BY ALLISON LEE I came across Grace Olson for the first time when I watched The Yorkshire Vet, Channel 5’s documentary series that follows the lives and work of veterinary teams in Yorkshire, as they treat a wide variety of animals in both rural and urban settings, and I was immediately interested in her work as a sheep therapist. Grace is trained in deep tissue massage … Continue reading Meeting Grace Olson
BY THE EDITOR Parenting adolescents today is rather like trying to grow prize orchids in a tornado – requiring equal parts scientific understanding and the stoicism of a Victorian headmaster. Dr Sujata Kelkar Shetty’s Resilience Decoded, published by Penguin Random House and recently well-covered by both the BBC and CNN, delivers both with the precision of a biological scientist and the warm pragmatism of a mother … Continue reading A Masterclass in Resilience: Dr Sujata Kelkar Shetty’s Resilience Decoded
BY NICK PEARCE Allison Lee’s My Husband’s Child is a masterfully crafted novel that delves deep into the complexities of marriage, loss, and the haunting power of the past. Told through the eyes of Kate, a woman who has lived for years in the shadow of her absent husband, Miles, the story unfolds with a slow-burning intensity that keeps the reader utterly captivated from the very first … Continue reading My Husband’s Child
BY JAMIE FOSTER Practical Gundog Training represents a significant contribution to gundog literature, offering a comprehensive and expertly crafted guide that will prove invaluable to both amateur handlers and professional trainers. Drawing upon their combined fifty years of practical experience in working gundogs across various field disciplines, authors Nick Ridley and Fran Ardley have produced a manual that stands apart through its universal applicability and emphasis … Continue reading Practical Gundog Training
BY JAMIE FOSTER ‘Oldenland’ by Roger Clough is a profound and reflective exploration of ageing, approached through the metaphor of a country that we all must learn to navigate. Drawing from over 25 years of experience, Clough combines his background in social care (of which he was Emeritus Professor at Lancaster University), his lifelong passion for hill walking, and personal insights to guide readers through … Continue reading Oldenland
BY THE EDITOR The bookshops sag with promises these days. Shelf after shelf of bright spines shouting cures, secrets, revolutions. Most are lies. Some are dangerous. A few might keep you alive a little longer. I met the good doctor on Zoom—her face calm on the screen, mine carefully framed to hide the humidor in the glass cabinet behind me. She had the look of … Continue reading 99 Not Out! by Dr Sujata Kelkar Shetty
BY JAMIE FOSTER How to Draw Ponies by Norman Thelwell is a delightful and insightful guide that combines expert drawing techniques with the artist’s signature wit and charm. First published in 1982, the book remains an enduring classic for both aspiring artists and fans of Thelwell’s much-loved cartoon ponies. Thelwell, whose illustrations of stubborn, plump ponies and their determined young riders are known around the … Continue reading How to Draw Ponies
BY PETER HARRIS When the Labour Party chose Jeremy Corbyn as its leader, Peter Hitchens wrote an article for the Daily Mail asking whether the Conservative Party could choose a true conservative leader now that the Labour Party had a true socialist as theirs. What the Conservatives had as prime minister during Corbyn’s party leadership were three leaders who are best defined as neo-liberals: David … Continue reading Conservatism By Dominic Wightman, Reviewed
BY JAMIE FOSTER A Hilariously Honest Look at the Animal Rights Debate John Nash’s ‘Animal Rights: Complete & Utter Bullsh*t’ isn’t your typical animal rights book. Forget the preachy tone and guilt-tripping; Nash delivers a refreshing, irreverent, and ultimately insightful exploration of this complex and often-polarised topic. He achieves this through a blend of sharp wit, historical context, and a healthy dose of common sense, … Continue reading A Review of ‘Animal Rights: Complete & Utter Bullsh*t’
BY ROGER WATSON The mistress of magical realism has struck again. Elif Shafak’s latest novel There Are Rivers in The Sky is a masterpiece. Perhaps, given her feminist credentials, that ought to be a ‘misstresspiece’. As intriguing as anything in her output to date, like most of her novels, this is rooted in her own Turkish culture. The novel has three characters separated in space … Continue reading There Are Rivers in The Sky
