Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- CBC News reports on the expert response to deaths caused by the spread of the Delta COVID-19 variant in a Calgary hospital - including needed warnings that vaccinations aren't a bulletproof line of defence against it. And Mary Van Beukesom discusses how the combination of the Delta variant and increased spread among younger demographics is driving a new surge in the UK. 

- Jeremy Corbyn and Niki Ashton question the G7's willingness to prolong the COVID-19 pandemic in order to preserve the pharmaceutical industry's plans to turn the coronavirus into a long-term profit centre. And Grant Robertson reports on the data gaps which have reduced the effectiveness of Canada's vaccination efforts. 

- Kerry Campbell reports on the conclusions of the House of Commons' standing committee on human resources that Canada's EI system needs to be reworked to ensuring benefits are available for all types of workers. 

- Marc Lee discusses how spin about distant and selective "net zero" emission targets serves only to distract us from the need to actually reduce carbon pollution as soon as possible. 

- Finally, Tristin Hopper discusses a few of the systemic choices which have resulted in decent housing being unaffordable for far too many Canadians. And Martine August points out the rise of institutional landlords (driven by preferential tax treatment) which is driving up the cost of rental housing. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Damien Cave writes about the lessons Australia's successful containment of COVID-19 offer to any other jurisdiction willing to listen and learn rather than recklessly endangering public health, while the Globe and Mail's editorial board questions why Canada doesn't fit that bill. And Tristin Hopper notes that mandatory quarantine has been one of the important factors in New Zealand's similar control over the coronavirus.

- Alex Nguyen highlights how the recognition of the risks workers face in coffee shops may be leading to a pattern of organizing and unionization. 

- Greg Rosalsky discusses how the poverty treated as the norm for so many service sector workers ultimately harms productivity at work as well as overall well-being. And Rosa Saba points out the needed movement to have the federal government avoid piling on CERB recipients in the midst of another pandemic wave.

- Zak Vescera reports on the danger homeless people in Saskatchewan are facing due to a combination of limited resources and extreme weather. 

- Duncan Cameron writes about the opportunity to reduce inequality and raise public revenue through taxes on financial transactions. And Kristy Koehler reports on the problems with using credit checks as a precondition to employment - particularly in public service work.

- Finally, Adam Serwer rebuts the theory that the Capitol insurrection (and the Trump movement generally) was the product of deprivation rather than an attempt to preserve unequal privilege.