The Great Rewilding Fraud – A Vanity Project Funded by You
BY BERT BURNETT The headlines are back, and so are the outstretched hands. Another rewilding charity, Trees for Life, has launched a campaign for £3.6 million of public and donor money to finance what can only be described as a series of vanity projects disguised as conservation. Their so-called ‘Missing Species Programme’ promises to restore lynx, beavers, red squirrels, and aurochs to the Scottish Highlands, … Continue reading The Great Rewilding Fraud – A Vanity Project Funded by You
Enemy Action
BY ALEX STORY As Goldfinger observed: “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” It is a good observational rule, not least to judge our political rulers by what they do rather than what they say. Early in October 2024, Keir Starmer removed the portraits of Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh. Both were painted in the late 16th century, a … Continue reading Enemy Action
The Last Trump for the BBC
BY PAUL T HORGAN Competitive sports are not, we are constantly told, just about winning. They are also about taking part: This, to a degree, makes sense. If no-one apart from one person took part in a sports contest, it would not be much of a contest. This is also the case in lawsuits. The suit is not only about the result, but about the … Continue reading The Last Trump for the BBC
A Prayer for Those Who Grieve
VICAR As the year draws inward and the days grow short, our thoughts turn with tenderness to those whose hearts are shadowed by loss. In our villages and towns, there are those who face the empty chair and the quieted voice, for whom the changing season is a mirror of a life altered. Their journey is one of quiet courage, taken one day at a … Continue reading A Prayer for Those Who Grieve
The Swinton Estate – Part II
BY ALLISON LEE I had the pleasure of a two night stay at Swinton Park Hotel recently and it was a truly amazing experience. The hotel is a Grade II castle set in stunning gardens and parkland at the heart of the 20,000 acre Swinton Estate. It is the ancestral seat of the Earl of Swinton and the informal stately home experience makes this dog … Continue reading The Swinton Estate – Part II
The Luxurious Bathroom
BY NICHOLAS ENGERT Bathroom design has hardly changed in any dramatic way for nigh on 100 years. This is hardly surprising as all bathrooms revolve around three or four essential pieces of sanitary ware – wash hand basin, bath, shower and WC. Whilst there have been some excellent design innovations such as walk in showers which do away with problematic shower trays, most items of sanitary … Continue reading The Luxurious Bathroom
The Philosopher with Fins
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN In August I was walking to the riverbank, my gear in hand, when I passed an oik with a Staffie. He gestured with his can and asked why I’d waste my day trying to catch fish ‘when you can just buy ’em from Pets at Home.’ I offered a faint smile and continued on my way. But had I the mind to … Continue reading The Philosopher with Fins
Fiesta de la Transhumancia
BY ED ANDERSON Fiesta de la Transhumancia Madrid brings the countryside to the city One month ago, Madrid got to witness one of its most bizarre but beloved spectacles as hundreds of sheep and goats hurled themselves throughout the city to finish their long voyage of from the hinterlands of Spain to the heart of Madrid at Plaza Cibeles. There was something quite surreal about … Continue reading Fiesta de la Transhumancia
Aprés Keir, Le Petit Deluge
BY PAUL T HORGAN What no-one has commented on is the actual point in time that the question stopped being how Sir Keir would step down as Labour leader and therefore also as Prime Minister, but instead when. The fall of the Marxist Human Rights lawyer from the head of His Majesty’s Government now seems all but inevitable. There will be a tipping-point, largely predicted to … Continue reading Aprés Keir, Le Petit Deluge
The Swinton Estate – Part I
BY ALLISON LEE Driving up to the Swinton Park Hotel, even on a dark night in November, is truly enchanting. The warm lights, the sweeping driveway and the genuine welcome makes this hotel one of the most charming in North Yorkshire. The Swinton Park Hotel is an opulent, Grade II castle set in 200 acres of manicured gardens and parkland at the very heart of the … Continue reading The Swinton Estate – Part I
A Desperate Addiction
