Meeting Grace Olson
BY ALLISON LEE I came across Grace Olson for the first time when I watched The Yorkshire Vet, Channel 5’s documentary series that follows the lives and work of veterinary teams in Yorkshire, as they treat a wide variety of animals in both rural and urban settings, and I was immediately interested in her work as a sheep therapist. Grace is trained in deep tissue massage … Continue reading Meeting Grace Olson
After the Hunt
BY ROGER WATSON Attracted to this film by the fact that Julia Roberts was playing the lead role, my wife and I snuggled down for two hours and eighteen minutes of entertainment. In the end all we got were two hours and eighteen minutes of our lives that we will never get back. Even if we did get them back, we would not relive them … Continue reading After the Hunt
Australia’s Social Media Ban is Only Half the Solution
BY SAM CHANDLER Last week, Australia became the first country in the world to ban under-16s from using most of the major social media platforms – a landmark moment in global tech regulation. Under the new law, all “age-restricted social media platforms” will be under a legal obligation to prevent underage users from creating or maintaining accounts through tools like age verification checks, AI age estimation software, … Continue reading Australia’s Social Media Ban is Only Half the Solution
The Grey Belt Mirage: A Greenfield Free-For-All
BY ALEXIA JAMES A revolution is unfolding across England’s cherished Green Belt, but not the one ministers promised. When the government introduced the concept of ‘grey belt’ land in late 2024, the public was assured it would target the unsightly and unused: disused petrol stations, abandoned car parks, and ‘poor-quality scrubland’ on town fringes. The reality, as stark new research from the countryside charity CPRE … Continue reading The Grey Belt Mirage: A Greenfield Free-For-All
Conversation with a Seagull
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN I found him on the third of December, on the jagged slate below the harbour wall. W12 – so-called for the zinc marked ring some do-gooding knave in sandals had clamped to his leg, turning a sovereign into a specimen. The tide had receded, leaving him arranged there with terrible finality: a crumpled monograph of salt and hunger, one wing extended in … Continue reading Conversation with a Seagull
Red, White & Blue
BY NICHOLAS ENGERT Many years ago I arrived early one morning in St Mark’s Square, Venice, before the crowds had started to gather. The air was fresh and cool and the sky a clear blue. And there, in front of the cathedral facade, an Italian flag fluttered high on one of the flagpoles. It was a glorious sight. The green, white and red vertical stripes … Continue reading Red, White & Blue
The Carbon Credit Con and Scotland’s New Mega-Lairds
BY BERT BURNETT A spectre is haunting the Highlands—and it is not the ghost of rebellions past. It is the sleek, corporate spectre of the ‘mega-laird’, armed not with claymores but with spreadsheets, investment portfolios, and a publicly-stated aim to “save the world”. As highlighted in a recent opinion piece by Dr. Josh Doble, these entities—billionaires, asset managers, and firms like Exeter-based Oxygen Conservation—are acquiring … Continue reading The Carbon Credit Con and Scotland’s New Mega-Lairds
A Prayer for Those with Flu
VICAR As the frost grips the land and the fires are banked high, our thoughts turn with particular concern to those laid low by illness. In our surgeries, hospitals, and homes, there are many wrestling with this year’s heavy bout of flu, their strength tested, their routines halted. For them, and for their worried families, the season is one of waiting and weariness, a trial … Continue reading A Prayer for Those with Flu
Millington’s Magical Barn
BY ALLISON LEE Jake Ratcliffe has always loved animals, so it is perhaps no surprise to those who know him that he now runs his own animal rescue sanctuary. Millington’s Magical Barn is an award-winning sanctuary situated in West Yorkshire, where Jake, his wife, and their small team of helpers rescue animals in need. Jake told me how his dream became a reality. He opened … Continue reading Millington’s Magical Barn
The Girl at Hamburg Airport
BY NICHOLAS ENGERT “Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman.”Coco Chanel I remember a time when men and women dressed well. There was a sense of decorum and manners – almost a sense of duty – that lead people to make an effort to look smart in public. This was not about money although of course money helped. … Continue reading The Girl at Hamburg Airport
Teach Teenagers to Be Creative, Not Just Take Tests
BY CHARLES ALDOUS I was thirteen when the entrepreneur Phoebe Gormley (photographed) visited my prep school to discuss her career. Fresh from dropping out of university to focus on building her Savile Row tailoring business for women, she told a room full of blazered children and parents something our teachers would never say: think beyond academics. The staff smiled politely. We were meant to be inspired. Instead, … Continue reading Teach Teenagers to Be Creative, Not Just Take Tests
What Next for the Woke Nanny State?
