For staying cool during the bubble

Our derided ex-PM, Paul Martin, set a fiscal course that could save Canada from the worst of this meltdown. Read it here. 

"I've never seen such uncertainty"

That's what a newly chastened Stephen Harper said this week, and the man has a point: 2008 could very well be the year that humans gave up all hope of understanding money. Read it here.

"We will be the most boring party"

Bob Rae uttered these words about the Liberals as he stepped down from the leadership race earlier this week. And when the alternative is evocative of Shakespearean tragedy, we can only hope that he is correct. Read it here.

"Sloppy seconds"

Sean Avery and a backwards moral code. Read it here.

"He wanted to make a tourist attraction out of his house"

That's the latest twist in the horrific story of the Austrian man who locked his daughter in a dungeon for 24 years, and it's a new feature of the banality of evil: It wants to sell tickets to its own spectacle. Read it here. 

What's with all the ugly people having sex?

From Tommy and Pam to YouPorn and, now, from “Nailin’ Palin” to Zack and Miri Make a Porno, tracking the democratization of pornography to the mainstream. Read it here.

How about a little loyalty?

In politics, media and beyond, our society's new heroes are complicated people with glimmers of hope- a look at pop culture now. Read it here. 

"In history, we'll all be dead"

Presidential legacies are curious creatures, established only once we have forgotten the presidency in question. Read it here.

"We are a Metis civilization"

Every nation has a stereotype. But why are Canadians inevitably pigeonholed as 'nice' and 'agreeable'? According to John Ralston Saul, it's our aboriginal ancestry shining through. Read it here.

Virtue or Vice

The luxury of Canadian elections is that they don't matter too much. We are embroiled in only one unpopular foreign war, our financial institutions are not yet shattering under the weight of mass greed, our health care system isn't on the brink of collapse, and none of our hockey moms will be given the launch codes for a nuclear armory. But the upcoming election, called for October 14th of this year, has put one of the boldest and most important policy initiatives in global politics on the table: the Liberal Party's "green shift." Read it here.

Can we stop acting so childish?

With teenage celebrities entering rehab and adult celebrities acting like teenagers, the line between adolescence and adulthood has never been more blurred. Read it here.

The whole of Japan is pure invention

Several years ago I invented a country. Shining at the Bottom of the Sea, a literary anthology of about 20 writers whom I also invented, was set on a small island nation in the middle of the North Atlantic called Sanjania. Read it here.

Are things getting a little violent?

Stephen Marche looks at Grand Theft Auto, Cormac McCarthy and this month’s Olympics to understand our collective lust for blood. Read it here. 

Have you been noticing a lot of skulls lately?

Indiana Jones isn't the only one obsessed with skulls these days. A look at this morbid fascination du jour. Read it here. 

Our lack of patriotism is our patriotism

Memo to Don Cherry and Margaret Atwood. Read it here. 

"Are you down with the J?"

What is cool-speak to an alleged young global jihadi intent on impressing his love interest? Judging by the missive Mohammad Momin Khawaja penned for his girl, it's not quoting the Koran. Read it here.

Flight of fancy

Israel has been rather busy over the past 60 years establishing the basics of a nation-state, so it's understandable that the country has taken until May 29 of this year to indulge in one of nation-statehood's finest luxuries: Choosing a national bird. Read it here.

1 2 3 4, art is at your Gap store

A new T-shirt campaign featuring famous artists shows how completely creative types have evolved from craftspeople to CEOs of their own brands. Read it here. 

The sexiest woman (barely) alive

The female ideal pushed by laddie magazines has become as smooth and lifeless as an iPhone. Read it here.

Reading the brain reading

Neuroaesthetics, the latest trend in literary theory, provides a window on the academy's weaknesses. Read it here.

Some straight talk on China: Communist Chic

Communist chic has been with us since 60s radicals romanced Che. Today, murderous symbols of totalitarianism are a global luxury brand. Read it here. 

"Shakespearean"? Nay!

With Eliot Spitzer's sordid fall, the Bard's name has once again been taken in vain. Read it here.

On our greatest treasure

The Leslie Street Spit is a delicate place where urban and wild meet and define us. Read it here.