Pride and Humility
BY ALEX STORY Societies are defined, in part, by their celebrations. Two of these expose the cultural battlefield on which we currently stand. In one corner, sporting the red of the Poppy, we have the withered, dignified, but dying Remembrance Day; in the opposite one, we have the Rainbow-coloured, indecorous Pride month. To the first is dedicated a single minute of silence, its centrepiece; to … Continue reading Pride and Humility
BBC DARVO
BY PAUL T HORGAN In all the furore following the revelation that senior BBC executives can’t get away with slandering the President of the USA without being forced to resign their jobs, it does seem as though people have forgotten that the BBC is stuffed to the gills with media professionals skilled at spinning a news story to their advantage. People may be excused this … Continue reading BBC DARVO
James D. Watson: Double Helix and Double Standards
BY ROGER WATSON It is hard to believe that James D. Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning co-discoverer of DNA’s structure, has died at 97 years old. Yet, it is equally astonishing that he was still with us for so long, given that the double-helical structure of DNA was established in 1953—two years before I was born. I am 70 years old this month. My first degree, from … Continue reading James D. Watson: Double Helix and Double Standards
The Medlar’s Reward
BY PETER BROOK A forgotten fruit of the country-house kitchen There are few fruits so old-fashioned, and so richly evocative of the English winter, as the medlar. Once found in every English rectory orchard and manor garden, its curious brown fruit was prized long after apples and pears had disappeared from the shelves. Today, the medlar is enjoying a quiet revival — a reward for … Continue reading The Medlar’s Reward
Free-Range and Flourishing
BY JAMIE FOSTER For anyone who has ever dreamed of escaping the rat race, of feeling soil between their fingers and living in tune with the seasons, Allison Lee’s “Free-Range and Flourishing: The Smallholder’s Year” is the compassionate and practical guide you’ve been waiting for. This book is far more than a manual; it is an invitation to a way of life that is both … Continue reading Free-Range and Flourishing
The Spectre in the Fields
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN It is a peculiar truth of our age that the most ancient of threats now wears the mask of progress. The air, once thick with the honest grime of industry, now carries a new and more insidious smog, a vapour of ideas which, if inhaled for long enough, breeds a profound and willing blindness. One detects its presence in the lecture halls, … Continue reading The Spectre in the Fields
A Sordid Backstairs Deal
BY VARIOUS CONTRIBUTORS Just as some optimists began to believe that there may have been a form of principle, albeit misguided, behind the current government’s determination to repeal the 2023 Northern Ireland Legacy Act — and the protections it afforded to soldiers and police officers who risked all to fight the terrorists to a standstill — we see some truly scandalous measures included in the … Continue reading A Sordid Backstairs Deal
A Prayer for Conservationists
VICAR As winter’s mantle settles upon the countryside and nature enters her season of rest, our thoughts turn to those who stand as guardians of creation’s delicate balance. Our conservationists are the quiet sentinels who listen to the land, who understand that we are but stewards of wonders we did not create. Their work is an act of preservation for generations yet unborn. This week, … Continue reading A Prayer for Conservationists
An American Attends Bonfire Night
BY DAVID CAMPBELL My wife Janet and I found ourselves in London during a crisp November in the mid-nineties, when an invitation from our friend Peter Farmer promised a weekend escape to the coastal town of Littlehampton. Upon our arrival, Peter announced the occasion: his annual Bonfire Night dinner. “I hope you’re familiar with the Gunpowder Plot?” he asked. I assured him that even across … Continue reading An American Attends Bonfire Night
Hannah Russell
BY ALLISON LEE Hannah Russell is an author and countryside enthusiast who lives in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. Born and bred in this incredible part of the country, she is surrounded by rolling hills and wildlife and now resides on the Swinton Estate with more than twenty of her own animals, including ponies, sheep, donkeys, dogs, alpacas, and even tortoises. As a child, Hannah spent … Continue reading Hannah Russell
