# Jamie Blackett

jamie blackett (born 1964) is a Scottish politician, author and freelance columnist, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator and other publications.His latest book, Red Rag to a Bull, Rural Life in an Urban Age tells how he arrived home from the Army to take over Arbigland, a small family estate on the Solway Firth in Dumfries and Galloway to find a rapidly changing countryside. Set over 20 years through the Scottish independence referendum, hunting ban, and Brexit, the book covers challenges threatening a way of life and an emerging rural philosophy in which farmers have greater freedom to manage the countryside. Although he writes mainly about rural matters, Blackett’s first book The Enigma of Kidson (Quiller 2017), is a partly autobiographical portrait of teacher Michael Kidson whose pupils at Eton College included former Prime Minister David Cameron.