The quiet cuts

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 6:35 PM - 18 Comments

Veterans Affairs is planning to trim its budget by $226 million.

Environment Canada has cancelled a $547,000 per year agreement with the Canadian Environmental Network.

And a subscription to a leading journal on criminology and justice policy has not been renewed.

ThreatDown

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 3:53 PM - 6 Comments

Speaking with reporters today in Peterborough, the Prime Minister commented as follows on the alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States.

Let me just say with regards once again to this specific plot, we condemn this in the strongest possible terms, and it only reiterates the position that our government has been expressing for several years now, that the regime in Tehran – we have no quarrel with the Iranian people, but the regime in Tehran represents probably the most significant threat in the world to global peace and security. And so we take these matters very, very seriously, and we will be working with our allies.

Back in June, Mr. Harper implied that something threatened the existence of the country. Paul subsequently considered the conditional country here. I noted the rhetoric again here.

In an interview with this magazine, the Prime Minister was asked about the threat and identified “Islamic extremist terrorism,” but also an increasingly complex world. Roland Paris read that interview and came away wanting the Prime Minister to be more specific.

In an interview with Peter Mansbridge this fall, Mr. Harper identified “Islamicism” as the greatest terrorist threat to Canada, but here he seems to elevate Iran to the most significant global threat. It’s unclear whether that makes Iran the threat to Canada that he has vaguely referred to in the past.

Welcome to the Internet. No kids allowed

By Jesse Brown - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 3:50 PM - 2 Comments

If you’re under 13, you’re not allowed on Facebook.

That’s not the command of a strict parent—it’s Facebook policy. It also happens to be U.S. law. Thanks to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, it’s illegal for websites to collect the personal data of anyone under 13 without parental consent. Mark Zuckerberg has vowed to fight this law, but for now, Facebook won’t let you sign up unless you state your age as 13 or over, regardless of which country you live in.

Of course, Facebook is just one of the sites kids aren’t supposed to use. Just about every commercial website has small print in their TOU (Terms of Use) limiting access to those legally able to enter into binding contracts. In Canada, as in most countries, this means ages 18 and up. So if you’re a teenager who follows the rules, you can’t tweet, you can’t watch a YouTube video, and you can’t even run a Google search. Continue…

Taliban could have been our “best partner” to fight terrorism: Globe reporter

By Michael Petrou - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 2:54 PM - 3 Comments

Globe and Mail reporter Graeme Smith had this to say during a panel discussion convened by This Magazine to discuss a decade of international intervention in Afghanistan:

“Afghanistan had a functioning country in some ways before we came in in 2001. That’s a qualified statement: the Taliban had been relatively successful in establishing a regime and you could argue that if you were looking for a partner to fight terrorism—a partner to take on al-Qaeda and make sure that the country would remain stable with some kind of rule of law—in 2001, your best partner would have been the Taliban.”

Afghanistan was neither functioning nor stable prior to 2001. It was a wasteland that at least three million Afghans had fled, seeking refuge in Pakistan and Iran. Many more were internally displaced. I saw thousands of them in the fall of 2001. They lived and died in shallow pits covered with scraps of cloth and plastic. They hadn’t run from American bombs; they ran from the Taliban.  Continue…

Occupy Sparks Street

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 2:39 PM - 28 Comments

The Occupy Wall Street movement arrives in Canada this weekend with hopes of influencing the political scene.

“I think our movement can energize the political left,” Lasn said. ”In Canada we have Harper so strong, the Conservatives so strong because there is no energized opposition. Over the next few months, and possibly one year, it’s possible for fascinating, exciting new ideas that the political left has had for a long time, for those ideas to push up from the grass roots and start having an impact again on Canadian politics.”

Tilleczek said youth organizers in Canada have been trying to galvanize the movement, criticized by some for lacking a clear expression of its demands, by invoking the image of former New Democrat leader Jack Layton, whose death in August from cancer touched off a remarkable display of national grief and affection.

