Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Named for the bravest and most gallant knight in King Arthur’s court, security guard Lancelot Bloomfield testified yesterday that he refused on principle to deliver boxes of documents from 10 Toronto Street into the hands of Conrad Black. Having packed them into Black’s secretary’s Honda, “I got a hold of myself and said, ‘This ain’t right.’ I just brought them back in.” After the continuing parade of reptiles equivocating their tortuous way around the truth, “this ain’t right” sounds like the Gettysburg Address. And while I’m sure that on cross-examination the Eddies will put paid to my narcotic idealizing, wouldn’t it be nice if just once during this trial someone could come off the stand with their dignity intact?

The jury having a laugh at Conrad furnishing his New York apartment with towel warmers is telling. For working-class Chicagoans, just the idea of heated towel racks strikes them funny—like Richie Rich riding around on a gold-plated tricycle. What must they have made of Bora-Bora and the Seattle Ring Cycle?

Witness describes removal of boxes [Chicago Tribune]Black’s heated towel racks give jury a laugh [Chicago Sun-Times]Guard describes how 13 boxes were moved [Toronto Star]Black invoices may be off-limits to jury [National Post]Assistant could be defence’s first witness [Globe and Mail]”