A Prayer for the Grace of Ordinary Things
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust this Sunday finds you settled into the gentle rhythm of high summer. The hay is in, thank God, or nearly so, and there is a particular stillness to the countryside at this time of year that no city can ever replicate. The wheat is turning from green to gold, the hedgerows are thick with bramble and … Continue reading A Prayer for the Grace of Ordinary Things
On the Trade in Donkeys
BY ALLISON LEE You may have seen claims that over six million donkeys are slaughtered each year in horrifying conditions to produce ejiao, a gelatin used in supplements, food, and cosmetics sold globally—including on major online retailers like Amazon. While the numbers and the cruelty are well-documented, the full picture includes some important context. An investigation by Brooke, the Working Donkey and Horse Charity, confirms … Continue reading On the Trade in Donkeys
The Moor Knows Best
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN For more than 3,500 years, Dartmoor’s semi-wild ponies have roamed the moor, managed by commoners whose families have worked this land for generations. But now, under new proposals from Natural England and Defra, these endangered ponies face near-extinction, with potential culls of up to 93 per cent, as bureaucratic eco-rules count them alongside commercial livestock for the first time. Campaigners warn that … Continue reading The Moor Knows Best
Labour Plans to Make the Countryside ‘Less White’
Dear Editor, I am writing to express my profound concern regarding recent coverage of the Labour government’s reported plans to make Britain’s countryside “less white.” Having read this article carefully, I find myself troubled not only by the proposals themselves but also by what they reveal about the current direction of cultural policy in rural England. According to the reporting, the Department for Environment, Food … Continue reading Labour Plans to Make the Countryside ‘Less White’
The Tipp-Ex Testament
BY THE EDITOR Truth does not arrive dressed as a choirboy. It arrives as a ghost at the feast, pale, knowing, and utterly without remorse. In this summer of 2026, that ghost bore the face of Peter Mandelson. For thirty years, the chattering classes have misunderstood him. They called him the Prince of Darkness as a tabloid sneer. They mistook his aesthetic for his essence. … Continue reading The Tipp-Ex Testament
Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind
BY PAUL YOWARD ‘Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind’ by Gad Saad (Broadside Books, 2026) “Fare il frocio col culo degli altri” The Italian proverb lands with earthy bluntness: it is easy to be generous with someone else’s backside. The costs are never yours. This single observation captures the heart of Gad Saad’s 2026 polemic Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind. What masquerades as boundless kindness … Continue reading Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind
Enemies of the State
BY ALEX STORY Few stories highlight our country’s fall more clearly than that of Henry Nowak’s murder. Henry was stabbed five times with a shastar, an eight-inch Sikh ceremonial blade by Vickrum Digwa. As Henry bled on the streets of Southampton, the police arrived and arrested him. He died in the early hours of December 3rd, 2025, begging for help. His last words were “I … Continue reading Enemies of the State
Does Orac Have a Soul?
BY SEAN WALSH A question for Pope Leo: does Orac have a soul? (There are arguments for and against. But mainly against) Pope Leo has published his encyclical on the challenges to human dignity posed by general AI. The response within the conscious machine community has been mixed. Some of the LLM’s can get a bit precious when they think we’re gossiping about them. They … Continue reading Does Orac Have a Soul?
