Welcome to The National Today newsletter, which takes a closer look at what’s happening around some of the day’s most notable stories. Sign up here and it will be delivered directly to your inbox Monday to Friday.
TODAY:
- Alex Salmond, the driving force behind Scotland’s 2014 bid for independence, has been charged with attempted rape and sexual assault.
- Canada’s ambassador to China has stirred up even more trouble for the Liberal government.
- The “slow lit” genre of stories designed to make you nod off is building a bedtime audience.
- Missed The National last night? Watch it here.
The power of #MeToo
Alex Salmond, the driving force behind Scotland’s 2014 bid for independence, has been charged with attempted rape and sexual assault.
The 64-year-old former first minister of Scotland was arrested this morning. He later made a brief appearance in an Edinburgh court, where he was arraigned on a total of 14 counts, including two of attempted rape, nine of sexual assault, as well as charges of indecent assault and breach of the peace.
Afterwards, he told the waiting media that he is “innocent of any criminality” and intends to defend himself “to the utmost” in court. He remains free on bail.
Former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond leaves court in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Thursday after appearing to face 14 charges, including attempted rape and sexual assault, and breach of the peace. (Russell Cheyne/Reuters)
Salmond had been under investigation for months following allegations the he inappropriately touched female government staffers during meetings at Bute House, the First Minister’s private residence, in 2013.
Last summer, the two-time leader quit his Scottish National Party as he endeavoured to clear his name. He launched a legal action against the government, now led by his former deputy Nicola Sturgeon, alleging that he had been denied due process in an internal investigation.
But Salmond is hardly the only powerful man who currently finds himself reckoning with the past.
A South Korean court today sentenced a former senior prosecutor to two years in jail for abusing his power in response to a harassment accusation.
Ahn Tae-geun, 52, was found guilty of having transferred a junior prosecutor, Seo Ji-hyun, to a lesser job in a regional office after she accused him of groping her at a dinner following the funeral of a colleague’s father in 2010.
Former senior South Korean prosecutor Ahn Tae-geun arrives at the Seoul Central District Court to attend his trial on Wednesday. He was convicted of abuse of power in connection with a high-profile case that triggered the country’s #MeToo movement, and jailed for two years. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images)
Seo went public with her story in 2017, helping to spark a #MeToo movement in the country. Prominent politicians, directors and writers now face similar allegations.
And yesterday, South Korea’s human rights commission said that it will open an investigation into charges of widespread sexual abuse in the country’s sporting culture, announcing plans to interview thousands of athletes.
Bryan Singer, the director of the Oscar-nominated Bohemian Rhapsody, is facing allegations of sexual misconduct from four men who say they were preyed upon as teenagers. He vehemently denies the charges, labelling the story a “homophobic smear piece.”
U.S. director Bryan Singer arrives for the premiere of X-Men Apocalypse in London on May 9, 2016. (Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images)
Controversial American R&B singer R Kelly has been dropped by his label and publisher, following a six-part Lifetime documentary series that chronicled 25 years of stories from women who say he abused, manipulated and denigrated them.
Marc Emery, Canada’s so-called ‘Prince of Pot’, has been accused of inappropriate behaviour towards young women he met or employed at his chain of marijuana dispensaries, Cannabis Culture. The 60-year-old has responded with a lengthy Facebook post in which he apologized and admitted “mistakes,” but denied that he had ever been “sexually aggressive.”
A California state appeals court judge, Jeffrey Johnson, is in the midst of a disciplinary hearing over charges that he routinely touched and made lewd remarks to his female colleagues, including telling one justice that she had “the greatest ass in the Second District.”
And the two-time U.S. pairs figure skating champion John Coughlin was reportedly facing three allegations of sexual misconduct — two involving minors — when he committed suicide on Friday.
There has been a verified increase in the number of sexual assault complaints made to police in Canada in the wake of #MeToo. Although, as Statistics Canada points out, the vast majority of incidents continue to go unreported.
The U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission has also experienced a surge in harassment complaints, collecting $56 million US in settlements in the past fiscal year.
Still, it remains difficult to tell if men’s behaviour is changing as a result.
For example, a newly released survey of more than 30,000 United Nations staff found that one in three respondents reported that they had experienced at least one incident of sexual harassment over the past two years.
And some of the men who have previously been “named and shamed” as #MeToo malefactors are now reclaiming their careers.
Louis C.K. is back on the stand-up circuit, making jokes about his well-publicized proclivities.
And earlier this month, John Lasseter, the former chief creative officer of Pixar, found a new gig running Skydance Animation, putting allegations of unwanted kisses, hugs and groping in his rearview mirror.
John Lasseter arrives at the world premiere of ‘Toy Story 3’ in Los Angeles in this 2010 file photo. Lasseter is co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios. (Katy Winn/Associated Press)
Those looking for a lasting consequence might find it in the story of a British hummus maker.
This week, Ramona Hazan finally bowed to the inevitable and announced plans to rename her Me Too! brand of spreads and Mediterranean foods, after supermarkets stopped placing orders.
The new name has yet to be determined.
At Issue
Canada’s ambassador to China has stirred up even more trouble for the Liberal government, writes The National co-host Rosemary Barton.
John McCallum was a politician long before he was a diplomat. He was also a defence Minister, a Minister of Veterans Affairs, and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.
