My experiences as a prisoner give me a perspective that I have not seen in the furor following Tom Flanagan's comments on the subject of pornography. In the circumstances, his apology should be accepted, and he should not have been dismissed by the CBC, the Globe and Mail or from any other affiliations. His critics have made practically no distinction between those who derive pleasure from looking at child pornography privately and passively, and those who sexually assault children. This society's concern about pedophilia should not be taken to such extent that insensitive remarks become an instant race to stone verbal offenders to death before they can utter their abject recantations.

Conrad Black has been out of the Canadian newspaper game for some time, but he may not be gone for good. Just months after