Comment & Opinion

The vegan farce that is 'bee-free' honey will spell disaster for bees, farmers and all of us

Our columnist Agromenes ridicules the notion the bee-free honey is a kindness to bees.

Jonathan Self: Work-life balance is tosh. Coleridge knew it, and so do I.

Those 'who have ridden roughshod over men and women they should have protected must be held accountable'

Agromenes reflects on the Post Office scandal, and implores that we learn from the mistakes

Carla Carlisle: Trying to believe that people will step back from war, elect an honest man

Even as the problems of the world grow greater, Carla Carlisle commits to being an 'affirming flame' of hope.

British Library cyber attack is a wake up call to the cultural sector

Thankfully, physical objects are safe from cyber warfare, but our cultural institutions need to sit up and take notice, warns Athena

Dry January 'is an abomination' dreamt up by 'misery merchants who are never happier than when they’re uncomfortable'

Our columnist Agromenes turns away from his usual focus to take a look at the Dry January movement. It's fair to say, er, that he's against it.

The lost art of letter writing: 'Opening a letter brings a nostalgic feeling of joy unrivalled in this digital age'

From scribbled thank-you notes to long, lyrical testaments of love, the handwritten word creates a meaningful and lasting record, says Sarah Fortescue, as she laments the lost art of letter writing.

E-Types, Scotland's best beaches and the 'backwards-looking fantasy' of rewilding: Country Life's best features of 2023

From travel and motoring to dog training and pithy comment, these proved out most popular feature articles of the last 12 months.

The 2023 Country Life Editor's Christmas Quiz

Test your festive knowledge with Country Life's biggest quiz of the year, as compiled by Victoria Marston.

‘The love we share at Christmas is a refuge. It replenishes our depleted batteries and allows us to go out again into the world’: The 2023 Country Life Christmas message, by Revd Colin Heber-Percy

A safe haven, a refuge for rest and relaxation, the place we feel we belong—the concept of ‘home’ differs for each of us. At Christmas, home is so much more than a physical location: it is all around, says the Revd Colin Heber-Percy.

My week surviving on an uninhabited Scottish island

Patrick Galbraith joins the Country Life podcast to talk about his week living on the uninhabited island of Scarba, off the west coast of Scotland.

The new rules of dining etiquette, from elbows and mobile phones to sex at the dinner table

Formal dining is no longer the minefield it once was. Annunciata Elwes identifies points of etiquette that have been dispatched, retained, revised and added.

Jason Goodwin: The Neolithic treasure I missed by 10 minutes

Jason Goodwin goes in search of treasure, but not the traditional gold and silver.

Carla Carlisle: 'Seamus Heaney deserves a sainthood, as well as his Nobel Prize'

Carla Carlisle applauds The Letters of Seamus Heaney and shares how she couldn't wait until Christmas to devour the collection from the late Irish poet

The stories behind the strangest phrases in English from being 'gone for a burton' to 'caught red-handed'

Learning a language is one thing, getting to grips with a pig in a poke is another altogether. Octavia Pollock explores some of our best idioms

'Rain and cold wind might be uncomfortable, but they make you feel alive'

'There's no such thing as bad weather' isn't a questionable adage — it's a profound statement of optimism.

My 'Franken-Land Rover' has had three new chassis and using the indicators turns on the windscreen wipers. But I just can't get rid of it.

Joe Gibbs pours his heart out about his classic Land Rover Defender, and the peculiar strain of nutty devotion it's inspired.

The Country Life columnist who ended up at an illegal rave in the Brecon Beacons

Patrick Galbraith has a night to remember.

Britain's great country house revival — and how it was boosted by the unintended consequence of a temporary tax measure

To celebrate the 50th birthday of Historic Houses, director-general Ben Cowell considers the unlikely importance of tax policy as a spur to its early development.

Jason Goodwin: The century-old language learning course that teased and intrigued me beyond endurance

Learning Italian sends Jason Goodwin down a route he'd never have expected — and his life is all the richer for it.