July 28, 2008

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BUSINESS

WHY AIR TRAVEL IS HELL

Last week, US Airways announced it was ripping the entertainment systems out of its planes flying domestic routes. The move would lighten the aircraft by 500 lb. and reduce fuel costs by $10 million a year, and if passengers were dismayed by the loss of another basic airline perk, well, they could always just stare out the window. By JASON KIRBY

THE BACK PAGES

Love at first bite

The genesis of Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling series of teen vampire novels, now metamorphosing into a pop culture phenomenon that approaches—however distantly—J.K. Rowling territory, lies in a dream. A teenage couple are alone in a forest glade, she an average girl, he a creature of unearthly beauty, literally sparkling in the sunlight. By BRIAN BETHUNE

MAIL BAG

SO WE ARE finally doing better than the U.S. in many areas that reflect the quality of our lives (“How Canada stole the American dream,” Society, July 7). Your stories on the differences between us in terms of marriage, health, crimes, sex and travel were all feel-good reads, but are you not setting the bar very low?

INTERVIEW

Q: How are you doing—physically, I mean? A: Well, when I first began, my legs and feet hurt a lot. I was having trouble getting through the day. But now I feel great. I actually feel bad if I’m not walking. We’re covering 40 kilometres a day. I’m getting 4.5 kilometres per hour in the mountains and between 5.5 and six kilometres per hour on the flat land.

NATIONAL

WHY IS CALGARY NERVOUS?

The little meeting room at FirstEnergy Capital Corp. where Brett Wilson sat down with me was a bit of a jumble, but a cheerful jumble. A table along one wall was groaning with bric-a-brac from The Dragons’ Den, a CBC reality show in which budding entrepreneurs ask real-life investors to put their own money into embryonic business projects. By PAUL WELLS

NATIONAL

TAKING THE HANDCUFFS OFF TO KEEP TRACK OF SEX OFFENDERS

Police and government officials are working on a major overhaul of Canada’s sex offender registry after a Maclean’s investigation revealed serious flaws in the four-year-old system. Both the RCMP and the provinces have submitted a long list of recommendations to Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, urging Stephen Harper’s Conservatives to revamp the defective database before more rapists and pedophiles “fall through the cracks.” By MICHAEL FRISCOLANTI

SPORTS

Alexandra Orlando ONE-WOMAN TEAM

Alexandra Orlando has heard all the jokes. The snide remarks about ribbon twirling and dancing her way to a medal. The unsolicited opinions—mostly proffered by people who have never seen a competition in their lives—that rhythmic gymnastics “isn’t a real sport.” By JONATHON GATEHOUSE

SPORTS

PACKING UP FOR BEIJING

He may be the best athlete in the world in his discipline, a study in grace and power at the peak of his career. He is one of Canada’s great hopes for Olympic gold in China, so when he flies off to compete in early August you’d better believe he’ll have kid-glove treatment. By KEN MACQUEEN

NEWSMAKERS

She’s nicknamed the “Hillary Clinton des tropiques” for her influential involvement in the government of her husband, Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, but there’s a more sinister taint to Simone Gbagbo. This week she ignored a summons from a French judge to respond to questions about the 2004 disappearance of a Franco-Canadian journalist.

WORLD

A MENACE ON THE LOOSE IN LONDON

When he was a student at the University of Oxford some 25 years ago, Boris Johnson, the flamboyant, shambling, newly elected mayor of London, belonged to the Bullingdon Club, an exclusive dining society whose members, even today, have a reputation for drinking obscene amounts of alcohol, breaking things, and then handing over large wads of cash to any injured parties to keep them quiet. By MICHAEL PETROU

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