BY JAMIE FOSTER The One That Didn’t Get Away by Tom Quinn is a delightful treasure trove of angling triumphs, designed to transport readers through the rich history of fishing over the past two centuries. Following in the footsteps of his earlier work, Great Angling Disasters, Quinn presents an anthology of unforgettable fishing moments, weaving together tales from rivers, seas, and lakes. This collection of … Continue reading The One That Didn’t Get Away
BY JAMIE FOSTER John Drewry’s “Reason in Madness” is a compelling collection of five short stories, each delving into the unpredictable and irrepressible nature of the human spirit. Through these tales, Drewry explores themes of sanity, madness, and the fine line that often separates the two. “The Day the Circus Came to Town” is a satirical tale reflecting on contemporary politics. In an act of … Continue reading Reason in Madness
BY JOE NUTT I’ve always empathised with the charming character Bill Nighy plays in the Richard Curtis film, About Time. He uses his peculiarly inherited ability to time travel, for the most admirable of purposes; he rereads Dickens. I’m perfectly aware that that statement alone risks losing readers, not just because sitting quietly on one’s own, engrossed in a fiction isn’t high up on the … Continue reading Why and What Do You Read?
BY JAMIE FOSTER Britain’s shoreline boasts a vast array of landscapes, ranging from natural formations to those shaped by human intervention. Since ancient times, people have been drawn to the coast, resulting in a diverse array of settlements, from quaint villages to bustling seaside resorts and industrial towns. While many have relied on the sea for their livelihood, the coast also serves as a place … Continue reading England’s Coast
BY ROGER WATSON Published under the auspices of the Bruges Group, Green in tooth and claw by Niall McCrae, no stranger to the pages of CSM, is an action packed tour through scams perpetuated by the green movement. This is not a scientific treatise demolishing the green movement, especially its Malthusian ‘zero carbon’ slogan. For that, see Not Zero by Ross Clark. Rather it is … Continue reading Green in Tooth and Claw
BY JAMIE FOSTER Anja Jakob has specialised in games, sport and fun for intelligent dogs with her “Anja Jakob – creative games lead to playful success” dog training school. She also runs seminars at dog training schools as well as training weeks in dog hotels. Cordula Weiss breeds short-haired collies and it’s very important to her that her dogs are kept busy in a variety … Continue reading Games With Your Dog
BY JAMIE FOSTER I reviewed the late Norman Thelwell’s book The Effluent Society back in March last year. Thelwell (1923–2004) was famous for his horse and pony cartoons, but his work was far more wide ranging. He focused his exceptional talent and humour on many diverse subjects, with his witty and wry observations providing amusement and sharp social comment. Some Damn Fool’s Signed the Rubens … Continue reading Some Damn Fool’s Signed the Rubens Again
BY JAMIE FOSTER A paper, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, says a dog’s personality reflects the personality of its owner. It also explains that dogs experience personality changes similar to how humans do over the course of their lives. Research conducted in 2020 surveyed the owners of 1,600 dogs, covering 50 different breeds. The canines were split closely between males and females, … Continue reading Dogs Like Us
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Ask anyone but politicians anywhere around Europe what they think of politicians, and you’ll get groans. You’ll also hear words like “low calibre” and “disconnected”. You’ll receive whingeing about “short-termism”, “career politicians” and “reacting only to polls”. There is no coincidence in this. In the Internet age we are all interconnected as never before, and politicians, under far too much scrutiny, are … Continue reading Europe’s Leadership Famine
BY ROGER WATSON Elif Shafak is a Turkish feminist writer. A contemporary of Turkey’s ‘man of letters’ Orhan Pamuk, and, like Pamuk, persecuted by the present Turkish government, she chooses to live in England. Pamuk, on the other hand, under constant armed guard, chooses to remain in Istanbul. Being an outspoken writer in Turkey is a dangerous business. The topics covered by Shafak are wide … Continue reading The Island of Missing Trees
