Gentili

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I hate dress shoes. Yes, they’re shiny and they’re stylish and they look great with a suit, but they’re also uncomfortable, confining and they make my feet hurt.

When I mentioned to a few co-workers my idea for this week’s column, I was treated to a couple of raised eyebrows and some polite (and not so polite) scoffing.

Just let go, Bert. The final words of playwright Matt Heiti’s Mucking in the Drift have been rattling around in my head since Friday.

Something city hall reporter Darren MacDonald mentioned to me the other day has stuck with me. For two years, Sudburians have looked on as its municipal council has sniped publicly with itself, the provincial ombudsman and its own auditor general.

Many people believe our next prime minister has already been chosen. Boxer, snowboarder, teacher, father, son of a PM — Justin Trudeau seems a shoo-in today.

I, like many of you, watched with both horror and fascination as the alleged transgressions of Toronto’s Mayor Rob Ford, and possibly more members of his immediate family, played out in the national and international press last week.

Thanks to the Internet, the death of the newspaper has been predicted to be imminent for more than a decade. At Northern Life, we really don't think that's true.