In the middle of a housing crisis, mansions in central London are sitting empty for years, "not functioning as homes but as assets, part of a portfolio to be traded, or as a temporary residence for a small number of weeks a year”. A fascinating read... www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

"The UN said last month that more than 1,000 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the war began, at least 240 of them children, and 49 people have been killed this year." www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

“Mayor Martinez Ferrada hasn’t yet advocated for rent control on commercial properties — something that would benefit small businesses city-wide. “One wonders why not. It’s the hard work of small-business owners that needs to be protected from landlord greed. And it’s long overdue.” #polmtl

Canadian buses would like to politely apologize 🍁

"Plants called metallophytes have adapted to live in soils deeply contaminated by heavy metals, the legacy of more than 1,000 years of lead mining" www.theguardian.com/environment/...

It is the goal. It's easiest to loot the country and rule the ruins if the economy, the institutions, and the citizenry are as enfeebled as possible.

🌱 I went to a fantastic community gardening event today in my neighbourhood in Montreal, where the borough was giving away plants, soil, and woodchips next to a school on a street that is permanently closed off to traffic for the safety of the kids and to provide more play space @lepmr.bsky.social

🏒🏒🏒🔥🔥🔥👏👏👏🎉

"...the Sussexes were able to fly under the radar for a few weeks once they left the U.K. Their getaway of choice? Vancouver Island, which is a small island off the western coast of Canada." Um... small island?? Vancouver Island is 456 km... Ireland is 486 km long www.instyle.com/prince-harry...

Fascinating story of a heroic Canadian 🙌 🇨🇦

*Graphic novel of the week! I read this one in French and I just got a 'final warning' overdue notice from the library... 'Lettre a la Mere' (Letter to the Mother) by Mazen Kerbaj is a series of stories that form a tribute to Beirut, her hometown. (published by l'Apocalypse)

Angine de Poitrine and the role that supportive parents play in creating art.... 💓 “I ended up at Klek’s mother’s place making music in the basement, and we started doing that for … for ever.” www.theguardian.com/music/2026/m...

*Graphic novel of the week! 'Opioids & Organs' by Arizona O'Neill is a whimsical personal memoir about the turmoil and complex emotions O'Neill felt by her decision to donate her father's organs after his fentanyl overdose @dandq.bsky.social

"Cities thrive with women in charge" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Advantages of being a heart surgeon in Canada vs the U.S. 👏👏👏🇨🇦

You just can't make this stuff up... it's Monty Python territory 😵‍💫 @benjaminforest.bsky.social @excubs.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Fund public education! ⚡️⚡️👏👏👏

"Western science is great, but it has to be guided by traditional knowledge," says world-travelling professor Oliver Sonnentag. @geographieudem.bsky.social #Arctic #carbon #Indigenous @mila-quebec.bsky.social @ivado.bsky.social @bgc-jena.mpg.de @exeter.ac.uk nouvelles.umontreal.ca/en/article/2...

*Graphic novel of the week! 'Preparing to Bite' by @keilerjean.bsky.social and published by @dandq.bsky.social shows realistic and funny snapshots of family life, partially over the pandemic years. Roberts's spare line drawings nicely capture mundane and absurd aspects of daily life.

I think it's time to put pressure on Montreal-based, Quebec-subsidized GardaWorld to divest itself of its US concentration camp construction subsidiary. How Montreal-based GardaWorld ... www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

"We need a 5% wealth tax on America’s 938 billionaires. Over a ten-year period, this bill would raise much-needed $4.4tn for public coffers," writes @sanders.senate.gov. "Let’s choose democracy over oligarchy."

"On Good Morning Britain, presenter Susanna Reid asked: if Brits moved to Dubai to avoid paying tax, shouldn’t they pay for their own evacuation?" www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

*Graphic novel of the week! 'Cassandra Darke', by Posy Simmonds, is a suspenseful mystery set in London. The heroine is a grumpy and wealthy old art dealer whose lodger is targeted by a violent criminal. Highly recommended as a fun escape from current events! @jonathancape

In a profound and elegiac work of investigative journalism, the writer Chris Hedges and the cartoonist Joe Sacco collaborate to present the testimony of displaced Palestinians who lived through the genocide: Requiem for Gaza is out 10/6. https://ow.ly/WKqI50YhoUz

"There is no ceasefire" ...In the past six months, Israel has killed over 650 Palestinian civilians in Gaza. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

*Graphic novel of the week! 'Anna' is the inventive debut of Mia Oberländer (trans. by Nika Knight), and is a sort of feminist fairytale about three generations of women named Anna whose bodies are too tall for their tiny German village @fantagraphics.bsky.social

"The US, for the first time in more than half a century, has lost its long-term status as a liberal democracy. The country is now going through a rapid process of [...] 'autocratisation'." www.theguardian.com/world/commen...

