Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.- George Monbiot recognizes that all of the major problems now confronting us derive from the political class' willing subservience to the filthy rich. And…
The Face Of Pragmatism
The trade deal that Mark Carney just made with China has elicited a wide range of reactions. There are those who are exultant, such as Scott Moe for what it…
Musings on Colour vs B&W
I grew up in the technological end of the black-and-white era. In the 1950s and early ’60s, our TV was black and white (technically called monochrome). So was everyone else’s,…
Mark Carney’s choice
Might makes right, goes the cliché, and the cliché is certainly true, circa 2026. With a straight face, Prime Minister Mark Carney this week trumpeted his assorted trade deals with…
Today’s News: Canadians resetting with China, and Americans resisting fascism. #Courage
Canada update: Carney's trip to China was a resounding success (Doug Ford excepted). “We’re recalibrating Canada’s relationship with China — strategically, pragmatically, and decisively — to the benefit of the…
Musical interlude
French 79 - Hometown
Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Matt Simon writes that Donald Trump's plans to kill off clean energy are futile in the face of its inexorable progress in price and…
Seeing your book for the first time…
…always feels pretty cool. Coming soon, around the world, from Random House.
New podcast episode
I was recently a guest on the On the Way Home podcast. We discussed: the importance of researchers working collaboratively with practitioners; insufficient federal funding for homelessness across Canada; and…
2025 Year in Review: Work and Impact
Every year I send around to former students some highlights of this years work. This time I’m posting here! Hoping some of this work is of interest to all of…
Today’s News: "He’s an idiot"
I just had to share these words from Ruben Gallego, senator from Arizona - "He's an idiot": View on Threads Trump is mad at NATO because he didn't get that…
Confronting the far-right’s war on reconciliation
Frances Widdowson, a former Mount Royal University professor, left, and OneBC interim leader Dallas Brodie at an anti-reconciliation event in Kamloops, November 2025. Brodie has called reports of residential school…
Matt Jones, one of the UCP’s Gang of Four health ministers, actually admits there’s a capacity problem in Alberta’s hospitals!
More than anything, yesterday’s press conference about how the Alberta Government proposes to fix the horrific mess in this province’s hospital Emergency Rooms where patients can wait up to 72…
Wealth inequality — How did it get so extreme, and what can we do about it?
Wealth inequality is a lot like the climate crisis. Both are slow-moving train wrecks of immense proportions. Just as climate change is wreaking societal destruction around the globe, so is…
Today’s News: Trump’s Greenland flapdoodle
I've been gathering some of the comments and posts about Greenland defending itself from Trump's idiotic invasion plans. For some, it is just a distraction: And here we are: the…
The culture war comes for Alberta’s books
Photo by Jamie Taylor/Unsplash This month, Alberta school boards began removing dozens of books from library shelves to comply with a provincial government order banning literary materials deeme...
Wednesday Night Cat Blogging
Braced cat.
They are debating this?
The Americans are engaged in furious debate over yet another shooting. The debate is highly... The post They are debating this? first appeared on Views from the Beltline.
It Bears Repeating ……
America has elected a man who talks and behaves like a megalomaniac, and the rest of the planet is supposed to just trust that he won’t completely lose his grip…