And when they are down, they are down.
Funny, that nursery rhyme has been running through my head. You know the one: The grand old Duke of York, He had ten thousand men. He marched them up to…
Brexit
Fifty-four forty or what? Is this Wexitopia’s last territorial demand in British Columbia?
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any nuttier out here in Wexitopia, former Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith took to the Twittersphere to promote a territorial corridor from Alberta…
Our Undoing
The EU has granted Boris Johnson another extension on Brexit. But, however long Brexit takes, Neal Ascherson writes that the ugliness of it all has destroyed the United Kingdom and…
One Hundred And Seventy Years Later
What’s really behind Brexit? Owen Jones writes that it’s all about Margaret Thatcher’s attack on workers: Seven years ago, a group of Tory MPs published a book entitled Britannia Unchained…
Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Richard Partington discusses the rise of inequality and some of the options to combat it. And PressProgress points out the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s…
The Revolution Has Arrived
There is a revolution going on in Britain. Jonathan Freedland writes: When some of the best-known Conservative figures of the last half-century are booted out of their party, when a…
Why Canadian media won’t call post-Brexit protests ‘pro-democracy demonstrations’
If there are riots in Britain after the hard Brexit Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party cronies have scheduled for Halloween, will mainstream media in Canada describe them…
Is Andrew Scheer in the closet about Quebec sovereignty?
Not being a conservative, I disagree with most of Andrew Scheer’s pronouncements, but they rarely surprise me. One, however, surprised me very much. Indeed, I was surprised that any Anglophone…
Guest Post by Olav Rokne: How Alberta missed a chance to fix the inherent problems of geographically based voting
The troubling rise of Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the United Kingdom and President Donald Trump in the United States can both be traced to the inherent problems of geographically…
Can Boris Johnson do what some of history’s most notorious villains failed to do – destroy the U.K.?
Is it likely Boris Johnson will accomplish something neither Napoleon nor Hitler could manage – to wit, destruction of the United Kingdom? Perhaps it’s not likely. States like trees, even…
The Hidden Conservative Voter
They’re hidden. They showed up, however, at Brexit. They showed up in the U.S. presidential race in 2016. They showed up in Alberta in 2019, and Ontario in 2018, too.…
Happy Canada Day! In a troubled world, Canada stands out as a genuine triumph of bureaucracy
Happy Canada Day! One way or another, our Canada always seems to end up on every list of the world’s Top Ten economies. Granted, we are almost inevitably No. 10…
Tribalism and the global challenge
This, the 21st century, is a unique time in human history. It is unique in many ways, of course, but most importantly it is the first time in the history…
Referendums or Citizens’ Assemblies?
Holding a referendum on whether to remain or leave the European Union was one of the dumber decisions in the long history of the British political class, as is becoming…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Justin Fisher laments the fact that we’re still talking about first steps toward combating a climate crisis after decades of understanding the problem.…
Cambridge Analytica – "In the Beginning"
It began as a means to thwart Islamist recruitment. But then… Here is Chris Wylie describing how they built the technology that came to be diverted into the effort to…
Democracy on Trial – In the United Kingdom
The New York Times headline reads, “‘We’re in the Last Hour’: Democracy Itself Is on Trial in Brexit, Britons Say.” As I’m going through the article, over on LBC radio,…
Another Mad Week for Westminster
The meltdown continues. I expect to spend a few hours this week watching live stream coverage from the UK House of Commons. Prime minister, Theresa May, just acknowledged that her…
Why the Brits Ignored How ‘Leave’ Rigged the Brexit Referendum
The Leave campaign had its thumb on the scales in the Brexit referendum. Through various devices it was a rigged outcome. Now the national crime agency is investigating some of…
Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Linda Givetash discusses how the consequences of climate breakdown include impending water shortages in the UK. But rather than recognizing and acting…