Editor, The Times:
No, Winston Churchill did not save England during the Battle of Britain. True, his rhetoric did inspire the British people to resist and he saw very early the dangers of Hitler's Nazism, unlike Chamberlain and Halifax.
However, during the blitz Churchill favoured Leigh-Mallory's 'Big Wing' fighter theories that nearly lost the whole works. As Len Deighton points out in Fighter, even when the Luftwaffe began bombing London, the Big Wing was largely ineffective.
There are plenty more legends that don't stand up to the light of day but the one that gets to me most is that of Stephen Harper the great money manager who, with the wisdom of a Medici banker, guided Canada through dark times, keeping a firm hand on the tiller.
When in opposition Harper, along with Canada's 'banksters', argued strenuously to let Canada's banks mega-size and that all the rules all be thrown to the winds just as was done south of the border.
We all know of the great US (and European) banks meltdown of 2007-08 (or do we?).
However, due to the firm hand of Jean Chretien, who resisted all calls to mega-size and deregulate, Canada's banks remained in relatively good shape.
As Dave Charbonneau pointed out in the now defunct Kamloops Daily News, what Harper did during the 2007-08 financial crisis was against all of his neo-conservative instincts.
It wasn't until he got a majority that these instincts came to the fore.
Harper the great financial manager – just a legend.
Dennis Peacock
Clearwater, B.C.