Donie's Ireland daily news Blog

Australia calls on the world to follow their tough anti-tobacco laws

    

Australia called on the world to match its tough new anti-tobacco marketing laws, which will ban logos on cigarette packs, after its highest court dismissed a challenge from manufacturers.

The decision means that from December 1st, cigarettes and tobacco products must be sold in plain olive green packets with graphic health warnings, such as pictures of mouth cancer and other smoking-related illnesses.

Although the impact of Australia’s ruling on the global business is small, the law could have a major effect if it is adopted as a precedent in other countries, especially the fast-growing economies that cigarette firms see as markets of the future.

The laws are in line with World Health Organisation recommendations and are being watched closely by countries including Britain, Norway, New Zealand, Canada and India, which are considering similar measures. Big tobacco firms challenged the laws in Australia’s High Court, claiming the rules were unconstitutional because they effectively extinguished their intellectual property rights. – (Reuters)

Ireland’s new maths programme adds up for average students 

’BUT THE SMARTER STUDENTS are SUFFERing’

   

The fact that our Leaving Cert system needs a complete overhaul is not in dispute — indeed there have been constant complaints from as far back as the 1970s about the vagaries of the “rote learning” method of regurgitating information which places those with a good memory at a distinct advantage over brighter students.

With our billing as the new “smart economy”, putting maths reform at the heart of the changes was clearly vital. However, the solution in the form of the Project Maths (PM) programme may well have shot itself in the foot, leaving students vastly ill-prepared for the real world of work.

This is according to a group of academics led by Steven Kirkland, professor of maths at NUI Maynooth, who, like his colleagues, is seeing students entering the third level system year after year with little or no ability to do anything other than trot out theorems and past papers. You’d imagine, then, that they would have embraced the new, application-friendly PM syllabus.

Not so. Instead, they have slammed it as a dumbing down of students’ abilities.

“Project Maths is completely insufficient and unsuitable by international standards to support engineering, scientific, and mathematical education at the highest level,” says their expert report, which in turn is backed up by a survey this week from Engineers Ireland showing even 57pc of maths teachers say the new syllabus won’t improve grades. And they’re the ones teaching it!

Mind you, one expects that many of the respondents make up the 30pc of completely unqualified maths teachers who never studied the subject themselves at degree level. The mind boggles.

A survey by the Teaching Council among the profession last year showed that of 2,045 maths teachers in 258 schools, 49 have no third-level qualification or have done no studies in maths, 596 have undergone “some studies” in maths and 1,400 teachers are fully qualified to teach the subject.

How can we possibly hope to make smart kids in a smart economy if they’re being taught by teachers who aren’t mathematicians themselves?

Surely that is our first step, rather than dumbing down the entire curriculum to get more people “interested” in maths.

“Perhaps Project Maths is suitable for those who do not intend to pursue third-level studies in mathematics, or any of the sciences,” says a withering Prof Kirkland.

Among teachers, the new exam is referred to as “English Paper 3″, given its penchant for long-winded questions about the velocity of octopuses skidding on ice rinks and the safety precautions on lifeboats (I’m not making this up — these were two actual questions from a recent paper).

Our future IT experts, scientists and business leaders aren’t going to come by making things easier for the masses who already think maths is difficult and boring. They’re going to come, as they always have, from those who “get” the subject — the A and B students at higher level whose numbers have not changed one iota since Project Maths was introduced.

16pc of students took higher level maths last year. Of the pilot schools doing Project Maths, guess what? Only 16pc took higher level maths — exactly the same number.

So, if its goal was to encourage more entrants, it has already failed.

Yes, we need to get kids more involved in maths, and yes, it needs to be made realistic and interesting, but for those who would achieve excellence as pure mathematicians, we ought to leave an option for them to do so, the type that will qualify them alongside their American, British and German counterparts. Bringing everyone to the lowest common denominator is absurd.

We’re creating a nation of “average”. That’s not smart now, is it?

Ireland’s Charities are forced to cut their costs as donations fall sharply

  

Some of Ireland’s charities have confirmed they have been forced to introduce cost savings as a result of a fall-off in donations by the public and reductions in official funding.

Earlier this week children’s charity Barnardos said it was closing its services for the week to save €400,000.

    The ISPCC, which operates Child-line, has made nine staff redundant this year and has asked others to take unpaid leave.

“We can’t close Child-line for a week so we have asked staff to assist when they can,” director of services Caroline O’Sullivan said. Some staff have taken a week’s unpaid leave and others up to a month, she said. The organisation had made cuts to maternity leave, sick pay and payroll, she added.

This year the ISPCC saw a 10 per cent drop (€500,000) in public donations at a time of increased need. “The biggest challenge is the waiting list . . . and the inability to meet demand,” Ms O’Sullivan said.

Another organisation that has seen increased demand is the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland and the 14 centres it represents, with services up by 11 per cent in 2011 and 9 per cent in 2010.

