The Globe and Mail

The Count's the subject of a profile in the style section of today's New York Times. (What it's doing amidst the chintz and society chatter I dunno.) I'm guessing  a couple of the quotes might induce a wince or two among the more populist elements back at head office:

To wit:

"Mr. Ignatieff's friend Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of The New Republic, described him as 'a genuinely introspective individual' ... Mr. Wieseltier added: 'When I would see Michael, he and I would stroll arm in arm around Covent Garden singing — poorly, of course — some of the great quintet in the first act of 'Così Fan Tutte.' There was in him a hunger for intellectual authority and for a certain degree of social recognition, but it was never about power."

Or how about:

"David Rieff, an American friend and author, said: 'Canada, like a lot of culturally small countries, has an ambivalent relationship with countrymen who leave and make it big in the United States or in Europe. He's considered a celebrity at home, and they're very proud of him, but there's also some graceless carping. It's tall-poppy syndrome.'"

Wait a minute. How can we be culturally "small" if the leader of our official opposition flounces around in London singing the words to an Italian opera? I'd like to see The One top that.

For the most part the piece is suffused in the grinding condescension which marks the Times coverage of pretty much everything beyond the five boroughs. What on earth will they make of Ottawa in mid February?