Much as Canadians like to self-righteously assert that our politics are significantly more substantial and mature than those practiced down south, the Canadian left has a persistent inability to bash Harper for anything but the most specious and invented charges.

As Minister Moore is insisting we spend this week reveling in memories of Elizabeth II's six decades on the throne, it's worthwhile to recall just how just magnificently little of note or substance this woman has actually done with the office she's held for so very long.

The NDP leadership race is currently running neck-in-neck with Arctic Air in the contest to see who can produce the last compelling form of government-run entertainment. So the quest for our friends in the press has been to find some angle on the race beyond the traditional "Hey, who's winning?" narrative.