July 19, 2010

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Business

Conrad Black's final battle

AN ARDENT STUDENT of history, Conrad Black knows about the long view. His own protracted battle with the U.S. government for his freedom and his reputation is turning into the kind of epic saga that could fill one of his loquacious tomes. The former newspaper magnate has drawn comparisons to Napoleon at Elba—in exile, unrepentant, his empire in tatters. By Luiza Ch. Savage

Business

TOO LATE FOR HIM MAYBE, BUT...

A YEAR OR so back, in the lobby of Fox News, I was approached by a gentleman who introduced himself as a member of Conrad Black’s legal team. That doesn’t narrow it down very much. There’ve been so many of them over the years: Canadian, American, young, old, rough and ready, bespoke and urbane, incompetent and... well, marginally less incompetent. By MARK STEYN

Letters

The 1972 picture of little Kim Phuc burning from napalm captured the horrors of Vietnam. Your gruesome cover photograph on June 28 of a poor oil-coated pelican in extremis did the same thing for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It has haunted me all day.

Interview

OVER THE PAST 60 years, the acclaimed Montreal-born actor has appeared in hundreds of films and television shows, won a slew of awards for his stage work, and poked fun at his own iconic portrayal of Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music, which he refers to as S&M. By KATE FILLION

National

IT'S HARPER'S WORLD NOW

THE BUILDUP TO the G20 summit in Toronto promised a clash of titans. In one corner, the Europeans, backed by host Canada, fighting for a pledge to shrink government deficits and debts to meet hard targets. In the other, the United States, along with some key developing countries, battling for continued stimulus spending to shore up the unsteady global economic recovery. By JOHN GEDDES

International

A question of influence

MAYBE CRESCENT CHAU thought the case was a slam dunk. The Montreal newspaperman had sued for defamation two years ago after a rival paper, the Epoch Times, described him in print as an “agent” of the People’s Republic of China. Few libel claims prove worth the time and money they take to get to trial. By CHARLIE GILLIS

This week

Newsmakers

It’s 55 years since the postagestamp principality of Monaco experienced the wedding of a prince. Back then it was the fairy-tale marriage of Hollywood star Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III. Last week 52-year-old Prince Albert II, the only son of the late couple and a former Olympic bobsledder, announced his engagement to Charlene Wittstock, 32, a former competitive swimmer from South Africa.

MACLEAN'S BACK PAGES

A blockbuster with brains

ELLEN PAGE SITS nestled in the middle of a large couch in a Beverly Hills hotel room, her small frame almost lost among the pillows. She looks artfully casual in a blue linen shirt, scarf, jeans and boots. Chestnut curls spill from a brown cotton cloche that masks her high forehead, and makes her face seem even more childlike than usual. By BRIAN D. JOHNSON

Books

WITH GLOWING HEARTS: THE OFFICIAL COMMEMORATIVE BOOK OF THE XXI OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES AND THE X PARALYMPIC WINTER GAMES

All but a handful of staff of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee have scattered, and work is under way to convert VANOC headquarters into its new role as the city’s police station. But organizers couldn’t resist a final encore: a big, fat reminder of the glory that was the Olympic and Paralympic Games. By KEN MACQUEEN

National

Embarking on a great experiment

OFTEN THE TRUE significance of a political document lies not in what it says’ but what it doesn’t say. That it will be vague and platitudinous is a given: it’s the choice of platitudes that’s the key. Consider, then, what the G20 might have said after their weekend meeting, but didn’t. By ANDREW COYNE

July 52010