Musings by Rod McQueen

1. What is it with this summer’s newest and most awful skirt style where the front is above the knees and the back trails like a train with a round bottom (the skirt, not the wearer, madam). Call it the skirt that couldn’t make up its mind. 2. Am I a schnook or is the La Senza ad that promotes brassieres with the slogan “Push it up real good” not just poor grammar but also poor taste? 3. Speaking of silly ads, what about the one for the new Visa Debit card – there’s an oxymoron right up there with...

Just how venal can banks get? In the last two months HSBC got caught laundering money, Barclays fiddled with LIBOR, Goldman Sachs settled a $600-million class action suit on mortgage-backed securities, the London Whale lost billions for JP Morgan, and Wells Fargo did predatory lending. Whatever happened to 3-6-3? That was when bankers paid depositors 3 percent, charged borrowers 6 per cent, and were on the golf course by 3 p.m. The first thing that happened was Bill Clinton ended Glass-Steagall, the 1930s legislation that kept commercial banks and securities firms separate. The second thing that happened was compensation got way...

I’ve loved lists ever since CHUM (1050 on your dial) produced its first top 50 chart in 1957 with All Shook Up by Elvis Presley at number one. Two corporate lists have recently come to hand: the ROB top 1000 and the Fortune Global 500. Atop the charts in the ROB, measured by profit, is Toronto-Dominion Bank at $5.9 billion. Everybody agrees that TD CEO Ed Clark has done a stellar job. His unusual background includes time as a civil servant followed by a series of roles at Merrill Lynch and Canada Trust where the watchword was FIFO (Fit in or...

At the Pearl Jam concert at O2 World in Berlin last Wednesday, the audience came from far and wide. There were flags from Italy and Denmark. There were overheard accents from America and Scotland. Two couples with a total of five children under five had outfitted everyone in tshirts calling themselves the Traveling Poles. For vocalist Eddie Vedder and the other four members of the rock band formed in Seattle in 1990, this was their 998th concert. “It seems like more,” said Eddie, who twice urged those on the floor to take three steps back to stop crowding at the...

Just back from a whirlwind trip to Berlin. The reason was son Mark’s desire to see a Pearl Jam concert (about which more later). I got to tag along for the event but we also fitted in a six-hour guided walking tour, visits to five museums and galleries, several excellent meals and a few Pilsners over four days. I had naively thought that the Berlin Wall was some short barricade with Checkpoint Charlie in the middle. In fact, it ran 143 kilometres with a parallel wall the better to see escapees. And flee they did, by tunnel and zipline. In...

Last November I wrote a blog about Occupy Toronto. In it I said I agreed with much of what they preached – until I visited their site in St. James Park. What I saw was deplorable: ruts in the grass, broken tree branches, a defaced bandstand and a general carelessness for public property that bordered on contempt. My support evaporated immediately. I declared they should decamp. The park couldn’t withstand any more such protests. The next day police moved in and evicted the squatters. I recently returned to the scene. I needn’t have been so distressed; there was no sign...

Glad to see Stephen Harper reach out to Brian Mulroney by asking for his advice and counsel on Quebec. Mulroney’s been in the woodshed long enough. As you might guess, I’m a fan of Brian. I’ve known him for forty years. The former prime minister has admitted he was wrong and I think it’s high time Canadians forgave him for taking cash from Karlheinz Schreiber. What is it about Canadians that we are prepared to forgive Bill Clinton for his sins but not Brian Mulroney? Clinton was impeached by Congress and besmirched the White House with his antics but Canadians don’t care....

I’m sure there are a lot of BlackBerry users facing the same dilemma as I am. My BlackBerry is elderly; I’ve been patiently waiting for the new BlackBerry 10 that’s coming later this year. And happily so until yesterday when Research In Motion announced that the first models would not have physical keyboards. Those versions would come later, presumably sometime in 2013. As an author who wrote a book about the company and praised its former co-CEOs, and as a fan, this is deeply disappointing. I must be typical of many BlackBerry owners – I’m loyal. A physical keyboard is...

The price of gas at the pump is down to almost $1.20 per litre, nearly a twenty-cent drop in just the last two months. And have you noticed how the posted prices of all the different brands have been dropping in lock-step. Doesn’t this kind of behaviour smack of a cartel? Ever notice how this always happens with the approach of summer? And have you also seen how much faster Big Oil shoves through price changes on the way down compared to when prices are headed up? Why, there should be a Parliamentary inquiry called into this unprecedented collapse. Or...

Bob Rae made the right decision not to run for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. His announcement yesterday that he would continue as interim leader until the convention next April means he can then return to being an elder statesman who does helpful things for society in general. All eyes are now on Justin Trudeau who, so far, has been saying ‘no’ to running for leader. Now that there is an actual race, he will have to make up his mind. Media reports say that, boxing prowess aside, he is not a substantive politician. I hear differently. He...

Yesterday I was the afternoon convocation speaker at Loyalist College in Belleville, Ont. What a wonderful institution! I had a 90-minute tour in the morning and met many students, faculty and members of the board of governors. President Maureen Piercy and I were colleagues at Maclean’s so we were able to catch up on times past and exchange news about others we’d worked with. The 3,300 Loyalist students take one, two and three-year courses in a wide range of well-equipped facilities that include a bioscience lab, a spa for esthetics, engines for rebuilding, kitchens for culinary arts, radio and television...

Here are a few signs I’ve seen recently that speak volumes. 1. Apple Store opening soon. Just kidding. It’s a Jack Astor’s. 2. Please refrain from playing loud music or making loud noises. 3. PIGS. The Politically Incorrect Gas Station. 4. Please do not put trash in toilets. It is extremely difficult to remove. 5. And this, written on the rear window of a van piled high with personal belongings: Just divorced. Wahoo!

The Pirates of Penzance at Stratford is nonsensical, glorious and funny, all the elements you want from a Gilbert and Sullivan romp. My daughter Alison and I saw the comic opera (still in previews) this afternoon at the Avon Theatre. It officially opens June 1. I grew up listening to my father’s D’Oyly Carte versions on vinyl and this production ably captures all the frivolity and word play of that famous troupe. David Johnson does a wonderful rendition of the tongue-twister song, “I am the very model of a modern major-general.” Amy Wallis as Mabel has a voice so beautiful it could...

I’m a newspaper publisher’s dream. I not only read news stories, I also read advertisements. The most spectacularly silly ad in recent days was one for Canadian Light Source. I was drawn to the prominently displayed and decently sized (5″x11″) ad because I was intrigued by the name of the organization. Hoping to find out more, I read the first paragraph. Turns out it’s a national synchrotron light facility located on the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon. OK, I now knew where, but I still didn’t know what. The next sentence told me the organzation “is engaged in the design,...

I’m having a hard time trying to figure out how I feel about Conrad Black’s return to Canada. Should I forgive or forever denounce what he did? Not that it matters to him, but Conrad has been a part of my life since 1978 when he granted me an exclusive interview for a cover story in Maclean’s, The Argus Grab. The last time I spoke to Conrad was at a party ten years ago. He congratulated me on my book, The Eatons, calling it an “archeological dig.” Watching him acquire newspapers in the U.S. and the U.K, as well as launch...