The Luddites are helpful to me here today by way of explanation.

The Luddites were odd bands of English textile workers in the early 19th century. They thought it was a clever idea to destroy their own machinery in the wool and cotton mills of England.

It is the most unlikely of  places to awaken an emotion, in particular sadness. 

I was flipping through The Telegram the other evening, but it might as well have been any evening paper in North America. 

What caught my attention wasn’t the wars and conflicts 

I don’t know if you paid much attention to the public reaction recently after a couple of NHL players snubbed a pre-game skate because their team mates were wearing “pride jerseys” in support of the gay community. 

The players were Eric and Marc Staal of the Florida

It is the classic line of protest and here in Newfoundland and Labrador it rings loudly and often. 

What do we want? When do we want it? NOW. 

Perhaps it is our deprived past ringing through and impacting on us today. It has been tough here, out in the Atlantic, and we often seem

I broke my snow blower last week. There is a rope caught up and tangled in it and, well, it stretched a belt. Here it is approaching the end of March and I’m dealing with that.

You do not have to be told that the weather

I stopped into The House of God last week. That is what, in my more whimsical moments, I call the Basilica of St. John the Baptist. It is my parish now with the doors of St. Patrick’s up in the west end closed forever, at least as a Catholic Church. It may reappear someday as a supermarket like Memorial Stadium

I wasn’t a friend of Gordon Pinsent but I knew him. I had followed his career and, through the course of my life, had met him a few times. Our paths crossed. On one memorable occasion, we were at dinner together. We broke bread, as the expression goes. He was a wonderful, endearing dinner-mate who gave much to our table. The occasion was an

I watched with interest and concern the trial of a female St. John’s high school teacher charged with sexually exploiting a 16-year-old student.

The teacher was found not guilty by Mr. Justice Vikas Khaladar in the Newfoundland Supreme Court. That was the verdict. I don’t

He was larger than life. That is a good expression for Don Jamieson. His presence filled up a room. There are people like that. His was the classic story of local boy makes  good. From being a bell hop at the old Newfoundland Hotel, he went on to

There is a haunting issue hanging over our civilization. We have talked about it several times over the years. I first saw the problem expressed by a Chinese businessman and it was about how things were changing in China, how a new economic reality was emerging. I was aware of the issue. I watched it