Artificial Dishonesty
BY PAUL T HORGAN A person mentioning the humorous magazine Punch to most people under the age of 50 will be met with blank stares. Punch closed, barring an abortive resurrection, in 1992, when today’s 50-year-old would have been in their teens, and by that time, Punch‘s mass appeal had long gone as monolithic markets began to break into smaller segments. A decision sometime in the mid-1960s had seen the magazine redesigned … Continue reading Artificial Dishonesty
A Prayer for Our Rural Communities
VICAR We come before You today, giving thanks for the ties that bind us and the places we call home. Lord, You who taught us that we are all neighbours, we lift up our community—its people, its spirit, and its shared life. Bless our village greens, our local shops and public houses, our churches and village halls. Where there is fellowship, let it deepen; where … Continue reading A Prayer for Our Rural Communities
Anna’s Little Pink Fordson
BY ALLISON LEE Anna Griffiths is a woman on a mission. Quite simply, she wants to raise awareness and as much money as possible for a charity very close to her heart – Dementia UK. Anna lives on a smallholding in Ringstead, Northamptonshire with her partner, Andrew, and their two dogs, Rupert and Rodney. She works as a freelance groomer and an animal care assistant … Continue reading Anna’s Little Pink Fordson
Locked
BY ROGER WATSON Starring Bill Skarsgård and Anthony Hopkins, Locked (2025) is a comeuppance film where a petty thief and all-round streetwise lowlife suffers for his crimes – one crime in particular – in a fairly horrible way. Skarsgård, or Bill Istvan Günther Skarsgård, has appeared in a few films of note, none of which I have seen and in mainly minor roles. While I liked his … Continue reading Locked
Breaking Bad and the Strange Culture of 12-Step Recovery
BY SEAN WALSH In Season 3 of Breaking Bad, two low-level, sci-fi-obsessed and endearingly hapless addicts and meth dealers, Badger and Skinny Pete (not their real names), infiltrate a 12-Step recovery group, intending to use the “share time” to promote their uniquely pure, trademark-blue “product”. The scheme is misconceived, not least because the healing space generated and curated by 12-Step groups is not controllable. Certainly not … Continue reading Breaking Bad and the Strange Culture of 12-Step Recovery
The Ballad of Reading Station
BY PAUL T HORGAN Were it not for the office blocks dominating the southern, more populous, side of Reading Station, it would be an imposing piece of railway architecture. The building’s striking feature is its wide concourse, mounted above the eight platforms aligned with the Great Western Main Line. Much like Joseph Bazalgette, who built London’s sewers with four times the required capacity, this escalator-and-lift-linked … Continue reading The Ballad of Reading Station
Satan and Paraclete
BY ALEX STORY Satan, in Hebrew, means the “accuser”. He is the archetype who brands the innocent from the moral soapbox he built on the highest ground, the better to cow the sheepish multitudes. To mask his crimes, he fixes his venomous gaze upon a blameless bystander and smears him: first to separate the individual from the rest, and then to convince the crowd that … Continue reading Satan and Paraclete
Miss Christie’s Final Case
BY JOHN DREWRY If you are reading these words, it means I have been dead for at least forty years. I left instructions for this manuscript to be kept ‘under wraps’ after my death so that it would not see the light of day for several decades. For it contains a terrible secret. However, I am somewhat comforted by the belief that there is a … Continue reading Miss Christie’s Final Case
Notes of a ‘Conspiracy Theorist’
BY NIALL McCRAE Parked continuously at a cliff-top near my town in Sussex is a Dormobile, its windows covered in posters about conspiracy theories, particularly QAnon. Recently I had a chat with the owner, giving him a copy of the Light newpaper, a publication that focuses on powerful forces conspiring against the masses. QAnon, however, is discredited by critical thinkers as a CIA trap, a … Continue reading Notes of a ‘Conspiracy Theorist’
In Defence of ‘Flagshaggers’
CSM EDITORIAL A new kind of war is being fought in Britain, a cold war of symbols. Its front line is not in any foreign field but in the streets of villages and towns, and its weapon is the flag. On houses and in pub windows, the St. George’s Cross and the Union Jack are appearing again. To the political cliques of London and other … Continue reading In Defence of ‘Flagshaggers’
How Portugal Became Inoculated Against 21st Century Revolution
