The populism of the coronavirus.
We live in an age of populist political solutions but we never expected to have to deal with a populist pandemic. The problem is that a populism pandemic is blind.…
World Politics
“The darkness has gathered.”
Those were the words of Pope Francis, mentor to the world’s Catholics, who marked the way of the cross Friday in an empty St. Peter’s Square. Not being religious, I…
It’s Barnum and Bailey Time.
It’s pandemic, it’s frightening, it’s Barnum and Bailey Time. The circus has come to rescue politics from crushing boredom. In America, in Canada and around the world, the clowns, the…
Fool Britannia.
Brexit has come. Brexit is gone. And what does it mean? Has the English Channel widened? Are they filling in the Chunnel? Are the Chunnel trains still running? What does…
The grief of greed.
Many people share the blame for the shooting down of Ukraine International Airline Flight 752 over Iran. It is not the first time a civilian airliner has been brought down…
Brexit and the jawbone of an ass.
They had the jawbone of an ass to lead them and the Philistines won this one. Boris Johnson proved he is an ass and he led the Brits down a…
In that ‘better’ place?
It makes you wonder if the families who lost loved ones in Canada’s Afghan forays would agree that it was worth it to leave Kandahar a ‘better’ place? Maybe Canada’s…
Whatever we do, we’re wrong.
Have you been following the adventures of Huawei? Do you realize now why Bell Canada was so wrong when it dumped Nortel Networks? The once famous Bell subsidiary did not…
In defence of First-Past-the-Post.
Write a few comments on how we vote and suffer the outrage of readers. Write about something serious and it’s ‘ho-hum.’ It’s not fair, you know. Last week I was…
Trump’s Triumph?
It will only be after someone translates the French word “merde” for him that Donald Trump will really know what the audience of world leaders thought of his plans for…
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…
Justin Trudeau defends NATO?
There seems to be a difference of opinion between French President Emmanuel Macron and prime minister Justin Trudeau of Canada. Macron says that the 70-year old North Atlantic Treaty Organization…
The new Charlemagne: Emmanuel Macron?
Until the last four years, the view of Europe has been as an economic union. That is now changing and we can start to think of Europe as a political…
“How dare you?” Greta Thunberg.
Somebody must have explained to the 16-year old from Sweden that you have to be brash to get noticed in North America. She would be quite unlikely to say ‘How…
Mother of all Parliaments.
This mother certainly has her problems. And if you believed Theresa May was incompetent as prime minister, you probably should not have gotten your hopes up for Boris Johnson. The…
To be in Biarritz in August.
It is like making the scene in Gstaad in February, you really should do Biarritz in August. It is reserved for the world of the rich and famous and now…
The Brits are crazy too.
There is a pattern emerging. What particular hell we are heading for might still be a mystery but I fear the pace is accelerating. What you would have thought impossible…
Trudeau should listen to McCallum.
John McCallum was building a very solid career as a professor and as an economist when he took a misstep into politics in 2000. While it took him a while…
Now pinch hitting for Canada: Donald Trump.
We really need that. Can you think of anyone less able to speak for Canada to the Chinese? Donald Trump was grandstanding with Canada’s prime minister in the Oval Office…
Mr. Trudeau goes to Washington.
Frank Capra’s 1939 movie, Mr. Smith goes to Washington, is not only a classic but it was the film that made James Stewart a movie star. And if Mr. Trudeau…