When it comes to unions, a careless disregard for the facts seems to affect some journalists like a disease.
John Baglow
Owner of firstwrite; public and social policy professional; poet.
Dr. Baglow was born in England longer ago than he would prefer. He received his Ph.D in 1973, and his study of MacDiarmid was published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in 1988. He has had his poetry published in a number of magazines, and two collections, Emergency Measures, by Sono Nis Press in 1976, and Journey Under Glass by Penumbra Press in 2004.
He was a grants officer at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, but left in 1994 when he was elected an Executive Vice-President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, moving on in 2003. He is the owner of a consulting firm, firstwrite, and works in the areas of social and public policy. He lives in Ottawa with his stepson and their wonder dog, Faro.
His current interests are anthropology (he is currently finishing his MA on the formation of Nunavut), cookery, and writing of all kinds, including blogging: the order of preference differs from day to day.
He was a grants officer at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, but left in 1994 when he was elected an Executive Vice-President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, moving on in 2003. He is the owner of a consulting firm, firstwrite, and works in the areas of social and public policy. He lives in Ottawa with his stepson and their wonder dog, Faro.
His current interests are anthropology (he is currently finishing his MA on the formation of Nunavut), cookery, and writing of all kinds, including blogging: the order of preference differs from day to day.
Racism and a Living Cake
A provocative art installation from African-Swedish artist Makode Aj Linde gives the West a taste of its own prejudice.
Mulling Over Mulcair
A counter-narrative to the stories being written by the familiar pundits and naysayers.
Topp-ling the NDP’s Hope for Victory
Capable as he has been in the backroom, Topp would be the Achilles’ heel of the NDP.
Race, Canoes, and Astonishing Ignorance
Margaret Wente’s facile attack on Canadian academics in The Globe misses the point.
The Price of Business as Usual
In Canada’s free-trade agreement with Colombia, business and profit trump human rights.
For the Arab Spring, the Medium is the Message
Marshall McLuhan’s theories of media and consciousness speak to the uprisings in the Middle East.
The Family Mark Twain
Alan Gribben’s new Huckleberry Finn sans n-word is reminiscent of Thomas Bowdler’s more “acceptable” – and much less powerful – edition of The Family Shakespeare.
The Pitfalls of Populism
As France’s recent treatment of Roma demonstrates, whether effective or not, populism is lazy, divisive, and dangerous politics.
In Defence of Libby Davies
The MP’s controversial statements about Israel’s occupation of Palestine were historical truth, and reaction to them has been appalling.
