In my latest National Post column I ridicule the Ontario government's plan to meddle in the housing market.
"It might be a good idea if the various countries of the world would occasionally swap history books, just to see what other people are doing with the same set of facts." Bill Vaughan, quoted as "Thought du jour" in Social Studies in Globe and Mail June 1, 2009
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." Marcus Aurelius
Yahoo! The Kickstarter campaign has closed and The Environment: A True Story is funded. Thanks to everyone who made it happen. I'll keep people posted as the production process unfolds. And if you meant to contribute but didn't get to it, I'm still happy to accept support by cheque or via PayPal; email me for details. But for now, a great big thank you to all our backers. I literally can't do it without you.
"No one can possibly say where the historian’s work ceases, and the journalist’s begins. The present is continuously in process of becoming the past: the frontier of history ends only with yesterday’s newspaper. A good journalist casts anxious and inquiring glances over his shoulder, and a good historian lifts his eyes from the page to look at the world around him…. Thucydides was writing not merely a history but an anguished record of contemporary events, in which he had acted and suffered…. Walter Raleigh, in his History of the World, was directing a gigantic and angry editorial to the subjects of James I." Paul Johnson The Offshore Islanders
In my latest National Post column I argue, despite generally opposing efforts to remake the world in our image, that in situations as bad as Syria our common humanity obliges us to act.