BELINDA

I only note this article because it's so rare to see a story about Canada in a Singapore newspaper. A local free tabloid Today has picked up this AFP item on Belinda Stronach, with a great big photo (article is running here on South Africa's News 24 site):

Now Canadian heiress Belinda Stronach, 37, is shaking up Canada's "grumpy old man" politics, running for parliament for the Conservative Party of Canada and prompting comparisons to the original Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher.

Err, comparisons to Thatcher? From whom?

Anyway, although I was rooting for Harper in the leadership race I rather liked Belinda. She didn't have the solid intellectual or political foundations of Stephen Harper. But she was blonde and named Belinda and I have a thing for the Go-Go's. I would have liked Kathy, Jane and Gina too. (Update 26 June 00:05: Also, Charlotte.)

There has been some local coverage of the current campaign recently, with shots of a tired looking Martin. Aside from that, the last two pictures of a Canadian politician in papers here were of Chretien eating (once after mad-cow and another time in a Toronto Chinatown restaurant after Sars).

The only other time we get pictures of Canadian politicians in local papers over here is when they are wearing silly shirts at APEC conferences.