The Lady Magazine

13 November 2015

Dear Readers, When did you last see a red squirrel? The sight is now so rare that many of us have rather begrudgingly come to accept the ubiquitous grey as the closest we now get to Beatrix Potter’s Squirrel Nutkin. But there is nothing charming about the grey, the root cause of the decline in our own smaller, bushy-tailed native. Nor is there anything helpful about the National Trust’s refusal to implement a proper protection policy for the endangered red on its land. It is a subject close to our columnist Robin Page’s heart and one I hope you will share and join in his call for action. In the meantime, there is always our cover picture to remind you how adorable they look. Sir David Attenborough has spent his life calling for the protection of our wildlife and, at 89 years old, he tells us he has no intention of retiring. His latest series is a remarkable testament to his youthful enthusiasm. For those of us whose embrace of the animal kingdom is closer to home, we have taken the strain out of what to give our best friends with our irresistible Christmas Gift Guide For Pets. Surely we all know a little someone who deserves a Louis XVI doggy bed?