Expense accounts and ethics. Click and read my Newsday column on Gordon Brown's problems.

Labour’s chances of a fourth term of government in the UK took a major blow in the last ten days. It had nothing to do with the UK economy, severe job losses (highest since 1997) or the huge debt that taxpayers have taken on: it has to do with a story on MPs expense claims carried in the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

As that story made the rounds in the UK, a fast rising Canadian MP was before a Parliamentary Committee to answer allegations of enslavement made by two former nannies employed to work with her relatives. Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (1984 to 1993) was also answering questions relating to his financial dealings with a private contractor, before a Commission of Inquiry appointed by the Governor General. Integrity, transparency and accountability are the common threads running through those events.

So far one thing is certain. The way forward is to put more muscle behind the broad issues of integrity, accountability and transparency.

Click link and read more.....

Vancouver: One of the best cities to live in 2009. Click and read more.

As rival politicians haggle over the shortage of buses and the privatisation of the public sector, two things remain clear: Vancouver, a city in the Canadian province of British Columbia, is the best North American city to live in and in any event this is election season in BC and the haggling is to be expected.

It’s really hard to ignore Vancouver’s tremendous beauty and diversity. Mercer, in its just released 2009 rankings of the “Best Cities in the World” to live in, certainly did not and every day you are reminded of it, with its imposing fringe of snow capped mountains and alluring mosaic of water, green spaces and international flavours.

Only traditional rivals Vienna, Zurich and Geneva again managed to beat Vancouver this time around.

Click link and read full article in the Newsday.