Dr. Graham Farrell served as Research Chair in Environmental Criminology at Simon Fraser University before moving to the University of Leeds in 2015, where he is Professor of Crime Science. “Environmental criminology” is not a common term. I initially imagined academics studying people like ExxonMobil’s Darren Woods, Chevron’s Mike Wirth, or Saudi Aramco’s Amin Nasser. But SFU offered a different explanation:
Residents of a condominium for people aged 55 and older have been locked out of their homes for more than two and a half years following a fire in February 2024. Disputes and delays involving nine insurance companies have prevented them from returning. Five residents have died while waiting. Meanwhile, the surviving owners continue paying $350 a month in strata fees for homes they cannot occupy.
…the largest intellectual property theft in American history. AI companies are training their models on stolen material, period. And we’re not talking about these companies simply scouring the internet for what’s publicly available. We’re talking about piracy…
In late May, BC Supreme Court Justice Sharon Matthews ruled in favour of 880 migrant workers recruited for jobs at Mac’s Convenience Stores through immigration consultants. The workers had been induced to pay thousands of dollars in illegal recruitment fees after being promised jobs that often did not exist or did not match what had been promised.
The 19th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI) ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness. It covers 99.7 per cent of the world’s population. Produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), the GPI is the world’s leading measure of global peacefulness…
Writing for The Atlantic magazine, journalist David Brooks comments: There’s a question that’s been bugging me for nearly a decade. How is it that half of America looks at Donald Trump and […]
Conservative J. Michael Luttig, a former U.S. Appeals Court Judge appointed by Republican George H.W. Bush Luttig, wrote in the NY Times about Trump’s “stunning frontal assault” on the rule of law. Luttig says the casualty “could well be the constitutional democracy Americans established 250 years ago.
I have never liked the left-right, straight line concept of a political spectrum. I prefer to think of a u-shaped curve that moves from progressive to reactionary, with extremes of both sides sharing similar ideas. Canadian political parties are largely positioned on the same side of the horseshoe.
Ms. Comfort Sakoma-Fadugba is no longer a member of the Vancouver Police Board. Her departure resulted from public statements that did not align with the Board’s values. Sakoma’s words may not have been the only issue. She had charged taxpayers $11,300 for a trip to Halifax. (Return air tickets are available for less than $500 and we have more spendthrift functionaries than we need.) Ms. Sakoma’s rambling statements on social media are now deleted. They included:
Day of Remembrance of the Slave Trade. This International Day is intended to inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples.
Rutger University professor Wenwen Zhang, wrote a 2018 dissertation that said conceptions of amorality in business literature are diverse and ambiguous. Belief that morality is irrelevant and inapplicable in business results in unethical behaviors, done for the benefit of individuals, organizations and nations. Discarding or downplaying morality is a shortcoming of business education….
Conventional wisdom says that economic disparities lead to political violence, or mildly violent collective actions. Yet few politicians anywhere are willing to address root causes of social difficulties. It is so much easier to accuse disaffected people of being indolent, abusive, drug-ridden lawbreakers. Those positions gain political success in many places. The Australian Institute of International Affairs noted confusion about the level of American support for Trump and the political party he captured and dominates:
Pierre Poilievre and other conservatives promise to be tough on crime. “Jail, not bail,” says the man who aspires to be Canada’s next Prime Minister. The John Howard Society is a non-profit that offers a more balanced and less political view of crime than Poilievre. In 2023, the agency wrote about major media claims that violent crimes had increased to a level not seen since the days Stephen Harper’s Conservatives held power.
Large enterprises often fail to respond effectively when facing challenges. Professional people find it difficult to say that they may have been wrong. Passing the buck is a primary defence for responsible persons. Protecting the enterprise and its managers is more important than dealing fairly and truthfully with the public. Any innocent party damaged by wrongful acts is acceptable collateral damage.
It took a very long time and extraordinary public outrage before the UK government decided to allow a competent examination of the post office scandal. If transparency were an absolute principle, fewer scandals would arise.
The law is equal before all of us; but we are not all equal before the law. Virtually there is one law for the rich and another for the poor, one law for the cunning and another for the simple, one law for the forceful and another for the feeble, one law for the ignorant and another for the learned…
An IN-SIGHTS reader asks, “Who gains from chaos on American university campuses?” He suggests the theme of the 1997 movie ‘Wag the Dog’ motivates Netanyahu. Dark forces believe the conflict in Gaza also serves Trump.
In the House of Commons, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre told Canadians: “Everything is broken.” Canada is imperfect, but it is far from broken.
Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice for 23 years from 1916. He was nominated by Woodrow Wilson but the President’s choice was hotly contested. Writing for the New York Times in 1964, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas explained the opposition was because the nominee frightened the Establishment…
A child of an American Jewish and Catholic German couple, Maximilian Hess has had his life shaped by antisemitism. Hess says today’s world seems turned upside down. Comments that are undeniably antisemitic are ignored while legitimate criticisms of Israeli actions in Gaza are labeled as hostility toward all Jews.
I understand people who believe that Israel should defend its lands against armed attacks and fervently assert the country has a right to a peaceful existence. But I sympathize with innocent Palestinians whom Israel has displaced, starved, and massacred. I reject the notion that Israel can be excused when the country destroys hospitals, schools, mosques, food and water supplies, and kills or injures more than 100,000 people not responsible for attacks on Israel…
Let's ask an expert.. Consider The House of EL’s analysis of “thought” as it functions among the AI and business…
If anything could keep sleep-deprived President Trump busy threatening new tariffs it is likely to be Europe’s decision to remove…
Hi Norm, I think you might find this book review, from the New York Review of Books, interesting. I think…
What’s so hilarious about twenty-first century geopolitics? The irrepressible analytical wit of Sarah Paine! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwDGrLRJhQI
Thanks for this article Norm. The BC Greens are breaking new ground this election by promising to introduce a wealth…