Paul McCartney vs Newfoundland

I'm in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the moment and, as it happens, so too is Paul McCartney, here to play a gig to some 60,000 Haligonians. The event has been described as the biggest in Halifax's 260 year history (I'm assuming that The Wedding Present haven't yet made it here then). But all is not sweetness and light as far as McCartney's relationship with Canada goes, specifically with Nova Scotian neighbours Newfoundland.

It all stems from McCartney and his ex-wife, Heather Mills' comments regarding seal hunting. Back in 2006 it seems that the McCartneys described the commercial hunting of seals a "stain" on Canada's character. As far as McCartney was concerned 97% of the seals hunted were under 3 months old. However the Newfoundlanders weren't willing to take the McCartney's criticism lying down and the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Danny Williams engaged in a heated debate about the issue and it's left a bad taste (no pun intended).

So don't expect the red carpet to be rolled out for the former Beatle at tomorrow night's (July 11th) show. It isn't yet a sell out apparently, but that may have something to do with the 125 dollar price for a general admission ticket. Let it be folks, let it be.