Holiday safety tips
Letter writer Tim Runge portrays "social drinkers" evading spot checks as conscientious objectors to an unjust law (Spot Check – Dec. 30). Let's acknowledge that social drinkers choose beer over soda because they want to catch a buzz. Well, they're free to enjoy a buzz in a pub, at home or in the back of a cab, but a buzz is never acceptable behind the wheel of a car.
David Lee, Oshawa, Ont.
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It appears that walking drunk holds many of the same dangers as driving drunk, and can be just as lethal (The Staggering Truth About Drunk Walking – Dec. 30). So, in the spirit of the season, I'd like to suggest that friends won't let friends walk drunk.
Kevin Riemer, Pointe-Claire, Que.
Night to remember
While commenting on last January's NHL Winter Classic in Pittsburgh, Chris Johnston notes that Sidney Crosby's "undiagnosed concussion … ensured 2011 would become a year the sport's best player would rather forget" (Game's Potential As Big As All Outdoors – Dec. 30). While he could easily say the same for disappointed hockey fans around the world, sadly, Mr. Crosby had little choice in the matter.
Jeffrey Peckitt, Oakville, Ont.
Nixon to remember
Peter Russell raises a valid point (It Matters When Laws Are Passed Illegally – Dec. 30), but it's futile to expect that this will be of any concern to the steamroller of a government currently in power in Ottawa. The Harper Conservatives have consistently acted in the spirit of Richard Nixon's dictum: "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal."
Carl Rosenberg, Vancouver
Block-plan thinking
Re Building Blocks Of Learning: How Small Schools Are Changing University (front page, Dec. 30): I've pushed for similar curricular transformations as a postsecondary professor fighting passive teaching methods over the past eight years. Last week, I delivered a presentation at an Ontario college that introduced team-taught interdisciplinary courses with short modules of four intensive weeks. The room felt like a morgue afterward.
Few professors and administrators really want change even though the postsecondary system is falling apart. As an anecdotal example, very few of my students are able to handle the long march of a 15-week semester and forget material introduced at the beginning. Change is required, but what kind?
Neither your article nor the quoted experts could provide a reason why the change could be beneficial pedagogically – that is, for students. Logically, one wonders how students "get to go deeper" in such radically ablated courses. Nor is it clear how such shortened courses could be "better to teach." Teaching conditions don't change, after all, only the length of courses.
Tim Jacobs, Hamilton, Ont.
Clash of the clergy
In your Moment Caught on Camera of Dec. 29 (Sweep Away), Greek Orthodox and Armenian clergy are shown peacefully cleaning Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity. Here's my question: Was the photo taken before or after the broom-swinging brawl that took place on Dec. 28 between rival monks feuding over sacred space in the church?
David Honigsberg, Toronto
Clash of colonialism
What your editorial Falklands Forever (Dec. 26) states as history from 1833 is essentially correct. But what about before 1833?
After the first Europeans (the Dutch in 1600), three other colonial powers – Spain, France and England – fought for 250 years for control of the Falkland Islands, and periodically each had temporary settlements. Even the U.S. had some involvement, destroying the English presence in 1831.
Argentina, which declared its independence from Spain in 1816, established a settlement on the islands in 1832. In 1834, the British ejected the Argentines and, in 1840, established a permanent colony. Argentina has claimed sovereignty over the Islas Malvinas ever since its independence.
Murray Douglas, Baie-D'Urfé, Que.
Serving the country
Well, my jaw dropped in amazement and delight when I read Belinda Stronach's column about doing away with politics as a profession, primarily by imposing term limits on MPs (Politics As A Tour Of Duty, Not A Career – Dec. 29). I've been haranguing my family and friends for years with just such an argument.
The changes Ms. Stronach proposes would bring into our public life a new kind of politician: one with talent, intelligence and compassion, without vested interest or party slavishness, whose sole interest would be to serve their country wisely and well.
Maurice Breslow, Seeley's Bay, Ont.
Topp this
Re Topp Drops His Gloves (Dec. 30): Thank you, Brian Topp. I was beginning to think the NDP leadership campaign was going to continue as an insipid affair in which candidates faintly praise one another for their dedication, espouse policies with barely discernible differences and try to impress us with endorsements from party prominents. Let's hope the others follow his lead.
Marvin Schiff, Toronto
Mea culpa forecast
Kudos to Jeffrey Simpson for his year-end self-assessment (Missed Bloc Collapse Coming, And Other Regrets – Dec. 30). But I think he's being too hard on himself. Certain events in the political and economic arena are simply impossible to predict. There are too many variables at play, and human behaviour is fickle.
None of this should detract from the value of rigorous analysis of current events. The key is to hedge any forecasts by acknowledging that unforeseeable factors can render inaccurate even the most plausible scenario.
Tony Manera, Ottawa
What if it stops?
Oh please! Tell me it isn't so. An escalator that will shorten a 35-minute hike up a hillside in Medellin's Comuna 13 neighbourhood to six minutes (How Colombia Is Lifting Up A Poor Neighbourhood – Dec. 30)? And we wonder about the decline of fitness levels in North America.
Yes, the outdoor public escalator is a gesture with good intentions. But wise? I think not.
Rosalind House Cross, Summerside, PEI
New Year's resolve
My father, a "gentleman of ample proportions," has just announced he's going on a diet. It's going to be a very hard two days for my mom.
Jeannine O'Reilly, Newmarket, Ont.