Van Gogh's bedroom on the cover of Country Life

COUNTRY LIFE MAGAZINE (February 11, 2025): ‘The Fine Art Issue’ features ‘What makes an Old Master?’….

Let the art rule the head

The UK’s status as a world leader in creative industries will be in peril if we fail to nurture art-and-design skills in our schools, argues Tristram Hunt

Let’s fall in love

Laura Parker investigates the boxing, croaking, crooning, dad dancing and even murder that passes for courtship ritual in the animal kingdom

Beauty and the blimp

Could a new airship designed in Britain deliver eco-friendly aviation, asks Charles Harris

Interiors

Amelia Thorpe picks out glass acts in world of garden rooms, greenhouses and orangeries

Soup-er charged

Tom Parker Bowles reveals how to beef up a boozy, hot-as-Hades French onion soup

A leap in the dark

The play of light and shade has long defined Western art. Michael Hall examines what Constable called ‘the chiaroscuro of nature’

The Duke of Richmond’s favourite painting

The owner of Goodwood picks a work that reflects the sporting history of the West Sussex estate

Three wishes for food and farming

Minette Batters calls for the UK to set a self-sufficiency target for producing its own food

Nature and nurture

In the final article of a three-part series, Tim Richardson ponders the innovation and imagination behind the wonderful grounds at Bramham Park, West Yorkshire

The legacy

Amie Elizabeth White applauds altruistic John Ritchie Findlay, who paved the way for Scotland’s National Portrait Gallery

The good stuff

Hetty Lintell backs a winner with a range of horseshoe jewellery

Light work

Tiffany Daneff is dazzled by the transformation of a dark London garden into a light-filled oasis

Foraging

Winter mushrooms are a rarity, but the striking velvet shank earns John Wright’s approval as a welcome addition to game pie

Arts & antiques

Carla Passino marvels at the masterpieces amassed by Swiss collector Oskar Reinhart as the works go on show in London

Wick me up before you go-go

The wick trimmer’s work was never done in candlelit times, discovers Matthew Dennison

White House Failed to Comply With Court Order, Judge Rules

The federal judge in Rhode Island said the Trump administration had failed to comply with his order unfreezing billions of dollars in federal grants.

Hamas Postpones Release of More Hostages ‘Until Further Notice’

Stalling the next release of hostages from the Gaza Strip, scheduled for the coming weekend, raises new challenges for the already tenuous six-week truce and chances for a lasting end to the war.

36 Hours After Russell Vought Took Over Consumer Bureau, He Shut Its Operations

The agency had been one of Wall Street’s most feared regulators, with the power to issue rules on mortgages, credit cards, student loans and other areas affecting Americans’ financial lives.

Trump’s Actions Have Created a Constitutional Crisis, Scholars Say

Law professors have long debated what the term means. But now many have concluded that the nation faces a reckoning as President Trump tests the boundaries of executive power.