Columns
Life is not easy for journalists right now. Distrust in news is on the rise, turning a buck remains a challenge and freedom of the press is under attack all over the world.
Ciao, Chaff gang! Off the top, we are eager to express, exuberantly, just how greatly we appreciate our devoted coterie of Chaff-ers, our creepy collective of Chaff-ies and the cheerful chumps and wild-eyed whackos known only as Chaff-os.
As I approach my 77th birthday next week, among the first of the "Baby Boom" generation, I recently stumbled across a guest column in The Globe and Mail that spoke eloquently for my generation.
The need for oversight, A little class, perhaps?, Share the road
What do we want? Trudeau to go! When do we want it? Now! Those are the sentiments shared in recent polls of Canadians. Late last year, 72 per cent of all respondents to an Ipsos poll said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau...
Bravo, brava and brav-neutral to all of you Chaff-onnoisseurs and devotees of the utterly absurd! Welcome back to The Chaff - your weekly masterclass in unclassy and asinine madness.
Two items recently struck me when I read about them on the internet. In one, Globe and Mail columnist Marcus Gee celebrated the birth of his twin granddaughters, hoping they would grow to enjoy watching the squirrels...
Pay up and close down, The good stuff, Being the change
Preparing a review of the year that was is standard operating procedure for the first issue back here at The Citizen. Not only is it nice to look back, but it's something that can be prepared ahead of time, allowing the hard-working editorial team...
Arrivederci to the year 2023! Last year's year is officially banished to The Chaff's rubbish bin to rot forevermore alongside a mostly unused copy of a language guide entitled Learn to Speak Italian Starting with the Word for Goodbye - a book that...
It was fascinating, just before the holidays, to watch CTV London celebrate the 70th anniversary of what was originally known as CFPL London.
A new year, a new hope, The 2024 ticket, Putting the 'Can' in CanCon
In our 2024 age of sending written messages around the world in the matter of seconds, it is difficult to imagine a time when communication was rather difficult.
In this 21st-century world that we live in, Christmas has become an all-encompassing event that stretches from late September, when the dollar stores begin to display sparkling decorations, through to the Boxing "week" specials that haunt us for...
Many, many years ago, the folks at The Citizen looked inwards at Christmas and we wrote our annual holiday feature stories on ourselves.
Well, hello! Welcome to The Chaff's look back at the year 2023. What a year it was! It began with the month of January, which arrived on the heels of December 2022.
As Christmas approaches, pollsters have been sounding the news that most Canadians are tightening their purse strings this year when it comes to holiday shopping, with 47 per cent saying they don't plan on spending...
Middling moves forward, A cracked veneer, Accessible for all
Huron East Council recently defeated a motion that would consider engaging the services of FlashVote, a survey company that aims to hear from a consistent swath of residents on a number of topics when searching for the opinion of the people.
Hey everyone out there hula hooping and having fun during this festive stretch of good cheer and heaping portions of Yuletide crumbles.
As Christmas approaches, I must say that, as an old man, I'm happy to see only a skiff of snow on the ground. It wasn't this way when we first moved here in the 1970s when we had some of the fiercest winters we ever experienced.
The most wonderful time, The last can of Who-hash, Move over Dungannon!
At home on the Loughlin compound, as we've struggled with the ability to watch television due to spotty internet connectivity (I won't litigate here whether it's due to bandwidth being syphoned
In an unforeseen turn of events, Santa Claus, the perennial symbol of yuletide cheer, has decided to embark on a sabbatical this holiday season, effectively putting the kibosh on Christmas.