Good morning, and welcome to the weekend.
Grab your cup of coffee or tea, and sit down with a selection of this week’s great reads from The Globe. In this issue, Eric Reguly speaks to the man in charge of turning Ukraine into Europe’s biggest arsenal.
Upon meeting Oleksandr Kamyshin, Reguly says he was struck by Kamyshin’s frankness when discussing the “cost-to-kill” ratio, which is used to determine the efficiency of a military’s weaponry. He was also impressed with his accessibility. “Cabinet ministers anywhere usually come to interviews surrounded by PR men and women and bodyguards. They like to do the interviews in their plush offices, where they feel comfortable and in control,” Reguly said. “Not Kamyshin. He showed up with a single assistant in a buzzy market hall stuffed with bars, restaurants and young patrons – his choice. He fit right in. I was immediately relaxed and so was he. It was like having a yak at a bar, which is exactly what we were doing.”
Nicolas Van Praet and Andrew Willis report on a CEO at the centre of one of Canada’s most bitter corporate battles. And Michael Harris talks the importance of silence.
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How cheap drones are transforming Ukraine’s war against Russia
The Globe visited a secret done site in Kyiv, where military personnel learn how to assemble basic FPV drones, Jan. 29, 2024.Olga Ivashchenko/The Globe and Mail
Drone attacks inside Russia have become regular, morale-lifting events in recent months, even as Ukraine’s military struggles to hold its ground along the front after its failed summer and autumn counteroffensive. A Jan. 18 attack on an oil terminal near St. Petersburg, for instance, saw drones travel 1,000 kilometres north of the Ukrainian border, a distance considered impossible a year ago. Eric Reguly speaks to Oleksandr Kamyshin, the man leading Ukraine’s tortuous industrial effort to narrow Russia’s formidable lead in weapons production.
Gildan CEO Vince Tyra poses for a photograph in Toronto, Feb. 1, 2024.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Glenn Chamandy and Vince Tyra were friends years ago – both young and trying to make it in the apparel industry. Today, the two men are embroiled in a public battle for control of Montreal-based Gildan Activewear Inc., an apparel maker with a stock-market value of $7.9-billion. Chamandy, whose family started Gildan, was ousted in December after 20 years at the helm of the company. Tyra took his place as CEO. Efforts by a group of dissenting shareholders to return Chamandy to his job have sparked a bitter dispute corporate Canada has rarely seen.
Quiet is precious in our distracted world. Come on, repeal the noise
Illustration by Alain Pilon
In Canada, 80 per cent of us now live in cities – and that means sirens, traffic, excavators, the roar of subways and airplanes. We think that we deserve this cacophony, and we have been conditioned to accept it – in our cities, in our homes, and in our minds. Our world is growing louder, decibel by nattering decibel. But Michael Harris writes that it doesn’t have to be that way. There is value in the silence that our noise pollution obscures.
I was a family doctor, until I couldn’t do it anymore. I fear that too many others will follow suit
"We generalists must be internists and pediatricians and obstetricians and psychiatrists, all at the same time." writes Ferrukh Faruqui, "We know our patients. They tell us things they can’t tell anyone else. That kind of trust is hard to fake. It’s uniquely rewarding, but it’s draining, too."Illustration by Salini Perera
Ferrukh Faruqui was a family doctor in Ontario for more than 30 years. Then the pandemic hit, and dramatically shifted the course of her life. Faruqui discusses the pressure and struggle to work seven days a week, including evenings, while her own life and health deteriorated until she felt she had no other option but to leave her practice.
How to bring restaurant design into your dining room
And/Ore in TorontoRick O'Brien @rickettes/Supplied
Restaurants have become hotbeds of innovative and inspiring design, with more and more interior designers saying they get requests from patrons asking where they can source furniture, light fixtures and even cutlery from their favourite restaurants. If you’re someone who’s wanted to bring a cute restaurant home with you, look no further. Gayle MacDonald asked some of the top designers in the field of hospitality for tips on how to decorate a dining room that will invite guests to linger long after the plates have been cleared away.
Rebecca Yarros and Sarah J. Maas are dominating the book industry with red-hot ‘romantasy’
Illustration by Wenting Li
Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros: what do these women have in common? They’re fantasy authors. And they’re selling 100,000 books a day. Sarah Laing invites us into the realm of a genre that blends romance and fantasy – romantasy – the scorching new trend that’s enchanting readers and conquering the publishing industry.
Read more:
Want to place bets on Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl? Ontario’s gambling rules have you covered
Taylor Swift kisses Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce after an AFC Championship NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, in Baltimore.Julio Cortez/The Associated Press
Sports betting has become a major industry, and Las Vegas, where the Super Bowl is taking place on Sunday, is a gambler’s paradise. But Nevada’s gaming laws restrict Super Bowl bets to what takes place on the field, which means bettors who have their eyes on anything related to Taylor Swift, who is dating Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce, are out of luck. However, as Nathan VanderKlippe reports, such bets are allowed in Ontario, where sports betting surpassed $3-billion last year.
Who leads this year’s pack of Juno nominees, with six nods?
a. Tate McRae