Stephen Hoff

Journalist 🇨🇦 🇦🇹

[Europe Elects @EuropeElects]

Austria, Market poll:

FPÖ-PfE: 36% (+1)
ÖVP-EPP: 20% (-1)
SPÖ-S&D: 19% (-1)
GRÜNE-G/EFA: 11% (+1)
NEOS-RE: 9% (+2)
KPÖ-LEFT: 3% (+1)

+/- vs. 27-28 March 2026

Fieldwork: 23-28 April 2026
Sample size: 807

➤ https://t.co/XWpToewZ7C

[Raffy Boudjikanian @CBCRaffy]

Story for @CBCPolitics :
Immigration Department informing some 30,000 applicants they may be ineligible for refugee hearings
https://t.co/S38BcMjINq

[Steve Scherer @SchererSteve]

From Foreign Correspondent to Uber Driver
@thenation published my essay with a few additions in its latest issue with the valued support of the @econhardship. Thanks to both.
https://t.co/S3QkhyiW7B

[Foreign Affairs @ForeignAffairs]

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s foreign policy vision “may be appealing to U.S. allies tired of Trump’s bullying, but it does not constitute a grand strategy that other middle powers will find usable or enduring,” argues Michael Green.
https://t.co/Dx14ptUmr7

[Murray Brewster @Murray_Brewster]

Nordic leaders meet with Carney in Oslo as tensions sharpen over the Arctic and Greenland #cdnpoli #Arctic #Greenland https://t.co/etHcfHi4HN

[Iain Cameron @theiaincameron]

In the state of Wyoming in the USA lies a real hydrological oddity. It's a small stream (creek) that is thought to be the only one of very few examples in the world. It is placed so precariously and perfectly that it's hard to believe it is able to exist.

1/n

[John Tory @JohnTory]

It was the honour of a lifetime to have served as mayor of this city, the city I love and will always hold dearly in my heart.

You’ve given me a lot to think about and I want to assure you I have given it serious consideration.

But I will not be running in the 2026 election.

[Rutger Bregman @rcbregman]

The BBC just released a new adaptation of Lord of the Flies, the classic novel by William Golding. It's beautifully made, but it's still telling the wrong story.

A few years ago, I went looking for the *real* Lord of the Flies. I wanted to know: has it ever actually happened? Have kids ever been shipwrecked on a deserted island?

It took me a year of research, but I found it. In 1965, six boys from a boarding school in Tonga stole a boat, got caught in a storm, and drifted for eight days without food or water. They washed up on 'Ata, a remote, uninhabited island in the Pacific. They stayed there for 15 months, and what happened on that island was the exact opposite of William Golding's novel.

These boys set up a small commune. They built a food garden, stored rainwater in hollowed-out tree trunks, created a gym with improvised weights, and built a badminton court. One of them, Stephen (who would later become an engineer) managed to start a fire using two sticks. They kept it burning the entire time.

Of course they fought too. But then they argued, they had a rule: go to opposite ends of the island, cool down, then come back and apologize. As one of them told me: ‘That's how we stayed friends.’

Back home, everyone assumed that the boys – Luke, Stephen, Sione, David, Kolo and Mano — were dead. When they were finally discovered by an Australian captain named Peter Warner, he radioed their names to Tonga. After twenty minutes, a tearful response came back: ‘You found them! These boys have been given up for dead. Funerals have been held. If it's them, this is a miracle!’

Peter commissioned a new ship, hired all six boys as his crew, and named the boat the Ata, after the island where he found them. They remained friends for the rest of their lives – Peter and Mano even became soulmates. I tracked them down, and it became one of the central chapters of my book Humankind.

Here's what struck me most: William Golding (the author of Lord of the Flies) was a troubled man, an alcoholic who once said ‘I have always understood the Nazis, because I am of that sort by nature.’ I think he was projecting his own darkness onto children. And we turned it into a lesson about human nature that we teach to millions of kids around the world.

I think the real lesson is the opposite. When real children found themselves alone on a real island, they didn't descend into savagery. They cooperated, they took care of each other, they survived.

I'm not saying that the Tongan castaways were representative of all kids everywhere. But I am saying that every kid who has to read or watch the fictional Lord of the Flies also deserves to know what actually happened when it played out in real life.

Stories are never just stories. We become the stories that we tell ourselves.

[Stuart Benson @LeftHandStu]

“Three Conservative sources, two of whom are former MPs, say a damning quote is making the rounds in their circles after a third Tory joined the Liberal caucus: 'Pierre Poilievre has become the Justin Trudeau of the Conservative Party.’”

[Stephen Hoff @NewsHoff]

Happy Shawinigan Handshake Day for those who celebrate. #cdnpoli https://t.co/fR4cbYLeq1

[Stephen Hoff @NewsHoff]

This seems like something that can and should be fixed.

[The Telegraph @Telegraph]

🚲 London’s streets are full of e-bikes… and no one’s enforcing the rules

We tested hire apps by parking bikes in the most absurd places. The results are alarming.

Full story by Steve Bird & Jack Leather ⤵️
https://t.co/d3ABqJsBUA

[Stephen Hoff @NewsHoff]

Good to know a record breaking crowd of Czechs got to watch Canada crush them.

[Christian Klaue @ChKlaue]

📌 In Czechia, the Men's Ice Hockey team’s opening game drew an average audience of 1.80 million viewers on ČT sport, this was the country’s most-watched sports broadcast since 2019.

➡️ Digital and broadcast snapshot for the #MilanoCortina2026 Winter #Olympics

[Steven Swinford @Steven_Swinford]

BREAKING:

Tim Allan has quit as Keir Starmer’s director of communications

“I have decided to stand down to allow a new No10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success.”

He’s relatively new to the role - extraordinary he has gone so soon

[Rolling Stone @RollingStone]

Bob Weir, the singer, songwriter, guitarist and co-founder of the Grateful Dead who for decades was one of the driving forces behind the revered band and their legacy, has died at age 78 https://t.co/L5KscguzMd

[Murray Brewster @Murray_Brewster]

Expect the unexpected. As Ukraine coalition meets in Paris, Trump's attention is on Western Hemisphere
U.S. action in Venezuela, Greenland comments cast shadow on security negotiations #cdnpoli #Greenland #NATO #RussiaUkraineWar
https://t.co/iKQcW6GxfB

[Stephen Hoff @NewsHoff]

PM Carney is set to meet with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in Halifax today. Zelenskyy is in his way to Florida to meet with POTUS.

https://t.co/nIEqwos8wI

[Katie Simpson @Katie___Simpson]

The formal announcement is out - as widely expected Prime Minister Mark Carney has chosen Mark Wiseman to be the next Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. News release says he will take on the position starting Feb 15th.

[Kate McKenna @katemckenna8]

Putting an end to the speculation -- I asked @jamiljivani about the now-infamous Conservative Secret Santa, and he confirms reports that he got no gift from Michael Ma.

[Made In Canada @MadelnCanada]

I can’t wait to physically have a Terry Fox $5 bill in my hands

[BBC News (World) @BBCWorld]

A 355-year-old Royal Charter that survived the blitz auctioned for $13m in Canada https://t.co/HYNewbHw5M