Holy Faces
BY SEAN WALSH I couldn’t be what’s known as a political libertarian because the version of freedom assumed doesn’t seem to me to be worth getting excited about. To borrow the language of the Dominican Thomistic theologian Father Servais Pinckaers, I’ll take freedom for excellence over freedom of indifference. I understand that libertarianism isn’t particularly sensitive to that distinction, or many others now I think of it, which is why … Continue reading Holy Faces
Blunderissimi
BY PAUL T HORGAN Perhaps it is because it was my teen years, but it seems to me as though the 1970s were the high-point in popular books about wars and militaries, not least because full-colour printing allowed illustrations of the weapons used to be depicted other than in drab monochrome. Certainly WHSmith was packed with these books and the stores were also packed with … Continue reading Blunderissimi
Mastering the Tong It Game the Best Way on GameZone
BY CSM STAFF WRITER Master the Tong It Game the Best on GameZone with smart strategies, rules, and all online variants for an exciting Filipino card experience. Tongits, a classic Filipino card game, has long been cherished for its fast-paced gameplay and strategic depth. Traditionally enjoyed in social settings across the Philippines, its popularity continues to thrive, especially with the rise of digital platforms like … Continue reading Mastering the Tong It Game the Best Way on GameZone
A Prayer for the Greening
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust this letter finds you with muddy boots in the hallway and the hopeful sound of birdsong greeting your every dawn. Spring is upon us in earnest now. The hesitant promise of March has burst forth into the full-throated declaration of April and May. The land is donning its garment of green, and every hedgerow is a … Continue reading A Prayer for the Greening
Arthur’s Acres
BY ALLISON LEE Regular readers know I’m a passionate advocate for genuine animal charities. I deeply admire those who dedicate their time and resources to rescuing, rehabilitating, and providing homes for neglected or abandoned animals. This week, I want to highlight the remarkable work of an animal sanctuary in the US. Arthur’s Acres Animal Sanctuary is a nonprofit charity in Parksville, New York, nestled in … Continue reading Arthur’s Acres
Counting the Cost of Parental Alienation
BY FRANK HAVILAND Today is my youngest daughter’s fifth birthday, but I am not allowed to see her. I begged my ex-wife – then the court – for five minutes, at any time or location she chose, so I would not let Isabella down on her big day. Neither replied. The phone calls I make this evening will be blocked, as they always are. So … Continue reading Counting the Cost of Parental Alienation
Accelerating Towards the Cliffs
BY ALEX STORY “Are you thinking what we are thinking?” asked the billboard close to Denton town centre, close to Manchester. Not far from the billboard, as the Conservative candidate for Denton & Reddish for the 2005 General Election, I was talking to three ladies. One was 28, the other 15, the last laid in a pram. “Are you sisters?” I asked. “No”, roared the … Continue reading Accelerating Towards the Cliffs
The Underground Man
BY STEPHEN PAX LEONARD Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is the Underground Man Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground is the pseudonymous monologue of a spiteful and bitter former government official who inherited a sufficient amount of money not to need to work again and devoted his life to vice. Dostoyevsky’s philosophical novella is concerned with the hypothetical utopia where all of man’s needs are met, where everything is safe … Continue reading The Underground Man
A Licence to Print Money
BY PAUL T HORGAN I inherited my Hewlett-Packard (HP) DeskJet 2600 from a relative. It’s a basic 3-in-1 printer. It can scan, print, and thus take photocopies. I also inherited the obligation to the subscription service for ink, which now costs over £4 a month. My main use of the printer was to scan texts, and very occasionally some printing. Yet if the printer was … Continue reading A Licence to Print Money
Anscombe and that BAFTA Incident
BY SEAN WALSH Before doing the relevant analytical deeper dive let me make two remarks, by way of qualification. First, the condition known as “Tourette’s Syndrome” should not be trivialised, and it’s not my intention to do so here; second, what I suppose we must call “BAFTAgate” (or maybe “f@@@@@g BAFTAgate”, given the subject matter) is the funniest thing to happen at an awards ceremony … Continue reading Anscombe and that BAFTA Incident
