SpankyMcFarland

Even I feel you don't need one? Even if it uncovers an abnormality that isn't there that leads to unnecessary treatment?

Prostate, of course. I'm blaming the iPad.

A fringe party is one that gets a few thousand votes. Parliament should reflect what people vote for.

Regular multi-seat STV is a fair system that balances regional concerns and reduces the chance of ridiculous outcomes like 1993.

I don't remember an odder story in Presidential policy debates. Russia threatens multiple US allies in Europe, kills dissidents where and when it likes across the world, is Iran's main backer - and there Trump sits, never quite explaining why he likes Putin so much.

Cruz omitted to ponder whether all the MRIs done in the US are actually necessary - one more example of how a vulnerable customer can easily be exploited in the healthcare marketplace. We are beginnng to see the cost of overscreening in such things as prostrate cancer. The US system is great for procedures but the costs have gotten completely out of control. Nobody looks to the US as a healthcare model to follow.

Stability in the Middle East is not always a good thing. Take for example Bahrain. What should the Shia majority of that country expect from their Sunni rulers?

Because it is a badly run country that is effectively a police state.

The whole effort to say 'you've no right to be here' is a big waste of time. Both sides are there. Let's give up on that because it is not useful. It won't change anything. A truism about bilateral negotiation - the stronger side always wants it, e.g. India in Kashmir and the US all over the place, as we may be about to find out again.

Here is is our South African girl catching a few rays.

Cruz showed the usual English-speaking laziness in referring to conditions in the NHS and Canada as if they are the best alternatives to America's runaway train of healthcare costs. If you are going to bring up the NHS, ponder how little the Brits pay for healthcare compared to the US as well. BTW what's the mad rush for cataract surgery? That's a chronic condition.

10% of the electorate is certainly not what I would call 'fringe'. Multi-seat STV gives you both PR and regional representation. In this estimation, the Greens would have won 2 seats in 2015 and even more with what they call STV+ http://www.fairvote.ca/fvc-erre-submissions_appx_10_-made-in-canada_stv/

When I become Shah of Canada, my first edict will be on appropriate beachware for larger persons.

Headscarves were common female apparel among Catholics even in my time in Europe. As long as you can see the face there is no problem. Ditto burkinis. Women should be perfectly entitled to cover up as much as they want on the beach. Men, too.

Pity the USA doesn't respect the sovereignty of other nations.

The jobs Trump wants back are gone. He can retrieve a few for the cameras if he distorts the market enough but their days are numbered. The robots are going to take them anyway, wherever they are based.

That is very encouraging. They still have 170 million people to take care of in a disappearing river delta one-tenth the size of Quebec. Elsewhere, e.g. sub-Saharan Africa, the reproductive news is not so good.

I was not clear enough. These jobs are a start for Bangladesh. They are a big improvement on what people had. The biggest problem in the developing world - too many people. Female emancipation is key to getting families smaller.

There are more Iranians in the US, and far more Iranian students are likely to be affected by the new measures than those from Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen put together. Last year, there were 12,269 Iranian students studying in the US, according to data by the Institute of International Education, compared to 5,085 from the six other countries. Iranians are struggling to understand why they are being targeted in this way.... ...Iranians expatriates in the US have indeed been immensely successful. In fact, Iran’s brain drain problem is due to the many talented students who emigrate to the US. Omid Kordestani, the executive chairman of Twitter, the very platform Trump uses to broadcast his views on a daily basis, is Iranian. The founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar, is Iranian. Maryam Mirzakhani, who won the Fields Medal, the highest accolade in mathematics, in 2014, is another example. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/03/trumps-belligerence-towards-iran-plays-into-the-hands-of-tehrans-hardliners

Both Harper and Chrétien would be surprised to hear they had control of Terry Milewski. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/terry-milewski-an-equal-opportunity-offender/article585398/ http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/forum/1999/01/milewski.html https://bcblue.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/video-cbcs-milewski-turns-screw-on-iggy-about-interview-with-sikh-extremist/

They are the best thing. I like taking them even in cities I am familiar with because I always learn something. Other neat things about Istanbul: the plane trees of Sultanahmet - very impressive to an outbacker facing withered black spruce most of the time; boat trips; Turkish Delight; driving back and forth between Europe and Asia; how they shave your neck when they give you a haircut. I looked half-human afterwards and have been doing it when I shave ever since.

Iran has the potential to change. It could recover from the current bout of religious hysteria (although what is happening to democracy in the West right now would have to lengthen the odds) and free the mullahs to contemplate matters spiritual on a full time basis. In the meantime, a chap next door in Iraq, Ayatollah Sistani, offers a less oppressive model of spiritual guidance.

Britain has a big state broadcaster more on the Canadian model. The BBC is still streets ahead of the CBC, certainly in reporting its own news from around the world.

Not AS attractive but you might get some good deals. Still way safer for tourists than some places I have visited recently e.g. South Africa.

If you'd stopped half way through that sentence, I could have agreed with you.