Latest news with #Churchill
Wall Street Journal
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Churchill vs. the Far Right's Angry Historians
It isn't certain that Adolf Hitler would've lived within any kind of an agreement that granted the U.K. a true sense of immunity ('Why the Far Right Hates Churchill,' Review, Aug. 9). He hated the English, feared their navy and violated other treaties to try to shape the Continent as he imagined it. After Russia, which he never would have defeated because of their willingness to sacrifice lives and the fury of their winters, he likely would have turned to England. The far right's revisionism isn't the product of masterfully informed historians. It is the work of an uncredentialed and angry few in pursuit of a cause. Churchill, the product of more study and words than most leaders, is hard to defrock as Europe's savior, and the current spiteful crop won't succeed.
CBC
3 days ago
- CBC
Northern Manitoba walking tours of ancient Inuit hunting camp not authorized, province says
Social Sharing The Manitoba government says it has determined walking tours of an ancient Inuit hunting camp are not authorized, following concerns raised last year — after a tourism operator advertised visits to the site — that tourists' presence there could damage an important cultural and historical site, and the animal habitats around it. Lazy Bear Expeditions in Churchill, Man., previously promoted its Hudson Bay Wilderness Outpost Adventure as "five days based in a remote, sub-Arctic outpost" searching for polar bears and other wildlife, along with visiting nearby coves, estuaries and other coastal points of interest by boat. However, the trip — which was advertised on Lazy Bear's website at $16,800 per person — caught the attention of more than just tourists, prompting conservation and hunting groups to voice concerns to the province about the potential the overnights visit could disrupt the areas involved. The company described the trip on its website as a "life-changing" adventure, with access to Arctic animals in an "awe-inspiring northern wilderness largely untouched by human existence" and visits to what it called "the Hudson Bay version of Stonehenge — ancient Inuit building remains and hunting grounds thousands of years old." The tour appeared to offer to bring people to stay in a houseboat-like vessel, or "outpost," which Lazy Bear's website said was moored at Hubbart Point. That site — roughly 70 kilometres north of Churchill — is home to artifacts including meat caches, tent rings and graves, said Christopher Debicki, vice-president of policy development for the conservation group Oceans North, which wrote to the province last year raising concerns about the tours. Carbon dating has determined the camp (also known as Qikiqtaarjuit and Hubbard Point) has been in use going back at least 1,000 years, Debicki previously said, adding he was also concerned about the potential for tourists staying in the area to disrupt the nearby Seal River estuary in the Seal River watershed. Last year, then natural resources minister Jamie Moses said the province was investigating "resource tourism activities potentially occurring in non-permitted areas" in the region north of Churchill. In a recent statement, the province said its review "determined that walking tours at Hubbart Point are not authorized, and we acted immediately by informing all operators that land-based ecotourism activities were not authorized at Hubbart Point." "When concerns regarding operators offering walking tours at Hubbart Point first came to our attention, our government took the issue very seriously," said the statement, which was attributed to a spokesperson for current Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie. The statement said limitations on operators were noted on their 2025-26 renewals, and operators were "informed that any future proposals involving sensitive areas would require enhanced review and consultation with Heritage Resources Branch." Tours not currently offered in area: operator The statement said the province is also exploring options for increased monitoring at the location, "and we remain committed to supporting sustainable tourism practices, protecting culturally and ecologically sensitive areas, and collaborating with Indigenous communities and stakeholders to ensure respectful and responsible tourism development." An emailed statement from Lazy Bear Expeditions this week said the mainland area around Hubbart Point does contain sacred sites, "and we have always been very careful to respect those areas." "That being said, we are not currently offering tours in that area," the statement said. Tour touting Hudson Bay 'Stonehenge' site disregards cultural importance, critics say 1 year ago A northern Manitoba tour advertising a trip to an ancient Inuit hunting camp is raising concerns that tourists' presence there could damage an irreplaceable cultural and historical site. The company is owned by Wally Daudrich, who earlier this year lost a leadership race for Manitoba's Progressive Conservative Party to Fort Whyte MLA Obby Khan. Lazy Bear's statement said the operator has "many Indigenous partners working with us, and we operate in a major Indigenous area, so we have always been sensitive to respect Indigenous culture and beliefs." It said it also offers offshore tours on a nearby island "in partnership with an Inuit organization, and we have never had any concerns raised to us regarding sacred sites on the island." Oceans North's Debicki said this week he's thankful for the update about Hubbart Point and applauds the government's steps toward protecting the site. "It was never our wish that visitors be permanently denied access to this spectacular site," he said. "But our concern … was that the access was completely unregulated and potentially damaging." Debicki added he hopes to see a management plan involving Manitoba communities and Inuit to figure out a way people can experience the site "in a way that's culturally respectful" and that protects its heritage.
News18
3 days ago
- Politics
- News18
Zomato's Churchill And Chandrayaan-3 Ad On Independence Day Grabs Eyeballs, Here's Why
Zomato's recent newspaper ad featuring Winston Churchill's quote went viral on India's 79th Independence Day. The restaurant aggregator app quoted the controversial former UK Prime Minister and army officer as a reminder of how far India had come after nearly 200 years of being ruled by the British. Churchill, remembered in the country as the man who caused the Bengal Famine of 1943, resulting in the death of 3 million people, believed that India without British rule would fail to govern itself. Without them, he argued, Indian society would crumble and lead to chaos due to the diversity and mix of cultures.
