12.A more specific term would be the better-than-average effect, which is, like many biases, self-serving insofar as it protects a person's self-esteem.
16.Insofar as facts are " true" and represent reality, they cannot change, of course, because truth, strictly speaking, does not change, nor does reality.
17.The teachers unions may now be on Mr Brown's side, but parents of schoolchildren, insofar as they are organised by the powerful parent-teacher association, are with Ms Munger's.
20.Yes, insofar as tragedy is taken very seriously in its own terms, both empirically and historically, and then elevated above epic and very possibly above comedy too.