Jonathon Fenby, deputy editor of The Guardian, is a giant of a man, but he seems to be shrinking with every syllable. He is trying to explain why the British media in general, and The Guardian in particular, have allowed the government to muzzle their coverage of Northern Ireland. Shifting his bulk, he hems and… Continue reading From Watchdog to Lapdog
Federal Budget, Native Deficit
As the lights dim in the auditorium of Halifax’s Micmac Native Friendship Centre, a chanter breaks into song. It’s graduation for 24 native adult students. Anita Martell, a 32-year-old mother, is one of them. Graduation, after years away from school, is a significant achievement. It’s an event that would have been well covered and widely… Continue reading Federal Budget, Native Deficit
It’s A Risque Business
It was no surprise when police dropped charges against NOW magazine last September. The surprise had come when the charges were laid: essentially they amounted to charges of soliciting-“communicating for the purposes of prostitution.” The “communicating” law was introduced in 1985 to curb street solicitation by and of prostitutes, without making prostitution itself illegal. The… Continue reading It’s A Risque Business
Divided We Stand
“Two nations warring in the bosom of a single state.” That was how Lord Durham perceived the relationship between Upper and Lower Canada in the late 1830s. According to Durham the only way to resolve the tensions between the two Canadas was to unite them. Once French Canadians developed political and economic ties to Upper… Continue reading Divided We Stand
The Fortunes and Arrows of Outrageous Slinger
For me to write that I think Brian Mulroney is an asshole,” says Joey Slinger, “is every bit as inconsequential as if my mother phones up and tells me she thinks Brian Mulroney is an asshole. My opinion is perhaps interesting to her and hers is to me, but it has no place in journalism.”… Continue reading The Fortunes and Arrows of Outrageous Slinger