A Prayer for the Turning
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust this letter finds you watching the days lengthen and the first faint stirrings of life return to the hedgerows. March is a month of contradictions. It arrives with the promise of spring, yet it often bites with the teeth of winter. It is a time of hope, but also of impatience. The land is waking, but … Continue reading A Prayer for the Turning
Ruff and Tumble
BY ALLISON LEE Dogs are a massive part of many people’s lives, mine being no exception, and, whatever role the dog has, be it on the farm or smallholding, hunting, protecting and guarding, search and rescue, therapy and emotional support or quite simply as pets, all owners want their dogs to be warm and comfortable. United in their passion for dogs’ welfare, mother and son, … Continue reading Ruff and Tumble
Saltmarshe Hall
BY ROGER WATSON To describe anywhere as a ‘hidden gem’ is becoming a cliché, in the same vein as describing someone as a ‘national treasure’. There are so many hidden gems and national treasures now that we struggle to find the words to describe those places and people who are neither. But, in the case of Saltmarshe Hall, both ‘hidden’ and ‘gem’ apply in equal … Continue reading Saltmarshe Hall
The Great British X-odus
BY MURIEL SHORT How Musk’s Platform Is Losing Its Grip on the UK For nearly two decades, Twitter was the UK’s digital town square. It was where journalists broke news, politicians picked fights, and academics tested ideas. But since Elon Musk’s takeover and the rebrand to X, the platform has entered a state of serious decline. The numbers tell a brutal story. According to Ofcom, … Continue reading The Great British X-odus
Breathing New Life into Forgotten Floor Spaces in Rural Homes
Rural homes often include floor areas that remain bare and underused. Awkward alcoves, narrow hallways, and uneven corners can feel difficult to finish using standard carpet rolls. Carpet offcuts and remnants offer a practical way to bring warmth and comfort to these spaces without forcing unsuitable materials into challenging layouts. Country living often involves adapting older properties over time. Smaller carpet pieces allow homeowners to … Continue reading Breathing New Life into Forgotten Floor Spaces in Rural Homes
Big Farmland Bird Count
BY NICK PEARCE Farmers and landowners across the UK have been given a last-minute opportunity to take part in the national census of farmland birds, as the organisers extend the deadline due to adverse weather. The Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC), an annual event coordinated by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), will now run until March 1st, 2026. The extension comes after the … Continue reading Big Farmland Bird Count
An Ode to Pune
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN The first thing you notice about Pune is that nothing has been erased. I don’t mean this in the sentimental sense—the sort of thing travel writers reach for when they want to make decay sound charming. I mean it literally. Walk from the Kasba Peth police station towards Shaniwar Wada and you pass through three centuries in about four hundred yards. The … Continue reading An Ode to Pune
Green and Pleasant Land
BY ALEXIA JAMES For decades, if you wanted to see the British countryside on screen, you had to sit through yet another dreary adaptation of a Thomas Hardy novel, all doom and gloom and women in bonnets looking miserable in the rain. But something rather wonderful has happened. The boot is now on the other foot, and our green and pleasant land has become the … Continue reading Green and Pleasant Land
Crimson Tide
BY NIALL MCPHERSON From the Fabian ‘Wolf’ to the Communist Fist, the Left’s Long Romance with Violence In a quiet corner of Lyon, a young man lies dead, his skull fractured by the boots of masked militants. Quentin Deranque, a nationalist student whose only crime was to stand in defence of women exercising their right to peaceful protest, has become the latest offering on the … Continue reading Crimson Tide
A Prayer for the Wallers
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust this Sunday finds you well, perhaps with the satisfying ache of a day’s honest work in your limbs. As I walk the footpaths this week, my eye is drawn to the boundaries that shape our landscape—those ancient ribbons of stone that trace the contours of our hills and mark the edges of our fields. There is something … Continue reading A Prayer for the Wallers