Devolution Is a Deflection, Not a Diagnosis
BY MANRAJ ATWAL The King is dead; Long live the King! Or so the media declare as Britain faces up to its seventh Prime minister in a decade. The seemingly ritualistic axing of our head of government has been accompanied by all the usual rites. The choir of voices declaring “The grownups are back in charge”, the scuttling of MPs as they preach the virtues … Continue reading Devolution Is a Deflection, Not a Diagnosis
Games With a Penny Stake
Games With a Penny Stake: How to Stretch the Evening at Games Not on GamStop, and Not Hold a Funeral for the Deposit in 7 Minutes Continue reading Games With a Penny Stake
Reggie Reads Sartre
BY STEPHEN PAX LEONARD “Mrs Daddywood”, called Reggie. “What is for supper?” “Oysters, Mr Reggie”, replied Mrs Daddywood. “Oysters! How splendid. Ostend or Whitstable?” Mrs Daddywood examines the packet trying to muddle together a response. “It says sum’thing ‘bout Belgium, luv”. “Oh, there you have it. Ostend. Crikey. They had a rough time of it during the war”, mumbled Reggie to himself. “Now, Mrs Daddywood. … Continue reading Reggie Reads Sartre
For Fox Sake
BY JOHN MACNAB Following the excellent Country Squire writer Roger Watson’s entertaining column on Urban Fox Hunting in these pages, I was inspired to share two of my favourite fox recipes—braised leg of fox and fox stew. I received so many queries via direct message on Twitter (as it was then) for further recipes and information on how I obtained my foxes. The editor of Country Squire—not himself a hunter of foxes—declined … Continue reading For Fox Sake
A Prayer for the Wisdom of the Elders
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, there is a particular gift in the quiet moments of rural life that so often pass us by. Not the showy ones—not the blazing sunsets or the dramatic thunderstorms—but the quiet, steady ones. The countryside does not rush. It has its rhythms, its seasons, its own unhurried pace. But I have also been thinking, this week, about the treasure … Continue reading A Prayer for the Wisdom of the Elders
From Stables to Clinic
BY ALLISON LEE We are all familiar with the ways in which aches and pains can disrupt daily life, and I understand the work that chiropractors do—using hands-on, non-invasive therapies to relieve pain and improve mobility. However, until recently, I had no idea that chiropractors could also treat animals. Living on a smallholding with a variety of animals, I was intrigued to learn about the … Continue reading From Stables to Clinic
A Gift to Death-Spiral Labour
CSM EDITORIAL Amidst a political landscape saturated with gaffes, scandals, and the dystopian reality of an unelected Prime Minister in Andy Burnham, one might expect the Conservative Party to be capitalising on every Labour misstep with ruthless efficiency. The resignation then reappointment of Louise Haigh amidst her fraud conviction, the myriad of CV mistruths emanating from the inexperienced Labour frontbench, and the sheer illegitimacy of … Continue reading A Gift to Death-Spiral Labour
The Kiftsgate Antidote
BY NICHOLAS ENGERT Few can deny that living in Britain today is a profoundly depressing experience. The country is in a parlous state – broken, bankrupt and with no sense of direction for the future. The culmination of twenty plus years of government by a progressive, credentialed class steeped in woke ideology which combines stupidity with gross incompetence has dragged the country down to a … Continue reading The Kiftsgate Antidote
The Architecture of a Lie
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Albert Speer, Hitler’s armaments minister, escaped the gallows at Nuremberg by convincing the court he had known nothing of the Holocaust. It was in his 1971 BBC interview, where his evasions were most apparent. What does Speer’s later life reveal about the gap between public performance and private torment? Drawing on historical scholarship and the testimony of those closest to Speer, the … Continue reading The Architecture of a Lie
Truth, Not Credentials
BY SEAN WALSH I think we need to get a sense of proportion and concede that, utterly shocking as it is, the Jason Arday affair is not the worst thing to have ever come out of Cambridge University. Can we agree that Kim Philby’s circle of traitors, which came close to handing the country over to Stalin, was worse, even if marginally? Although these days … Continue reading Truth, Not Credentials
Arrogance Fuels the Flames
