That's rich
Executive compensation has indeed soared over the years, but so has employment risk, measured in higher rates of executive turnover (Getting A Handle On Happiness – Dec. 1). Companies are far quicker today to fire the underperforming senior executive, who is also more likely to be an outside hire with shallow roots in the business or corporate culture. And so the risk premium of taking on such roles, of jumping ship to a new company, has risen accordingly. This is reflected in ever-higher rates of results-driven variable pay. The unintended consequence of all this churn has been reckless decision-making at the top that may enrich the senior executive over the short term, while endangering the very viability of the business in the long run.
The corporate firmament is ablaze with such shooting stars, who may enjoy an elite income today but not necessarily tomorrow. Billionaire entrepreneurs excepted, the real rich make their money the old-fashioned way – they inherit it.
Edward Ozog, Brantford, Ont.
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The beautiful game
A 17-year-old suspended from school and barred from participating in team sports or events (Student Suspended For Criticizing School's Lack Of Support For Soccer – Dec. 1). Emil Cohen's "crime"? Criticizing the school administration in public! Clearly bullying is still a problem.
Put Mr. Cohen and the soccer team in charge of finding coaches and fundraising for equipment, then support them wholeheartedly. Cheer them, nurture passion for the beautiful game.
Alma Javad, Burlington, Ont.
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Poor reflection
I, for one, have found the WikiLeaks "revelations" ordinary and lame. Most of us who follow world events have been convinced that truth, honesty and human decency are not the cornerstone of most world powers, and that we live in times when the principles of justice and human rights are expendable.
What concerns me, however, is the comment by Tom Flanagan, a former senior adviser and strategist to our Prime Minister, calling for the assassination of the director of WikiLeaks (Ex-Harper Adviser Regrets 'Glib' Call For Retaliatory WikiLeaks Assassination – Dec. 1). If this was a joke, then it is a very poor reflection on the calibre of people who have advised Stephen Harper.
Shahina Siddiqui, Winnipeg
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Wiki, wack-y, policy wonky – Tom Flanagan hit, so to speak, all the bases. Assassination? Fugetaboutit.
Jane Rogers, Toronto
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Hair raising
Derek van der Kooy and his team are to be congratulated for their achievement in restoring the sight of mice (Stem Cells Give Sight To Blind Mice, Raising Hope For Aging Humans – Nov. 30). I note from the professor's photograph, however, that we have a common problem. I wonder, when he has perfected his methods, if he could turn his skills in stem-cell research toward restoring thinning male hair? May I suggest Old English Sheep Dogs or perhaps Irish Wolfhounds as suitable sources of stem cells?
William Neish, Saltspring Island, B.C.
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Dragon dynamics
Ramesh Thakur neglects the role of China, a country that India fears, and that keeps India's regional aspirations in check and explains in part why Pakistan can instigate low-intensity violence on Indian soil without consequence (Pakistan And North Korea Live On The Edge – Dec. 1). China also holds the key to North Korea's antagonistic and hermit-like behaviour. A core element in both conflicts – Pakistan and North Korea – is the reclamation of territory and peoples. Both countries have a fundamental aspiration for territorial redemption that must be taken seriously. It defines them. For Pakistan, it is and always has been Kashmir; for North Korea it is the peninsula. Regardless of whether Prof. Thakur believes these aspirations to be appropriate, they need to be part of his analysis – and India and the West's, too. Prof. Thakur is correct that India's democratic and secular values are quickly eroding. If it should ever come to the point where India fails to uphold these core values, it will be India and not Pakistan we shall fear.
David Carment, editor, Canadian Foreign Policy
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He joyed in it
The practice of verbing a noun has provoked comment many times before; the recent example of nouning a verb (using "reveal" as a noun) is rarer, but no less an occasion for comment among The Globe's letter-writers. May I point out that this practice – using a word usually known as one part of speech in such a way that it functions as a different part of speech – dates at least as far back as classical times, when it was known as anthimeria. Nor is it alien to English.
Shakespeare was not sicklied o'er with the thought of it; indeed he joyed in it. In linguistics, it's called a functional shift. Its use is almost always an indication that the usual words on offer don't provide the shade of meaning needed: A "reveal" is just not the same thing as a "revelation" and why should we say "the act of staging a revelation" instead, except for fear of provoking a letter to the editor of the Globe?
Susan Drain, Halifax
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Fitful engagement
Jeffrey Simpson is right to point to what Australia achieves in Asia in contrast to Canada (Australia Scratches Its Head At Our Fitful Asian Engagement – Nov. 27). But the gap between the two countries doesn't stop at trade. Last year an Australian official said, during a tea break in a development programs meeting at his Southeast Asian embassy: "Where the hell are the Canadians on this file? We used to work together, they understood our way of doing things, they'd be at this table and they'd oppose or vote for similar things. Now they've gone, invisible really. Now they just put down their money and run."
Mr. Simpson astutely characterizes Canada's official variability as "forget about Southeast Asia." Why isn't the government reconstructing a range of approaches and initiatives with these important societies, as Canada once did? When I look out my window, I can almost see Southeast Asia.
Robert Anderson, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C.
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Unprogrammed life
Ira Basen's article The Algorithm Method: Programming Our Lives Away (Nov. 27) strikes me as "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" for a new generation. Christmas is defined by non-algorithmic variables such as spirit, love and faith.
There isn't an algorithm for the right time to have a baby. My daughter will be two soon; her conception was unplanned when I was in Paris for my 41st birthday. An algorithm couldn't predict the blessing she would be because we would lose my father to as-yet-undiagnosed cancer a year later.
I believe in Santa Claus and my intuition and spirituality have been defining forces in my life. I have often taken the road less travelled, the overgrown one the algorithm wouldn't have chosen and it has made all the difference.
Jean Nickerson, Brampton, Ont.
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An old junker ...
Having followed the debate about the increasingly intrusive security checks at airports, I'm prompted to pose the question: When did "family jewels" become "junk"? Is it a reflection of an aging demographic?
Ken Pole, Ottawa