U.K. primes the pomp for Trump visit, while demonstrators dust off their presidential props

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TODAY:

• President Donald Trump is being offered most of the traditional perks, but he's also expected to face public demonstrations in London during next week's state visit to the U.K.
• The Toronto Raptors are a game closer to basketball's ultimate prize, the NBA Championship, but can basketball be as integral to Canada's culture as hockey?
• Project 44, a deep-dive archival and mapping initiative by a group of volunteers, is shedding more light on events involving Canadians during the Second World War's Normandy invasion.
• Missed The National last night? Watch it here.

Trump goes to London to visit the Queen

Donald Trump will be getting plenty of pomp during his state visit to the U.K. next week, although he may not enjoy the circumstance.

The three-day stopover in London, in advance of Thursday's ceremonies in France marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day, will grant the U.S. president and First Lady plenty of face time with the British royals. But it will also put them in close proximity to what promise to be large and noisy protests.

Trump's "working visit" to the U.K. last July drew an estimated 250,000 demonstrators into the streets. British taxpayers spent nearly £18 million ($30.7 million Cdn) on security for the four-day trip, despite a schedule that kept the president well away from the angry crowds.

This time, anti-Trump forces are hoping for an even bigger turnout, knowing that they are likely to be both seen and heard.

On Tuesday, a coalition of 16 groups is organizing a "Together Against Trump" rally in Trafalgar Square, and then marching to parliament as the president meets the British prime minister just around the corner at 10 Downing St.

A balloon depicting Trump as a tangerine-hued, diaper-wearing baby, which floated above last year's protests, might fly again — if a £30,000 ($51,000 Cdn) crowd-funding goal is reached.

And there will be a new prop, a 5-metre-tall robotic statue of Trump sitting on a golden toilet with his pants around his ankles while he tweets on his phone. The figure plays recordings of some of Trump's stock phrases, such as "no collusion" and "witch hunt," intermixed with farting noises.

There will also be a series of 20-metre-long banners hanging at Vauxhall bridge, facing the new U.S. embassy, with messages like "resist racism," "resist hate" and "resist Trump."

Trump will be the third U.S. president granted a full state visit, meaning that his official host is the Queen, not the British government. (Ronald Reagan was the first in June 1982, followed by George W. Bush in November 2003.)

After they touch down on Monday, the Trumps will head directly to Buckingham Palace, where they will be greeted by Queen Elizabeth and inspect an honour guard. There's a luncheon, and later on, tea with Charles and Camilla at Clarence House. That evening, there will be a state banquet at the palace — dress code white tie and tiaras — for 170 guests, with a reception line, welcoming toasts and pipers.

But the former reality television star isn't being offered all of the traditional perks.

"Security concerns" have scuppered the slow trot down The Mall in a gilded carriage. And the Trumps won't be staying at Buckingham Palace, due to ongoing renovations.

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, criticized the visit this morning, saying that he disagrees with "rolling out the red carpet" for a man who is "wrong on a whole host of issues."

It also appears that Trump is intent on ruffling some feathers while in the U.K.

Yesterday, he mused about perhaps meeting with his "friends," Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson while in London — both of whom are fierce critics of outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May.

And today, word was leaked to the press that the president plans to issue an "ultimatum" to the U.K. government demanding that they fully ban Huawei-made hardware from their national 5G network, or see future intelligence sharing curtailed.

The Brits, however, are not the only ones facing challenges on this foreign trip.

A long-planned meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Wednesday was almost cancelled due to squabbles over the venue.

Trump wanted to hold the tête-à-tête at his Doonbeg golf club and hotel in County Clare, while Varadkar favoured the Dromoland Castle Hotel, a venue that has welcomed a number of other U.S. presidents.

In the end, the two men will meet at a far-less impressive compromise location — the VIP lounge at Shannon airport — and Trump will fit in a round at his golf club on Friday before he heads back to the United States.

Pop Panel

This week, the Toronto Raptors are a game closer to basketball's ultimate prize — the NBA Championship. The fans' joy and excitement is spreading far and wide, writes producer Tarannum Kamlani, but can basketball be as integral to Canada's culture as hockey?

Where were you when the Toronto Raptors won their first ever NBA Championship game?  

Or when Kawhi Leonard beat the Philadelphia 76ers in literally the last seconds of their Game 7 in round 2?

The physics of Kawhi Leonard’s game-winning shot

6 years ago

Duration 2:07

A physicist explains how Toronto Raptors’ forward Kawhi Leonard made the shot that beat the buzzer in Game 7 to win against the Philadelphia 76ers.

These are moments that Toronto sports fans — and basketball fans around the country — will always remember.

