Regenesis
BY QUENTIN PIGG Those familiar with George Monbiot’s journalism – to use the word in its loosest and most absurd sense – will know of his strange, almost pathological obsession with farmers. He writes endlessly about abolishing livestock farming and rewilding agricultural land, but shows little care or consideration as to what should happen to the families and communities for whom farming is not just … Continue reading Regenesis
Coming Home
BY STEWART SLATER “It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.” It may seem churlish to drag up Dr Johnson’s dictum on women preaching in the aftermath of the Lionesses’ famous victory. For it was, surely, one of the great British achievements worthy, on the basis of the breathless and ubiquitous coverage, of comparison to the discovery of … Continue reading Coming Home
Truss Must Defend the United Kingdom
BY EFFIE DEANS It is now almost certain that Liz Truss will be the next Prime Minister. Unless something very strange happens, Sunak has already lost. Her first task is to protect the United Kingdom. Any Prime Minister whose action or inaction leads to the break up of the UK will be remembered for that and that alone. The UK is threatened in two ways. One … Continue reading Truss Must Defend the United Kingdom
A Prayer for Patience
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and enjoying the weekend. This week I would like You to consider the matter of patience. Patience is one of those virtues that we all strive to maintain in our everyday lives. But sometimes our self-control wanes and impatience settles in, whether we are dealing with a problem at work or home. … Continue reading A Prayer for Patience
Is Human Extinction Inevitable?
BY MEG LEE CHIN There comes a moment when something you only understood intellectually becomes something more tangible. This understanding surpasses the intellect. It becomes something you know in your soul. Prior to the siege of the US Capitol, The idea of human extinction was something I was aware of intellectually. But afterward, I knew in my bones it would one day be inevitable. Trump … Continue reading Is Human Extinction Inevitable?
Beware the Bland Candidate
BY DANIEL JUPP How interesting it was this week to see Keir Starmer stating that his approach is ‘pragmatic rather than ideological’. Those who lack charisma often try to portray themselves as a safe pair of hands. Asserting that you are non ideological is a way of doing this. Yes, I may be boring and you may find yourself falling asleep as I talk to … Continue reading Beware the Bland Candidate
Shepherds Forgotten Again
BY JIM WEBSTER I’ve worked with sheep, but I’d never call myself a shepherd. I’ve not got that level of expertise. But one of the things about shepherds is that they tend not to be centre stage. Historically they were always looked down upon. Even more so than the rest of us involved in agriculture, shepherds were shunned. (Even now ‘peasant’ is an insult in … Continue reading Shepherds Forgotten Again
Cruise Control
BY JOHN NASH The Daily Maverick’s padded-cell correspondent, Don Pinnock (Dumb Pillock), has been at the crayons again. Personally, I’m convinced the nurse has been overdoing his meds. On 7th July ’22, he scribbled a Daily Maverick (a leading South African source of news, opinion and investigations) farticle about “a forensic study” into Botswana’s Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) conservation system. The “study” found … Continue reading Cruise Control
In Liz We Trust
BY EFFIE DEANS Politics is partly about opinions and persuading others to vote for those opinions, but it is much more about truth. In an election we are faced with a choice between Labour and the Conservative parties. Each puts forward a set of policies and personalities and the voters choose between them. It’s partly a matter of taste. Do you prefer the Left to … Continue reading In Liz We Trust
Collapse into Necessity
BY FRANK WRIGHT We have seen of late the spread of farmers protests – from the Dutch, who object to a third of their farmland being seized by politicians, to Italy, Germany, Spain, and Macedonia. This is a striking indication of the deep division between people and politics in the management system known as Western democracy. The issues which drive cultural conflict within nations are those concentrated in … Continue reading Collapse into Necessity
A Prayer for Honesty
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and enjoying the cooler days after the heatwave. This week I would like You to consider Your honesty. Are you a truthful person or a liar? Are You true to Yourself or are You someone who never quite faces up to their weaknesses and dishonesty? The Bible is clear about honesty: ‘Whoever … Continue reading A Prayer for Honesty
Cafod Olé
BY ROGER WATSON With the Holy See in the grip of a South American Communist and the long but not so gradual decline of the Roman Catholic Church since the 1960s and the disaster known as the Second Vatican Council, nothing really surprises me any longer when I grit my teeth and join the faithful each Sunday morning for weekly Mass. From the caterwauling in … Continue reading Cafod Olé
An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West
BY JAMES BEMBRIDGE Konstantin Kisin is a comedian, political commentator and co-host of the widely celebrated show TRIGGERnometry. His first book, An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West, serves as a warning siren to those who take for granted the freedoms that Western Civilisation affords; freedoms of which Kisin’s grandparents – under the oppressions of Soviet Russia – could have only dreamed. Britain’s middle-class commentariat … Continue reading An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West
The Countryside Fights Back
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN It was with some reluctance that I was asked to present on film my take on the current battles over the Great British Countryside. Not my scene at all. Nonetheless I trooped up to Yorkshire with our terrier Angus (our labrador was banned by the producers as they thought he might gobble the microphone muff) and we shot the following three films … Continue reading The Countryside Fights Back
From Dusseldorf To Albuquerque With No Hats
BY PAUL T HORGAN It may be no exaggeration to state that the most eagerly-awaited music album of 2003 was Kraftwerk’s Tour de France Soundtracks. While other acts may have had larger fanbases, Tour was Kraftwerk’s first album of original music for 17 years. Well, that is not entirely true, the title track had been released as a stand-alone single back in 1983. Tour de … Continue reading From Dusseldorf To Albuquerque With No Hats
Officers and Ideologues
BY STEWART SLATER “Only he who has no use for the Empire is fit to be entrusted with it.” said the Chinese philosopher Zuangzhi, and he probably had a point. Those who run for office generally do so on the basis that they think they will perform well in it. Most of them are wrong. If some political careers do not end in failure, the … Continue reading Officers and Ideologues
Let’s Not Be Sri Lanka
BY JIM WEBSTER Sri Lanka has been the victim of a government organised experiment. In April 2021, the government imposed a nationwide ban on the importation and use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and ordered the country’s two million farmers to go organic. It may well be that this wasn’t so much ideological as a desperate attempt to keep money in the country. It backfired. … Continue reading Let’s Not Be Sri Lanka
Democratic Deficit in Scotland?
BY EFFIE DEANS The SNP’s latest paper “Renewing Democracy through Independence” attempts to show that there is a democratic deficit that justifies Scotland leaving the UK. The argument goes that Scotland votes differently to the UK as a whole in General Elections or during the Brexit referendum. We get Tories though we voted for the SNP or Labour. We get Leave though we voted for … Continue reading Democratic Deficit in Scotland?
A Prayer for the Farming Community
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and keeping cool. As I sit here and type the weekly prayer up, it is raining. Perhaps the recent heatwave is on its way out. This week I would like to pray for the farming community on whom We depend for our food, and the hierarchical order and beauty that are the … Continue reading A Prayer for the Farming Community
D’ye ken John Peel?
BY CAPTAIN ED SWALES Every rural and hunting Cumbrian certainly does. It’s part of their rural heritage. The famous early 19th century farmer and fell huntsman of the Lake District, lay undisturbed in St Kentigern’s Churchyard in Caldbeck from 1854 until one grim night in 1977, when his grave was desecrated and his remains disinterred by Mike Huskisson, an operative of the League Against Cruel … Continue reading D’ye ken John Peel?