Search: “London”

This piece appeared in The Hill Times on January 15, 2018 There are many reasons why citizens dislike City Hall.  You might have a beef over the taxes you pay. Perhaps you are not happy with snow removal or garbage collection.  You may even have a bone to pick with a parking ticket you received.  […]

When I was growing up in London (Ontario) there was a famous quasi-mythical family that lived near the town of Lucan, about a half-hour away, in the 19th  century.  The Donnellys, or the ‘Black Donnellys’ as we were taught about them, were Irish immigrants who were killed by a mob in 1880 in a feud […]

This piece appeared  in The Hill Times on December 18 http://www.hilltimes.com/2017/12/18/war-ism-bad-idea/128951 Last week I was invited to a conference in the UK hosted by the Henry Jackson Society, a US-UK think tank that looks at a variety of issues.  At this particular conference, entitled ‘A wake-up call for all: creating a trans-Atlantic network to battle radical […]

Another successful terrorist attack, another inquiry as to why it was not stopped.  This is becoming a common occurrence at least in Western societies where the exigencies of liberal democracies demand accountability. There may very well be post facto reviews in non-democracies like Russia and Saudi Arabia as well but we do not tend to […]

When I was in first year of high (secondary) school – grade nine as we call it (why is it that I cannot get a BareNaked Ladies song out of my head?) – I did something really stupid.  I was about to bus home from a Friday night dance when I decided that it would […]

Anyone who has flown on an airline since 9/11 knows it is not fun. Those ads from the 1950s that show the glamour and luxury of international travel are dated curiosities of yesteryear.  Whether it is the increased nickle and diming of ever more services – checked bags (leading to the competition for overhead bin […]

This week I was very fortunate to be on a panel this week sponsored by the National Capital (Ottawa) branch of the Canadian International Council (CIC) with Ben Rowswell and Dr. Stephanie Carvin of Carleton University entitled ‘From Blogs to Books to Software’.  Mr. Rowswell gave an outstanding talk on how social media is changing […]

The city of New York, the site of the world-changing events of 9/11, appears to have suffered its worst single attack of terrorism since that fateful date 16 years ago.  A man drove a rented Home Depot truck onto a pedestrian pathway in lower Manhattan, striking cyclists and killing at least eight (six were declared […]

It is rare that one can look back on something composed years ago and see it as relevant today as it was thought to be back then.  So much changes as new variables enter into play and our own understanding and appreciation for phenomena matures to reflect these new additions.  That is indeed a good […]

There is no question that the world has terrorism on the brain.  So much has changed since 9/11 that we are both more attuned to, and frightened of, the spectre of terrorism that it has affected our ability to accurately measure what is happening and, perhaps more importantly, what we are doing about it.  This […]