Tag: Vicar

editorial

A Gift to Death-Spiral Labour

CSM EDITORIAL Amidst a political landscape saturated with gaffes, scandals, and the dystopian reality of an unelected Prime Minister in Andy Burnham, one might expect the Conservative Party to be capitalising on every Labour misstep with ruthless efficiency. The resignation then reappointment of Louise Haigh amidst her fraud conviction, the myriad of CV mistruths emanating from the inexperienced Labour frontbench, and the sheer illegitimacy of … Continue reading A Gift to Death-Spiral Labour

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History

The Architecture of a Lie

BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Albert Speer, Hitler’s armaments minister, escaped the gallows at Nuremberg by convincing the court he had known nothing of the Holocaust. It was in his 1971 BBC interview, where his evasions were most apparent. What does Speer’s later life reveal about the gap between public performance and private torment? Drawing on historical scholarship and the testimony of those closest to Speer, the … Continue reading The Architecture of a Lie

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Vicar

A Prayer for Good Neighbours

VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I have been thinking, this week, about the invisible threads that stitch our communities together. The cup of sugar borrowed and returned with thanks. The gate left open for the postman. The nod of recognition from the tractor driver as he passes. The fruit left on the wall for whoever might pass by. These are the small, unspoken covenants … Continue reading A Prayer for Good Neighbours

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The Great Yorkshire Show

BY ALLISON LEE I had the pleasure of visiting the Great Yorkshire Show again this year, and it was another fantastic experience. Due to high demand, the number of tickets increased from 35,000 per day to 37,500, and all four days sold out. Despite the lengthy queues to enter the showground, our usual hour-long journey took almost three times as long. The event was well … Continue reading The Great Yorkshire Show

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Faith

Believing God, Doubting Angels

BY SEAN WALSH It strikes me as strange that people can believe in God but at the same time say that they are sceptical about or indifferent to the existence of angels and demons – purely spiritual beings (composed exclusively of intellect and will), the former being His messengers, the latter in permanent rebellion against Him. Why have God without the supernatural trimmings, the bits … Continue reading Believing God, Doubting Angels

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conservatism, countryside

Nature’s Unwritten Constitution

BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN There is a silence that falls over a Devon wood in high summer. Not an absence of noise, but an absence of argument. The oaks on the Taw Valley do not hold referenda on whether to unfurl their leaves. The badgers on Dartmoor do not form working groups to reconsider the velocity of their digging. The River Exe does not consult a … Continue reading Nature’s Unwritten Constitution

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Vicar

A Prayer for the Living Earth

VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, there is a particular gift in the quiet moments of rural life that so often pass us by. Not the showy ones—not the blazing sunsets or the dramatic thunderstorms—but the quiet, steady ones. The way the light lingers at the end of the day, as if reluctant to leave. The sound of the greenfinch in the ash tree, singing … Continue reading A Prayer for the Living Earth

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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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Opinion

Burnham’s Vanity Street Project

BY SEAN WALSH Instead of just being a regular guy and buying a motorbike, getting a tattoo, or doing the American Beauty thing, Andy Burnham had to include all of us in his mid-life crisis by becoming prime minister. It’s still shocking to think that the constituents of Makerfield hate the rest of the country so much that they would impose this on us. But it is … Continue reading Burnham’s Vanity Street Project

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Thoughts

Fat or Sugar?

BY ALEX STORY We beat Argentina and lost to France, not in football unfortunately, but in the fat stakes. With nearly 40% of its adult population being obese, Argentina ranks 36th out of 193 countries in the world. France, with only 10%, is 172nd. Britain, for her part, is listed as 77th according to the Global Obese Observatory. American Samoa wins the overall prize with three quarters of … Continue reading Fat or Sugar?

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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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Opinion

Honourable

BY PERCY THORLEY When I was at school, many decades ago, it was considered a cardinal sin to ever deploy the word “nice” in an English essay or composition. It is a word of no real intent. One hears it all the time – “I will have a nice cup of tea” or “That Andy Burnham seems like a nice chap”. From such sentences we … Continue reading Honourable

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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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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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