Opinion

The way it’s supposed to work is, all government spending gets approved by elected officials before the money goes out the door. They divvy the government’s budget into “votes,” with each vote representing a ministry’s budget.

Nature Boy uses several smartphone apps with his work. Some help him identify birds. Others help him with wild plants, fungi and other assorted roughage. He opens the astronomy app whenever he’s outside on clear nights.

“Buddhist priests in Myanmar are leading an uprising against Muslims. Please ask them to stop.” This was the heartfelt cry that came to me recently via twitter. It’s a shock to North Americans to hear of Buddhists acting violently.

For those of my readers who aren’t giant nerds (I suspect that this might be most of you), last weekend was the biggest event in the nerd calendar: San Diego Comic-Con.

A couple of summers ago, a brave young boy about 10 years old knocked on our front door and, a little breathlessly, indicated he was in need of assistance. No wonder.

Environment Minister Steve Thomson’s statement explaining his decision to issue the heritage-site alteration permit at Grace Islet (“The search for balance at Grace Islet,” Times Colonist, July 23) under the pretence of striking a “balance” between a

The B.C. Prosperity Fund is still holding at zero 18 months after it was announced, but billions of the dollars that are expected to flow into it are already committed. Which raises the spectre of a slight problem.

In 1914, Great Britain declared war on Germany. As a dominion of the Empire, Canada was at war, too. It was a wasting conflict — a slaughterhouse, really — killing more Canadians than all of Canada’s wars before or since.

The Supreme Court of Canada’s land-title decision in favour of the T’silhqot’in people poses economic challenges, writes Gwyn Morgan in the July 18 Times Colonist. Of course it does.

Two dashes of spice were added to the municipal election scene Tuesday, one in the form of a potential new question on the ballot and one in the form of a big push to create a new candidate for Victoria mayor. A campaign on behalf of former B.C.