Mayor Meets Premier: We Have Questions
In a municipal announcement, led with a screaming all-caps headline like a toddler in a toy store tantrum, the Town of Collingwood published a short statement from Mayor Hamlin about…
Ian Chadwick
Higher Taxes, But Fewer Services in Collingwood
Collingwood Council is currently debating some major changes to the town’s bylaws, many of which appear to mean fewer services and less support for our residents. This council has once…
Hamlin’s Letter-Writing Debacle, Part Two
Collingwood’s mayor’s arrogant refusal to cooperate and collaborate with our regional neighbours to support the long-overdue redevelopment of the General and Marine Hospital continues to make local news and infuriate…
Opt-in Polls: Bad Data, Bad Science, and Bad Actors
I was perusing the usual collage of semi-news, trivia, and fluff on CollingwoodToday recently and noticed a poll at the bottom asking “How old are you?” It piqued my interest…
Our Arrogant Mayor is At It Again
For me, I didn’t see the need for another letter at this time. Things could change,” Mayor Yvonne Hamlin sniffily replied to CollingwoodToday in her best “Let them eat cake”…
Have Conservatives Finally Become Irredeemable?
In the past, whenever I read news about any conservative leader, party or government — small-c conservative, including the Canadian federal and provincial Conservative parties, the American Repugnicans, and the…
Making Gilead a Reality
American Talibangelists recently took a giant step towards creating Gilead in the USA when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos were due the same legal protection as real…
The Death of Reading?
There are days when I despair for humanity’s future. Many days, of late, it seems, and they seem to get more frequent as I read the news. I recently read…
How Low Can You Go?
A Gallup poll released last summer suggested Americans are finally waking up to reality, although clearly they still have a long way to go. An article about this hopeful change…
Musings on The Lone Ranger, Tonto, and Cultural Appropriation
Yes, I get the reason some people might have been outraged that a white guy (Johnny Depp) played an indigenous person in the 2013 movie version of The Lone Ranger.…
WWCD: What Would Cicero Do?
Throughout his career, Marcus Tullius Cicero fought tyranny, stood up to dictators and bullies, defended the Republic, and paid for his principled stand with his life. He put himself in…
Musings on Grammar, Usage and Garner’s
Be honest with me: how serious are you about the serial comma? Do you wade into discussions on language forums and social media brandishing citations from your favourite authorities? Do…
Another Housing Debacle in Cwood
A recent story in CollingwoodToday leads me to believe Council has made yet another misstep in its fumbling and bumbling efforts to deal with affordable housing. As the story notes,…
Why Local Media Has Failed Us
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2024, released this week, identifies the biggest short-term risk to the planet is from misinformation and disinformation, even above extreme weather events. The…
Musings on Atheism, Belief, and Statues
The website godchecker.com lists roughly 4,000 “weird and wonderful Gods, Supreme Beings, Demons, Spirits and Fabulous Beasts” which have been worshipped since the beginning of recorded history. Many are still…
Collingwood Needs a Communications Director and Plan
Yesterday, the Town of Collingwood sent out an email trying to rationalize the town’s budget and tax increase. That release underscores in so many ways why townhall desperately needs both…
Musings on the Post-Xmas Days
I am glad to have reached the first week in January of 2024 without telling a lot of people to simply fuck off and leave me alone during the past…
Review: The Banshees of Inisherin
I had expected comedy. Maybe not laugh-aloud, rib-splitting stuff. Not slapstick and pratfalls. But humour of the British sort. Oscar-Wilde-ish witty dialogue. Banter like that from Fry and Laurie. Joycean…
Accuracy, Licence, and the Death of Stalin
One of my favourite movies in my collection — seen three times already on DVD or Blu-ray but likely to be seen more — is the 2017 satire, The Death…