I guess this is the 'art of the deal' www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

*Graphic novel of the week! 'Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands' by @katebeaton.bsky.social has emerged as one of the great graphic novels of the decade. Beaton is a talented artist and story teller and shares her experiences of being a grunt in Canada's male-dominated oil sector @dandq.bsky.social

The brilliant Isata Kanneh-Mason 🤩

Outdoor ice skating twice in less than 24 hours in Montreal 💓⛸️.... first at the 'Montréal en Lumière' temporary rink....

*Graphic novel of the week! 'Gaza in My Phone' by Mazen Kerbaj, is a series of single-page cartoons created after Oct 7, 2023 in reaction to what was appearing in his phone. To Mazen, drawing is an act of solidarity and a way to stay grounded and sane in the escalating madness @orbooks.bsky.social

Join us on April 22, 2026, at 6  p.m. as we discuss queer food at the @museemccordstewart.bsky.social www.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/activitie... @arsenalpulp.bsky.social @mcgillarts.bsky.social @mcgillumedia.bsky.social

Israel is starving Gaza.

*Graphic novel of the week! 'The Wrong Place', by Brecht Evens, is a gorgeously illustrated, entertaining, gossipy romp through a few evenings with a group of friends. Translated by Rhian Heppleston, @michehut.bsky.social, and @laurawat.bsky.social and published by @dandq.bsky.social

I vote that everything named after the former Prince Andrew be renamed to honour Julie Andrews 💓 (Julie Andrews Place, Julie Andrews Drive, Julie Andrews Court, Julie Andrews Island, etc.) @mayoroliviachow.ca @matsiscoe.bsky.social

*Graphic novel of the week! 'Beirut' by Barrack Zailaa Rima, draws from 3 previously published works based on the author's 3 different visits to Beirut. It's a chaotic and dream-like book that depicts conversations, meanderings through Beirut, protests, refugees, and political clashes

Another thing to love about Dolly.... Recent research shows that Dolly Parton's 'Imagination Library' initiative dramatically boosts early childhood literacy 📚💓 @lunavives.bsky.social www.ctvnews.ca/barrie/artic...

An exhibit on Canadian civil rights pioneer Gloria Baylis has opened in Montreal. Baylis was a nurse from Barbados who successfully sued a hotel in Montreal in the 1960s for job discrimination based on race. The hotel fought the ruling for 10+ years but it was upheld 🔥🔥🔥 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

*Graphic novel of the week! 'Full of Myself: A Graphic Memoir About Body Image' by Siobhán Gallagher tells an intimate story of the author's struggles with diet culture, anxiety, and disordered eating in a peppy and funny style. @andrewsmcmeel.bsky.social

Sad to hear Catherine O'Hara died. She's been making me laugh since i was a kid watching SCTV 💓

“To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned word for that – and that word is treason,” David Eby told reporters. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Good point about empty slogans (in my field: eco-city, green city, smart city)... we need specific targets, clear policies that will help reach those targets, and methods of assessing successes and failures

*Graphic novel of the week! 'Little Russia' by @francisdesharnais.bsky.social tells the story of the author's grandparents, who were farmers in an experimental village (1948-1968) north of Quebec run as a cooperative where 50% of residents' paychecks is used to develop the colony

Hard to imagine a bunch of soft-handed libertarian bros being able to hack it in Greenland

A conversation on Gaza between Joe Sacco and Art Spiegelman, two titans in the field of graphic novels and comics journalism: www.theguardian.com/world/pictur...

Geographers in Canada, the U.S., & beyond.... join me in submitting an abstract to the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) meeting, which will be at the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC June 1-4. I guarantee you will see lots of deer, and possibly a seal! 💓 @cangeographers.bsky.social

An interesting read about four ancient cities - Çatalhöyük, Pompeii, Angkor, and Cahokia - by @annaleen.bsky.social . Loads of fascinating detail to dive into and a refreshing reminder that some 'lost' cities continued to be lived in for decades or centuries after their 'abandonment'

That's a wrap on 2025... see you in 2026!