Wall Street Journal
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Threads of Empire' and ‘Carpet Diem': The Weave of History
A famous photograph captures Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin during the 1945 Yalta Conference. They look cold in their greatcoats, and Stalin alone wears military dress. A handful of luxurious carpets warm the ground and provide an air of Black Sea luxury suitable to the occasion. The largest rug, figured with floral motifs, projects opulence and taste. For the textile scholar Dorothy Armstrong, its designs reveal something deeper. The rug, she observes, lacks the patterns of traditional carpet making from Tatar artisans who would have been native to the Crimean Peninsula where the resort was located. 'In the summer of 1944,' she reminds us, 'Stalin had purged the Crimea of its Tatars.' The rug used was an import from elsewhere. 'The world beneath our feet tends to be less observed than the world at eye level,' writes Ms. Armstrong. 'Once we begin to look, we can see carpets in every environment which celebrates power.' In 'Threads of Empire,' she takes readers on a beguiling tour of the past, one in which carpets become talismans of culture, aspiration, deceit and imperialism. The book displays deep learning, endless curiosity—and a conviction that seemingly mute objects can be anything but. 'Even when they are appropriated as props by the great and powerful,' she writes, 'carpets find ways to tell their individual stories, which sometimes subvert and always complicate received histories.' Take the carpet known as the Ardabil, widely regarded as the finest example of the Persian carpet-making tradition and today housed in London's Victoria and Albert Museum. At 33 feet by 17 feet it is a gigantic specimen of hand-woven artistry. The nearly 500-year-old Ardabil, Ms. Armstrong writes, embodies 'a refined Persia of intellectual clarity and unmatched visual inventivenes.' Yet the carpet's uniqueness and outstanding state of preservation both waver upon inspection. The Ardabil was originally one of a matched pair, but the other carpet had at some point been mutilated to restore the ruined edges of its sibling. (The damaged version, still a treasure, found its way to the collection of the oil magnate J. Paul Getty.) A theme running through 'Threads of Empire' is the difficulty of dating rugs and ascertaining where they were made. The Ardabil bears an inscription and year on one edge, as well as a notation of the court that the weaver served. 'To have this amount of information woven into a carpet is vanishingly rare,' Ms. Armstrong writes. Carbon dating is expensive and cannot determine geography; chemical analysis of dyes has its own limitations. Instead, carpet experts usually place textiles through visual inspection, examining a rug's patterns and motifs, as well as its knotting and weave.
CTV News
4 days ago
- Health
- CTV News
Cross-Canada bike ride raising Parkinson's awareness, research funds
The Spinning Wheels Tour west team is seen in a photo from Aug. 9, 2025. (Facebook/ A number of Canadian cyclists are riding across 10 provinces and to three coasts to raise awareness and research funds for Parkinson's disease. The Spinning Wheels Tour is a two-month, cross-country bike ride that'll see riders travel through the Prairies and up to Churchill, Man. A dozen cyclists set out from Calgary on Wednesday, almost two weeks after leaving Victoria. They were led by Torontonian Lloyd Taylor. 'It's amazing and something I didn't really expect,' Taylor told CTV News. 'Our first day, a couple stopped us to ask us a question. Turned out, the guy's father had Parkinson's, and he opened up the floodgates.' 'That's what this ride is about: the people we meet each day.' Two groups are simultaneously participating in Spinning Wheels: one that left the east coast and the other — Taylor's — that departed from the west. An estimated 300 riders will participate at some point on the route, though he points out 'some days it's just two of us pedalling down a lonely road.' Parkinson's — a currently incurable disease — impacts about 110,000 Canadians. Though Canada has the highest per capita diagnosis rate in the world, Taylor worries it still doesn't get enough attention. 'We just want people to know why they should care,' he said. 'The disease makes you retreat, curl up in a ball and stay on the couch. Yet the opposite is what's needed.' The ride hopes to raise about $200,000 of funds for research and community programming. It'll be passed out to national, provincial and local Parkinson's programs in the places the riders visit. 'It really is nation-wide in terms of the difference it's making,' Parkinson Canada's Scott McMillan said. '(The money raised) goes into research into cause and cure, as well as ways to alleviate symptoms or stop the progression of Parkinson's.' McMillan applauded the cyclists for heading into lesser-populated areas of the country. He said he believes the outreach is vital 'so no one feels like they're going through it alone.' Riding benefits There are benefits to the cycling tour beyond awareness and fundraising. Those riding with the disease — like Taylor and fellow Toronto resident Li Jiang — point out being on the bike is a massive physical boost. 'I've been living with it for 14 years, and I need to share with people that being active is so important to manage your symptoms well,' Jiang said. 'I started biking four years ago with these guys, and I really started from not balancing on the bike — falling on my first ride with them — to now I can ride 100 kilometers every day.' 'I first got on the bike and the symptoms all disappeared,' Taylor added. 'I phoned my wife at the end and said, 'you can't believe it, I rode all day and the symptoms are gone.' She said, 'then you better keep riding.'' To learn more about Spinning Wheels and the work being done by Parkinson Canada, visit the tour's website.