BY SEAN WALSH If the Roman jurists were correct that institutions can be persons, then we know what sort of chap the BBC is: the once-promising head prefect who through many years of bad choices has morphed into the lowlife, untrustworthy addict. Worse than a patron of a Victorian Limehouse opium den, the “nation’s broadcaster” has been for so long sucking on the crack pipe … Continue reading A Desperate Addiction
The End of Beauty – The Triumph of Boring
BY NICHOLAS ENGERT It is a simple question. Why are most production cars so dreadfully boring these days? Shapeless, styleless and completely lacking in elegance, most cars today are dull beyond belief. To level this criticism at the designers, and them alone, would be unfair as we must assume they are meeting the requirements of the market they serve. That said most manufacturers appear to … Continue reading The End of Beauty – The Triumph of Boring
Notes from the Actual Countryside
BY GARY BAXTER Right. Let’s talk about the great Highland heist. No, not the one with balaclavas and getaway cars – the one being carried out in broad daylight, dressed in the respectable suits of ‘investment managers’, ‘supply chain logistics’, and even the righteous robes of certain fucking charities. First up, we have the latest installment from our friends in the salmon farming industry, Bakkafrost … Continue reading Notes from the Actual Countryside
Working Horses in London
BY JAMIE FOSTER Miriam A. Bibby’s “Working Horses in London” is a brilliantly condensed and vividly illustrated love letter to the true, four-legged architects of one of the world’s great cities. This book performs a remarkable feat: it restores the silent, clip-clopping multitudes to their rightful place at the heart of London’s bustling narrative, making you see the city’s history through a fresh and deeply … Continue reading Working Horses in London
The Hanging Judge and the Factory of Truth
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN AND JAMIE FOSTER It is a peculiar truth of the modern age that the institutions we assume to be most solid—the pillars of the state—are often the most vulnerable to decay. We imagine the law as a kind of granite edifice, blindfolded and impartial, weighing evidence in her scales without fear or favour. The reality, as any honest observer of recent history … Continue reading The Hanging Judge and the Factory of Truth
When Deceit Trickles Down
CSM EDITORIAL One should not, in the normal course of events, be overly surprised to find the odd eccentric at a village fête or a county fair. A certain amount of harmless embellishment is part of the rich tapestry of rural life. However, the spectacle of a man brazenly parading as a Rear Admiral, chest ablaze with unearned medals, at a sacred Remembrance Sunday service … Continue reading When Deceit Trickles Down
A Prayer for Village Volunteers
VICAR As the heart of a village beats not in its buildings but in the spirit of its people, our thoughts turn to those who give so freely of their time. Our volunteers are the quiet champions of community life, organising fetes, running clubs, caring for the churchyard, and checking on neighbours. Their work is the invisible thread that binds the community together. This week, Dear … Continue reading A Prayer for Village Volunteers
Persons Responsible
BY JOHN MUSGRAVE The final act of growing up, psychiatrists tell us, is to take responsibility for yourself. Children who never grow up, including sociopaths and the intellectually enfeebled will always blame circumstances and events. Never do they accept that what has happened is down to them. It’s always someone else’s fault. Two examples prove this point. Look at the government and the BBC. Far … Continue reading Persons Responsible
Alpaca Apparel
BY ALLISON LEE Model, Claire Turner and her husband and daughter moved from London to the New Forest in 2019 primarily for a change of life and a good choice of schools. Just two years later, in 2021, she founded Alpaca Apparel which was inspired by a deep connection to nature and a desire to offer a more sustainable alternative to mass-produced fashion. Claire’s journey … Continue reading Alpaca Apparel
The Unholy Trinity
BY ROGER WATSON If ever there was a film that deserved the subtitle ‘Or what the Hell is going on?’ it’s The Unholy Trinity (released in 2025 in the United States) which only scores 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. Starring Pierce Brosnan as the sheriff of Trinity in 1870s Montana and the ubiquitous Samuel L Jackson as a gun-toting preacher, it should have done better. The … Continue reading The Unholy Trinity