The Puppets
BY GARY MCGHEE When I was a child my mum bought me some marionettes for Xmas. One was a frog and the other a caterpillar. I loved them at first and played with them a lot and did not favour one above the other, but I soon got bored with them because all they could do was jump up and down on strings when I … Continue reading The Puppets
Malignant Mayor
BY FRANK HAVILAND As a child of the eighties, I hope you’ll forgive my assertion that pretty much any life truth can be found in The Princess Bride (a lockdown must if you haven’t seen it, and well worth a revisit if you have). As a 9-year-old boy, I marvelled at the battle of wits between Cary Elwes’ hero ‘Wesley’, and Wallace Shawn’s criminal mastermind, ‘Vizzini’. … Continue reading Malignant Mayor
Last Night at the Viper Room
BY ANDREW MOODY At 1.51 am on Halloween 1993, Dr Paul Silka at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre officially pronounced River Jude Phoenix dead. He was 23. Just over an hour before, at 12.45 am, he had been given a cup of liquid containing a speed ball of cocaine and heroin. Shortly after, he collapsed inside Johnny Depp’s Hollywood club The Viper Room, before being taken outside, … Continue reading Last Night at the Viper Room
A Prayer for Advent Sunday
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and healthy this Advent Sunday, the first Sunday in Advent as we build up to Christmas. What is Advent? The word “Advent” comes from the Latin word for “coming”, and the season marks the countdown to Christmas. Churches observe this period by remembering the anticipation for the birth of Jesus, and preparing to … Continue reading A Prayer for Advent Sunday
Heat Turns Up on Chris Packham
BY NIGEL BEAN & PAUL READ Back in March Chris Packham used his privileged status as a BBC presenter to promote his girlfriend’s charity and zoo, the Wildheart Trust, across social media. Nepotistic but hardly illegal, you’d think? There was Packham, smearing the circuses and asking the public to give up their hard-earned money via crowdfunders for these half dozen ‘rescued’ tigers: Country Squire Magazine covered the story … Continue reading Heat Turns Up on Chris Packham
Paradise Hidden in a Provencal Forest
BY SOLÈNE PINHOAT Géraldine and Mark Whitcombe-Power welcome all those who love Nature – but specifically those who have not had the good fortune to experience it – at their Domaine des Escavalins where they produce Extra Virgin olive oil. In fact, they are the first ever to be nominated best “Value of the Park” in the National and Regional Park of the Massif de … Continue reading Paradise Hidden in a Provencal Forest
Trojan Labour Unelectable
CSM EDITORIAL Fortunately, the next UK General Election is a long way away. It is scheduled to be held on Thursday 2nd May 2024, in line with the Fixed-term Parliaments Act. Nonetheless, presuming Covid restrictions fade by the end of 2022, there are certain predictions that can be made even now. Despite by then 14 years of Tory rule, Labour has little hope of winning … Continue reading Trojan Labour Unelectable
Jim Webster Wins CLA Award
BY NICK PEARCE Cumbrian farmer Jim Webster, who writes regularly for Country Squire Magazine, has been rewarded for going the extra mile in supporting his fellow Lake District livestock farmers. Jim, a member of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), was one of three chosen to win their President’s Award 2020. Speaking to our Editor, Jim was his usual humble self: “It’s difficult to … Continue reading Jim Webster Wins CLA Award
Imagining a Trump Win from Here
BY JAMES BEMBRIDGE It seems to be a feature of British conservatism that its acolytes tend to spend more time convincing people they don’t belong to it than they ever do trying to convert them to it. Many of them will give the impression that they aren’t truly committed to conservative aims sooner than they would defend them. Trump was a blessing to these cock-crowing … Continue reading Imagining a Trump Win from Here
10 Point Plan for Britain
BY FRANK HAVILAND The calibre of political discourse ain’t what it used to be. In the days of Churchill, I suspect you could have followed him round with a Dictaphone and not managed to find a dull quote. Personally I rather like ‘The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter’. Maggie had her moments too. When asked by Terry Wogan … Continue reading 10 Point Plan for Britain
“Why Won’t He Concede ?” Demands BBC
BY OUR ELECTION CORRESPONDENTS WAYNE COUNTY AND ELIZABETH WARREN HASTINGS Without producing any evidence, President Donald Churchill today claimed that the 1940 election was not yet over, and has made an unsubstantiated assertion that despite the media and many world leaders having called the result in favour of his opponent, he still expects to achieve victory. Commentators have decried Mr Churchill’s use of inflammatory speeches, … Continue reading “Why Won’t He Concede ?” Demands BBC
End Conservative Declinism
BY EFFIE DEANS The problem with Scottish Conservatism is structural rather than personal. Ruth Davidson is better suited to leadership than either Douglas Ross or Jackson Carlaw. But this is because she is a first rate politician. It is not because her ideas are any different from theirs. They all more or less agree about everything and the everything they agree upon is mistaken. That … Continue reading End Conservative Declinism
Duck & Hog’s Pudding Cassoulet
Ingredients: For the granola 30g duck fat or beef dripping 150g toasted chopped hazelnuts 200g toasted linseed 150g pumpkin seeds 90g jumbo oats For the cassoulet 4 duck legs, salted overnight or for a few hours (see tips) 600ml duck fat, melted 6 fresh thyme sprigs 2 small onions, diced 1 carrot, diced 1 celery stick, diced 8 garlic cloves, chopped 600g dried haricot beans, … Continue reading Duck & Hog’s Pudding Cassoulet
A Political CGT Blueprint
THE CITY GRUMP As government debt skyrockets, thanks to Covid19 lockdowns, naturally the Treasury’s thoughts turn to increasing taxes. Some think the holy grail is to seek out tax, which will be worth collecting and somehow be seen to make life fairer for us citizens. To this end the Treasury commissioned the Orwellian sounding Office for Tax Simplification (OTS) to come up with ways of reforming … Continue reading A Political CGT Blueprint
Brass Eye
BY ANDREW MOODY There’s an old saying that politicians and whores become respectable if enough time passes. The same could be said for iconoclastic comedian and Brass Eye creator Chris Morris, at one point the most hated man in Britain. Born in 1962 to parents who were both doctors, he read sciences at A Level and later zoology at Bristol University. He graduated with a … Continue reading Brass Eye