I was at that game, when a nailbiter turned into an unimaginable victory. It felt like a gift to those diehard fans who stuck with the team through the hard times, the lean years when the Raptors were a joke, with their jerseys that looked like kids dinosaur pyjamas.  

Fast forward to the Raptors beating the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals, and here we are. A team with a true superstar, a single-minded ferocious competitor and fun guy surrounded by an able cast, deep in the playoffs, and close to a major championship.  

The Raptors bandwagon grows larger by the minute. But will it last? What will all this success — win or lose the championship series — mean in terms of a benchmark for the team going forward? Will the Canada = hockey equation become more complex?

Or is this all a flash-in-the-pan, hyped-up by Drake and his antics, that will melt away when the NBA circus leaves town? (Drake, by the way, might be accused of overcompensating during the finals … he does have the jersey numbers of Warrior's superstars Steph Curry and Kevin Durant tattooed on his elbow.)

That's what we'll be discussing on tonight's Pop Panel.

Ian Hanomansing is hosting from Vancouver. He's  joined by Sportsnet writer and host Donnovan Bennett, freelance writer and editor Stacy Lee Kong, and Refinery29's Kathleen Newman-Bremang. Hope you'll join us!

- Tarannum Kamlani

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Normandy revisited

Project 44, a deep-dive archival and mapping initiative by a group of volunteers, is shedding more light on events involving Canadians during the Second World War's Normandy invasion, senior reporter Murray Brewster writes.

Ethel Pollard never accepted that her son George was murdered by German SS soldiers in the days following the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Lance Corporal George Pollard, a member of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, was captured and executed at the Abbay d'Ardenne on June 17, 1944. The circumstances that led to his patrol being ambushed were always murky, and the fact that his body was never recovered allowed his mother to cling to the hope — for decades — that he would come home.

"She would not believe he was murdered," says Greg Pollard, Ethel's grandson and George's nephew. "Even though she had all the documents. All the newspaper clippings."

Greg Pollard has spent 20 years researching the fate of his uncle and he thought — until just recently — the truth about what happened to the patrol was lost to the mists of history.

Then three people, including a former Canadian soldier who served in Afghanistan, embarked on an extraordinary project to digitally map the movements of every Canadian regiment that fought in the Normandy campaign.

Nathan Kelher, Drew Hannen and Julien Brown led a team of volunteers who've spent months researching the unit battle diaries, maps, formerly secret intelligence reports, and photos of the bloody campaign that cost the lives of almost 5,000 Canadians, including George Pollard.

Known as Project 44, the team combed Library and Archives Canada to compile the information that will soon be at the fingertips of historians and the general public.

Retired warrant officer George Fouchard, a 97-year-old former soldier, served as a cartographer with the Canadian Army during the Normandy campaign. He drew some of the original intelligence maps pulled from the archive by the Project 44 team — documents he has not seen in 75 years.

"When it comes right down to it, soldiers want to know where they're going and what they're doing," Fouchard told CBC News.

He said the quality and superiority of Allied maps has been an under-appreciated key to the victory over the Germans, who often relied on what he calls "inferior" drawings.

The maps may have told soldiers where they were going in 1944, but they also showed Greg Pollard precisely where his uncle had been — and where he likely died.

We'll take you inside Project 44 on Sunday night's The National.

- Murray Brewster

• WATCH: The story on Project 44, Sunday night on The National on CBC Television and streamed online

Quote of the moment

"Y'all trash."

- What Drake  appeared to say to the Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green, following Toronto's 118-109 victory in Game One of the NBA finals last night. Earlier this week, Green had made fun of the Raptors superfan's basketball skills.

What The National is reading

• China warns Canada of "consequences" of helping U.S. with Huawei case (CBC)
• Genetically modified fungus kills 99 per cent of malaria mosquitoes, says study (BBC)
• Dutch hostage killed by Philippine militants as he tried to escape (Reuters)
• Spray cheese, beef jerky to count as staples under Trump food stamp proposal (Washington Post)
• Bali volcano spews ash in new eruption (France 24)
• What's happening to Jupiter's Great Red Spot? (CBC)
• I woke up from a coma speaking French (Guardian)
• Fighter pilots draw penis in the sky. Air Force says it was an accident (CNN)

Today in history

June 1, 1975: Johnny Cash keeps the faith

The man in black dons a jean jacket for this wide-ranging interview on CBC's Luncheon Date with Elwood Glover. Cash talks about the amphetamine addiction that almost killed him, rediscovering God, and playing — and sometimes staying — in jails.

Johnny Cash keeps the faith

50 years ago

Duration 18:03

In 1975 the legendary country musician discusses his music, his family and how he overcame a powerful drug addiction.

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