Last of the Giants
BY STEWART SLATER George V was dying. That was well known. A bulletin was issued stating that “The King’s life is moving peacefully towards its close.” From the point of view of the Court, however, he was dying too slowly. If he survived the night, there was a risk that he might not survive the morning, raising the risk that his death would be announced … Continue reading Last of the Giants
David Shepherd – Artist and Conservationist
BY ALEXIA JAMES In 1975, David Shepherd wrote his autobiography ‘The Man Who Loves Giants’. Even though he was only 44, he had already achieved more than most could have in three lifetimes. Right up until his death in 2017, he continued to paint a huge variety of subjects; founded the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (which has, to date, raised over £10 million); renovated and … Continue reading David Shepherd – Artist and Conservationist
The Narcissistic Broadcasting Company
BY STEWART SLATER What was the most important thing for you to know early on Saturday evening? What was the key thing which had happened in the world? America’s failure, once more, to launch its new rocket perhaps? The ongoing humanitarian catastrophe caused by the floods in Pakistan maybe? The fact that we were inching ever closer to Larry the Cat finally getting a new … Continue reading The Narcissistic Broadcasting Company
Annals of Solitude
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Stephen Pax Leonard is Research Professor at Moscow State Linguistic University. Educated at Oxford and the Sorbonne, he previously held positions at Oxford and Cambridge. A writer, linguist and traveller, he is the author of six other books on the Arctic and sub-Arctic region. Lucky for us, Stephen occasionally writes for Country Squire Magazine and his articles can be found here. Stephen’s … Continue reading Annals of Solitude
The Death of Newspaper Subbing
BY MARGARET ASHWORTH Not long ago a story in the Daily Mail about a collie lost on a mountain referred to it as a b*tch, with an asterisk as if it were an obscenity rather than the correct and harmless word for a female dog. When I read that, I realised that subbing is well and truly dead. It was not just that a sub-editor … Continue reading The Death of Newspaper Subbing
Journey of a Nation
BY ANTONIA FILMER Madhav Nalapat is no stranger to the English-speaking world and has been a contributor to Country Squire Magazine. In the Manipal University professor’s latest book, “75 Years of Indian Foreign Policy”, is found a concise yet comprehensive review of India’s past, present and future bilateral relations and multipolar ambitions since Independence in 1947. Nalapat has from the 1980s considered India to be … Continue reading Journey of a Nation
Conservative Solutions to the Present Crisis
BY EFFIE DEANS In 2010 the Labour Party was kicked out by the voters and replaced with the Conservative Lib Dem coalition under David Cameron. It was natural for voters to blame Labour for the economic crisis of 2008 and to seek an alternative. Labour had been in power since 1997. If Labour were not to blame who was? So too with the crisis that … Continue reading Conservative Solutions to the Present Crisis
A Prayer for Beauty
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that my weekly message finds You well and healthy. This week I would like You to look outside and enjoy the intricacy and beauty of the world. If You are going to church, please spend time to wander around outside and take in the detail. One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I … Continue reading A Prayer for Beauty
The Reality of Hunting for Newbies
BY SARAH GREENWOOD The Mendip Farmers Hunt have recently had so many new faces out on mounted hound exercise, which has provoked lots of enquiries about how to get into hunting, that they have answered publicly. This means that they are being blatantly transparent about the activity – much, I am sure, to the various anti organisations’ collective horror! Transparent and above board is not … Continue reading The Reality of Hunting for Newbies
Guilt by Association
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Last weekend in an ancient Cornish pub, I was discussing guilt by association with a friend – one of the ducking stools characteristically favoured by the Left which has sadly come into fashion from the Centre to the Right in recent years (one hopes but temporarily, as the West finally wakes up to the circular firing squad of postmodern creep). Put simply, … Continue reading Guilt by Association
Abuse of Parliamentary Rules by Animal Rights Extremists
Rural industries and field sports in the UK are in constant danger from 3P (Pillocks, Parasites and Politics) whose noisy views are usually personal daydreams or sentimentality, making such objections mainly fictional – based on neither factual truth nor understanding. It is therefore important that rural politics are subject to some sort of oversight based on truth and understanding, otherwise you end up with laws and … Continue reading Abuse of Parliamentary Rules by Animal Rights Extremists
Terrain Theory ‘Terrorists’
BY ROGER WATSON Nonsense has a new name, and it is ‘terrain theory’. Never heard of it? Read on and you will not be able to say that again. Terrain theory is aptly described by Wikipedia as an ‘obsolete variation’ of ‘germ theory denialism’. Obsolete it may be, but it has not expired. To understand what germ theory denialism is, you need to understand what … Continue reading Terrain Theory ‘Terrorists’
Farewell to the Edge of the World
BY MARGARET ASHWORTH Early in the morning of August 29, 1930, 92 years ago yesterday, a way of life came to an end after at least 2,000 years. The last 36 residents of St Kilda, an isolated group of granite islands 100 miles off the west coast of Scotland sometimes called ‘the edge of the world’, were evacuated to the mainland at their own request … Continue reading Farewell to the Edge of the World
Polemily
BY QUENTIN PIGG How often do we see those overworked words ‘brilliant’ and ‘brave’ used to describe speeches that are neither of the two? Social media – where one is encouraged to make the searingly banal sound sensational – has degraded these sacred epithets into cheap expressions of partisan approval. So, it was with some suspicion that I saw them attached to Emily Maitlis’ James … Continue reading Polemily
A Prayer for Our Children
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well. This week ahead will see many of Your children or grandchildren return to school, so today I would like to focus on the children. What does the New Testament say about children? 3 John 1:4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” Ephesians … Continue reading A Prayer for Our Children
Worldie
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN There is nothing quite like the death of a close friend to spin one’s bearings. One minute you are there with him in his garden and he’s talking about his business and plans to replace his car. The next minute the earth you are tossing down on his coffin just a short walk from that same garden is soil he departed many … Continue reading Worldie
Wild Justice – Lightweight & Vile
CSM EDITORIAL A member of the Great British Public recently wrote to us with copies of a series of extraordinary email exchanges they had with the campaign group Wild Justice, which is run by Mark Avery, Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay. The (redacted) exchanges published below will boil your blood. We have given the author of the emails a random pseudonym, Mr Constantine Beavertail. We … Continue reading Wild Justice – Lightweight & Vile
How Many Solar Panels Can You Eat?
BY JIM WEBSTER It’s interesting that both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have spoken out against covering farmland with solar panels. You do wonder if finally, people are beginning to wake up a little. Personally I think that, whether he intended to or not, Putin has created a watershed in history, but not perhaps in the way he intended. If we go back to the … Continue reading How Many Solar Panels Can You Eat?
Yet Another Form of Wickedness
BY SEAN WALSH Olivia Pratt-Korbell, 9 years old, posed no threat to anybody outside the normal, trivial, transactions of decent and loving family life. And that is no threat at all. 9 years old. Let us remember that bit. What does a 9 year old child wonder about? The only thing a 9 year old should be thinking about is what it is like to … Continue reading Yet Another Form of Wickedness
Does Hunting Have Value Beyond the Rhetoric?
BY PAUL STONES Before reading this piece, I ask that you consider that I am not a trained journalist like the one whose article has spurred me into action. As a professional hunter myself, my agenda is clear and open – I wish to see a future in which hunting remains one of the cornerstones of good conservation practice. The moniker that hunters are merely … Continue reading Does Hunting Have Value Beyond the Rhetoric?