Inkless Wells

 Inkless Wells

Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW
He also offers his thoughtful perspective of Stephen Harper’s last 10 years in his recent eBook, The Harper Decade.

Categories: Capital Read, Inkless Wells

Eleven candles

by Paul Wells on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 12:23am - 40 Comments

nationalpost

We gathered a year ago at a pub off King St. that Jake Richler used to like, though it never did much for me. This wasn’t the league-sanctioned National Post 10th-anniversary party, which had taken place a few days earlier and, everyone said, had been as lame as Asper parties always are; this one was samizdat, and the jumble of current Posties (Steve Meurice, Gary Clement) and alumni (Uncles, Eckler, Onstad, Cooperman, Coyne, Whytes Murray and Ken) was happier and more celebratory than I think most of us had feared. This didn’t feel like a wake, in other words, even though we produced and pinned to the wall a life-sized photo of Mordecai Richler (so he wouldn’t miss the party) and even though Martin Newland and Kirk Lapointe sent telegrams (well, emails) of reminiscence from their distant perches, also duly pinned to the wall beside Mordecai.

All of this was a year ago. I’m sure nobody in the room expected the paper would last another year.

Oct. 27 — Tuesday — marks the 11th anniversary of a Canadian newspaper. Every day it comes out is a feat. The vultures are circling, but what else is new. Happy birthday.

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  • Dot

    I predict that Klein's effort to unite the right will be unsuccessful, and John Glenn will never fly again, especially at 77. I can't read Gretzky, so I have no prediction on him.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/TwoYen TwoYen

    The National Post has had a positive influnce on teh Canadian media. Let's hope it sticks around.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

      Amen.

  • hosertohoosier

    Am I the only one who remembers the ads…

    Pre…
    [insert thing]
    Post…
    [insert thing that happens after]

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

    I always choose the Post when I buy a paper, I hope it lasts.

  • kcm

    i always had mixed feelings about the post. On the one hand most of their editorials and opinion pieces had me [ still do] grinding my teeth. But they've always had good writers [ columnists ] often superior to the globes, although i liked it better when Coyne was there. Well cept for Jeff. Roy, Rick…

  • kcm

    Oops…can i mention globe columnists on this post?

    • http://www.walkersunknownthoughts.blogspot.com Walker

      You can, but there's a toll.

      • kcm

        lol God you scared me. i thought that was PW.

  • Neil from Calgary

    The Post was always a visual treat, with its vibrant colours and leading edge designs. Some of its commentary is just plain silly and unsophisticated, a betrayal of Black's original intention, I think. Another post about the "myths" of climate change? C'mon. The Post wins the awards for newspaper design, but the Globe is still a better paper. If only we could combine the best of both…

    • Beatrix Kiddo

      Dare to dream Neil, dare to dream….

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

    It's a pathetic paper. It's a joke.

  • Anon Lib

    Here's hoping for another 11 years of Kelly McParland and Steve Janke columns. BARF!

  • Mike T.

    Did Rebecca Eckler come and talk at length about her kid? Did Barbara Kay call her a hussy? C'mon Wells, dish!

  • Paul Wells

    Rebecca, as always, was the soul of decorum. Unlike our first two anniversary parties, which were epic piss-ups interrupted only by the mandatory bar closure while Conrad Black spoke, the 10th-anniversary party was a demure affair. Mind you, some of my colleagues took off later for another party (Toronto Life? Walrus? Walrus, I think) and I heard tales later, but on that night I was asleep by midnight.

  • Steve Meurice

    Thanks for the birthday wishes, Paul, much appreciated. Allow me correct a couple of things in your post, however.
    1. "… as lame as Asper parties always are." While last year's "official" anniversary party was far from the best we've had (yes, that night at the pub with the former Posties was more lively), it's simply not true that the "Asper parties" were lame. Though they weren't quite as lavish as the ones Conrad threw in the first few years (ever wonder why we lost so much money back then?), several of the Asper-era parties were just as wild and raucous as the early ones, and with arguably better dancing.
    2. "I’m sure nobody in the room expected the paper would last another year." I can't speak for anyone else, but I felt reasonably confident that night that the Post would survive. We've been down this road quite a few times over the years, and seen the premature obituaries. You'd think the people who have wrongly predicted our demise so many times would stop making the same prediction, out of sheer embarrassment. But no.
    I'll make a bold prediction of my own today: We will still be around a year from now, and I will look forward to your annual blog post marking our anniversary, which I always enjoy.
    All the best, Paul.
    Steve

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/ScottFeschuk ScottFeschuk

      Hi Steve, how are you? It's your friend, Scott.

