Blog# 182...October, 2026
Probably my favorite time of the week is getting back into bed with my breakfast pretending to have room service in a fancy Swiss spa/ As I begin this blog, it's September 13 and I've just enjoyed a delicious 2 hours listening to 7 remarkable Canadians on CBC's Sunday Magazine...I know radio has become a quaint artifact in some circles, but I cling to it like a life raft in a stormy sea.
First up was Bob Rae, our former Ambassador to the UN with an insider's glimpse at our relationship with the US. We are so incredibly lucky to have Bob, and others presenting our face to the world. Jumping ahead to Mark Carney's speech to the EU, while he promised that an alliance between Canada and Europe would have many benefits for both sides, he added that it wouldn't result in a third big power, "with better manners"" His whole talk, straightforward and lyrical is worth a listen on good old YouTube ,
Randy Boyagoda is a proponent of civil speech and lectures on literature atthe University of Toronto. If anyone could excite students about sidestepping AI to do the work of reading, he's the one to do it. And students are rising to the challenge. Randy's origins are in Sri Lanka
Veteran journalists Adam Radwanski, Nojoud Al Mallees and Rob Russ sketched a picture of our financial position and activists Naomi Klein and Astrid Taylor caught us up on their concerns. It was an incredibly rich couple of hour, full of ideas, opinions and connections to our world's current reality.
Thanksgiving is approaching and, as the old joke goes, all the shit means there must be a pony somewhere. Here are some things I'm thankful for...the Ochs-Sulzberger family's control of The New York Times, maintaining at least some journalistic independence from the millionaire tyrants. I'm also grateful to have had Gloria Steinem to shape our thoughts about feminism w with grace, wisdom and a sense of humour for all those years, And a couple of guys make me grateful, Tom who got me swimming and to John who got me blogging., as well as to all of you who read the blog and encourage me with your comments
The film festival, TIFF. came along in September bringing the usual feast. The standout for me is Barbara Koppel's Union Town, about the bad treatment of the people who deliver goods for Amazon, UPS and the myriad bicyclists who dart about with food.
Who knows what joys and horrors await us in the coming month, but we will keep calm and carry on as the saying goes...and how about that talk in Britain of reversing Brexit and getting back in the EU?
November is the cruelest month, but we'll be back with Blog # 183 to brighten it.