That is not to say he is immune to mistakes, but rather to point out that he has extensive experience in dealing with the media and knowing what to say — and when.
Canada’s Ambassador to China, John McCallum, leaves a federal cabinet meeting in Sherbrooke, Que., on Jan. 16. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press)
So, when it was discovered that McCallum had spoken to Chinese-language media on Tuesday and basically outlined a strong defence case for Chinese business executive Meng Wanzhou in her fight against extradition from Canada to the United States, eyebrows were raised.
The government has been working hard to reiterate to the Chinese that this case is only following the rule of law and involves no politics, and that Canada is only responding a request from the United States under our extradition treaty.
Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei, was arrested at Vancouver’s airport on Dec. 1, 2018, at the request of American authorities. She is being held in Vancouver. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)
For the current Canadian ambassador to China to suggest Meng has a way out of all this complicates matters for the government, to say the least.
Our panel friend Andrew Coyne is much harsher in his assessment today in the National Post: “To offer such an opinion in public would be remarkable at the best of times. But to do so at the very moment China is holding three Canadians hostage — one of them facing a threat of death — gives the appearance of caving under pressure.”
So, tonight on At Issue we will dig into this ongoing dispute with China and ask what should be done about McCallum, as well as what more the government should or could be doing.
Andrew, Chantal Hébert and Eric Grenier join us. See you then.
– Rosemary Barton
- Like this newsletter? Sign up and have it delivered by email.
- You may also like our early-morning newsletter, the Morning Brief — start the day with the news you need in one quick and concise read. Sign up here.
Bedtime stories
Zzzzzz … the “slow lit” genre of stories designed to make you nod off is building a bedtime audience, reporter Nick Purdon writes.
If you’re listening to one of his stories, writer Chris Advansun hopes you never reach the end.
For him, that’s success.
You see, Advansun is a full-time “sleep writer.” He writes with one goal in mind — to lull you off to la-la land.
Here’s a little taste from his latest story, The Cloud Mountain. Not a lot happens. And that’s the point:
“Far in the distance, between the trees and beyond the roofs, there was a narrow glimpse of an absolutely breathtaking mountain, jagged grey draped with powder white, a frontier of Earth ascending from the land and disappearing into the fog.”
Advansun publishes his stories on the popular app Calm.com, where they are voiced by famous actors like Matthew McConaughey.
“We all remember being told a bedtime story when we were kids to fall asleep, and that idea is ancient,” Advansun says.
“We picked up on the idea a few years ago to write stories specifically for a grown-up audience. Think of them as bedtime stories for grown-ups.”
Chris Advansun writes bedtime stories for adults that are designed to put them to sleep. (Nick Purdon/CBC)
When I asked if a sleep story should be boring, he pauses and thinks for a moment.
“I don’t think it is quite about being boring, specifically,” he says. “I think it is about not being too exciting.”
Advansun says the key is to get the attention of the listener and then hold it gently without ever jostling them awake. He maintains this is a tough balance to achieve as a writer … especially since Advansun is trained as a screenwriter. Think car chases and explosions.
“I certainly didn’t set out to write stories that put people to sleep,” he jokes. “I have sort of fallen into it, and I adore it. It’s not only quite rewarding, it is a great challenge as a writer.”
So if the goal is that people are asleep before they reach the end of one of his stories, how does a typical sleep story end?
Spoiler alert!
“In many of the stories, the resolution of the story is that in the end the character falls asleep. That is the ending.”
Night night.
– Nick Purdon
A few words on …
Actions speaking louder than words.
U.S. Government workers and their families held 33 minutes of silent protest in Washington, D.C. — one minute for every day of the ongoing shutdown. #TheMoment pic.twitter.com/Gd56B8zti5
Quote of the moment
“The banks and the credit unions should be making credit available to them … True, the people might have to pay a little bit of interest. But the idea that it’s paycheque or zero is not a really valid idea. They are eventually going to be paid.”
– Wilbur Ross, the billionaire U.S. Commerce Secretary, tells CNBC that there’s “no good excuse” for furloughed federal employees to be short of money.
Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press)
What The National is reading
- Airbus, Bombardier warn of consequences in case of no-deal Brexit (CBC)
- Russia attacks bid to “usurp power” in Venezuela (BBC)
- Former Ukraine president Yanukovych found guilty of treason (CBC)
- Military buildup in Arctic as melting ice reopens northern borders (Guardian)
- EPA fines drop 85 per cent under Trump (Washington Post)
- Zimbabwe army says “bogus” soldiers behind beatings (Reuters)
- California doctors alarmed as state links their opioid prescriptions to deaths (NPR)
- Panda teeth are self-regenerating, scientists find (South China Morning Post)
Today in history
Jan. 24, 1984: The greenhouse effect and planet Earth
CBC reporter and future federal Environment Minister Peter Kent details how carbon emissions threaten to increase the average global temperature by as much as 5 C, in this 35-year-old Journal documentary. The only question, he says, is the “timing and magnitude.” As it turns out, his prediction that younger members of the audience “might live to experience the first changes,” wasn’t pessimistic enough.
Sign up here and have The National Today newsletter delivered directly to your inbox Monday to Friday.
Please send your ideas, news tips, rants, and compliments to thenationaltoday@cbc.ca.
from Update Trend News http://bit.ly/2TenIc6
0 Comments