Editor’s Note: This column first appeared on 16 May 2018 but I suspect the picture of the lilacs in full bloom was from the previous spring. What to do this week There is an old folk saying that one should not plant summer crops until the lilacs and appleRead More
Betting on Vets The Post‘s Nicole Sullivan spotted something I’d completely missed on the local scene, namely, that four of five animal hospitals in the CBRM are now owned by VetStrategy. The Northside Animal Hospital, the Sydney Animal Hospital and the two Animal Medical Centres (AMC)—in Sydney and Reserve Mines—areRead More
“What does she know about boxing?” you are no doubt asking, and the answer, of course, is “nothing,” but I have always been interested in the sport because my father was a big fan (not so much these days, he says there are too many world champions to keep trackRead More
On Monday, we paused to remember the 26 men who died 30 years ago, when the Westray coal mine exploded in Westville, Nova Scotia. Westray is one of the low points in Canada’s history of patronage-driven job creation schemes and the failure of government to regulate corporate profit-seeking. Remembering thoseRead More
When last I spoke to Shauna Walters in these pages, it was November 2020 and she was coming off a successful series of summer concerts, staged in her own backyard. I knew (because we’ve talked about it) that her goal was to one day launch a full-fledged spring festival soRead More
Editor’s Note: This column last appeared on 15 May 2019. What to do this week The unseasonably cold weather lately doesn’t encourage planting, but soon the days will warm enough that gardeners will engage in their annual game of frost roulette. We all want to get a jump onRead More
Lord have Percy I don’t even know where to start with this baffling story. Freshii, the Canadian-based fast-food chain, is experimenting with a “virtual cashier” system called “Percy” that allows it to hire cashiers in Nicaragua and pay them US$3.75/hour instead of minimum wage in Ontario which is $15 (US$11.70)Read More
The arrival of the first cruise ship of the season — the Seven Seas Navigator — in Sydney on Sunday set me to thinking about all things cruise again, so I tried to compose a snapshot of the industry, particularly as it relates to the Port of Sydney, and that’sRead More
My snapshot of the current cruise industry (see part one here) would be sadly wanting if I failed to note that Princess Cruise Lines, fined a record $40 million in 2017 for what the US Department of Justice called “environmental crimes,” has failed to mend its wicked ways. The 2017Read More
In April 1982, when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, I was a young man of 16: old enough to fight, kill, and die for a British government I was too young to vote for. Forty years on, the UK voting age is still too high (18) and the Army recruitmentRead More