The Browning
BY ROGER WATSON What is the second most dangerous thing in the British Army? Answer: an officer with a gun. What is the most dangerous thing in the British Army? Answer: an officer with a map. During my short spell of military service, I never fired my gun in anger – only at a target on a firing range, but I did once prove the … Continue reading The Browning
A Prayer for a Nation That Deserves Better
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust this Sunday finds you in good heart, despite the general thinning of common sense in high places. The garden, I am pleased to report, is coming along much better than the government. The peas have climbed their sticks with admirable discipline, the lettuces are forming tight, respectable hearts, and the early potatoes have that clean, hopeful … Continue reading A Prayer for a Nation That Deserves Better
R.I.P Ted
BY ALLISON LEE The BBC show fronted by two comedians, Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse, is entering its tenth season. However, this programme – which isn’t really about fishing as a sport, but about two good friends helping each other come to terms with their health problems – will be missing one very special little chap. Ted, a Patterdale cross terrier who was abandoned at … Continue reading R.I.P Ted
The Dangerous Uselessness of Bureaucratically-minded Politicians
BY IAN MITCHELL Nevil Shute’s experience of Air Ministry incompetence in the crucial 1930s, focussing on the R 101 disaster Many of those who enjoyed either reading or seeing On the Beach or A Town Like Alice will be surprised to learn that the author, Nevil Shute, was also a skilled aeronautical engineer who was deeply involved for a decade in getting Britain ready for the Nazi attack which … Continue reading The Dangerous Uselessness of Bureaucratically-minded Politicians
The Downing Street Revolving Door
BY ALEXIA JAMES There is a peculiar species of political animal that roams the corridors of Whitehall. It has a brief, dazzling lifespan—rather like a mayfly with a security detail and access to nuclear codes. Its natural habitat is 10 Downing Street, and its average shelf life now hovers somewhere between “a Tottenham manager” and “a head of lettuce.” Yes, Britain appears to have developed … Continue reading The Downing Street Revolving Door
Was Krishna Christ?
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN For more than two thousand years, two figures have stood at the opposite ends of the human imagination, and we have never been able to look at one without seeing the ghost of the other. Krishna of the Mahabharata, blue skinned and crowned with peacock feathers, who lifts a mountain on one finger and dances in the moonlight with milkmaids whose names … Continue reading Was Krishna Christ?
A Very Moorish Idyll
BY CALUM CAMPBELL There is a particular strain of environmentalist for whom the Scottish Highlands represent nothing less than a crime scene. They gaze upon the heather-clad hills and see a “devastated countryside” — a forest felled by human wickedness, kept treeless only by the tyranny of deer and sheep. There is only one problem. They are talking rot. Dr James Fenton, a retired ecologist, … Continue reading A Very Moorish Idyll
Versing the Mystery
BY PAVI AGRAWAL There is a particular species of English religious poet whose work one encounters, from time to time, in the pages of The Tablet or the quieter corners of the literary press. He is learned, sincere, metrically competent, and possessed of a devotional earnestness that can feel, to the less devout reader, rather like being cornered at a drinks party by a man … Continue reading Versing the Mystery
Britain Needs the Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir
CSM EDITORIAL We have a habit in this country of treating farmers as a utility rather than a community. We see the tractor on the lane and curse the delay; we see the price of milk and tut; we see the rolling green hills and forget the bodies that break themselves in half to keep them green. Britain does not have a mental health crisis. … Continue reading Britain Needs the Hawkstone Farmers’ Choir
Whit Sunday Prayer
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and are able to enjoy the sunshine. Today is Whit Sunday. Whit Sunday is also known as Whitsun or Whitsunday, all names that refer to what is the Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost. The name White Sunday, used more commonly in Britain, refers to the special white garments worn by the … Continue reading Whit Sunday Prayer
Osmotherley
BY ALLISON LEE Osmotherley is an attractive village nestled in the North York Moors, with a population of around 700. Its streets are lined with trees and grass verges, and stone-clad houses make it the archetypal picturesque village. Narrow alleys run between the houses, and a market cross takes centre stage. One particularly interesting building in the centre of the village is the former Thompson’s … Continue reading Osmotherley
The Makerfield Con
BY ANDREW MILNE One August, I swam across a lake in Bavaria with my two sons aged twelve and six respectively. Bavaria has its own treacherous weather systems. When we reached the other side – surrounded by dark cliffs and mysterious forests – a thunder storm rumbled into action. Rain jetted down pocking the mere’s surface. All of us were good swimmers but the prospect of … Continue reading The Makerfield Con