Tag: DEFRA

countryside, Exclusive

Pheasant Awareness Training for Dog Owners

BY INDIA MAPPLETHORPE DEFRA Introduces Mandatory ‘Pheasant Awareness Training’ for Dog Owners In a move that has left the British Countryside equal parts bemused and grudgingly resigned, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has quietly unveiled its latest initiative to restore harmony between man, beast, and gamebird. From January 2026, all dog walkers venturing within three miles of a hedgerow will be required … Continue reading Pheasant Awareness Training for Dog Owners

countrysquiremagazine2 Comments
Farming

An Important Warning

BY JOANNA BLYTHMAN A very serious attack on traditional food and farming is underway, a major threat to the artisanal, non-GMO, organic, and traditional food sectors. Here below is what you need to know and do, urgently, to defend your right to eat time-honoured ingredients in their natural forms and protect authentic small-scale food culture. This government intends to force genetically modified organisms (GM) food … Continue reading An Important Warning

countrysquiremagazine
countryside

The Absurd Law Trumped by Common Sense

BY GILES BRADSHAW When the Hunting Act was passed I wrote to Defra questioning the legality of my use of dogs to manage wild deer in my woods. My procedure is very simple. I walk the dog through the woods off the lead. That’s it. As I pointed out at the time to Defra this inevitably causes dispersal of the deer including them being flushed … Continue reading The Absurd Law Trumped by Common Sense

countrysquiremagazine1 Comment
Animal Rights

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

countrysquiremagazine
Opinion

Greenwoke

BY JOHN NASH On February 26th, regular readers of CSM will have enjoyed Roger Watson’s delightful spud-bashing memories of child slavery, reminding us all how comfortable UK life has become over the last seventy years or so. Without going as far as Monty Python’s funny Four Yorkshiremen sketch, things were harder then, but, because we are optimistic humans, two things happened. We have banned many dangerous and … Continue reading Greenwoke

countrysquiremagazine
Animal Rights, countryside

AR Lobbyists & the Tories

BY STEVE GRANT Much has already been said and written about the Conservative Party’s new found love for animal welfare and, more worryingly for supporters of countrysports, animal rights. These worries deepened following the publication of Defra’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare. This spelled out the Government’s plans to formally recognise animals as sentient beings in UK law for the first time – a clear … Continue reading AR Lobbyists & the Tories

countrysquiremagazine
Animal Rights

Bunny Huggers Target Golf Clubs

BY NIGEL BEAN & PAUL READ Once again a golf club – not a working-class football club or rugby league club – has found itself under siege by animal rights extremists. Muswell Hill Golf Club was targeted last year by the extremists, and it seems the same is now happening to others. Clubs are being bombarded on social media with toxic/bunny hugging memes and their … Continue reading Bunny Huggers Target Golf Clubs

countrysquiremagazine1 Comment
Animal Rights, editorial

Shouldn’t We All Think Twice?

CSM EDITORIAL Images of dumb Americans posing beside the corpses of lions and other animals they have shot dead on ‘hunting holidays’ appals most people. There’s an overriding sense of a terrible waste of the animal’s life. It’s easy to feel hate towards the killers just as it’s easy to feel hate towards poachers who kill rhinos and elephants – alongside other wildlife – mostly … Continue reading Shouldn’t We All Think Twice?

countrysquiremagazine
Politics

Signals of Contempt

BY DAVID EYLES Right. That’s it. I’ve had enough. What follows may well turn into a Jonathan Pie-type expletive-riddled rant. I make no apologies to those sensitive flowers who might read this article and feel a little faint. That’s tough. Go and read Winnie The Pooh if you are feeling a little peaky. The thing that has triggered me, the thing that has finally caused … Continue reading Signals of Contempt

countrysquiremagazine
Farming

No Deal Benefits for Farmers

BY CHARLES MACKIE The biggest threats to farming that a no-deal could bring are traditionally quoted as follows:  Loss of a tariff-free market. The UK will by default revert to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules until Free Trade agreements are signed. This will require goods to be exported and imported under the Most Favoured Nation rules with a range of tariffs applied to those goods. … Continue reading No Deal Benefits for Farmers

countrysquiremagazine
Farming

We Need Stability at DEFRA

BY BEN EAGLE It was with a sigh of relief that I learned that Michael Gove was not moving to the Department for Exiting the European Union last week. Quite understandably most people were probably focused on the destination rather than the starting line. However, my eyes, as usual, were pointing towards Defra. The last thing that food, farming and the environment needs at this … Continue reading We Need Stability at DEFRA

countrysquiremagazine
countryside, Farming

Gove Sticking to His Guns

BY JAMIE FOSTER The badger cull could be extended into low risk areas in England where badgers have been connected to outbreaks of TB by the autumn if licences are approved by Natural England. Despite opposition from the Badger Trust and other animal rights groups, Defra under Michael Gove has decided to carry on with the cull as part of the overall strategy to manage … Continue reading Gove Sticking to His Guns

countrysquiremagazine
Farming

The End of Direct Payments?

BY BEN EAGLE Anybody involved in British agriculture should have accepted by now that the days for direct payments based on land area are limited in number. Instead we will be embracing a system of ‘public payments for public goods’, whatever that means. Although Michael Gove has in recent weeks offered a trickle of potential policy changes and words of general direction, there has been … Continue reading The End of Direct Payments?

countrysquiremagazine
countryside

The CSM Countryside Code

BY JIM BROWNE Not that they would ever wish to be seen to be interfering in our lives, the Government has seen fit in the past to draw up a Countryside Code which covers the basics of closing gates and not dropping litter. Respect – Protect – Enjoy is their catchy slogan. No doubt thought out at our expense across several weeks of meetings at … Continue reading The CSM Countryside Code

countrysquiremagazine3 Comments