Jimmy the Turk’s Trivial Pursuits
“Get in here Liebnitz,” came the stern tones of Lydia Kraantz over the ace logician’s intercom. He hurried to the office of his Deputy Chief, who was acting head in the absence of MacBannock on his annual Hebridean haggis tour. “We have…
Joey — The Life and Political Times of Joey Smallwood
On Christmas Eve, 1989, Joey Smallwood turned 89. He has had a long and eventful life and it is no surprise that we now have two full scale biographies of him (Richard Gwyn’s Smallwood: The Unlikely Revolutionary was published in 1968, and…
Games of Intelligence, The Ultra Spy and Churchill’s Secret Agent, Codename ‘Jay Bee’
Nigel West is the pseudonym for Rupert Allason, a conservative MP for the Home Counties who has written a number of popular but controversial histories of Britain’s intelligence and security organizations. He also has written a spy novel.
Canada’s Department of External Affairs, Vol. 1. The Early Years, 1909-1946
There are a couple of departments in the federal public service which symbolize the modern public service. One is the Department of Finance where, between the early 1930s and the end of World War II, individuals such as Clifford Clark, W.A. Mackintosh,…
No Balm in Gilead: A Personal Retrospective of Mandate Days in Palestine
In early 1948, Sylva M. Gelber left the Palestine she had come to as a young woman sixteen years before. Her dream of participating in the building of the Jewish National Home had been shattered by the gunfire and bomb explosions of…
Japan, the Blighted Blossom and The Future Japan
Despite the general current trendiness of things Japanese and the significance for Canada of Japan’s increasing impact on the world, remarkably little has been published here about Japan. As a glance through almost any library shows, most books relating to Japan concern…
Operation MoonDip: A Departmental Joint Venture Extravaganza
The Administrative Deputy Minister recently spoke to a modest Departmental audience on the subject: “A Retrospective of the Corporate Review”. For those of you who were not able to attend this highly informative session, the following is an extract from his impromptu…
Vignettes from a Leaner, Meaner Foreign Service
Has the latest round of budgetary cuts affected the capacity of the Foreign Service to deliver programs overseas and provide foreign policy advice to the government? A recent article in the March edition of Playdiplomat, the magazine of policy advice and nudity…
Reflections on an Ottawa Spring
bout de papier, Vol. 8, No. 3 (1991) — Summer 1991 // Été 1991, p. 39 by Terry Jones “When winter comes can Spring be far behind”.Yes, if you live in Ottawawhere winter lasts November until May.Spring, the stuff of poesie and daydreams,of “blossomed pear tree in the hedge” and thyme,of “chaffinch singing in the […]
The Prisoner
“I am sorry, but we must be sure that there are no mistakes,” said the Deputy Superintendent (DS), sensing my irritation and fatigue. It was dusk, and I had returned, once again, for the Prisoner. I found the DS in his underwear…
