Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – John Michael McGrath highlights how the COVID-19 B.1.617 variant represents a serious threat to the prospect of safely relaxing restrictions over the…
neoliberalism
Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Katie Raso describes the coronavirus pandemic as the neoliberal Chernobyl, having exposed how we’re not only unable to respond to a disaster…
Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Tenille Bonogoure writes about the human costs of Canada’s choice to respond to a deadly infectious disease with polite deference rather than a…
Freedom at Any Cost
I believe it’s not a coincidence that the UK, US, and much of Canada – the trio that promoted neoliberal free market politics – are not doing enough to restrict…
Leo Panitch, intellectual pillar of the Canadian left, dead at 75 of COVID-19
Leo Victor Panitch, one of the intellectual pillars of the Canadian left and a leading scholar of the global depredations of neoliberalism, died Saturday from COVID-19. He was 75. Born…
Michael Sandel’s Tyranny of Merit
I haven’t yet read his newest book, but Michael Sandel is everywhere these days promoting his new book. An excerpt from a Guardian interview: Sandel charts the rise of what…
Greek Philosophy In The 21st Century: Sanity Amidst The Madness?
Platonist, Aristotelian, Epicurean, Stoic, Skeptic, Cynic or Sophist? None of the above are satisfactory, as ready-made off-the-shelf pre-packaged philosophies, at least. They should be studied; not ingested whole, nor regurgitated…
Oh–What’s a Teacher to Do?
Starting next Friday, secondary students in my board will be forced to be in a room with about 15 other students they might not know, many of whom will take…
Whatever happened to conservatives?
It’s hard to believe these days, but in many nations, conservative political parties were once actually the defenders of the nation’s interests, of the greater good, of the public, and…
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Jen Gerson rightly argues that we should be closing bars – and otherwise limiting dangerous contacts within our communities – in order…
From us to WE: The Dickensian ‘Big Society’ seems to be back again, if it ever left
Who can forget the “Big Society”? Just about everyone, it turns out. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Photo: Justin Trudeau/Flickr). “The Big Society,” cooked up by a senior aide to former…
On McQuaig’s Sport and Prey
Linda McQuaig’s newest book, The Sport and Prey of Capitalists: How the Rich are Stealing Canada’s Public Wealth, is a fast read full of local history and written as history…
Thatcher brouhaha: When your slippery opponent’s on the ropes, maybe you should focus on keeping him there!
When you’ve got a slippery political opponent on the ropes with a completely legitimate issue, what’s it profit a New Democrat to stand up in the Legislature and create a…
Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Jonathan Aldred highlights how COVID-19 has laid bare the folly of a neoliberal economic structure which encourages insecurity, fragility and illusions of…
Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Brink Lindsey discusses what the coronavirus pandemic has revealed about the failings of both libertarian philosophy, and the public sector apparatus left after…
Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – David A. Green, J. Rhys Kesselman, Lindsay Tedds discuss some of the complications involved in designing a basic income system. And David…
Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Linda McQuaig warns us not to tolerate yet another around of austerian demagoguery when investment in people’s well-being is a positive step toward…
Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Bryan Borzykowski recognizes that many Canadian families are weathering the COVID-19 crisis only by taking on more debt – though it’s worth questioning…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Annie Lowrey discusses how essential workers have been consistently undervalued due to political choices. And Patty Coates, Jan Simpson and Pablo Godoy discuss…
That rumble you hear is the sound of the Shock Doctrine artillery softening up Alberta for austerity on steroids
In trench warfare, before the shock troops go over the top, the artillery softens up the defenders with a barrage at the point of the attack. In the midst of…