Don’t stalk Santa, for kids’ sake!

For the past fortnight a comet that flew Icarus-like too close to the Sun and yet survived to tell the tail has been the subject of minute tracking. It’s appearance, disappearance and unexpected reappearance had all the elements of a space drama, but it was largely for the buffs. For lay observers — and millions of children around the world at this time of year — the identified flying object that has to be most closely monitored is a certain white-bearded, portly gent with a presentladen, jingling sleigh drawn by a string of flying reindeer. It is admirable indeed that the North American Aerospace Defense Command ( NORAD) has been taking time off from its serious job of keeping track of enemy planes, intercontinental missiles and other potentially dangerous aerial interlopers for the past 59 years, to keep tabs on ‘Big Red One’.

The “tracking” usually features an animated Santa cavalcade superimposed on real satellite imagery, but the latest addition to the tableau — two fighter jet escorts — puts a rather un-Christmassy contemporary twist to the timeless tale. Kids would probably see nothing amiss, but poor ol’ Santa would certainly be concerned if Rudolph, Dancer, Prancer and the rest get spooked by noisy jets. NORAD will have a lot to answer for if that causes Santa’s gifts to fall overboard before he clears Lapland!