      I could have just emailed but this seemed far more public and social networky, and therefore appropriate for today's times.

      • Steve Meurice

        Scott, how's it going? Great to hear from you. I agree this is much better than actual human interaction. Many studies by Google and others have proven it.
        Do you think Paul will mind if we shoot the s— on his blog for a while?

        • http://intensedebate.com/people/ScottFeschuk ScottFeschuk

          Can't see why he would.

          Did you know we got a new dog? We got a new dog. I took him to the vet this morning and he peed on the nurse. (True story.)

          Thinking of having tacos for dinner.

          • Steve Meurice

            What kind of dog?
            what kind of tacos?
            is a vet's assistant really called a nurse?

          • http://intensedebate.com/people/ScottFeschuk ScottFeschuk

            it makes her seem 20% sexier if you think of her as a nurse. that's just biology.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/robert_mccl6309 Robert McClelland

    The National Disgrace has become a vital component of the rightwing propaganda network, so I suspect someone will continue funding it at least until Macleans becomes a formal member of that network.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/ScottFeschuk ScottFeschuk

      We've tried to become a formal member, but the initiation ritual is soooo tough. David Frum, Lorne Gunter and a truckload of ass paddles. You do the math.

    • Foreigner

      Maclean's is more like a half-way house for ex-Posties. And I thought only hug-a-thug liberals believed in rehabilitation.

      • Orson Bean

        Thanks for the post, I'd forgotten: right-of-centre views are propaganda; left-of-centre views are The Truth.

        Thanks for comin' out.

        • Foreigner

          Have you ever noticed that the biggest champions of the free market would be out on the street, if it weren't for massive debt, public subsidies and copious amounts of wingnut welfare?

          I'm a big supporter of the free market. Let me know when end up getting one.

  • Joan Tintor

    Happy birthday indeed. I still have the first edition in a box in my closet.

    The Post would be worthwhile for its reporting on Shawinigate alone. Lately my touchstone is the FP comment page, the last bastion of free-market thought in the Canadian media.

  • Mulletaur

    Although I almost always disagree with its editorial line, the National Post is still the best paper to read in Canada – best written, most intelligent, most thought provoking. It was a lot better when Conrad Black was the owner, not sure whether that is because it was new or more edgy or more critical or had more fresh talent or what, probably all of the above. No matter what criticism one has of the Post, at least it is not written at a Grade 3 level like the Toronto Star.

  • tobyornottoby

    Elsewhere on the Newspaper Watch:

    The Winnipeg Free Press, an oddity in that it was a chain paper that went indie, but maintainted the Asperville outlook on Israel, is shutting down its Sunday issue at the end of the month. Recently caved on its only subscriber access online, and is becoming more Tabloidal by the day. (Front page no longer has any stories). More layoffs coming soon, I'd guess.

  • BCer in Mtl

    NP had some good writers, but some truly awful ones as well. Sondra Gotlieb was particularly cringe-worthy, even Wente isn't bad (but she herself is rapidly worsening).

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

    I sincerely hope that there will be a Wells blog post entitled "Twelve candles" this time next year.

    • Dot

      His "Nine candles" blog confused the hell out of the Hanukkah crowd.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Lord_Bob Lord Bob

    Godspeed, National Post. You aren't what you were, but what you are is okay.

  • Foreigner

    Happy Birthday to a newspaper that was TOO GOOD for us mediocre Canadians.

    We'll rue…I say rue…the day it's gone forever.

    Seriously, National Putz…how can I miss you if you won't go away?

  • Foreigner
    • Orson Bean

      The non-sequitur, perfectly executed.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/CndnRschr CndnRschr

    With the subscription trends for all newspapers heading for the tank, the NP is surely on a ticking deathwatch. There goes diversity. The UK supports 10 or more dailies and while some are garbage, its pathetic we only have 2 national papers plus the "Sun" chain. Someone has been dumping a Toronto Star next to my subscribed G&M on the porch for the past couple of months. It just adds to my overflowing blue bin. There is surely a role for a right leaning paper?

    • Orson Bean

      No, I'm afraid that a right-leaning paper is nothing but an organ of the insidious right-wing propaganda network (cf. Robert McLelland's post above). Thus any right-leaning paper is a mortal threat to The Canadian Way of Life. Therefore, all right-leaning papers must be eliminated. It is time for all of us to assimilate into the collective. Resistance is futile.

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