Articles on Brexit, Northern Ireland, science and technology in education, a numbers quiz and the idea of banning glitter have provoked some of the most interesting discussion on the site today.
To get involved, you can click on the links in the comments below to expand the conversation and add your thoughts. We’ll continue to highlight more comments worth visiting as the day goes on.
Voters will ‘go bananas’ if UK offers £40bn to EU, former Tory minister warns May ahead of key meeting
Andrew Sparrow’s politics live blog is busy with discussion that isn’t too hopeful on the prospects of a satisfactory Brexit deal.
‘One of the great harms Brexit is causing is the erosion of hope’
John Hume, not Gerry Adams, steered the Northern Ireland peace process
Seamus Mallon’s writing about John Hume’s vision for partnership resonated with many readers.
‘Without Hume it is hard to see just how the process would have been established’
Agreed. The time that Hume's huge role in the Peace Process is properly respected is long overdue. Without Hume's contribution it is hard to see just how the process would have been established. Perhaps eventually all sides would have tired of the futility of the war that nobody could win, but Hume certainly sped the process up.
‘John Hume (and others) are the true architects of the peace process’
My fears were based on previous films about Ireland, which reeked of sentimentality, “old sod” songs and stories
This reminds me of when I was a cub reporter in Portadown many years ago. I was sent out to interview a gentleman that had just turned 100 and had received a letter from the Queen (no prizes for guessing what part of Portadown he was from!) The man's daughter went into the kitchen to make coffee for me and our photographer. I was asking him about when he had moved to Canada when he was younger and utter the immortal line "why did you come back, did you miss the 'aul sod?" Before he could answer his daughter called from the kitchen "No, he was only there for five years"... The daughter came in with the coffees to see two media people unable to speak for trying to suppress the howls of laughter! The gentleman just looked bemused. Needless to say my reporting career only lasted a few more months.
But I digress. John Hume (and others) are the true architects of the peace process. Special mention must also go to Denis Bradley for his part in bringing the key figures together.
Don’t just teach kids to code – teach them to question Facebook and Google
Many readers with experience as parents, or as teachers or IT professionals, had input on a conversation about where we should focus tech education.
‘I think the obsession with coding is misplaced’
I've commented on this before, but as someone who has spent most of his career in IT, I think the obsession with coding is misplaced. IT is a complex industry, in which coding is only one activity. If you don't get all the other stuff right first, and manage the process effectively, it doesn't matter how good your coding is.
We should be teaching kids to be imaginative, creative problem solvers, who can think critically and communicate effectively. They need to be able to truly understand the requirements and design the best solution, taking a holistic view of a problem.
"...it fosters an understanding of logic, advanced problem-solving, and the processes needed to turn ideas into functioning systems..."
I'd argue that these are vital, transferable skills, but they are gained from a broad, creative education, of which coding is a relatively small part. Coding languages come and go, but the ability to engineer effective solutions and deliver them will always be required.
‘Yes, but schools need to make it interesting’
Yes but schools need to make it interesting. My son, who's always messing about with his pc, took the coding gcse. The teacher wasn't trained and was working from a text book. They spent weeks learning flow diagrams on paper before even touching a pc, relevant yes but very boring. He was actually put off the idea of going into programming, despite loving using coding such as scratch since a young age.
Can you solve it? This apple teaser is hard core!
Spoilers to today’s puzzle abound in the comments – but this of course means there’s plenty of help on offer if you’re struggling. Click the link to get involved, or take this as a starting point:
I think I have the answer but won't share it yet.
I will hint at my approach though.
We know that the other two cells cannot have 5 apples in either of them (because mine has), we also know that they cannot have the same as each other, nor can their combined total, added to mine, be either a prime or even.
That actually reduces the possible combinations greatly. A 9x9 grid representing all the possibilities of the two other cells is a quick way of exploring this.
A gold star for the nurseries that have stopped being glitter bugs
Seeking solutions for the environment but also a happier life at home, many readers had input on this piece about a nursery taking steps to ban glitter.
‘Will nurseries now ban plastic straws and the rest?’
Plastic bottles, straws, liquid soap dispensers, cotton buds, wet wipes, plastic bags, yoghurt cartons, plastic toothbrushes and cutlery etc are all major problems. I've seen all these on beaches all around the world. Glitter is a side issue. Banning glitter is not exactly top priority or a big deal. Still hopefully it will lead to more pressure to get rid of the rest. Will nurseries now ban plastic straws and the rest? Please.
‘The stuff can pass through solid walls like a particularly strong blast of radiation’
I've posted this before about glitter and I'll post it again. The stuff can pass through solid walls like a particularly strong blast of radiation.
It will then mysteriously re-appear, bang in the centre of your forehead , at the most inopportune time, several months later e.g. Job interview, telling a patient their cancer is stage 4, announcing the death of a monarch on primetime TV etc.
This article will be updated throughout the day with some of the most interesting ways readers have been participating across the site.
One of the great harms Brexit is causing is the erosion of hope. Every morning I wake up hopeful that someone in government or oposition has decided that "today is the day, today I'm going to put the country before party and put an end to this madness", every evening I'm going to bed just that little more crushed that once again no one has decided to be that grown-up.
All I want is a grown-up, all I want is for one of them to say "do you know what? This isn't why I decided to join the conservative party. I don't want to see the destruction of my country. I don't want to be a part of that".
I want one of them to say "enough is enough now. Let's work out what we actually want from this as a country and discuss that sensibly and calmly". Once they've done that I want them to have the courage to then say to the country "that we need to talk to our European partners and work out a way to achieve what as a country we've decided" and take any deal back to a plebiscite with the question being "do you want to leave on these terms or not?" Maybe not even a plebiscite but back to parliament to more grown-ups whose job is meant to be the scrutinising of legislation for our benefit. I want just one of them to do their bloody job.
None of that's going to happen though. Nope. What is going to happen is that by inches and increments our negotiating position will be eroded as our economy falters as our politicians fail to prevent the harm being cowed and intimidated by their own whips and the press to do anything other than put brexit zealotry at their front and center of their political vision.
Hope for men and women of vision in politics is now a fools dream. We're being damned by mediocrities.