BY TOM GALLAGHER Portugal is already a year into lavish anniversary commemorations of a revolution that occurred unexpectedly in 1974-75. Perhaps its culminating point was in March 1975 when sweeping nationalisations of industry and banking, as well as land, occurred. It was the most radical advance of state power into the private economic realm seen anywhere in Western Europe since 1945 and, arguably, the Portuguese … Continue reading How Portugal Became Inoculated Against 21st Century Revolution
A Prayer for the Harvest
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust this finds you in good heart as the season turns. This week, let us pray for the land and those who work it, for a successful harvest despite the many pressures they face. Heavenly Father, Creator of sun and rain, we lift to You our farmers and growers. We pray for the harvest that lies in the … Continue reading A Prayer for the Harvest
An American’s Defence of English Food
BY DAVID CAMPBELL The reputation of English food is, unfortunately, one of blandness—a calumny I believe stems from the soldiers who tasted it during the rationing of World War II and carried that impression back to their home countries. My own experience has been quite the opposite; I’ve found English food to be excellent and deeply satisfying. It all begins with breakfast. A full English … Continue reading An American’s Defence of English Food
Ponies’ Night on the Town
BY ALLISON LEE After enjoying a rare evening out with friends, I was woken the next morning at 6.30 am by a call from a neighbouring farmer. He told me that my ponies, Chieftain and Jo-Jo, had escaped and were making their way past the community hall towards the next village! I can honestly say I have never got dressed so quickly in my life. … Continue reading Ponies’ Night on the Town
New Show: Deadliners
DEADLINERS is a brand new weekly current affairs program featuring some of Britain’s top comedians. With wokeness beginning to fall out of fashion, DEADLINERS is perfectly placed to draw the very sizeable audience that now finds mainstream terrestrial TV comedy old hat and rather preachy. DEADLINERS doesn’t preach, it mocks – mordantly. Viewers should pass a heart test before watching it. Talent includes comedy stars … Continue reading New Show: Deadliners
A Memorandum on the Perils of a Gullible Mind (Part 2)
BY THE EDITOR This is Part 2 of a two-part article that began yesterday. Part 1 can be read here. The situation escalated when Roger invited Bembers to his birthday party (ten years older than his actual age)—a milestone event that placed him squarely in what Bembers deemed “Bible John age territory.” For Bembers, this was the missing key. He launched a full-scale investigation, scouring … Continue reading A Memorandum on the Perils of a Gullible Mind (Part 2)
A Memorandum on the Perils of a Gullible Mind (Part 1)
BY THE EDITOR As Editor of this esteemed publication, my duties are many and varied. I am a curator of fine prose, a guardian of grammatical fortitude, and a shepherd to a flock of writers who, while brilliant, occasionally possess the common sense of a startled pheasant. It is, therefore, paramount that my successor, the ever-keen Deputy Editor James ‘Bembers’ Bembridge, possesses a quality even … Continue reading A Memorandum on the Perils of a Gullible Mind (Part 1)
Paid Counter-Protestors: A PR Disaster
BY NIALL McCRAE ‘Do not engage’ instructs a woman wearing a yellow vest. She is talking to two young male counter-protestors outside a hotel accommodating illegal immigrants. The independent journalist’s question ‘what brings you here today?’ goes unanswered, as they dutifully step back and put their masks on. Why so compliant? In all likelihood these are students, and they must do what they are told. … Continue reading Paid Counter-Protestors: A PR Disaster
Gravel, Grit, and Glory: The Maddy Nutt Interview
Gravel Racing is a rapidly growing discipline in cycling that blends elements of road racing, mountain biking, and endurance riding. It takes place on unpaved roads—typically gravel, dirt, fire trails, or mixed-terrain routes—and has become popular for its adventurous, inclusive, and challenging nature. Races are held on a mix of surfaces—gravel roads, forest tracks, farm lanes, and even rough singletrack. Courses can range from smooth … Continue reading Gravel, Grit, and Glory: The Maddy Nutt Interview
Britain’s Attempted Socialist Subversion
BY ALEX STORY Millions of voices were shouting in anger. The Britons outside looked from pigs to extremists, and from extremists to pigs, and from pigs to extremists again—but already it was impossible to say which was which. To many, something strange had happened to our police. Once the thin blue line between order and chaos, they had crossed it, choosing the latter over the … Continue reading Britain’s Attempted Socialist Subversion