BRIAN BRENNAN: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS October, 2014 I must admit I came loaded for bear when I went to interview bestselling American author Leon Uris. Earlier, I had written a negative review of Trinity, his 751-page novel dealing with Northern Ireland’s politics of violence.
The song Amazing Grace was and continues to be a staple of Judy Collins’s concert repertoire. However, when she performed a concert in Calgary, she never got to sing it. Arts columnist Brian Brennan. explains why. An excerpt of Brennan’s Brief Encounters column,
BRIAN BRENNAN: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS October 2014 Before American Idol there was the Kiwanis International Talent Search. The year was 1956, the place was Denver, Colorado. Sixteen-year-old Judy Collins won first prize singing an English folk ballad, Pretty Saro, at a regional talent contest
The Ebola panic overshadows far more deadly diseases, points out International Affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe. In recent weeks Ebola has tweaked our primal fears of the first Horseman of the Apocalypse, Pestilence. Politicians, world health officials and the media are near hysteria.
JONATHAN MANTHORPE October 15, 2014 The email message that arrived in my office in Hong Kong throbbed with the near hysteria of the editor who wrote it. “Jonathan,” it said, “there’s an outbreak of the Black Death in India. Please get there ASAP
No monkeying around: animal’s rights. By Alasdair Cochrane A United States appeals court is currently hearing the case of a chimpanzee named Tommy and is to decide if he has the right to bodily integrity and liberty, just like a person. The case,
October 10, 2014 A lawsuit against Iran by the son of journalist Zahra Kazemi, who died after an alleged beating, rape and torture in an Iranian prison, hit a wall Friday in Canada’s top court. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that
Chuck Berry stopped talking to reporters after they wrote about him being jailed in America during the 1960s for transporting an under-age girl across U.S. state lines for “immoral purposes.” But he made an exception for Arts columnist Brian Brennan. An excerpt
BRIAN BRENNAN: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS October 2014 Chuck Berry was cranky. He hadn’t seen a contract for his scheduled nightclub appearance, and he wasn’t about to step out of the airport limo that had brought him to the club. The club had sold tickets
After more than six decades of hostility – including the devastating 1950-53 civil war – is North Korea now serious about trying to improve relations with South Korea? International Affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe examines the possibilities. An excerpt of his new column, Lightning-strike diplomacy
