Rajagopalachari, the ex-Premier of Madras (with its population of 50 millions) showed that India at this critical moment need not...

Page 2

The Case of General Giraud

The Spectator

So much obscurity surrounds the movements and intentions of General Giraud since his escape from Germany that there is not much wisdom in going beyond such facts as have been...

The New Freedom

The Spectator

In his stimulating broadcast last Sunday, Sir Stafford Cripps looked beyond the immediate purpose of victory to the wider and deeper purpose by which the nation is moved. He...

By-Election Portents

The Spectator

The defeat of the Government candidates in the by-elections of Rugby and Wallasey, following a similar result at Grantham, cannot be dismissed as local incidents due to...

Coming Offensives

The Spectator

' Admiral H. R. Stark, commander of the United States na% forces in European waters, struck just the right note about prospects of offensive action when he 'addressed a Press...

Labour's Plan for Coal-Production

The Spectator

However successful the Government may be m reducing domestic consumption of fuel, it is certain that that alone v; not meet the country's needs during the coming winter. W...

Page 3

A CHIEF OF CHIEFS

The Spectator

AST Tuesday's debate in the House of Lords brought out very clearly the weak point in the machinery for planning war. It was indicated in one lucid sentence in a not altogether...

Page 4

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

The Spectator

C OMETHING may with advantage be added to what I said last week about the British Embassy at Washington. Since I wrote I have been sent a passage from a private lecture...

Page 5

MADAGASCAR

The Spectator

By STRATEGICUS 1 HE first advantage of the landing in Madagascar is the possibility that it may remind those whose telescopes can see no her than Calais that the war ranges...

Page 6

BRITISH COLONIES AND WAR

The Spectator

By SIR DONALD CAMERON* T HE probable reaction of the native inhabitants of our African colonies, if they are invaded by a foreign Power with all the dreadful appliances of...

Page 7

A HEROIC CHURCH

The Spectator

By G. H. GRETTON N April 12th the Norwegian clergy, after openly and explicitly i-epudiating the puppet Government set up by the Germans, up and conducted iheir services...

Page 8

THE YOUNG THEOLOGIAN

The Spectator

By EVELYN SIMPSON M RS. CLAPP raised her head from the depths of the bath. "I can hear you're a Londoner like myself," she began. "They don't like us down here, do they? Well,...

COUNTRY LIFE

The Spectator

Tars beauties of England, especially in spring, are continuous, WI sudden breaks, and yet the couitties have their own particular At this date the glory of the wild cherry is...

Page 9

MARGINAL COMM E NT Ey HAROLD NICOLSON

The Spectator

N the May number of The Nineteenth Century there is an article by Lord Vansittart upon the important and most topical ubject of " vansittartisrn." In this article the author of...

Page 10

THE THEATRE

The Spectator

"Fine and Dandy." At the Saville.—" Immortal Garden." At the Westminster. TODAY a well-produced revue should remind us, more often than perhaps it does, of the debt we owe to...

rHE CINEMA

The Spectator

"To Be or Not To Be." At the Gaumont."—" One Foot In Heaven." At Warner's.— .. The Remarkable Andrew." At the Carlton. AMONGST our more solemn citizens, To Be or Not To Be will...

ART

The Spectator

The Royal Academy THE Academy should, for once, be visited. There are too in pictures, as usual, and too few good ones, but the grand tota much smaller and the number of...

Page 11

THE RUGBY BY-ELECTION

The Spectator

R,—As a voter who took a public part in the Rugby by-election, I find interesting to analyse the psychology of the electorate. The Conservatives lost the seat by their own...

THE INDIAN ISSUE

The Spectator

Sin, — May I reply to the three main objections stated in the Parliamentary debate to stand in the way of an inunediate shifting of power from hitehall to India: (a) The...

SNOBBERY AND TITLES

The Spectator

SIR, —Sir Robert Greig in his admirable letter scarcely alludes to two of the strongest reasons against titles. The first is their almost entire unfairness. It is bad enough...

" RECONVERSION" OR REVIVAL" SIR, —As one of the 90 per cent.

The Spectator

of the population who do not belong to any denqrnination of Christians who believe in an anthropomorphic or supernatural or personal Deity, may I be permitted to offer a few...

Page 12

KITTY O'SHEA "

The Spectator

SIR, —This correspondence seems to be losing its head. My friend, Mrs. E. M. Delafield, who has evidently not read the whole of it, boldly shifts the scene from Ireland to Hove,...

THE BACKBONE OF GERMANY

The Spectator

S19,—A plea for the protection of the German bureaucracy after the defeat of the Nazis is so utterly incompatible with the principles for which this war is supposed to be...

CORRECTED QUOTATIONS

The Spectator

SIR, —In your May 1st issue, W. S. Gilbert is quoted, correctly, Sir W. Beach Thomas and incorrectly by Mr. W. J. Turner. Gil was such a great comic poet that he deserves to be...

CHATTELS INSURANCE

The Spectator

Sta,—I have just sent another cheque to the Board of Trade as ins premium for "Private Chattels" under the War Damage Act. A friend of mine tells me I am a fool He argues...

Page 13

The Poet's Sister

The Spectator

Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth. Edited by E. de Selincourt. Two vols. (Macmillan. 365.) HERE, gathered together in their entirety for the first time, are the Journals of that...

The Optimistic Thirties

The Spectator

A Tale of Ten Cities. By George Sava. (Faber and Faber. 85. 6d.) ONCE upon a time the Englishman who sat in cafés while discussing the fate of the British Empire with...

Page 14

The Muse at Home

The Spectator

Street Songs. By Edith Sitwell. (Macmillan. 3s. 6d.) Work in Hand. By Robert Graves, Norman Cameron and Alan Hodge. (Hogarth Press. 2s. 6d.) Ruins and Visions. By Stephen...

Page 16

Scotland's Story

The Spectator

The Story of Scotland. By F. Fraser Darling. (Collins. 4s. 6d.) The Story of Scotland is one of the "Britain in Pictures" series, and, by the test of the pictures, it is a...

A Man Alive

The Spectator

Deedes Bey. A Study of Sir Wyndham Deedes. 1883-1923, John Presland. (Macmillan. x6s.) BIOGRAPHIES of living men are written under great disadvanta g The man's friends like...

Fiction

The Spectator

The Romance of a Nose. By Lord Berners. (Constable. 7$. 6d.) A Malayan Tragedy. By Johan Fabricius. (Heinemann. 85.6(1.) Barbarian. By Willard Price. (Heinemann. 13s. 6d.) The...

Page 18

Shorter Notice

The Spectator

The Hope of Dawn and Other Poems. By Edwyn Bevan. (Allen and Unwin. 3s.) TODAY a writer in the traditional forms of poetry is unlikely to obtain his due measure of praise, for...

FINANCE AND INV ESTME

The Spectator

By CUSTOS WHILE there is nothing approaching a general revival in the markets investors have been sufficiently impressed by the war to indulge their post-wit fancies in a...