Their Songs Really Were Better

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 2:30 PM - 5 Comments

Apart from My Little Pony, the other Hasbro franchise that seems to have really come back strong lately is Jem – more surprising, perhaps, because there’s no new TV series to spark the new interest. Instead there are reruns of the ’80s cartoon on the Hub and Teletoon Retro, and of course Shout! Factory just released the whole series on DVD this week. (Part of the show was previously released on DVD in the ’00s, but they stalled out before completing the series, and the old DVDs have been out of print for a long time.) Even though the toys never did sell that well, the cartoon always seems to be popular.

I think the songs are the key part of the phenomenon. Not only were they well-written original songs (Barry Harman, who wrote the lyrics, was a bona fide Broadway lyricist who was able to bring some good craftsmanship to the major task of writing three songs per episode), not only were the music-video sequences a cut above the usual ’80s cartoon in terms of the visuals, but the songs helped to crystallize the major issue of any kids’ cartoon: who do you like better, the good guys or the bad guys? On a show with villains – some kids’ shows don’t really have any villains, of course – evil often seems cooler than good; if you watched He-Man, you might secretly root for Skeletor. But on Jem, there was an additional argument, brought up in the theme song: whose songs were better? Kids could pick sides not only in terms of which side to root for, but in terms of whose music to hum.

For the record, the theme song was right: the Misfits’ songs really were better. That’s because the good guys’ songs mostly had to be pro-social and inspiring, and a lot of them are weighted down with messages about caring and sharing. The Misfits, like any cartoon villain, didn’t have to be good role models, so as long as they were punished in the end, they could sing about anything they wanted – being selfish, having a good time, being cool. Really, their songs are more authentic modern pop, since you’re likely to hear a lot more songs about empowerment and self-fulfilment than the need to care and share with others.

That said, I recall the Jem videos as being somewhat trippier than the Misfits’ overall. And I don’t recall the Stingers enough to comment at all.

NDP accuses Raitt of conflict-of-interest

By macleans.ca - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 12:58 PM - 19 Comments

The NDP is calling for a formal investigation into conflict-of-interest allegations involving Labour Minister Lisa Raitt after it was reported she accepted a free seat upgrade from Air Canada CEO and executive vice-president Duncan Dee. The upgrade, worth about $550 $450, took Raitt from economy to business class, and occurred on Sept. 25. Raitt’s chief of staff, Douglas Smith, reportedly received the same perk on Oct. 10. Raitt’s office has denied the upgrades ever took place. The accusation comes after Raitt moved to block a strike by Air Canada’s flight attendants earlier this week.

CityNews

Ron Maclean’s new book needs a better subtitle

By Martin Patriquin - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 12:55 PM - 4 Comments

How’s about “Cornered: Memoirs Of A Professional Carpet”? Has a nice ring to it, no? (Photo Toronto Life)

Berlusconi survives confidence vote in Italy

By macleans.ca - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 12:50 PM - 0 Comments

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi won a key confidence vote in his country’s parliament on Friday. Berlusconi has come under increasing scrutiny for his handling of the Italian economy as Europe struggles to contain the sovereign debt crisis and the continent heads toward a recession. Though he survived the centre-left’s attempt to remove him from power, the mismanagement of Italy’s finance’s as well as a series of recent sex scandals have left Berlusconi’s public reputation in tatters. The latest opinion poll put his popularity at a dismal 24 per cent.

Agence France-Presse 

The patient is unresponsive

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 12:43 PM - 1 Comment

Jane Hilderman argues that people won’t vote if they don’t think the system is truly accountable.

As we are learning from our focus groups, more important to Canadians, who are less likely to participate, is a government that listens when a problem arises, works to fix it, and keeps promises it made. On this they were resoundingly clear: improve the legitimacy of our existing institutions (and by extension politicians, too) through better responsiveness and accountability. The rest will take care of itself.

On that note, Mark Dance has some thoughts on opening Parliament up to the digital word here, here and here. The second of those posts proposes what Mark deems a “Digital House.”

