Tag: scotland

Book Reviews

Nature’s Great Masterpiece

BY JAMIE FOSTER Barclay Price’s Nature’s Great Masterpiece, published by Amberley Books, is a delightfully esoteric and meticulously researched gem that unearths a truly surprising strand of British social history. As the subtitle clarifies, this is not a pastoral ramble through the countryside, but a captivating chronicle of the pachyderms that have walked, trumpeted, and occasionally rampaged through our island story. Price takes the reader on … Continue reading Nature’s Great Masterpiece

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Economics

The Inequality Con

BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Why Gary Stevenson’s Crusade is Economically Illiterate In the crowded marketplace of economic punditry, Gary Stevenson has carved out a profitable niche. With the zeal of a convert, he stalks the media studios, wielding his LSE and Oxford credentials like a cudgel, proclaiming himself a ‘proper economist’ while peddling a simplistic, morally grandiose solution to a problem he has defined entirely in … Continue reading The Inequality Con

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Letters

Pass the Tissues

Dear Editor, I write to propose a small but necessary addition to the next issue of Country Squire: a complimentary box of tissues, stapled inside the cover. The intended readership? Our Argentinian friends, who woke this morning to a triple dose of national humiliation. Let us begin with the football. A dour, cynical World Cup final—lost not to genius but to Spanish monotony—has exposed Argentina for … Continue reading Pass the Tissues

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Politics

The Charity Draft

BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN There is a primal brutality to the schoolyard pick. It is a distillation of human worth, stripped of all social veneer and political correctness—a moment of unvarnished truth where utility is measured in cold, kinetic terms. At prep school, the scholarship cohort was a tragicomedy: thirteen of us, anointed as the brightest, yet a mere four could coordinate hand and eye well … Continue reading The Charity Draft

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Opinion

Count Binface: A Gimmick So Funny It Requires a Labour Donor

BY SEAN WALSH In an episode of the 1990s comedy series Seinfeld, Jerry’s dentist decides to convert to Judaism “for the jokes”. When Jerry is asked if this offends him “as a Jewish person” he replies “No! It offends me as a comedian”. Comedy is not something that should be taken lightly. The political class would do well to remember that. It is a good … Continue reading Count Binface: A Gimmick So Funny It Requires a Labour Donor

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editorial

Ann Widdecombe: A Singular Voice Falls Silent

CSM EDITORIAL The old certainties have taken a battering this week. One of British politics’ most gloriously unrepentant characters has been snatched from us in circumstances so dark they seem to belong to another world entirely. There will be those who never cared for Ann Widdecombe’s views. She would have been the first to acknowledge that, probably with a theatrical sigh and a brisk “so … Continue reading Ann Widdecombe: A Singular Voice Falls Silent

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Smallholder

Wrendale

BY ALLISON LEE Hannah Dale and her husband, Jack, founded Wrendale Designs in 2012—a giftware brand built around Hannah’s watercolour paintings of wildlife. With a background in zoology, Hannah has long drawn creative inspiration from the natural world. Over the years, the couple have grown Wrendale into a much-loved brand with global reach, winning numerous industry awards and two King’s Awards for International Trade. The … Continue reading Wrendale

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Book Reviews

Riding Through War and Peace

BY JAMIE FOSTER In the summer of 2014, with the rumble of dragons awakening in the form of Russia’s seizure of Crimea, Michael Pugh made an audacious decision. Despite the splendour of his life as an expat lawyer in Moscow, he chose to leave—not by plane or train, but by horse. The resulting memoir, Riding Through War and Peace, is a breathtaking odyssey that captures a … Continue reading Riding Through War and Peace

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Social Commentary

Blessed

BY PERCY THORLEY England is in fine fettle There seems to be a constant flow of negative news stories coming, in part from the mainstream media, but in greater abundance from the online media. I fail to recognise the issues raised in these dark corners of the mediasphere for to be alive in England today is to be truly blessed. The economy powers ahead, innovation … Continue reading Blessed

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Vicar

A Prayer for Those Who Tend the Earth

VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that you are well. Today, I have written a short prayer for the quiet custodians of this land—the ones whose hands are chapped, whose backs are sore, and whose work so often goes unspoken. Dear Lord,We pray this July for the farmers who rise before the lark, whose first sight of the day is the mist … Continue reading A Prayer for Those Who Tend the Earth

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Jottings

Reggie goes to Encaenia

BY STEPHEN PAX LEONARD Reggie stabbed at the bell. “Mrs Daddywood!” “Morning, Mr Reggie. There is a letter here for you, pet. I’ll be there in one sec.” “Oh rather, let’s be having it,” said Reggie as he concealed the Hendrick’s and cucumber behind the Edwardian ‘plum pudding’ mahogany centre table. Reggie was still a tad squiffy after last night’s escapade at the Ath., but … Continue reading Reggie goes to Encaenia

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Social Commentary

Progressive Erasure

BY ALEX STORY The goals of Progressivism are “continually receding ones”, which is, to paraphrase Mussolini, “like a trodden road leading on and on to the land of heart’s desire, which though it grows closer and closer, will never be reached”. To advance towards the mirage, progress must convince. Indeed, one needs to emancipate oneself from the past and its many thorns. Complexity, you see, … Continue reading Progressive Erasure

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Books, Travel

The City Speaks in Small Voices

BY ROGER WATSON The sleek black Mercedes S350, summoned on my Uber app, drew up outside our hotel at Heathrow Airport minutes after I entered my request for a car to Terminal 5. Out popped a smartly dressed driver, beaming from ear to ear to assist with our luggage. The car was spacious, immaculate, and the journey was smooth. I detected an accent that was … Continue reading The City Speaks in Small Voices

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Opinion

Ethel

BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN There is a certain species of political creature that haunts the Westminster warren, a beast that is best understood not through the lens of constitutional theory or fiscal policy, but through the dusty, half-lit prism of an Irish builder’s breast pocket. I once knew such a builder. A tragic figure, in the end—murdered, as it happens, which is a rather definitive way … Continue reading Ethel

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countryside, Muirburn

The Burning Question

BY BERT BURNETT Why Gamekeepers Are Refusing to Endorse the New Muirburn Code Scotland’s gamekeepers have issued a stark warning: they will not endorse the Scottish Government’s new Muirburn Code, a decision they claim is born not of defiance, but of a desperate need to prevent catastrophic wildfires. They argue that the new regulations, designed to protect peatlands, will ironically create a tinderbox, stripping them … Continue reading The Burning Question

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