BY CALUM CAMPBELL It is a scene that has become all too familiar. The Cairngorms, one of Scotland’s most cherished landscapes, is ablaze. As firefighters spend another night on the hill near Ryvoan Bothy, and as families are evacuated from their homes in Glenmore, a difficult question hangs in the smoke: how did we get here? The answer, for many, lies not in the weather, … Continue reading Arrogance Fuels the Flames
A Prayer for Good Neighbours
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I have been thinking, this week, about the invisible threads that stitch our communities together. The cup of sugar borrowed and returned with thanks. The gate left open for the postman. The nod of recognition from the tractor driver as he passes. The fruit left on the wall for whoever might pass by. These are the small, unspoken covenants … Continue reading A Prayer for Good Neighbours
The Great Yorkshire Show
BY ALLISON LEE I had the pleasure of visiting the Great Yorkshire Show again this year, and it was another fantastic experience. Due to high demand, the number of tickets increased from 35,000 per day to 37,500, and all four days sold out. Despite the lengthy queues to enter the showground, our usual hour-long journey took almost three times as long. The event was well … Continue reading The Great Yorkshire Show
Believing God, Doubting Angels
BY SEAN WALSH It strikes me as strange that people can believe in God but at the same time say that they are sceptical about or indifferent to the existence of angels and demons – purely spiritual beings (composed exclusively of intellect and will), the former being His messengers, the latter in permanent rebellion against Him. Why have God without the supernatural trimmings, the bits … Continue reading Believing God, Doubting Angels
When Safety Became Branding
BY ROGER WATSON When did airline safety videos become a vanity project for bored marketing graduates? It appears Virgin America inflicted the first “quirky” animated briefing upon an unsuspecting public in 2007. Air New Zealand then lowered the bar to subterranean levels in 2009 by stripping off their staff and covering them in body paint. Now, every carrier with a spare pot of cash has joined the … Continue reading When Safety Became Branding
Nature’s Unwritten Constitution
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN There is a silence that falls over a Devon wood in high summer. Not an absence of noise, but an absence of argument. The oaks on the Taw Valley do not hold referenda on whether to unfurl their leaves. The badgers on Dartmoor do not form working groups to reconsider the velocity of their digging. The River Exe does not consult a … Continue reading Nature’s Unwritten Constitution
Two Hands, One Arm
BY NICK PEARCE Adam Watson stands in the East Tennessee morning with the kind of stillness that comes from years spent around horses and emergency scenes. The light catches the gate behind him—a simple farm gate, unremarkable to most. But Watson sees it differently now. He sees the hidden labour, the assumed two hands, the quiet transfer of risk that happens when a person with … Continue reading Two Hands, One Arm
The Decline of Eloquence in British Politics
BY MANRAJ ATWAL I rise to speak, I rise to speak, I rise to speak. There is a rot at the heart of our political system. It casts its shadow over Parliament, through the chamber, at the dispatch box and along the (largely empty) green Commons benches. It pervades our political culture, often recognised yet rarely analysed. And no, it’s not the product of an … Continue reading The Decline of Eloquence in British Politics
Operation Freeze Rostov
BY PAUL T HORGAN While it has been argued that the turning point in World War II was at Midway, El Alamein, or Stalingrad, I have an earlier candidate. It was Operation Millennium, the 1,000-bomber night raid on Cologne. This marked the final change to area bombing from the flawed ‘precision’ piecemeal night bombing strategy forced on Bomber Command after the catastrophic Battle of Heligoland … Continue reading Operation Freeze Rostov
What’s in a Party Name?
BY JOE NUTT Centuries before semioticians decided it was exceedingly clever of them, Shakespeare’s fourteen year old protégé, Juliet, argued rather more elegantly than any academic, that the connection between a word and the physical object it represents, is arbitrary. If we all decide tomorrow that the often exquisitely scented, gracefully shaped flower that comes in an endless variety of colours is called a nose, … Continue reading What’s in a Party Name?