Former Manitoba MP Reg Alcock dies

By macleans.ca - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 12:37 PM - 0 Comments

Former Liberal MP Reg Alcock died suddenly on Friday at the age of 63. Alcock spent 13 years in the House of Commons, where he represented the riding of Winnipeg South from 1993 to 2006. According to a spokesperson with the I.H. Asper School of Business, Alcock had been travelling for the school when he died while at the airport in Winnipeg, but little else is known about the circumstances of Alcock’s death.

CBC News

Iranian-Canadians fear Canada is becoming refuge for Iranian regime-linked officials

By Michael Petrou - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 11:51 AM - 5 Comments

An impressive list of Iranian-Canadians, including top scholars, has penned a letter to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney expressing their concerns about the number of Islamic Republic regime-linked individuals who are setting up camp in Canada. Most notable of late has been Mahmoud Reza Khavari, who until recently helped run an Iranian state-owned bank that has been blacklisted by the United Nations Security Council for allegedly funding Iran’s nuclear weapons program. He’s now believed to be living in his three-million-dollar Bridle Path home.

“For years members of the Iranian-Canadian community have been concerned that high ranking members of the Islamic Republic of Iran and their relatives are securing residency status in Canada and funnelling their investments to this country. Our expressions of concern to various Members of Parliament are seldom given proper due, and are generally dismissed with mere suggestions that we proceed to inform Canadian authorities of any individuals with ties to the Government of Islamic Republic.”

[...]

“Turning a blind eye or failure to act by the Canadian Government with respect to Mr. Khavari would send a signal to other high ranking members and Government functionaries of the Islamic Republic of IRan that Canada represents a safe haven to which they may escape with impunity. Moreover, a display of moral clarity and vigilance by the Canadian Government will deter international figures with sullied associations from arriving on our shores.” Continue…

Where have you gone Mackenzie King?

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 11:42 AM - 6 Comments

Susan Delacourt wonders if the Liberal party isn’t drawing its last breaths. Not unrelatedly, Stephen Clarkson plots the rise and fall of centrism and frets for it all.

Which political organization or organizations oppose this dangerous figure do not matter to most citizens, although the issue preoccupies militant New Democrats and loyal Liberals. What does matter is that the former centre, which now becomes the left alternative to Harper’s extremism, must regain power if a parliamentary civic culture is to be restored. Unless this restoration happens soon, it is hard to believe that it can be done without adding 21st-century, global wings to energize and internationalize what has become the country’s social-market alternative.

For the sake of argument, here are the popular vote share changes in the six applicable elections this year. Continue…

The biggest losers in hockey

By Dave Bidini - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 11:33 AM - 13 Comments

The morning after the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers to win the 2010 Stanley Cup—their first in 49 years—I shuffled downstairs in my pyjamas. It was a warm morning, early June, and the NHL hockey season was over. I pressed my fists to my eyes, yawned, and yelled upstairs for the children to get out of bed. Actually, that’s a lie. My wife, Janet, did the yelling while I stood there in the living room looking under pillows for the remote. Finding it, I kachunked the tv and a station bzzzed on. These words were written across the screen:

LEAFS BIGGEST LOSERS IN HOCKEY Continue…

Kevin Bacon, step down, Footloose 2.0 is an upgrade

By Brian D. Johnson - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 10:41 AM - 3 Comments

Kenny Wormald as Ren and Julianne Hough as Ariel in the 'Footloose' remake

It’s a rare remake that improves on the original. But the new Footloose does just that. The dancing is better, the drama grittier, the stars sexier—and the music and the cast are more energetic and diverse. Kenny Wormald, the new lead, generates a lot more charisma and heat than Kevin Bacon, and Julianne Hough is smoking hot as his partner. I’m not relying on memory here. I re-watched Herbert Ross‘s 1984 original after seeing the new Footloose, which is directed by Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan).  On many levels, the remake is a scene-by-scene replica in contemporary setting, complete with the yellow VW Beetle. But here are 10 significant differences: Continue…

You can never have too many MPs

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 10:37 AM - 18 Comments

With the Conservatives apparently hesitant to simply add MPs for Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia for fear of offending Quebec, the Mowat Centre proposes a solution.

