Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Saanich council fumbles the computer surveillance issue

›
Saanich council is doing a lousy job of dealing with the suburb´s bizarre political problems. Mayor Richard Atwell complained to Saanich...
13 comments:
Friday, December 19, 2014

Letter from Managua: A canal dividing a country

›
The proposal to build a trans-oceanic canal across Nicaragua seems mostly like the scenario for a slightly implausible summer blockbuste...
24 comments:
Monday, November 24, 2014

Letter from Managua: Missing the strange

›
I can see why people wind up travelling to more and more exotic places. After a month in Managua, I recognize a faint disappointment a...
8 comments:
Sunday, November 02, 2014

Letter from Managua: Streets with no names

›
I got used to the lack of addresses in Copan Ruinas, Honduras. We told people we lived in the Casa de Jorge Ramos on Calle Independencia. T...
4 comments:
Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Come to the Bard and Banker Thursday for my book launch

›
It’s been a long time between posts. Lots of good reasons. We’ve had two weddings in October, two daughters marrying two great guys. T...
5 comments:
Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Public might blame both sides, but holds government responsible for inaction on strike

›
Both sides are losing in the teachers’ dispute. The spin and counter-spin, PR gestures and ad campaigns aren’t moving the parties any close...
5 comments:
Thursday, September 04, 2014

Clark's press conference bad news for province's court prospects

›
The tit-for-tat press conferences by Premier Christy Clark and BCTF head Jim Iker did nothing to advance negotiations, and left most people...
3 comments:
Monday, September 01, 2014

Teachers' dispute down to public pressure and first to fold

›
You can tune out all the rhetoric from both sides in the teachers’ dispute at this point.  It has come down to a simple question - who wi...
1 comment:
Thursday, August 21, 2014

RCMP's political response to budget cuts, or give us the money or we shoot the police dog

›
The only real surprise in RCMP budget cuts   in British Columbia was that they didn’t threaten to chop the musical ride.  The provinc...
2 comments:
Monday, August 18, 2014

The weird tale of the deadbeat cop, and the true crime

›
BC's government claws back $17 million in child support payments from mothers and children living in poverty.  Everything about the...
5 comments:
Thursday, August 07, 2014

Newspapers: Sponsored content, advertorials and the shifting balance of power

›
Norm Farrell has a useful post about sponsored content, the new name for advertorials. And The Gazetteer wondered what I thought, as a fo...
8 comments:
Friday, August 01, 2014

Government's $40-a-day payment to parents bad news for teachers' union

›
The government’s promise of $40-a-day payments to parents if schools are closed in September is an astute tactical move. The plan, announ...
3 comments:
Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Honduras, and the U.S. border crisis no one is talking about

›
The Honduran kids are starting to pile up in detention centres along the U.S. border. Since Oct. 1, about 52,000 “unaccompanied minors” hav...
6 comments:
Monday, June 23, 2014

Time for BCTF, government to prepare for fall legislated settlement (and save summer school)

›
I’m sure Vince Ready is busy. But I expect he also decided against getting involved in the teachers’ strike/lockout because there is no rea...
3 comments:
Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Clark's pension costs taxpayers $76k a year, but disability rate increase not 'affordable'

›
Premier Christy Clark scores top marks for hypocrisy in explaining why British Columbians on disability benefits, and their children, shoul...
6 comments:
Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Expect a teachers' strike in September

›
The chances of reaching a new teachers’ contract this month range from slim to none.  There can always be breakthroughs when both parties...
3 comments:
Monday, June 16, 2014

Teachers' June strike a tactical error

›
I don’t understand the teachers’ union decision to strike with two weeks left in the school year. Parents resent school closures at any t...