On November 16 the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly (Social, Humanitarian & Cultural) debated a resolution demanding an end to summary and arbitrary executions. Included in the text was a non-exhaustive list that highlighted many of the groups that are currently subject to inordinate levels of state persecution: ethnic groups, linguistic minorities, street […] More »

Last week thousands of British students descended on London’s Conservative Party headquarters to protest drastic increases in tuition fees. Despite protestations from Liberal-Democrat leader Nick Clegg, the changing fee structure will make education much more costly—potentially three times more costly—for all students. Proponents of the fee hikes trotted out the usual lines about parental support, reasonable […] More »

Yesterday we teamed up with Groupon to give new subscribers to This a great introductory deal and, we were very happy with the results: in 24 hours we sold 286 new subscriptions! If you’re one of those 286, welcome! We’re thrilled to meet you. Before we can activate your subscription for Canada’s Small Magazine of […] More »

Dear George Bush, I’ve been following the press coverage of your forthcoming book, Decision Points, with considerable interest. Just the other day you sat down with Matt Lauer of NBC to pre-tape an interview and, I must say, some of the pre-released quotations are real gems. One, however, stands out: recalling Kanye West’s remarks at […] More »

On March 16, 2003, an Israel Defence Forces bulldozer was demolishing houses in the Rafah refugee camp in Palestine. Seven western Palestinian solidarity activists were, through means of non-violent intervention, trying to disrupt the work of the IDF and prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes. What exactly happened that day is unclear (and the subject […] More »

Omar Khadr’s trial may be over, but his ordeal is not. Here are some of the crazier details about the affair, now that Khadr’s sentencing is complete: The facts remain unclear: The prosecution argued that since he was the only Al Qaeda fighter still alive at the end of the fight, it must have been […] More »

Irving Howe (the New York socialist) once wrote “Blessed New York Times! What would radical journalism in America do without it?” The newspaper was, to be sure, a tool of the bourgeois but a tool that reported the news with unequalled comprehensiveness. Read it and, ideology aside, you became the possessor of a full range […] More »

This falls into the “this is a good thing to know,” as opposed to the “this is definitely good news (!),” category. The Bechdel Test is a quick and dirty way to gauge the sexism of a movie, invented 25 years ago by Alison Bechdel, the cartoonist and writer of Dykes to Watch Out For. A […] More »

A friend of mine from Vancouver was talking to me about the Toronto election: “How is it that the anti-bike guy is in the lead?  I mean, to us in British Columbia, that just… it just doesn’t make sense.”  Indeed.  This Toronto municipal election is both absurd and frightening. Progressives around the city — dare […] More »

Today, David Johnston became the Governor General of Canada, and he’s got big shoes to fill — Michaëlle Jean’s time as the Queen’s representative in Canada was quite a trip, after all. On the occasion of her retirement, we decided to look back at some of the bumps along the way (and don’t worry, we only mention prorogation […] More »

Last week we learned that the federal government spent $107,749.52 on Nikon DSLR D300s for the G20. For those of you who, like me five minutes ago, don’t know anything about photography let me tell you all you need to know about the D300s: it’s a really good camera. You can check out the reviews […] More »