A report from the Mowat Centre, an Ontario-issues think tank, is proposing that legislation should guarantee that Quebec’s representation in the House of Commons never falls below what its population warrants.

If the House were increased by 30 seats to bring Ontario, B.C. and Alberta closer to their fair share, Quebec would receive four seats as well, increasing the number of MPs to 342 from 308. Such a move would reflect “Quebec’s unique place in the federation,” the report states.

Something like the Mowat Centre’s proposal could, conceivably, have the support of Liberals and New Democrats. Bob Rae, who has called for an “open discussion on the question of minimums,” predicted last month the Prime Minister would ultimately put forward a compromise. Brian Topp, Thomas Mulcair and various other New Democrats have also generally advocated for special consideration.

Slapstick birding? ‘The Big Year’ is a big turkey

By Brian D. Johnson - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 10:36 AM - 3 Comments

(from left) Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson in 'The Big Year'

Superlatives are all too tempting in this business. But honestly, I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie so crammed with talent that was such an unmitigated mess as The Big Year. Just take a look at the roster. Aside from the three iconic amigos who star as duelling birders—Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black—the cast also boasts Dianne Weist, Anjelica Huston, Rosamund Pike, Brian Dennehy and Tim Blake Nelson. Even John Cleese shows up for a cameo voice over. The director, David Frankel, is also a proven quantity, having brought an assured touch to both The Devil Wears Prada and Marley and Me. So what the hell went wrong? Continue…

The dark side of Steve Jobs

By Claire Ward - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 10:28 AM - 24 Comments

In what seems like an endless stream of Steve Jobs tributes and devotions, one voice stands out as a reality check. Mike Daisey, New York-based author and monologuist, is hoping to cut through the nostalgia and remind people of the nastier side of Jobs’ legacy.

“I’m almost tired of hearing what a genius he is,” says the 37-year-old creator and performer of The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, a one-man show about the life and work of the former Apple CEO that opened off-broadway at the Public Theater in New York City on Tuesday. “I think he’d be disgusted by this level of nostalgia. He was a very unrelenting, unwavering person—focus was really the centre of his skill set, his genius.”

Daisey’s show touches on everything from Jobs’s mastery of industrial design to the objectionable practices of iPhone and iPad manufacturing plants in China. The monologue tells the story of Jobs’s obsessions and his impact on humanity—from Silicon Valley to Shenzhen. Daisey’s style is semi-improvised, or what he calls “extemporaneous monologing”—which means the show differs from night to night, often depending on the mood of the room. “The work happens in the room so it’s hard to say what is going to change,” says Daisey. “At the same time, the fundamentals of the story aren’t affected by his death. In fact, they’ll be amplified. The end of an era, the loss of individual personal power in the face of corporatism.” Continue…

Week in pictures: October 10-16, 2011

By macleans.ca - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 10:28 AM - 0 Comments

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Week in pictures: October 10-16, 2011

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A Libyan revolutionary fighter runs for cover

A Libyan revolutionary fighter runs for cover while attacking pro-Gadhafi forces in Sirte, Libya, Friday, Oct. 7, 2011. Rebel forces have besieged Sirte since September 15 but have not managed to penetrate the heart of the city because of fierce resistance from loyalists inside the home town of Libya's ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi. (Manu Brabo/AP Photo)

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‘Let’s have the courage to do things differently’

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 9:42 AM - 2 Comments

The prepared text of Thomas Mulcair’s remarks yesterday on the launch of his leadership campaign.

Chers collègues, chers amis,

QUELLE AVENTURE !!!!!!!!!!!!

En 2006, Jack Layton m’a invité à titre de conférencier au Congrès du NPD à Québec.

Le sujet était le développement durable, un domaine que Jack connaissait intimement, et il souhaitait que je puisse partager avec les délégués du NPD la vision qui avait inspiré la Loi québécoise sur le développement durable que j’avais pilotée.

Continue…

Be the change

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 8:45 AM - 2 Comments

Romeo Saganash debuts his new column for the Huffington Post.

