BIG BEN SIR,-Major-General L. L. Hoare, D.S.O., Chairman of the Big Ben Council, asks me to write you in reference to a comment made in your columns recently on the Big Ben...

COUNTRY LIFE IT was said the other day in public that the English climate is the worst in the world. There are certain specific reasons for arguing that it is one of the best,...

NAVAL CHAPLAINS SIR,-Mr. Shipton's article on the naval chaplain may be historically accurate, but some of your readers will resent the assumption which it contains that the "...

INEQUALITIES IN THE CHURCH SIR,-The Archbishop of Canterbury, as the representative of the Church of England, calls upon the nation to make a fairer deal between rich and poor....

NATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION SrR,-The Prime Minister's message to the Conservative Party Conference giving qualified approval to planning for the peace was a significant advance on...

| N a week of little change in the general military position the fact I that there has been little change is a good omen in itself. The BRAKES ON THE ENEMY change that was to...

The Right to Plunder Goering's harvest-thanksgiving speech last Sunday roughly brushed aside all the German propaganda which has dwelt on the plentiful food supplies conferred...

1 lting Japan It is not very clear what is happening in New Guinea, and correspondents in Australia are beginning to speak of the "mystery " of the Japanese retreat there. The...

RUSSIA'S WESTERN NEIGHBOURS SIR,-What is the war about ? Many of us have been led to believe that essentially it was to restore freedom to the world and to uphold law by...

HYMNS TODAY SIR,-I am reluctant to cross literary swords with my friend Canon Adam Fox on the subject of hymns, more especially as he himself was once a headmaster, and...

SIR,-The contribution from Canon Adam Fox on the above subject opens up a wide field for discussion and criticism. One question at least arises: What connexion is there between...

I SIR,-MNr. Spencer Curtis Brown, in his letter published in The Spectator of October 2nd, has subjected Russia and Her Western Neighbours to a criticism I feel obliged to...

LAVAL'S DESIGNS By J. F. REINHOLZ (OT for nothing has Laval suddenly dismissed Jacques BenoistMechin, his trusted Secretary of State for the President of the Council. It is...

Sealed and Delivered: A Book on the Abyssinian Campaign. Revolt in the Mountains I ByI G. L. Steer. (Hodder and Stoughton. I8s.) THE Army, during the present war, has been...

Evolution: the Modern Synthesis. BOOKS OF THE DAY Evolution Today By Julian Huxley. (Allen and Unwin. 25s.) THis book is unquestionably the magnum opus of its author. One...

The German Birth-rate In an article on the German birth-rate last Monday, a correspondent of The Times gave some singularly instructive facts about Nazi efforts to check the...

The Fuel Debate The coal debate in the House of Commons ended on a slightly more hopeful note than had been expected. Perhaps, after all, there will be enough coal to carry us...

British Factory Records When critics say, and rightly, that war production in this country is not as high as it should be, it is proper to remember that we are not so far wide...

America and Inflation Thanks to the compromrise adopted by both Houses of Congress over the Anti-Inflation Bill, President Roosevelt has not had to resort to the use of...

Search for Hoarded Food I Lord Woolton gave a completely convincing reply to a complaint made by Viscount Bledisloe in the House of Lords about the search of Sir Lionel...

TO G. M. IF knowledge like a mid-day heat Uncooled with cloud, unstirred with breath Of undulant air, begins to beat On minds one moment after death, From your rich soil what...

" My Universities." THE CINEMA At the Tatler.-' The Glass Key." At the Plaza. IT has been a bad week to present a new film. In Which We Serve is still the centre of...

I H Hedda Gabler." THE THEATRE At the Mercury. THis woman could never be acclaimed as one of Ibsen's happier creations. As a dramatic character she comes nowhere near the...

HITLER'S STRATEGY By STRATEGICUS OME speeches have recently been delivered by the leaders of the Nazi Reich which throw a strange light upon Hitler's J strategy. Goering...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK ERIOUS account, it seems to me, ought to be taken of a very striking article by the well-known Air Correspondent, Major Oliver Stewart, in the Sunday...

AUTUMN COMES AN edge is on the weather and the air, the eye more sharp for detail ; keen, pungent, all smells, as autumn comes full, clear, astringent, almost a second spring,...

HISPANIDAD By PROFESSOR E. ALLISON PEERS EXT Monday is the 45oth anniversary of what is generally known as the Discovery of America. For many years past it has been the...

SiR,-For a generation that has known already much disillusion and I disappointment, and may yet know more, may I comment on the Conservative scheme for compulsory youth...

SIR,-There is a real danger that, unless we are careful, we shall be I adopting the Hitler methods after the war, and becoming mere cogs in a dreadful Goverment-machine-the...

PLANNING FOR YOUTH LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SiLV,-There is clearly plenty of room for disagreement about the future o! education. Equally clearly, if we are to get anything done,...

My Naval Life. By Earl of Cork and Orrery. (Hutchinson. iSs.) THE only complaint against this engaging book is its price. Admiral of the Fleet, the Earl of Cork and Orrery,...

The Scarlet Fish. Shorter Notices By Joan Grant. (Methuen. ios. 6d.) THIS is an enchanting book about ancient Egypt, designed, one suspects, like Walter de la Mare's Come...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT By CUSTOS WHEN optimism runs high in Throgmorton Street it is usually time to tread warily. Before the war it was always when the market sky looked...

Whistle-! Stop! Fiction I By Maritta Wolff. (Constable. gs.) l Wine of the Country. By Hamilton Basso. (Constable. 9s.) Kitty Villiers. By Lewis Gibbs. (Dent. 8s. 6d.) Young...

Return to the River. A Water Story By Roderick Haigh-Brown. (Collins. 8s. 6d). THOSE who write novels about animals must always have trouble in knowing how to deal with their...

MARGINAL COMMENT By HAROLD NICOLSON UESDAY last was the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Tennyson; he died at Aldworth on Blackdown on October 6th, 1892. The windows of...

Flight to Arras. A Personal Document By Antoine de Saint-Exupiry. Translated by Lewis Galantire. (Heinemann. 7s. 6d.) IT is rash to publish in war-time a serious book about...

The Child and the Magistrate. Children in Court I By John A. F. Watson. (Jonathan I Cape. ios. 6d.) THERE is no greater authority on delinquency, and especially on the work...

THEOLOGY IN HYMNS By DR. F. LUKE WISEMAN N the temple of sacred song, Charles Wesley holds a most honourable place. Canon Adam Fox in his article on hymns in last week's...

"A SIGNIFICANT PERIOD " T was not a very happy inspiration on the part of the Associated Press of America-unless journalistic coups are the sole end of journalism-to instruct...

RUSSIA'S NAVY By ROBERT FORTMAN T is natural to regard Russia's armed strength as more characteristically military, and less naval, than that of any other great Power. A...