Nutmeg adds depth to classic Christmas dainty

“It’s amazing how the arrest of a 66-year-old man in Norfolk has raised the spirits of the entire country,” remarked a reader on the letters page of the Guardian this week. “Perhaps a few more arrests are in order.”

The 66-year-old man was Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, until recently known as Prince Andrew in polite circles and as “Randy Andy” in the British gutter press. He was arrested on Feb. 19 for “misconduct in public office,” not for raping an underage girl called Virginia Giuffre in Jeffrey Epstein’s houses in London, New York and the Caribbean.

But at least he was arrested (and immediately released on bail).

Four days later, on Feb. 23, another British notable briefly honoured the inside of a British police station with his presence. It was Peter Mandelson, a renowned “fixer” in British politics and briefly U.K. ambassador to the United States. The charge was the same vague “misconduct in public office,” and he, too, was immediately let out on bail.

It’s the start of a new school year, but not just any school year. It’s also school board election year.

Nominations are public knowledge and close on Sept. 22 and, on Oct. 28, new or continuing trustees will be elected, re-elected or acclaimed. For the next four years the people chosen will make many of the crucial decisions that affect our children’s education. It’s a big deal (one-third of our children’s school lives).

As a former superintendent, I want to encourage everyone to get involved and, at the very least, vote.

At least two school divisions during the last round elected or acclaimed people who were openly residential school deniers and sexists, people willing to break the law, deny human rights and who defied their educators’, communities’ and government’s efforts to rein them in. They were community dividers, pitting people against one another and against children. Therefore, it’s important to vote responsibly, meaning voters need to familiarize themselves with their candidates.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I’m almost 40, and one of my closest friends who was jobless for three years is once again earning decent money again — but she’s still acting like she’s broke!

I don’t care how people spend their money, but she still expects me to pay for her. For instance, if we go out for lunch, she’ll ask if we can do a 75-25 split, with her paying the lower amount. She also comes to potlucks with nothing to share, and then has the nerve to ask to take food home. She will also ask me to cover something and promise to pay me back, but then I have to hound her for weeks to get the money!

But it really took the cake recently when we went to a concert and she asked me to cover her ticket. Then she bought two T-shirts at the merch table! It feels underhanded to me — and insulting to my intelligence. It also feels weird to have to bring it up to her. We’ve been besties since high school —many, many years ago. Please help.

— Taking Advantage, Riverbend

Ditch Dynacare now

Re: Labour board ruling halts Dynacare strike (Sept. 9)

It is upsetting — no, infuriating — that Manitoba and other provinces (e.g., Ontario) are using Dynacare for their medical laboratory services. Dynacare is owned by a huge American corporation, Labcorp, located in North Carolina.

Doing a deep dive (via Google) into Labcorp and Dynacare’s finances is revealing. Labcorp does not separately report its Dynacare profits. But you can be sure that hundreds of millions of dollars are draining south. An important question to ask is how much of Canada’s publicly funded health-care money is ending up as profit for a U.S. owned corporation? And why is this not being investigated and reported? This is unacceptable.