I am appalled at how Stephen Harper and his Conservatives are eroding respect for Canada’s own laws and the very idea of governance itself. They ignore our international commitments, they undermine respect for our courts here at home, and they refuse to enforce or even accept their own legal obligations to Canadians. Then they call this “strong leadership.” This is how we lost our bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council. This is why Canadians are disaffected, distanced from their own government and from their own role in civil society…

There is a better way. We can do much better as a nation. We can work to create a better Canada, for all of us.

Newsmakers: Oct.6-Oct.13, 2011

By macleans.ca - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 8:30 AM - 0 Comments

Kristy Sparow/Getty Images

The hockey nudes

Vancouver Canucks centre Ryan Kesler drew catcalls from his teammates after appearing nude in the annual “Body Issue” of ESPN The Magazine. “Jealousy. That’s all they’ve got is jealousy,” said Kesler, who joined athletes ranging from NBA power forward Blake Griffin to female soccer player Hope Solo in baring all—“tastefully,” as the euphemism goes—for the publication. At least ESPN didn’t shoot goaltender Roberto Luongo, Vancouver’s Kevin Bieksa told the Vancouver Sun. “I don’t care how good technology is these days, there’s a lot of hair on that body.”

A Swank affair

Chechen Republic President Ramzan Kadyrov insists it wasn’t a birthday party—it’s pure coincidence that a glitzy celebration with Hollywood stars coincided with his 35th birthday. Kadyrov, a former warlord who has become a client of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, was able to convince action hero Jean-Claude Van Damme and Oscar winner Hilary Swank to come to the Chechen capital of Grozny, supposedly to fete the city’s 193rd anniversary. The extravagant Kadyrov has brought peace, but not affluence, to the turbulent republic; Russia is said to have bankrolled the party, which suffered from a late PR-motivated cancellation by singer Shakira. Asked about the funding, Kadyrov said, “I don’t know, it comes from somewhere.”

Sean, Kanye, meet karma

He’ll always be the most controversial man in hockey—so long as he can stay in hockey. Sean Avery, the outspoken 31-year-old winger who has clashed with fans, reporters, hockey executives and pretty much everyone else, was sent down to the AHL’s Connecticut Whale last week. “We have better players than Sean Avery right now,” New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella told journalists. The diminutive forward, once voted the NHL’s most hated player, got rare positive press in the off-season for supporting gay marriage in New York. His agent said he would even consider playing in Europe rather than Hartford. Speaking of loudmouths getting their comeuppance, Kanye West launched his career as a designer at Paris Fashion Week, in one of the fashion season’s most hyped shows. Well before the reviews came out, West, seemingly aware the critics would not be kind, gave a vulgar speech, bitterly complaining that his attempt to become a serious fashion designer was being treated as a joke. “I gave you everything I had,” he said, in what the New York Times noted was one of his few printable remarks. Indeed, his designs were roundly panned, and he received “tepid” applause from his hand-picked audience. When pressed for comment, Vogue editrix Anna Wintour—not known for holding back—said, “Ask someone else.”

Political cleavage takes on a whole new meaning When Christy Clark addressed the legislature wearing a blazer and a slightly low-cut blouse, Twitter mostly ignored politics and concentrated on fashion. David Schreck, pundit and former NDP politician, wrote that the B.C. premier’s “cleavage-revealing attire” was not “appropriate dress for the legislature.” Schreck countered accusations of sexism by saying, “I wouldn’t recommend going to a job interview like that.” The controversy comes a month after the House of Commons photoshopped new MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan’s parliamentary photo to eliminate all traces of cleavage. Speaking of chasms, a new Ipsos poll puts B.C.’s governing Liberals seven points behind the NDP—the “crack of doom,” according to the Vancouver Province. With the NDP now in majority government territory, it’s clear why Clark pulled the plug on plans for a fall election.

