“Before 1914,” the historian John Lukacs wrote in his provocative 1984 book Outgrowing Democracy: A History of the United States in the Twentieth Century, “the most renowned international currency was the British pound, and the financial capital city of the world was London; by 1918 the dollar replaced the pound, and New York, London.” Rumours […]

Even in Canada the rising great mess in the Middle East is the focal point of the summer this year. And for Canadians especially it is not just Iraq – it’s Afghanistan and now Pakistan too. Meanwhile, Stephen Harper is on the road in the Western Hemisphere (Colombia, Chile, Barbados, and Haiti). And a somewhat […]

Friday, July 13, 2007 turns out an unlucky day for the fallen media baron Conrad Black, who used to be a Canadian citizen but gave that up to become a British lord. A US jury in Chicago has finally found him guilty on four of 13 white-collar-crime charges. That might sound not too bad, all […]

Soon enough some 2,500 brave soldiers from French Canada’s fabled Vingt-Deux Regiment will be dangerously at work in Afghanistan. Not surprisingly, at a send-off on June 20 “anti-war sentiment spilled on to the floor of the Quebec National Assembly.” But this did not perturb commanding Brigadier-General Guy Laroche, who just said: “It is good to […]

Usually Canadians can take comfort from the thought that, however crazy things may be in Canada, they are still a lot crazier in the colossal United States next door. But looking out on the sixth month of 2007 it seems possible that things are different this year. Just what is going to happen, e.g., on […]

The sun is shining at last in some parts of the country. But other voices are still asking why 63% of a random sample of Canadians recently told pollsters they want to elect judges. Others again are still trying to sing happy 25th birthday to the Charter of Rights. And Jean Chretien has at last […]

It seems no matter where you are these days the news is a little strange. Mars, it has just been reported, has a lot of ice. (And Earth has global warming. Go figure.) Then “Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has admitted being responsible from A to Z’ for the 11 September 2001 attacks,” and many other “major […]

Being a millionaire nowadays of course means nothing. A decent executive house, in most places where decent executives would live, starts at around $1 million. According to one recent estimate: “There are about 250,000 people in Canada [alone] with a net worth of more than a million dollars, not counting real estate.” Being a billionaire, […]

On March 7, 2007 the UK House of Commons unexpectedly “voted 337 to 224 in favor of pursuing legislation to elect the entire” House of Lords. This “would represent a major constitutional shift.” (It’s also a major embarrassment for Canada, still struggling to elect its federal Senate, which was half-modeled on the British House of […]

Try reading Patricia Best’s Globe and Mail report, “My dinner with Conrad” (at “the midtown Toronto restaurant Scaramouche”), while watching CBC TV on the latest Stephen Harper adventures in Ottawa. And you may suddenly think that the thickening Harper Conservative plot in Canada and the “Conrad Black Movement” could be somehow connected. In one sense, […]