Tuesday 20 September 2011

Thoughts from the road

Just a couple of random things from Toronto....

* The Basildon travellers' temporary "stay of execution" is a big story in the Toronto Globe and Mail this morning. (Incidentally the print edition of the Globe, which I haven't seen in a few years, appears to be the first paper in the world composited entirely on Powerpoint). I've written about the travellers here before, and a couple of things still puzzle me. First, how did a piece of land, formerly a scrap metal yard and adjacent to an existing, legal travellers' homesite, ever get to be classified as "green belt"? Just asking. And second, if these folk are "travellers", how come they're so adamant about staying put?

* A large ad in the paper here today with the City of Barrie offering a "prestigious" piece of land for development. The city's slogan appears to be "Barrie: Ontario's top investment ready city". Barrie has grown astonishingly fast in the last twenty years or so, but somehow I don't think the slogan had much to do with that.

* Toronto mayor and Jabba the Hut lookalike (only less comely), Rob Ford, is backing away from some of his planned spending cuts in response to mounting public anger, fronted by celebs such as Margaret Atwood. (Well, she's famous here, at any rate). Ford was on TV last night announcing some changes of heart, including one especially close to Ms Atwood's heart. Said Hizzoner: "We won't be closing any lie-berries". Just as well, by the sounds of it.

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