CanLit smackdown

The adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity is being tested in Toronto. Local author Ling Zhang has been accused by three writers of plagiarism. CanLit heavyweights Wayson Choy, Sky Lee and Paul Yee sent a legal notice to Zhang’s publisher alleging possible copyright infringement in her forthcoming novel Gold Mountain Blues. They want to delay the Oct. 18 publication date so the book can be reviewed independently. Penguin Canada refused, saying the authors had a chance to vet their concerns weeks ago, when they were sent advance copies. One response from the complainants, however, did arrive, said Penguin: a request for an invitation to the launch party. Reality is, indeed, stranger than fiction.

Shakira’s new gig How do you get a classroom full of kids to pay attention? A hip-shaking, yodelling young blond would surely help. That must be the thinking behind the Obama administration’s newest addition: Shakira. The Latina singer has been awarded a spot on the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. This isn’t her first educational gig. Shakira’s own foundation has funded schools in Haiti, South Africa and Columbia. “Latino youth are the fastest-growing group in America, yet more Latino children are living in poverty than children of any other ethnic group,” she told the Huffington Post. “The only road out of poverty is education.” Palin’s new gig: saving the world

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin announced that she will not run for the presidency in 2012, ending (or, more likely, slightly diminishing) feverish speculation about her intentions and scrutiny of her personal life. In a letter to supporters, the failed VP candidate said she preferred to remain on the sidelines to “continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets.” Her SarahPAC fund has a balance of $1.4 million, money she intends to use to “save our nation from the road to European socialism.” A recent biography of Palin, Joe McGinnis’s The Rogue, stirred rumours of a premarital fling with basketball player Glen Rice and revived awkward questions about her gubernatorial career.

You lose some, you win some

The Harper government drew criticism for awarding patronage jobs to losing Conservative parliamentary candidates, such as a $135,000-a-year sinecure for Nova Scotia’s Cecil Clarke and an adviser job for Montrealer Saulie Zajdel. Clarke, who narrowly lost to Liberal Mark Eyking in Sydney-Victoria, will serve in the newly created position of “senior executive adviser” to Cape Breton County Economic Development; his salary is being paid by a federal Crown corporation. Zajdel, who ran strongly against Grit Irwin Cotler in Mount Royal, will be “going out into the community” and reporting on regional concerns to Heritage Minister James Moore. But at least one bounced Tory is sticking to the private sector. Former foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon, a non-lawyer, will join Canadian law firm Gowlings as a “strategic adviser.”

Play hard. (Stay safe.)

Record-setting Canadian soccer player Christine Sinclair has been chosen to carry the country’s flag in Guadalajara, Mexico, at the opening of the Pan Am Games on Oct. 14. Sinclair, who led Canada to a bronze at the 2007 Pan Ams, told reporters her grandmother’s advice on flag-bearing technique: “Don’t trip.” Other athletes may be worried about bigger dangers than stumbling. At the ceremony where Sinclair was presented, the team’s chef de mission Jacques Cardyn felt a need to reassure competitors (and their parents) that the team wouldn’t be caught up in any drug wars. “There’s people in Mexico from Internal Affairs working with us,” he noted. Crystal clear People laughed, literally, at Israeli engineer Dan Shechtman when he reported the existence of metal alloys that formed “quasicrystal” patterns at the molecular level. But Shechtman, winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in chemistry, is having the last laugh. The professor at Haifa’s prestigious Technion was on leave in the U.S. in 1982 when he observed something that the textbooks said was impossible in nature: a crystal with an “aperiodic” structure. Even his own original notes state, “There can be no such creature,” and his report was widely, even bitterly derided. But today, quasicrystals are known to be quite common, and the Nobel win increased Shechtman’s bank balance by $1.5 million. Harry keeps up tradition in Vegas As if he needs to cement his reputation as a rollicking playboy, Prince Harry arrived in Las Vegas “to party” for 48 hours during a break from a 12-week military helicopter training course. Lest royal watchers tsk-tsk, one military source reassured them Sin City is a “traditional” pit stop, adding,“The course is pretty intense. This is a chance for the pilots to let their hair down, kick back and enjoy themselves.” Prince Harry will likely feel right at home.

When Chávez loves your house

For the first time, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez is expropriating private homes, part of his latest round of nationalizations targeting Los Roques, a chic Caribbean island chain. Chávez denounced the islands’ “supposed landowners” (the “upper bourgeoisie”) and announced that he would open them up to fishing and tourism for regular Venezuelans.

