After American rebels captured Montreal on Nov. 13, 1775 and besieged Quebec City in early December, only Guy Carleton’s heroic defence, complete with theatrical burning of the surrender demand, kept Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold’s forces from bringing all of the future Canada into the American Republic. What if they had succeeded? Click here to read the rest.

It’s nice to have nature you can see and air you can breathe. Even a small park in a busy city nurtures the soul. It’s not so great when you can see the air and breathe nothing. Like on Dec. 4, 1952 when London’s worst-ever “pea soup” fog settled in. Click here to read the rest.

It is a credit to our system that Parliament debated our Iraq mission. Unfortunately they had a partisan squabble over whether Canada is doing too much when we needed a statesmanlike discussion of whether we are doing too little. Click here to read the rest.

Who is the Speaker of the House of Commons anyway? Well duh. It’s Andrew Scheer. But what I mean is, what does the Speaker do? Click here to read the rest.

If you love your freedom, thank a Greek. Specifically Themistocles. Click here to read the rest.

Now that Scots have voted decisively not to leave the UK yet, a bit, British politicians need to discuss something important. If only they knew how. Click here to read the rest.

So we’re off to Iraq, or back to Iraq, after all. My my. Nothing quite like geopolitics to drive home Philip K. Dick’s dictum “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn’t go away.” Click here to read the rest.

Scots, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled, seem too bored to vote with him on Sept 18. Polls suggest their independence referendum will fizzle out amid sour grasping indifference instead of getting the vigorous “No” it deserves. Click here to read the rest.