Editorial

Last week turned out to be terrible for “troubled actress” Lindsay Lohan and “foundering pop star” Britney Spears. Lohan got herself arrested (again) on suspicion of drunk driving and cocaine possession while Spears supposedly sat back and watched as her doggie pooped on a $6,700 gown at a publicity photo shoot that was supposed to […]

Wasn’t it Marshall McLuhan who called commercials the best thing on TV? Obviously, he never saw that hideous chocolate cake ad showing Marie Antoinette being carted to the guillotine. She thrusts out a gloved hand and snatches a slice from among the throng of jeering peasants lining her route. As she climbs the gory steps […]

My hero, the American English prof William Lutz, wrote “Mao Tse-tung was wrong; power doesn’t come from the barrel of a gun. Power in modern society resides in language.” That statement is from Lutz’s book, The New Doublespeak. In it, he explains that doublespeak is language that is carefully constructed to disguise its real meaning. […]

In response to a timeline being circulated by Events Halifax, Peter Kelly is releasing excerpts from his 2007 personal diary. January 19I’m busy performing a Stationery Supply Inventory when Fred MacGillivray bursts into my office. He says Events Halifax has a chance to book Soul 2 Soul for a September 1 concert on the Common. […]

I was tempted to pour myself a stiff drink when I heard that the provincial government is allowing 51 liquor stores (27 in Metro) to open seven days a week, starting this Sunday. Dozens of rural convenience stores will also be permitted to sell booze from noon to 5pm on Sundays. The Nova Scotia Liquor […]

It’s hard to say enough good things about the farmers’ market expansion. Even premier Rodney MacDonald isn’t up to the task and he’s a professional hot-air blower who got to announce provincial cash in support of the project. “I am proud to commit $2.25 million for a state-of-the-art facility,” RodMac said last Thursday, the summer […]

If you want to understand the brouhaha over equalization and the Atlantic Accord, just visit a local supermarket. There you’ll find shelves stacked with brightly coloured boxes, bottles and cans trucked all the way from Toronto. Crackers and cheese from Don Mills, pickles and jams from Markham and baby food from North York. Upper Canada, […]

The fast ferry plan to whisk commuters between Halifax and Bedford by boat survived its appearance before city council this week. Although details of the proposal are sketchy, council gave unanimous approval1 “in principle” so the idea can still float toward becoming a reality. While this may be a step in the right direction towards […]

“We have nothing against the Canadian people,” Euvonie Georges-Auguste, a Haitian women’s rights leader, told an audience of about 35 at the One World Cafe on Agricola Street last week. But the 51-year-old activist made it clear that desperately poor people in Haiti are very angry at Canada’s politicians. It’s widely known in Haiti that […]

The Critical Mass bike ride wound its way through downtown last Friday night, before heading down Chebucto Road to end at the Mumford corner. There, in the parking lot of Saint Agnes church, the 60-or-so riders crowded around the church steps to listen to a short speech from Kevin Moynihan, one of the locals determined […]

Rick Emberley was in full rhetorical flight last Thursday when he proclaimed that “the science attached to branding has migrated into destinations.” The Halifax pollster was addressing marketing types, business execs and government officials lunching in a windowless auditorium at the World Trade and Convention Centre. The well-dressed crowd had gathered to celebrate the new […]

Congratulations to Stephen Kimber, Lezlie Lowe and Robert Plowman, the members of Team Coast honoured at Saturday’s Atlantic Journalism Awards. Kimber took home a silver award for Enterprise Reporting. Lowe and Plowman were both nominated in the Feature Writing category; Plowman was awarded silver, Lowe the gold for her profiles of Haligonians with HIV. Three […]