Zero Negotiation
BY ALEX STORY “You can’t negotiate with Leftards”. They “don’t care if they ruin your whole life”. They “will kill you”, said Javier Milei during a fiery exchange on a TV show three months before winning the Presidency of Argentina in December 2023. Argentina, the richest country in the world by the end of the 19th century, and top 10 throughout the 1920s, now ranks … Continue reading Zero Negotiation
The Trials of Trouting
BY NICK PEARCE If you’ve ever spent a day by the water, rod in hand, and found yourself muttering at tangled lines, scoffing at the weather, or questioning your own sanity, then Paul Dady’s “Rod Rage: The Trials of Trouting” is your new bible. This book is an utter delight, a perfectly captured essence of the angler’s psyche that is as insightful as it is … Continue reading The Trials of Trouting
EIIR – The Art of Stamps
BY NICHOLAS ENGERT Beauty and Design in the Early Elizabethan Era When Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1952 following the death of her father King George VI, Britain faced the future with a fragile optimism. It was a time when even the smallest things — the postage stamps that bore her image — reflected a quiet confidence and beauty that spoke of a nation still … Continue reading EIIR – The Art of Stamps
Dew Ponds
BY JAMIE FOSTER David Rivière’s “Dew Ponds” is an absolute gem of a book, a beautifully crafted exploration that transforms a seemingly simple feature of the landscape into a subject of wonder, history, and artistry. From the moment you pick up this compact yet richly detailed volume, it’s clear that this is a labour of love, offering a perfect blend of meticulous research and visual … Continue reading Dew Ponds
School Levers
BY JOE NUTT It has to stop. Some situations are so fundamentally detrimental to healthy human families, which are after all, all that really matters when you can genuinely see the wood, they simply cannot be tolerated. Listening to a series of well-informed, often passionate debates about the current state of State education recently, has brought me to this conclusion. Our schools must be freed … Continue reading School Levers
A Tale of Two Barracks
BY ROGER WATSON I have written previously in these pages about military matters: about my old regiment, the national memorial, and military accommodation. With the British Government having just announced a £9 billion package for the refurbishment of military housing, I want to return to that last topic. First, the scale of the refurbishment. By any standard, £9 billion is a huge amount of money, … Continue reading A Tale of Two Barracks
The Lord’s Prayer
VICAR Nine years on from the birth of this wonderful, truth-telling magazine, a gentle reminder that the good ladies and gentlemen of this fine publication have given me free rein over Sundays. Instead of attempting to add to the slew of stories in the Sunday newspapers, Country Squire Magazine decided to reinforce Sunday as a day of rest and, should readers be so inclined, a … Continue reading The Lord’s Prayer
The Tragedy of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor
BY PAUL T HORGAN Perhaps it was all inevitable. Any non-American fingered as an associate of Jeffrey Epstein would be publicly disgraced and ostracised. Epstein, after all, was a paedophile, and this was public knowledge after his first and only conviction. If anyone kept in touch with him thereafter, they did so in the full knowledge that they were consorting with a monster. And yet. … Continue reading The Tragedy of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor
Therapy With A Difference – Dinky Ponies
BY ALLISON LEE Sarah Woodland has harboured a lifelong love of horses. Having grown up around them, she has always had equine company in her life. Her parents both rode, and she cannot remember a time in her childhood without horses. It was therefore almost certain that her adult life would involve these beautiful animals. Sarah lives in Oxfordshire. She is the wife of a … Continue reading Therapy With A Difference – Dinky Ponies
She Saved Her Country From Socialists
BY IAN MITCHELL The authorised biography of Margaret Thatcher, single-volume edition Charles Moore was appointed by Margaret Thatcher as her authorised biographer. He published three volumes between 2013 and 2019. Now, timed to coincide with the centenary of his subject’s birth this month, he has condensed those into a single-volume thousand-pager, which I highly recommend for all those interested in the question of how to rescue … Continue reading She Saved Her Country From Socialists