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?
A Prayer for the Living Earth
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 way the light lingers at the end of the day, as if reluctant to leave. The sound of the greenfinch in the ash tree, singing … Continue reading A Prayer for the Living Earth
An American Who Played Rugby
BY DAVID CAMPBELL (And has the scars to prove it) I love rugby. I loved playing it, and I love watching it now that my body has wisely retired from active service. My introduction to the game came during my final year at Carnegie Mellon University. A friend who played for a local club asked if I had ever played. I admitted I hadn’t—and, more … Continue reading An American Who Played Rugby
Nature’s Great Masterpiece
BY JAMIE FOSTER Barclay Price’s Nature’s Great Masterpiece, published by Amberley Books, is a delightfully esoteric and meticulously researched gem that unearths a truly surprising strand of British social history. As the subtitle clarifies, this is not a pastoral ramble through the countryside, but a captivating chronicle of the pachyderms that have walked, trumpeted, and occasionally rampaged through our island story. Price takes the reader on … Continue reading Nature’s Great Masterpiece
Burnham’s Vanity Street Project
BY SEAN WALSH Instead of just being a regular guy and buying a motorbike, getting a tattoo, or doing the American Beauty thing, Andy Burnham had to include all of us in his mid-life crisis by becoming prime minister. It’s still shocking to think that the constituents of Makerfield hate the rest of the country so much that they would impose this on us. But it is … Continue reading Burnham’s Vanity Street Project
The Tape That Beat Elvis
BY NIALL McRAE Charity shops tell the story of our musical past, with old LPs from the middle of last century all the way to the CDs of recent times. You see the same artists and albums in every shop, and among the regular offerings are recordings by James Last. His iconic cover for Make the Party Last has a glass of bubbly suggestive of Seventies cocktail … Continue reading The Tape That Beat Elvis
The Inequality Con
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Why Gary Stevenson’s Crusade is Economically Illiterate In the crowded marketplace of economic punditry, Gary Stevenson has carved out a profitable niche. With the zeal of a convert, he stalks the media studios, wielding his LSE and Oxford credentials like a cudgel, proclaiming himself a ‘proper economist’ while peddling a simplistic, morally grandiose solution to a problem he has defined entirely in … Continue reading The Inequality Con
Burning Questions
BY BERT BURNETT RSPB, We Warned You As the smoke continues to drift across the A9 and the acrid smell of scorched Caledonian pinewood lingers in the glens, we must take stock of the reality that has unfolded in the Cairngorms over the past week. Over 10 square kilometres of one of our most fragile and treasured habitats has been reduced to ash. More than … Continue reading Burning Questions
Fat or Sugar?
BY ALEX STORY We beat Argentina and lost to France, not in football unfortunately, but in the fat stakes. With nearly 40% of its adult population being obese, Argentina ranks 36th out of 193 countries in the world. France, with only 10%, is 172nd. Britain, for her part, is listed as 77th according to the Global Obese Observatory. American Samoa wins the overall prize with three quarters of … Continue reading Fat or Sugar?
Why Slippery Farm Floors Are a Bigger Problem Than Most Farmers Realise
No one thinks much about a farm floor until an animal goes down on it. However, in cattle sheds, parlours and other farm buildings, the condition of the concrete under the feet of livestock can have a significant impact on safety, welfare and efficiency. More farmers are now using concrete grooving services to create more traction on their current floors without the disruption and cost of pulling … Continue reading Why Slippery Farm Floors Are a Bigger Problem Than Most Farmers Realise
Pass the Tissues
Dear Editor, I write to propose a small but necessary addition to the next issue of Country Squire: a complimentary box of tissues, stapled inside the cover. The intended readership? Our Argentinian friends, who woke this morning to a triple dose of national humiliation. Let us begin with the football. A dour, cynical World Cup final—lost not to genius but to Spanish monotony—has exposed Argentina for … Continue reading Pass the Tissues
A Prayer for Safe Holidays
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, it is the time of year for holidays. I have written a prayer for safe holidays. May you have a restful and enjoyable time. Dear Lord,We thank You for this season of departure, when the suitcases are dragged from the loft and the satnav is dusted off. Thank You for the excitement that fills the house on the … Continue reading A Prayer for Safe Holidays
Byland
BY ALLISON LEE Byland Abbey is a ruined monastery and small village located in Byland, North Yorkshire. Founded as a Savigniac house in 1135, the abbey was later absorbed into the Cistercian order in 1147. Its early history was marked by disputes with four other religious institutions: Furness Abbey, Calder Abbey, Rievaulx Abbey, and Newburgh Priory. By the late 14th century, however, Byland was regarded … Continue reading Byland
Honourable
BY PERCY THORLEY When I was at school, many decades ago, it was considered a cardinal sin to ever deploy the word “nice” in an English essay or composition. It is a word of no real intent. One hears it all the time – “I will have a nice cup of tea” or “That Andy Burnham seems like a nice chap”. From such sentences we … Continue reading Honourable
The Charity Draft
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN There is a primal brutality to the schoolyard pick. It is a distillation of human worth, stripped of all social veneer and political correctness—a moment of unvarnished truth where utility is measured in cold, kinetic terms. At prep school, the scholarship cohort was a tragicomedy: thirteen of us, anointed as the brightest, yet a mere four could coordinate hand and eye well … Continue reading The Charity Draft
Echoes of a Silent Dial
BY ROGER WATSON An abiding memory of my grandfather’s house in Huntly, rural Aberdeenshire, was the barely audible chatter coming from his Philips transistor radio. The radio sat on a small table slightly behind the chair where he always sat at the fireside. If visitors arrived at the house, he would always turn down the volume on the transistor, but it rarely got turned off. … Continue reading Echoes of a Silent Dial
A Fragile Dawn
BY PHIL MARKS The Return of the Capercaillie to Seafield & Strathspey In the ancient pinewoods of Kinveachy and Castle Grant, a sound that had grown dangerously faint is echoing once more. This spring, the misty clearings of the Seafield & Strathspey Estates have resonated with the distinctive calls of 43 male capercaillie, a notable increase from the 25 recorded last year. In the hushed … Continue reading A Fragile Dawn
Count Binface: A Gimmick So Funny It Requires a Labour Donor
BY SEAN WALSH In an episode of the 1990s comedy series Seinfeld, Jerry’s dentist decides to convert to Judaism “for the jokes”. When Jerry is asked if this offends him “as a Jewish person” he replies “No! It offends me as a comedian”. Comedy is not something that should be taken lightly. The political class would do well to remember that. It is a good … Continue reading Count Binface: A Gimmick So Funny It Requires a Labour Donor