Conrad Black’s spirits downgraded from ‘happy’ to ‘healthy’ despite attending prison seminars on American politics

A smattering of news on the Conrad Black front this morning. Last evening, Patrick Fitzgerald et al. responded to Andrew Frey’s pleading that the Hollinger four’s conviction be set aside in a 127-page brief. June 5 has been set as the date for oral arguments before the 7th Circuit with a final decision expected in the fall.

Over at the Globe, Patricia Best reports on a conversation with CBC’s Brian Stewart, who, having visited Black in situ, reports that he has lots of newspapers to read, his own radio and, weirdly I thought, attends prison “seminars” on American politics.

Another curious detail was Stewart’s overall take on Black’s demeanour. When confronted by Best regarding his cocktail-circuit assessment of Black being in “good” spirits, he then downgraded Black’s spirits to “healthy.” That, I suspect, can’t be good.

And across the pond, the mayor presumptive of London, former journo Boris Johnson, who once worked for Black as editor of The Spectator and was among the legions that wrote letters of support to Judge Amy, was once the subject of a blunt two-word summary from Lord Black. On breaking his promise to himself that he wouldn’t run for office from his editor’s chair, Black called him, as repeated in this morning’s First Post, a “duplicitous scoundrel.”

Pot. Kettle. Black.

• Lord Black in ‘healthy’ spirits, friends say [Globe and Mail] • Conrad Black shouldn’t win conviction reversal, prosecutors say [Bloomberg]• What they say about Boris Johnson [The First Post] • Why treat the London election as a joke? [Telegraph]