Hesitantly, like the touch of an inexperienced lover, the sibilant snow falls on the bunker-like headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Here, in one of Brussels’ drowsier suburbs, men whose blue-veined hands and liver spots betray their Cold War vintage control the Western edge of the nuclear balance of terror that will determine the outcome of the 20th century.By Peter C. Newman16 min
Richard Zorniak’s intense dark eyes tell the story of his 16-year battle with schizophrenia. It began in Hamilton, half his lifetime ago. “I was writing exams for Grade 10 in November of 1965,” Zorniak says. “I’d also changed foster homes for the third time in six months.By Lesley Krueger15 min
In Palm Springs, Calif., where Jack Singer jets in regularly to a luxury condominium, a local society editor calls him “the original laid-back individual.” In downtown Calgary, where he oversees a $500-million real estate empire from a modest third-storey office above the Outlaw Saloon, Singer carries those California vibrations with him.By Gordon Legge7 min
I couldn’t help noticing that your depiction of Queen Elizabeth on the $1,000 bills on your cover of Feb. 1 looks remarkably like Margaret Atwood. Is this what is meant by Canadian content? — ALLAN DONOVAN, Winnipeg Single-minded sins Sondra Gotlieb errs when she claims Chatelaine dedicates its editorial content to “Perfect Domestic Bliss” (Podium, Feb. 1): she should know better, for she wrote regularly for the magazine in the years 1970 to ’77 and presumably was familiar with the magazine’s content.
For a fleeting moment there seemed to be a vague prospect of progress. Just three months after national harmony appeared possible with the signing of the constitutional accord, Ottawa and the provinces met last week for their first economic summit since 1978.By Ian Anderson6 min
Well-dressed youngsters parade up and down Ankara’s Ataturk Boulevard, pausing to gaze at window displays of fashionable Turkish-produced clothing and accessories, or stopping for a simit (seed) roll or a snack of kebab cut from meat roasting on a giant revolving vertical spit.By Sari Gilbert6 min
Stewardesses wept. Baggage handlers stood benumbed. Passengers en route to the sun of Tenerife found themselves heading home unexpectedly to Manchester. At an 8 a.m. board meeting at London’s Gatwick Airport, Sir Freddie Laker, knight of the cut-rate airways, had conceded defeat.By LENNY GLYNN5 min
In this archipelago of envies called Canada, we share few ecstasies. Since Lester Pearson’s 1957 Nobel Prize for peacemaking at Suez, we’ve found fraternity in circuses: Expo 67, the 1976 Olympics, dirty hockey in Moscow, and— oh, pathos!—two teams of U.S. baseball players “uniting” Canada by playing America’s national game in Montreal.By Keith Spicer4 min
The 1982 World Ski Championships was a tale of two cities, Haus and Schladming, Austria. And for the Canadians who were there it was the best of times and the worst of times. Gerry Sorensen, a Canadian National team member for just two seasons, carried away the women’s downhill gold medal while Steve Podborski and Ken Read, who for nine years have been digging for gold, once again went home with nothing.By Matthew Fisher4 min
Last week, in the Winnipeg Law Courts Building, time wheeled back all the way to 1959 when, in the early hours of June 2, RCAF electrician John Down’s naked body, head in a flower bed, was found sprawled in front of his Parkhill Street home. Not until Jan. 22,1981, were Down’s widow, Katie Harper, 48, and her second and now estranged husband, Sandy Harper, 63, jointly charged with first-degree murder.By LINDA DIEBEL4 min
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