Toronto Life: The Trial of Conrad Black

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Posts with category ‘Barbara Amiel’

Radler’s prison bound

Posted on February 25, 2008 by Douglas Bell

A Canadian Press story reminds us that today is the day David Radler reports to prison at the Moshannon Valley Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania. Oddly, his inmate number hasn’t turned up on the Bureau of Prisons’ Web site (whereas Black, Boultbee and Atkinson’s all have); an indication, perhaps, that he’ll soon be heading back to B.C. to finish his sentence as a guest of the Crown. Beyond that, the article afforded somebody named James Morton, president of the Ontario Bar Association, the opportunity to spout off as follows: “This is really a tragic saga and we’re seeing the final chapter; it’s sort of the march to the Tower of London.” This, in turn, affords me the opportunity to point out that,

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Babs goes batty

Posted on February 11, 2008 by Douglas Bell

The opening sentence of Barbara Amiel’s latest offering in Maclean’s proves beyond a shadow of a shadow of a doubt that, whatever else you might say about her, the lady is as good as her word: “As we face the next round of tribulations, there are distinct signs that I am turning slightly batty.”

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More’s the Pity

Posted on January 24, 2008 by Douglas Bell

Several stories appeared yesterday recording Black’s submission to St. Eve to continue his bail pending appeal. Failing that, they’ve asked that his bail be extended through to June 15th, by which time oral arguments will have been heard before the appellate court.

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Black Watch: Why reporters are pricks

Posted on December 12, 2007 by Douglas Bell

By and large, reporters are—how to put it?—pricks (myself included, I can assure you). Why else would they so devote themselves to poking their noses into everyone else’s business, then proceed to comment with snot-nosed certainty on subjects they know so little about? Of course, the other side of this foul equation is that, in doing so with such fervour and in such volume, reporters are central to the protection of the diminishing civil rights we currently enjoy. But, rather than reflecting on that bit of sanctimony, how about a couple of examples of the former?

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Black Watch: Reaction from around the world

Posted on December 11, 2007 by Douglas Bell

As was the case after verdict day, the ink flowed freely in Britain, the U.S. and Canada, bringing news of the continuing traffic accident that is Conrad Black’s current lot. And of course, given “the felon’s” polarizing nature, descriptions and reflections ran the gamut. The term of imprisonment being less than what had been imagined brought a round of muted huzzahs from Conrad’s supporters. The noted American conservative Emmett Tyrrell, writing in The New York Sun, described Black altogether too sunnily, accepting the sentence “silently, politely, but unbowed.” And in his recession before the fourth estate, “Black stood around with his lawyers for 20 minutes, counting off some matters that engrossed him on his fingers. Then he strolled through the mob of reporters hectoring him. He seemed unperturbed.” At the other end of the spectrum was the Chicago Sun-Times, which ran a frankly shameful editorial that made the astonishing assertion “we don’t make a habit of kicking people when they’re down” before proceeding, in almost pornographic and certainly idiotic detail, to do just that.

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A Conversation with Peter Newman (Part 1)

Posted on September 11, 2007 by Douglas Bell

What follows is the transcript of a conversation between myself and Peter C. Newman—whose story on the trial, "A Great Fall," is in the current issue of Toronto Life—regarding his reflections on Conrad Black, the trial and its aftermath.

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Sock It to ’Em

Posted on August 22, 2007 by Douglas Bell

It was the day of the infamous jury note. Conrad arrived at the courthouse on a half-hour’s notice in something of a rumpled state, wearing tan slacks, a tan jacket of a slightly different hue, a mismatched blue shirt and loafers with—Oh. My. God.—no socks. It was a cause célèbre. Writing in the Globe and Mail, fashionista Russell Smith offered a defence of the seeming faux pas:

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Accessories to an Alleged Crime

Posted on June 21, 2007 by David Livingstone

We’re finally nearing the end of the Conrad Black trial in Chicago. Jurors will soon be scratching their heads, gnawing on their blue collars or a feathered pen, trying to be just.

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Spin Report: Message control

Posted on April 17, 2007 by Patrick Gossage

While the Black trial has (perhaps mercifully) fallen into the inside-pages ghetto, Barbara Amiel Black still occupies prime media real estate in the fawning Maclean’s. In communications situations of this sort, where reputations are on the line, “controlling the message” and “controlling the image” are all-important objectives. A recent Amiel column tried to do both, but failed.

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Adding Insect to Injury

Posted on March 23, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Following the lead of Max Ehrmann, a Midwestern sage from another era, Barbara Amiel sought in her latest column published today in Maclean’s to prove that, with all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Lady Black apologized. And for that, of course, the vermin and sluts should be grateful. In the midst of describing her stay in Chicago, she offers an apology very much in a style to which we’ve grow accustomed:

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Spin Report: Bite That Tongue

Posted on March 22, 2007 by Patrick Gossage

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Even though the trial is actually starting to have some content for media beyond Conrad’s moods and Barbara’s outfits, the question of their character has and will loom large.

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Right Back Atcha, Babs

Posted on March 20, 2007 by Douglas Bell

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Barbara Amiel, it seems, cannot leave bad enough alone. This morning on her way into the courthouse, she explained her startling behaviour of yesterday by saying her remarks were made in a private conversation with her stepdaughter, and that those remarks were about “specific journalists” who “know who they are.” Amiel’s mind mustn’t be a terribly pleasant locale, what with all those vermin and sluts who know who they are plaguing her waking hours. Still, despite all the ready-made excuses (sleeplessness, concerns about rogue jurors) paraded out by her legion of apologists (Steyn, Blatchford et al.), isn’t there a simpler explanation? And aren’t simpler explanations, per Occam’s razor, always best? Amiel, plagued by demons of her own making, made a series of inexcusably toxic remarks (the word “vermin” redolent of Nazi lexicon) that would have, had the tables been turned, brought the wrath of a thousand writs. So, might we make a modest proposal: that the “slut” in question—an unnamed CBC TV producer—find herself a libel lawyer and get cracking on an action of her own. After all, turnabout is fair play.

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Black Watch: Today's Top Stories

Posted on March 20, 2007 by Douglas Bell

Sluts, vermin, countrymen lend me your ears as we run down the inside stories of jury foul-ups (the Sun), Barbara Black's acid tongue (just about everybody else), and David Radler's lightened wallet ($90 million down). Oh, and by the way, the real action starts today.

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Style Watch: Black in Blue

Posted on March 16, 2007 by David Livingstone

If you were a factory worker and showed up at the warehouse in a suit and tie, teasing colleagues might guess that you were dressed for a day in court. The businessman, however, always looks like he’s ready to take the stand. Sartorially, among males, it is he who governs what it is to make a good impression.

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