August 16, 2010

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Society

Beyond Blunderdome

A DECADE AGO, Mel Gibson was a chauvinist pig. The type of man who used and abused women, caring little for their thoughts, feelings or affections. Then, he accidently dropped a hair dryer in a bathtub and instead of meeting a shocking end, was magically transformed, imbued, with the power to read the female mind. By Jonathon Gatehouse

Society

Outraged moms, trashy daughters

A FEW WEEKS ago, when she was chatting with her teenage daughter, Olivia, Leanne Foster mentioned the word “feminist.” “She just wrinkled her nose,” Foster recalls. “It was ‘Eww, yuck.’ ” Olivia, an articulate 15-year-old who’s about to enter Grade 10 at a Toronto private girls’ school, thinks feminists are about as relevant to her life as a rotary-dial phone. By ANNE KINGSTON

GETTING HITCHED IN LONDON, ONT.

WILLIAM AND HARRY

In his 1867 book The English Constitution, Walter Bagehot wrote: “A family on the throne is an interesting idea also. It brings down the pride of sovereignty to the level of petty life.” A century later, the world witnessed the perfect illustration of Bagehot’s musing: the divorce of Charles and Diana. By DAFNA IZENBERG

International

WHAT TO DO ABOUT KIM?

IT’S NOT OFTEN that the United States so candidly admits its impotence in the face of aggressive acts by hostile regimes. But there was Robert Gates, the U.S. secretary of defence, discussing options the United States and the rest of the world have to deal with Kim Jong Il’s North Korea, after an international investigation concluded North Korea torpedoed and sunk the Cheonan, a South Korean navy ship, killing 46 sailors on board.

Interview

On her marriage, her talk with Stephen Harper, and her future prospects

Q: About 50 ministers have resigned or been forced to resign since I started to write about Canadian politics in 1957 But seldom have any of those ministers also been expelled from caucus. So, why this firing squad? A: I would like to think I haven’t done anything that would warrant being treated worse than convicted criminals. By PETER C. NEWMAN

Letters

The problem with the “youth pill” (Interview July 26) has less to do with science than it does with economics. How will people be able to save enough money in RRSPs to sustain them for 40 or 50 more years? As the world’s population increases to, say, 15 billion people, what will the impact be on the environment?

National

Cracking eggheads

AN OUTSIDER TO Stephen Harper’s Ottawa might easily be forgiven for assuming that this summer’s uproar over the Prime Minister’s decision to scrap the long-form census was an isolated event. How could a debate, no matter how heated, over the way government gathers statistics signify much beyond the argument’s own peculiar details? By JOHN GEDDES

This week

Newsmakers

France’s stunning first lady should be used to the lure of cameras. And yet, during filming for Woody Allen’s new movie, Midnight in Paris, in which Carla Bruni plays a bit part as a museum curator, the former model and pop songstress couldn’t nail the simplest of scenes.

Society

All dressed up and no place to go

SEBASTIEN TROP KNEW from his second year of medical school that he wanted to be a heart surgeon. A star student, he went through university and medical school on full scholarships, and landed a highly competitive residency spot at McGill University. The one thing he didn’t consider during his 12-hour marathons in the O.R., the 90-hour workweeks, the years of study, was that at the end of it all, he wouldn’t have a job. By DANIELLE BOCHOVE

International

CARBON CAPERS

THERE ARE POWERFUL reasons for the Harper government to wait and see what climate change legislation emerges from Washington before embarking on its own. Moving too boldly to put a price on carbon could disadvantage Canadian industry relative to American competitors, as the Prime Minister has pointed out. By LUIZA CH. SAVAGE

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