Love, love me do

Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney married American heiress Nancy Shevell in a low-key ceremony in London this week. Ringo Starr, the only other surviving member of the Fab Four, attended the wedding, described by the bride’s cousin, broadcaster Barbara Walters, as “beautiful and wonderful.”

REVIEW: Jagger: Rebel, Rock Star, Rambler, Rogue

By Brian D. Johnson - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 8:20 AM - 0 Comments

There’s only one reason for this book to exist: to redress the nasty bruising Mick Jagger took in Life, last year’s blockbuster memoir by bandmate Keith Richards. Jagger is not an authorized biography, but it’s such an affectionate portrait that its subject, who can’t be bothered to write his own memoir, could have commissioned it. Spitz, Vanity Fair’s music blogger, doesn’t dig up any new dirt in the royal saga of the Rolling Stones, who mark their 50th anniversary next spring. But he tackles what he calls the Jagger Problem—the popular notion that Mick is the band’s cold-blooded brain and aristocratic gadfly while Keith is its heart and soul, salt of the earth, keeper of the flame—even though he nearly killed the Stones with his heroin habit. Spitz suggests the dichotomy is a media myth, nurtured by Keith’s flair for burnishing his anti-hero image, and Mick’s reluctance to offer anything as banal as a sound bite. Having interviewed both several times, I see his point: talking to Mick is like playing squash with a sphinx; Keith becomes your best mate within minutes.

What the book does best is magnify the seismic events in the Stones’ formative years: the scandal of their 1967 drug bust (with Marianne Faithfull on LSD, wearing only a fur rug and the infamous Mars bar); Jagger’s erotic method acting with Richards’s girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg, on the set of Performance; the swimming pool death of Brian Jones; and the murder of an 18-year-old kid at Altamont in 1970, which Jagger impassively watches on tape in the film Gimme Shelter. But Spitz traces the genesis of the Stones’ tabloid image to a fluke. A News of the World reporter mistook Jones for Jagger in a bar, and Jones, playing along, regaled him with tales of his (Mick’s) wild drug habits. Now Jagger is producing a movie called Tabloid, in which he will star as a Rupert Murdoch-like media baron. Ah, the revenge of the misunderstood rock star—best served stone cold.

So much for the NDP’s grassroots

By John Geddes - Friday, October 14, 2011 at 8:20 AM - 4 Comments

Sean Kilpatrick/CP

How the NDP rank and file might have reacted had they been able to take a look inside the first big fundraiser of Brian Topp’s bid for their party’s leadership is fun to imagine. The soiree, which one senior NDP official said raised about $20,000, was hosted by actress Wendy Crewson—who has appeared on TV shows like 24, with Kiefer Sutherland, and in movies like Air Force One, with Harrison Ford—at her home in Toronto’s pricey Rosedale neighbourhood. On hand were actors, directors, and even the high-rolling film industry executive Paul Bronfman.

This to fuel up the campaign of the man who wants to lead a party that’s always professed to stand for rural and blue-collar voters? Actually, Topp’s close ties to the Toronto showbiz crowd have a defensible NDP basis—he’s been executive director of ACTRA Toronto, the union for the city’s TV and film workers. Still, the combination of entertainment industry glamour and establishment money prompted one New Democrat organizer, who is leaning toward another leadership contender, to sniff that Topp wasn’t exactly showing a “grassroots touch.”

What Topp has displayed, though, is organizational reach on a standard that makes him, beyond any real doubt, the man to beat. It wasn’t supposed to be so obviously his race to lose. When the former NDP president and top campaign strategist declared his candidacy early last month, the widely held assumption was that Montreal MP Thomas Mulcair would soon throw his hat in the ring, too, and the two men would vie for front-runner status out of the gate. But while Mulcair was taking a few weeks to lay the groundwork for his candidacy, which he formally announced this week, Topp began assembling, piece by piece, a machine that gives him the clear, early edge.

Continue…