Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Jonathan Watts reports on the Earth Commission's work showing how any path to avert climate breakdown needs to break down the concentration of wealth…
France
Progressives’ weekend trifecta
It was a good weekend for progressives. First was the massive win for Labour in... The post Progressives’ weekend trifecta first appeared on Views from the Beltline.
France: Parking Lots Must Have Solar Panels
Drivers know all too well that parking lots are hot, uncomfortable, and are never the right size. In France larger parking lots will now require shading in the form of…
France Pays People to Stop Driving and Start Riding
Car drivers take up way more road space than they need since the size of their vehicles are disproportionate to their usefulness. Smart countries aim to limit the number of…
When a Veil Is Not a Veil: Fashion, Modesty and Evolving Rules
Just as France begins to consider prohibiting women from wearing niqab, or a full veil, fashion designer Riccardo Tisci features a very attractive young woman wearing a sort of pseudo-veil…
Affordable electricity Decarbonization in OECD countries? Part I
After eight extensive posts about the Ontario electricity sector, I am expanding my geographic coverage to look at the electricity sectors in selected OECD countries. My focus will be on…
Survey of Western powers points toward citizens’ assemblies
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center of the four major Western powers turned up some interesting if not altogether surprising results. The goal of the study was to…
France Banning Short Flights to Reduce Carbon Output
Flying isn’t so popular right now due to the pandemic and many airlines are financially hurting, and in France they are helping the Air France. Due to ineffectiveness in the…
The far right is more wrong than they think. Less than 5% of Spain and France have Covid-19 antibodies.
Share this: Both France and Spain have been hit much harder than Canada during the Covid 19 pandemic. Two studies with preliminary findings have shown that less than 5% of…
France is in turmoil and all we hear is crickets — what gives?
France is in turmoil and all we hear is crickets. What gives? The government of President Emmanuel Macron has introduced a scheme to overhaul pensions and retirement benefits for many…
Hope Lies In The Streets
The decay and rupture of the social bonds that once held our societies together have unleashed the dark pathologies of opioid, alcohol and gambling addictions and led to an explosion…
Free Transit In Dunkirk a Success
The French city of Dunkirk recently made a major decision to make all their public transit free to anyone. It’s worked really well and now people are hoping the idea…
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…
Tour de France 2019
Tour de France. Like the World Cup of soccer, the best of sports on a global scale. Or as my grade 8 teacher, Brother Victor, once referring to soccer as…
Seriously, what’s the good of an effective carbon tax if it’s politically impossible to implement?
Recent political developments in France and Alberta, though quite different in tone, suggest carbon taxes may not be a viable way to address climate change – leastways not without reaching…
Do we need a Canadian version of the Logan Act to put a stop to dangerous freelance diplomacy?
Most observers of Canada-U.S. politics and the two countries’ unexpectedly fraught trade relationship would agree former prime minister Stephen Harper’s no-longer-secret visit to the White House on Tuesday is unlikely…
Mission accomplished in Syria? Don’t bet more than you can afford to lose on that claim!
Mission Accomplished? Donald Trump’s crowing Tweets prove the wisdom of Karl Marx’s dictum: History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. This fact is a significant blessing, nonetheless, at…
Well, With the Week He’s Had Who Wouldn’t Want to Let Off a Little Steam?
The United States has launched missile strikes against government targets in Syria. This time Britain and France tossed in a few missiles of their own, brothers in arms sort of…
Macron and Trudeau shouldn’t be so proud of appointing women to their Cabinets
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron are obviously proud of the fact that they’ve both appointed gender-parity Cabinets. For Malliga Och, an Assistant Professor of Global…
A Tale of Two Elections
Two extraordinarily different elections occurred last week in Europe. The first, of course, was the 2017 UK general election, which was nothing short of historic. The second, was the French…