Handbag treatment for maths’ scholar

AN erudite scholar of mathematics and Nobel Prize winner is visiting Tralee IT on September 8.

The news of his visit and opportunity to attend his talks, which could benefit the knowledge economy of Ireland, gets buried on page 16 of the Irish Examiner (August 23) while a ‘handbag obsession’ feature gets major promotion on the backpage.

The lack of social responsibility of the media is reflected in the 5,000 students who failed maths in the Leaving Certificate this year. The demonising of hard sciences and mathematics by the Irish media and its lack of appetite boldly to promote scholastic events means it should pay heed to the incisive foresight in William Blake’s Auguries of Innocence: “A dog starved at his master’s gate predicts the ruin of the state.”