Talk of Canada and the United Kingdom sharing embassies presumably for reasons of the Commonwealth ties reminds me of Eastern Approaches' coverage (Edward Lucas writing) of a speech given by Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski to a British audience. In it, Sikorski argues that if the United Kingdom doesn't want to commit itself to a European ( Read more... )

I've a post up at Demography Matters that takes a look at the contradictions of Britons who strongly favour restrictions on migration from the European Union but do want to try to make the Commonwealth into a British-influenced bloc (again). Do they really think that mature countries whose citizens are going to be kept from even entering British ( Read more... )

I made a brief post in 2008 referring to the phenomenon of modern immigration by Canadian Francophones to Florida, a migration driven not by economic incentives but rather by the attractiveness of Florida's tropical climate. (The similar contemporary migration to Maine, also driven by tourism, is less noteworthy inasmuch as Maine has been a ( Read more... )

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/daily-mix/how-charter-cities-could-lift-the-global-economy/article2414535/
Marginal Revolution's Alex ( Read more... )

Juliane von Mittelstaedt's article in the English-language edition of Der Spiegel, describing how after three generations Jews--Israelis, here--are becoming somewhat Germanophile, at least in the cultural sense. Is this a belated recovery of the once-close relationship German-Jewish relationship?

On his first night in Germany, Tomer Heymann, an ( Read more... )

In celebrating the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Andrew Barton noted new releases from British archives which show that, even as the Charter was being debated in Canada Margaret Thatcher and the British cabinet considered intervening to prevent Canada from becoming fully independent of the United Kingdom.

( Read more... )

• Anders Sandberg at Andart approves of entrepreneur Elon Musk's desire to use space travel to create offworld backups for our biosphere.
  
• Burgh Diaspora's Jim Russell believes that the close links between Brazil and Boston--driven by migration, at first strictly economic but then driven by interest in Massachusetts' education institutes--could serve ( Read more... )

David P. Ball's Vancouver Observer article makes the claim that the Conservative Party made use, illegally, of the services of an American political strategy company (and its workers) with close ties to the Republican Party in multiple ridings where there are allegations of electoral fraud ( Read more... )

Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating the 60th anniversary of her ascension to the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Since Canada is a Commonwealth realm, this marks the 60th anniversary of her ascension to the Canadian throne, too, such as it is ( Read more... )

A recent Canadian press article brought out the continued relevance of the Franco-American diaspora a century ago in the modern-day relationship between Canadian Québec and American Vermont.

Vermont, long known for its small-town charm and friendly people, is sending a message to its neighbours to the north: Canadians are bienvenue ( Read more... )