Summer by the Sea
The moon passed behind a cloud as the cry of a sea-bird echoed among the pines. An indistinct form heaved itself from the water and lurched up the
A Funny Thing Happened…
Recently I have been involved in what I am sure is a retiree passage, the attempt to winnow through the paraphernalia that accumulates over a career. This may be more difficult for former Foreign Service Officers because there is often some element…
First Days in the Foreign Service, 1952
Rummaging in old papers can be fun. The other day I came across the following letter dated September 22, 1952 to my parents in Princeton, New Jersey, recounting my first, deeply naive but enthusiastic week, at External Affairs. I and seven others…
Venice & Constantinople
here are few historical analogies to the Anglo-American “special relationship” where a Tee colony eventually overshadows the mother country. Some Greek colonies in Italy,
Witold Maciej Weynerowski
In Witold Weynerowski we have lost a fervent Canadian, an outstanding diplomat, an excellent sportsman, and a fine human being and family man.
Arthur Frederick Broadbridge
It happened in 1973, down along the Zambezi River at Victoria Falls. Zambian soldiers — idly watching tourists on the far shore — suddenly and inexplicably opened fire and killed two Canadian girls. Canada’s High Commissioner to Zambia at the time was…
Dwight Fulford
From the start it was unlikely that Dwight would have a colourless or even conventional life. The environment in which he was born nudged him in other directions. Largely the creation of his paternal grandfather, George Taylor Fulford, the hugely successful manufacturer…
The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006–2008
Books dealing with military strategy or even military tactics are usually the work of retired generals who, in the softly glowing afterlife from the battlefields, update the records and correct historical judgements. These form their own literary genre and library shelves groan…
Missing the Bus: Making the Connection
As student, journalist, Canadian diplomat, and academic sabbaticant, our former colleague and now professor emeritus, Terry Keenleyside, tells us about connections with characters, humour, smells and tastes that compose memorable moments for him and his family as they discovered the world. The…
Lester B. Pearson
In the spring of 1947, the year after Mike Pearson returned from his glorious American summer, he turned 50. There is no suggestion that he suffered a mid-life crisis — if such an
