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Double Standards

Perhaps it’s the first sign of trial-induced dementia, but lately I’ve been struck by certain paradoxical parallels between...

The Best Defence

Last week, I argued that shareholders are deluded if they think that boards, company auditors, company lawyers and regulators can...

Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

While I’m sure the disinclined will suggest I’m fomenting a tempest in a teapot, this morning’s offerings deliver a plethora...

Speeding through the Green Lane

Speeding through the Green Lane

An excellent story in this morning’s Globe and Mail warns that Toronto’s purchase of the Green Lane landfill near...

Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

What’s past is prologue, and with the arrival of Richard Burt, Shakespeare’s bromide will inform the approach of both sides to...

Inside the Latest Issue

The July issue of Toronto Life features the monster cottages of Muskoka versus the resistance. Plus, our obsessive coverage of everything that matters now in the city.

Airport cabbies redux

To update you on yesterday afternoon's post , council passedHoward Moscoe's Tit-for-Tat taxi bylaw forbidding Mississauga taxis...

What are the Odds?

Some time after nine o’clock yesterday morning, I spied Albert Schultz, who played Conrad Black in the great man’s...

Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

If you’re one of those people who finds themselves sniggering uncontrollably at the following joke: What do you call 10,000...

Cabbies, cops converge in council chamber

Just a quick tip for regular readers: watch the local six o’clock news tonight, because what happened today at city...

Money out the Window

In a sense, it’s not just Conrad Black who’s on trial but many in a generation of what Peter Newman, in his 1981 second volume...

Commuters inconvenienced by grisly, tragic death

Does my headline seem callous to you? I'm only mirroring the sensitivities of the Star in its front page headline . The inside...

Rob Ford’s campaign of parsimony goes for naught

This just in: City council approved its $7.8 billion budget intact at noon Monday. In so doing, they have pretty much drained the...

Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

The Globe and Mail scores two knock-downs over its prime competitor in the Black trial derby—the National Post . One appeared on...

Gag me with the Globe

Gag me with the Globe

This morning, like most Globe and Mail subscribers, I woke up in a parallel universe. The proof was at my doorstep: my morning...

Honourable Discharge

Realizing as I do that the very mention of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada fairly shouts at even the most curious reader...

Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Not since Monty Python blessed us with the Gumby sketch, in which the main character announced over and over again “my brain...

Let’s all hate Christopher Hume

Let’s all hate Christopher Hume

I had the privilege of seeing Albert Nerenberg’s Let’s All Hate Toronto in advance of its premiere screening tonight at Hot...

Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

This morning’s barrage left me pondering two separate, though not entirely unrelated, notions. First, Godwin’s Law (also known...

Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

For the moment, Conrad Black’s defence rests on confusion sown by conflicting advice from two law firms. Is it just me, or does...

The city must get its own clichés in order

“The city must get its own house in order.” This is the phrase that gets bandied about every year at budget time, and it makes...

Mayor for all New Democrats

It’s front page news in today’s Star that Mayor David Miller is no longer a member of the New Democratic Party. He says...

Business Brief: Survival of the Fattest

It wasn’t a great week for Darren Sukonick, the Toronto securities lawyer whose taped deposition has lately been the main event...

Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Yesterday’s rumpus in Room 1241 turned on a discrepancy between two lawyers and two law firms: Darren Sukonick of Torys (a big...

Spin Report: Message control

While the Black trial has (perhaps mercifully) fallen into the inside-pages ghetto, Barbara Amiel Black still occupies prime media...

Cost of Living

These North York points enthusiasts earn $370,000 a year. How do they spend it?

These North York points enthusiasts earn $370,000 a year. How do they spend it?

“We try to maximize our rewards by using various credit cards plus PC Optimum”

This 22-year-old venture capitalist is on track to make $180,000 this year. How does he spend it?

This 22-year-old venture capitalist is on track to make $180,000 this year. How does he spend it?

“I love a good bargain, so I shop at No Frills”

This globetrotting couple earns a combined $287,000 a year. How do they spend it?

This globetrotting couple earns a combined $287,000 a year. How do they spend it?

“Groceries are our biggest monthly expense after rent”

This Doctors Without Borders marketer earns $100,000 a year. How does she spend it?

This Doctors Without Borders marketer earns $100,000 a year. How does she spend it?

Manpreet Badyal moved from Delhi to Vancouver to Toronto in search of success

How a Gen Z finance enthusiast in Forest Hill spends her money

How a Gen Z finance enthusiast in Forest Hill spends her money

Business analyst and budding TikTok investment guru Chaeeun Lee hopes to visit 50 countries before she turns 30

This policy analyst and stand-up comedian makes $83,000 a year. How does she spend it?

This policy analyst and stand-up comedian makes $83,000 a year. How does she spend it?

“Investing in mental health is important. I have an unlimited membership at Othership in Yorkville”

This entrepreneur is on track to make $23,000 this year. How does she spend it?

This entrepreneur is on track to make $23,000 this year. How does she spend it?

“It was hard to accept financial aid from my parents, but it actually brought us closer together”

Urban Diplomat

Dear Urban Diplomat: My family takes Mother’s Day more seriously than Father’s Day

Dear Urban Diplomat: My family takes Mother’s Day more seriously than Father’s Day

She gets flowers, gifts and breakfast in bed; I get a lousy grill brush. Am I wrong to feel slighted?

Dear Urban Diplomat: What’s the etiquette for EV charging?

Dear Urban Diplomat: What’s the etiquette for EV charging?

Dear Urban Diplomat , What’s the etiquette for EV charging? A few weeks ago, I finally found a spot in my neighbourhood to juice...

Dear Urban Diplomat: My husband thinks I'm a hoarder, but I'm a collector

Dear Urban Diplomat: My husband thinks I’m a hoarder, but I’m a collector

He’s started quoting Marie Kondo and insisting that I get rid of my “emotional support tchotchkes.” How can I get him to back off?

Dear Urban Diplomat: My condo building has zero tolerance for the slightest noise

Dear Urban Diplomat: My condo building has zero tolerance for the slightest noise

They’ve asked us not to shower after 11 p.m. because of “pipe whistling.” Is this normal?

Dear Urban Diplomat: My husband bought us a pass to skip the line at the ski hill. Why do I feel guilty for using it?

Dear Urban Diplomat: My husband bought us a pass to skip the line at the ski hill. Why do I feel guilty for using it?

I can’t help being embarrassed every time I sheepishly walk past the eye rollers in the regular queue

Dear Urban Diplomat: My brother is lying online about Dry January

Dear Urban Diplomat: My brother is lying online about Dry January

He’s preaching the virtues of sobriety on TikTok but still crushing six-packs every weekend, and the hypocrisy is getting on my nerves. Should I call him out?

Dear Urban Diplomat: My co-workers have forgotten how to behave in an office

Dear Urban Diplomat: My co-workers have forgotten how to behave in an office

I actually don’t mind the return-to-office mandate, but it seems like so much working from home has caused my fellow employees’ self-awareness to atrophy