Saturday Afternoon Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Ivan Semeniuk reports on the response to the Omicron COVID variant both globally and in Canada. But Eric Topol writes that the U.S. is kidding itself in pretending that a wave hitting Europe won't affect it as well, while Lauren Pelley highlights how there's no prospect of anybody going back to a "normal" state until the virus is controlled around the globe. Alan Beattie reports that wealthy countries are still refusing to waive intellectual property monopolies over vaccines even as they come face to face with the worst-case scenario as to what happens when COVID is allowed to circulate in the name of profit. And David Shield reports on the massive amount of work to be done in responding to long COVID in Saskatchewan.

- Aaron Wherry discusses how the Cons' attempt to turn inflation into an excuse to crush people under the boot of austerity has no basis in fact, but might still do severe political damage.

- PressProgress reports that Brad Wall has been actively looking to exploit essential workers for higher rents in Saskatchewan and Alberta based on his recognition that neither province's conservative government will protect them. And Pratyush Dayal reports on the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission's study into the systematic barriers to housing facing vulnerable people.

- Paul Webster exposes how Doug Ford chose to leave a billion dollars in the hands of the private owner of a toll highway rather than pursuing it on behalf of the public. And Robert Benzie writes that Ford's catering to a few business cronies doesn't include the competence to actually provide services, as a botched registry is actually pushing corporations to refuse to register with the province. 

- Nick Lavers discusses new research showing the health dangers of microplastics which appear to be able to infiltrate the brain. And John Roy Porter highlights how a climate breakdown poses a serious threat to food supplies.

- Finally, Paul Brent rightly wonders what happened to the Libs' promise of national pharmacare.