Entries

Politics Has Lost Its Charm

The first political campaign on which I ever worked was a provincial election in the west end of Toronto, more than three decades ago. We won, little thanks to me. (And since the candidate was a New Democrat, no thanks are due.) It was a small operation: a half dozen volunteers, some pamphlet …

Written by David Frum on Saturday October 27, 2007

Make Speech Free, And All Else Follows

Fix one thing about Canada? Where to start? Maybe we can start by noting all the things that have improved already. Government's share of the national income is declining. Public debt levels have been reduced. Taxes have begun to lighten. Canada is playing a more positive role in the world. Canada …

Written by David Frum on Saturday October 20, 2007

What Happens To Ayaan Matters To Us All

Last week, the Dutch government announced it would remove the security protection it has provided to Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The Somali-born Ayaan is perhaps the world's best-known living critic of the maltreatment of women in Islamic culture. First as a parliamentarian, then as a writer and filmmaker…

Written by David Frum on Saturday October 6, 2007

Dogma Isn't History

The Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) has been bombarding journalists and local politicians with press releases urging that October be proclaimed "Islamic History Month." The cities of Victoria and Kingston have duly complied, in the same crowd-pleasing spirit that has inspired the U.S. Congress to …

Written by David Frum on Saturday September 29, 2007

Fear Fills The Air In Poland

It's been almost two decades since I last visited Poland. In 1990, communist rule had only just barely ended. The police still wore their former uniforms--and still treated citizens and travelers with the former arrogance. As my wife and I flew out of Poland to East Berlin, a border official …

Written by David Frum on Saturday August 25, 2007

Dear President Harper

"I would immediately call the president of Mexico, the president of Canada, to try to amend NAFTA, because I think that we can get labour agreements in that agreement right now." --Barack Obama, speaking at the AFL-CIO presidential candidates debate, Aug. 7. Senator Obama's little slip of …

Written by David Frum on Saturday August 11, 2007

The Hypocrisy Of Celebrity Environmentalists

Readers of Hollywood news already know that Laurie David has filed for divorce from her husband, Larry David, the creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm and co-creator of Seinfeld. Mrs. David's papers cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for the split. This past Sunday, the New York Post cast …

Written by David Frum on Saturday August 4, 2007

Burying Our Heads In Radioactive Sand

Truly, human beings can get used to anything. Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who became a naturalized British citizen, contracts a horrible lingering illness after taking tea in a London hotel with three former KGB agents. Just before Litvinenko's death on Nov. 23, 2006, doctors …

Written by David Frum on Saturday July 21, 2007

Paying For French "Efficiency"

It's 2:15 on a French afternoon, and I am as usual at this time of day sitting in a cafe waiting to pay the bill for lunch. And waiting. And waiting. When you hear talk of the slowness of French meals, you may imagine haughty waiters languidly presenting an elegant meal. I am sure that happens too. …

Written by David Frum on Saturday July 14, 2007

A Tour Of France's Historic Gas Stations

My Favourite Tourist Sights Are Those Where You Can See The Present Layered Upon The Past PARIS -Every parent knows the joke about the two categories of travel: first class and with children. This summer, my wife and I are testing the limits of that second category by travelling to France with, …

Written by David Frum on Saturday July 7, 2007

"Realism" Is Ugly In North Korea

The BBC interviewer was solicitous. "Mr. Froom," he began. (British interviewers almost always pronounce my name with a long vowel, just as they invariably pronounce Paul Wolfowitz's name, "Vulfovitz." I suppose they must be trying to encourage us to take more pride in our Eastern European roots. …

Written by David Frum on Saturday June 30, 2007

It's Still About Bill

Imagine you are running Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. You start with some great advantages: a smart and knowledgeable candidate, twice elected by the voters of the nation's third-biggest state. She wears one of the most famous names in American politics: the most popular name among …

Written by David Frum on Saturday June 23, 2007

Even This Won't Change Fatah

Despite Humbling Defeat, Abbas Still Runs Criminal Gang Scenes from a civil war, courtesy of Human Rights Watch and the British journalist Melanie Phillips: "At least 15 Palestinians, including a United Nations relief worker, were killed today as Hamas looked set to complete its conquest of …

Written by David Frum on Friday June 15, 2007

Enjoy The Commodities Boom. But Beware The Bust

Canadians think of themselves as good global citizens. But it's uncomfortably true that in the realm of economics, what is good for Canada is bad for the rest of the world--and vice verse. Oil prices: up. Natural gas prices: up. Metal prices: up. Feed grain prices: up. All this represents bad …

Written by David Frum on Saturday June 9, 2007

How I Rethought Immigration

One Man's Confessions The last time America debated amnesty for illegal aliens, I was on the other side. The year was 1986. I was a student at law school and an occasional contributor to this magazine. I believed then that immigration was a great thing, the more the better. I believed that illegal …

Written by David Frum on Friday June 8, 2007

The Last Nail In The Gop's Coffin

The Republican party is hurtling toward disaster in 2008. The latest polls report that 61 percent of Americans think that the Iraq war was a mistake. More than 70 percent of Americans think the country is on the "wrong track"--an astonishingly bad number for a non-recession year. Historically…

Written by David Frum on Saturday May 26, 2007

Hamas Wants War

Will Israel be provoked into another war this summer? Hamas in Gaza is desperately trying to start a fight. In mid-April, Hamas ended a six-month pause and resumed firing rockets into southern Israel. Three thousand rockets have landed in the past month; 80 in just the past three days. (Video of …

Written by David Frum on Saturday May 19, 2007

Some Advice For Three Leading Republicans

Walking on a beach shortly after leaving the White House, former Bush aide Karen Hughes looked up and spotted a little plane towing an advertising banner. The banner said, approximately: "Jill, please come back. I am nothing without you. Jack." She thought: "Wrong message. It's too much about you, …

Written by David Frum on Saturday May 12, 2007

The Bully Across The Taiwan Strait

Just a few hundred feet up the slope from a complex of new luxury apartment buildings, a battery of Patriot-2 missiles stands ready on five minutes notice to intercept their share of the nearly 1,000 Chinese missiles aimed at this island. In the officers' mess of one of Taiwan's efficient …

Written by David Frum on Saturday April 28, 2007

The Democrats' Cynical Timing

"This war is lost." No, that was not said by some angry protester, not by some gloating terrorist, but by the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, Harry Reid, in remarks to journalists Thursday. That's the same Harry Reid who voted only three months ago to confirm General David Petraeus as …

Written by David Frum on Saturday April 21, 2007