Our World in Data
Training in accountancy encourages my reliance on data to improve understanding of various issues. One valuable source of information is Our World in Data. It was founded by Max Roser,…
Norman Farrell
Carbon dioxide emissions hit a record in 2024 and show no signs of dropping
Andrew Coyne says carbon tax critics who ignore rebates are dishonest. They are eager to damage the Earth and the Canadian economy if a political advantage can be gained. Duplicity…
Privatizing $24 billion public dollars
IEA says energy efficiency provides some of the quickest and most cost-effective CO2 mitigation options while lowering energy bills and strengthening energy security. Because the immediate benefits of efficiency go…
Bully the world
Several members of the party expected to form the next government in Ottawa are enthusiastic supporters of Donald Trump and his cohort. Canadian resistance to American hegemony may be negligible.
Forest protection, a vital climate action
The Province can unleash a squad of public relations staff and announce BC is on track to meet its climate targets. Like other provinces, BC has no independent method for…
Greed is good?
After the IN-SIGHTS article BC Hydro second quarter report, fiscal year 2025, retired economist Erik Andersen provided the following...
Geothermal energy now!
The International Energy Agency involves 32 member nations and 17 other associates. Together, these countries are responsible for about three-quarters of global energy consumption and almost 90 percent of clean…
BC Hydro second quarter report, fiscal year 2025
BC Hydro waited until the last days allowed by law to release the utility's second-quarter report for the fiscal year ending March 2025. The utility's financial reports show politicians consciously…
Billionaires pay millions to hide trillions
In 1963, former JFK administration officials Marcus Raskin and Richard Barnet formed the Institute for Policy Studies. The American organization became involved in civil rights, feminism, economic reforms, peace movements,…
In Praise of Idleness
By Bertrand Russell, Harper’s Magazine, 1932: Like most of my generation, I was brought up on the saying “Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.” Being a…
The pigs are now wearing trousers
Words from two of Britain’s finest humourists.
Big Pharma maximizes profits even if patients are harmed
Free-market conservatives believe industries should be allowed to do whatever an unregulated market allows. Many would object to Therapeutics Initiative (TI). It has value for all citizens. TI is part…
Don’t be afraid to look at the sky and say that it’s blue
This is a follow-up to an earlier article that focused on political accountability and the need for journalists to demand it. The main objective of news people is to provide…
Journalism must address “an elite power game”
Politicians no longer answer to voters, since virtually all votes are guaranteed by tribal loyalty; instead they answer to big donors... Shaming politicians has become next to impossible. Thanks to…
Inexcusable delay in BC courts
More than ten years have passed since Canada's worst environmental disaster. In August 2014, a mining company's tailings dam failed, spilling toxic sludge into Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel…
CEO killer Luigi Mangione explains
The second amendment means I am my own chief executive and commander in chief of my own military. I authorize my own act of self-defense in response to a hostile…
The BC Conservative divide, UPDATED
Ms. Comfort Sakoma-Fadugba is no longer a member of the Vancouver Police Board. Her departure resulted from public statements that did not align with the Board's values. Sakoma's words may…
Murder most foul
A few days ago, fifty-year-old Brian Thompson was gunned down on a street in midtown Manhattan. Thompson was not an unimportant man. He was a senior executive of United Health…
Price-gouging, policy-corrupting ripoff machines
More and more of the Canadian economy is dominated by a handful of huge companies that control what we buy, how we work, and which other businesses can or can’t…
Invitation declined
A candidate for the People’s Party of Canada asked if I would join his podcast for a discussion of government functions. Having no interest in promoting or assisting that party,…