The Tiny Cult of Veganism
BY ROGER WATSON There are many jokes about vegans, and you have probably heard them all. But, just in case, here’s one of the best: Question: How do you find out if someone you have just met is a vegan? Answer: Don’t worry mate, they’ll tell you within their first sentence. I may sound cynical, but I am convinced about the efficacy of veganism. It … Continue reading The Tiny Cult of Veganism
Friday 13th Update: Packham 3
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN A brief update for all you generous supporters of the 3 of us defending our articles and other content in the much-anticipated Packham defamation case. Today our legal team is expected to receive a reply to our defences from the Claimant’s solicitorvists. Our lawyers will then be discussing the case over coming days with counsel and deciding how we progress from there. … Continue reading Friday 13th Update: Packham 3
Ramblers in Clown World
BY NOEL YAXLEY 90 years ago a merry band of visionary activists set out to reshape where we could walk in the English countryside. This group of young workers — made up primarily of communists — staged a mass trespass on Kinder Scout, the highest point in the Peak District. Known as the Ramblers’ Rally, hundreds of men and women decided to join the gathering … Continue reading Ramblers in Clown World
Too Little Wheat, Too Much Makeup
BY JIM WEBSTER During first lockdown, behind the scenes, major retailers performed logistical miracles. As a farmer I’m not somebody who is prone to praise them, but in spite of ridiculous levels of panic buying (there are people out there who won’t need to buy toilet paper for another couple of years) the retailers managed to keep the show on the road. During lockdown I … Continue reading Too Little Wheat, Too Much Makeup
Where does ‘Progress’ End?
BY DANIEL JUPP Are there any boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed in the name of a “progressive society”? The progressive offer is a seductive one in one sense: if you accept complete submission and subservience to the progressive ideology, if you accept that the State is all powerful and decides all things, if you normalise the idea that every human being is both flawed and … Continue reading Where does ‘Progress’ End?
Peace and Prosperity
BY EFFIE DEANS When the clocks change each year in Scotland each spring, I am able to see more of it. The weather may vary, but the daylight doesn’t and by June we have so much light that it is possible to go almost anywhere and get back in the same day. I take my own coffee and buy sandwiches in a supermarket so the … Continue reading Peace and Prosperity
A Prayer for Rural Families
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine I trust that You are well and healthy. This week I would like You to consider rural families and pray for them. Farming is a noble profession. The farm home is in some ways a most suitable place for a Christian family. The good earth is the greatest material gift of God to man. We believe that in … Continue reading A Prayer for Rural Families
The Joys of a Family Butcher
BY ROGER WATSON Although a good family butcher is hard to find these days, there is simply nothing to compare with visiting a butcher’s shop, preferably a very old fashioned one with a bell that goes ‘ping’ when you open the door, with a display of uncut meat and where your two pounds of stewing beef is boned and diced in front of you. The … Continue reading The Joys of a Family Butcher
Badger Trust’s Dodgy Maths
BY GILES BRADSHAW Has there been a dramatic fall in numbers of badgers killed on the roads? The Badger Trust charity is running a campaign Give Badgers a Brake. (No this is not a typo but a pun). They want drivers to slow down and stop killing so many badgers. They invite campaigners to make the following post on social media: #Badgers are the number … Continue reading Badger Trust’s Dodgy Maths
Exquisite UK Knife Making
BY NICK PEARCE The beauty of this country is that every now and again you get to stumble across a master craftsman at work. Some people can train for years and never be at the top of their trade. Others are just born with it. When you see the work of knife maker Joe Smalley you know you are handling elite knives, the kind that … Continue reading Exquisite UK Knife Making
A Gale of Methane
BY JOHN NASH CSM readers will be aware of the saying, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. Well, Dear Reader, may I offer you a complete idiot not only rushing in, but hurling himself into an intellectual slurry-pit at warp speed 20. He could not have put more feet into his mouth if he was a millipede contortionist. He stands as a severe and ominous example … Continue reading A Gale of Methane
The Bin Elections
BY EFFIE DEANS There is a tower near where I live. It was built in honour of some now forgotten landowner. The tower itself is almost forgotten and must attract few if any visitors. Yet when I turned up for the first time in many years, I discovered that it was locked by a chain and padlock. At the beginning of the pandemic, I imagine … Continue reading The Bin Elections
Saint Greta’s Flames
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Last week, on Earth Day 2022, a gentleman called Wynn Bruce, an American Buddhist, set himself on fire at the US Supreme Court to protest the lack of action on – and lack of education to prepare people for – ‘the climate crisis’. Only one small newspaper reported Bruce’s death as being associated with climate issues. On social media many have been … Continue reading Saint Greta’s Flames
A Prayer for Good over Evil
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and healthy. This week let us remember the citizens of war-torn Ukraine in our prayers as well as those oppressed by other bullies, that they may overcome them and enjoy peace. God bless You all for the week to come. Unfortunately, there is a lot of evil in this world, and the … Continue reading A Prayer for Good over Evil
Revelation of the Method
BY DUSTIN BROADBERY CIA Director, William Casey is reputed to have said to Ronald Reagan: ‘We’ll know our disinformation is complete when everything the American public believes is false.’ Fast forward thirty years, and there’s no piece of fiction the masses will not swallow. From Woke to COVID to the war in Ukraine, people no longer make their own ideological pilgrimages to the truth – … Continue reading Revelation of the Method
Cecil
BY JOHN NASH Oh, dear. A cruel and evil trophy hunter has murdered, for money, one of Africa’s last great bull elephants, an elephant that many tourists were clamouring to see. He could have provided thousands of photo-tourists with unknown years of pleasure. Now the poor people of Botswana have been deprived of years of tourist income, the magnificent bull has lost his right to life, and the … Continue reading Cecil
Are the French Toast?
BY STEWART SLATER Find someone who loves you as much as The Economist loves Emmanuel Macron. The house journal of the technocracy told readers of its daily email to “Sigh with relief” for the recently re-elected Emmanuel Macron had been an “unusually good leader for France.” Well, up to a point Lord Copper. And, it turns out, that point is 41.5%, the proportion of voters … Continue reading Are the French Toast?
No Smoke Without Ire
BY JAMES BEMBRIDGE In my town of Buxton, all the litter bins are engraved with this not very polite message: ‘STUB IT. BIN IT.’ There are not, I notice, signs warning pub goers about the nuisance they might cause. There are no public messages menacing fast-food addicts about what they might do with their litter. No, it’s only smokers who the British regard with this kind … Continue reading No Smoke Without Ire
Country V City Men
BY ROCHELLE BLAKEMAN Having lived in the heart of the sticks and the heart of London’s smog, and possessing the discerning female eye, I have observed a thing or two about the divergent quirks of male behaviour in their opposing natural habitats. Identifying the features and instincts of the opposite sex from both worlds is a practicable art: the country boys referred to being so … Continue reading Country V City Men
LADS no Lasses
BY NOEL YAXLEY I have a confession to make. Although I am writing this for a rural affairs magazine, I personally know very little about farming. My own experience of farming extends to a combine harvester ride with a man called Donny when I was five on holiday on the North Norfolk coast. For a few hours on a hot Autumn day I got to … Continue reading LADS no Lasses