“It may be a strange sight to see the blind leading the blind; but England provides a stranger. England shows us the blind leading the people who can see. And this again is an under-statement of the case.”
G.K. Chesterton in “A Glimpse of my Country” in Tremendous Trifles, quoted in “The Golden Key Chain GKC on Scripture Conducted by Peter Floriani” in Gilbert: the Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 28 #4 (March/April 2025)
In my latest National Post column I say the Canadian state has become so profoundly incapable that when politicians and bureaucrats don’t do something they claimed they were going to, it’s nearly impossible to tell whether they didn’t want to, couldn’t, or both.
“Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.”
“Doug Larson (English middle-distance runner who won gold medals at the 1924 Olympic Games)”, emailed without further attribution by a friend
“The system is broken, and once these judges get into their position, they have this sense of entitlement.... Last time I checked, there hasn’t been any judges elected. Maybe that’s the problem. We should do what the U.S. does. Let’s start electing our judges, holding them accountable.”
Doug Ford in a rare moment of lucidity, quoted in National Post April 30, 2025
“Sing while you fight”
Me on the desirability of being a happy warrior in public policy, both for tactical reasons and because life is both too short and too marvelous an adventure to go around being sour about its difficulties, June 25, 2025
“The Ontario government’s finances are a paradox. The PC government regularly boasts about ‘historic’ levels of spending, but faces constant complaints about underfunding, especially from the health-care, education and post-secondary sectors. What’s the real picture? In fact, budget figures show that revenue and spending have increased dramatically since Premier Doug Ford was first elected.”
Randall Denley in National Post June 20, 2025
“Life’s short. Make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers about politics.”
An image emailed by a friend without attribution June 9, 2025
“We have seen the end of the age of Reason; and that we live in the age of Suggestion. Perhaps for the first time, the degradation of Man has been openly declared; in a theory that he can be persuaded without being convinced.”
G.K. Chesterton in G.K.’s Weekly Nov. 1, 1934, quoted in “Chesterton for Today” in Gilbert: the Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 28 #2 (Nov./Dec. 2024)