BY STEPHEN PAX LEONARD Reggie pranced around the sitting room in old Uncle Teddy’s peignoir. ‘Now, where is that dash rifle of mine?’, he muttered angrily. ‘Enough of this absurd woke nanny-state nonsense trying to consign our innocent school-boy japes to history’, he huffed. The front door clunk shut. It was the housekeeper. ‘Good morning, Mr Reggie’, offered Mrs Daddywood cheerily. She opened the door … Continue reading What Next for the Woke Nanny State?
Hunting, Humanity & the Circus at CITES
BY JOHN NASH COP20 — the latest Conference of the Parties to CITES — has just drawn to a close in Uzbekistan, and once again, what ought to be a sober gathering of grown-ups discussing wildlife trade was overrun by the usual swarm of parasitic NGOs and tin-shakers clutching fluffy toy elephants like infants’ emotional support animals. Instead of encouraging the tried-and-tested systems that actually … Continue reading Hunting, Humanity & the Circus at CITES
The War of Omission: How the West is Forgetting the Grammar of Liberty
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN A spectre is haunting the West—not of revolution, but of forgetting. It is a quiet, insidious amnesia, not of dates or battles, but of the very intellectual grammar that built the free and prosperous world we inhabit. The syntax of liberty—the complex, humane arguments for limited government, spontaneous order, and individual sovereignty—is fading from the young mind, replaced by a sterile, managerial … Continue reading The War of Omission: How the West is Forgetting the Grammar of Liberty
A Prayer for Restoration
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well. This second Sunday of Advent, let us pray for the gift of restoration: God of redemption, who pays our debt but also restores our ruins,open to us the fuller gift of Advent.As we pray, praise, and preach,let us glimpse the world made whole.Where relationships are fractured, bring reconciliation.Where land is tired, bring … Continue reading A Prayer for Restoration
Not Just a Celebrity Hobby
BY ALLISON LEE The British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA) was founded in 1874 with the intention of encouraging, improving, and advancing bee culture in the United Kingdom—particularly as a means of bettering the condition of cottagers and the agricultural labouring classes, as well as advocating for humanity toward the industrious labourer: the honey bee. Originally established as a London-based beekeepers’ club, the BBKA evolved within a … Continue reading Not Just a Celebrity Hobby
What to Know Before Trying an Online Casino in the UK
BY CSM STAFF WRITER Online entertainment has become part of how many people unwind. Among the many options available, casino platforms have attracted attention for their convenience and variety. They let users explore classic games, try something new, or play casually from home. Before signing up, it helps to know what features actually make a casino site worth your time, and what signs to look … Continue reading What to Know Before Trying an Online Casino in the UK
No Fuss in Old Yorkshire
BY MUDYARD KIPLING I was twelve or perhaps just thirteen years of age when my great aunt died at her terraced house in Leeds, over fifty years ago. The year would be 1970, near enough. She was an old spinster who lived at home with her sister, my maternal grandmother, also of advanced years. Something had gone wrong with the great aunt and when I … Continue reading No Fuss in Old Yorkshire
The Aga Can
BY PETER BROOK More than just a cooker, our Aga—known in the family as ‘Aggie’—is a cast-iron monument to the reliable comforts of home. It is the 90-year-old engine room of our kitchen, and the undisputed heavyweight champion of multi-tasking, often combining cooking with warming up young, wet lambs; drying anything from washing to damp hounds; keeping those same hounds warm and cosy at night; … Continue reading The Aga Can
Hands off Halal
BY JOHN MUSGRAVE As Advent begins – notionally a fast, but more often a progression of parties and good cheer – spare a thought for meat-dependent merrymakers. We are all under threat from the mean-green vegan party-poopers who want to ban meat-eating altogether. Halal meat is now in the crosshairs as the soya-bean sallies plot further Herodian bedevilment. Any move to ban halal slaughter is … Continue reading Hands off Halal