It is 80 to 90 per cent dependent on State funding and centres have taken annual cuts in Health Service Executive funding since 2009 (up to 15 per cent). The HSE has capped this year’s cuts at 5 per cent. As a result some outreach services have closed, while a lot of the education services have been cut.

Centres have also introduced unpaid leave and cut staff hours, as well as making pay cuts.

However, organisations not dependent on State funding have also seen sharp drops.

Human rights organisation Amnesty International, which receives limited State funding, saw its income fall 18 per cent between 2010 and 2011. As a result, it cut a fifth of its workforce (10 staff) between 2009 and 2010 and reduced non-staff costs by 39 per cent compared with 2005.

However, a membership drive in recent months has seen 2,500 new paying members join the organisation.

Some charities dealing with poverty have seen overall increases in funding, but these have been outstripped by demand.

Between 2008 and 2010, overall income for the homeless charity the Simon Community increased by 5 per cent.

However, its statutory funding has been cut while demand has increased. As a result, it reduced employees and costs.

The Society of St Vincent de Paul has also seen a sharp rise in demand for services, with calls up 80 per cent in the past three years.

“We haven’t had to cut back on services yet and I don’t envisage doing that,” a spokesman said. It has reduced costs and introduced a pay freeze. Fundraising was “holding up” due to some 1,250 local networks raising money, he said. SVP’s income rose by a fifth between 2008 and 2010.

Some organisations have managed to sustain their services and income despite the downturn.

The Irish Hospice Foundation has not had to cut salaries or services in recent years.

Almost 99 per cent of its funding comes from donations and it has to raise about €5 million annually to support programmes. As a result it has always “run a pretty tight ship”.

“We have to work very hard to get the funds in and have launched a number of fundraising ventures in recent years. Thankfully the public continue to support us in these difficult times,” Caroline Lynch, head of communications at the foundation, said.

Development agency Concern has also had to make adjustments. It had a 17 per cent fundraising fall since last year and has also seen development aid cuts.

However, the agency anticipated this decline due to a boost from emergency donations for disasters such as Haiti in previous years.

It took steps early on to tackle the impact of the recession, freezing and cutting salaries (including a 10 per cent cut for its chief executive) and pulling out of some countries (such as India and Cambodia) to focus on the poorest ones.

Two New Coins issued for Michael Collins anniversary

      

 The two-coin collector’s set which is selling for €95

Michael Collins has gone from being a historic figure associated with one political party to an iconic figure embraced by all Irish people, according to Minister for Finance Michael Noonan.

“A very significant watershed in that was my predecessor, the late Brian Lenihan, speaking at Béal na mBláth in 2010, when he paid tribute to Collins, and said that the spirit of Collins was the spirit of the nation and we should bear that in mind.”

Michael Noonan was speaking yesterday at Collins Barracks in Cork, where he unveiled two commemorative coins issued by the Central Bank to mark the 90th anniversary of Collins’s death at Béal na mBláth on August 22nd, 1922.

The Central Bank is issuing 8,000 of a €10 silver proof coin which it is selling for €48, and 12,000 of a €20 gold proof coin which is selling for €50, and 6,000 of both in a two-coin set which is selling for €95.

How your blood group can affect your heart disease risk?

People with ‘O’ type ‘benefit from natural protection’

        

A person’s blood group helps determine their risk of heart disease, a study has found.

Researchers claim almost half of Britons with blood group O, the most common blood type, benefit from some natural protection against the illness.

However, they said people from groups A and B are more at risk, while people from AB, the rarest blood group, are the most vulnerable.

The findings, published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, are based on an analysis of two large US health and lifestyle studies.

The Harvard University researchers concluded people with blood group AB were 23 per cent more likely to suffer from heart disease.

Group B blood increased the risk by 11 per cent, and type A by 5 per cent.
It is thought people with type O blood may benefit from a substance that is thought to assist blood flow and reduce clotting.

Lead researcher Professor Lu Qi, from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said ‘While people cannot change their blood type, our findings may help physicians better understand who is at risk for developing heart disease.

‘It’s good to know your blood type the same way you should know your cholesterol or blood pressure numbers.

‘If you know you’re at higher risk, you can reduce the risk by adopting a healthier lifestyle, such as eating right, exercising and not smoking.’

The study compared blood groups and heart disease incidence but did not analyse the complex biological mechanisms involved.

There is evidence that type A blood is associated with higher levels of ‘bad’ type of cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL), which is more likely to fur up the arteries.

AB blood is linked to inflammation, which also plays an important role in artery damage.
People with type O blood may benefit from a substance that is thought to assist blood flow and reduce clotting.

The researchers pointed out the study group was mostly white Caucasian and it is not clear whether the same findings applied to other ethnic groups.

Prof Qi said ‘It would be interesting to study whether people with different blood types respond differently to lifestyle intervention, such as diet.’

Scientists from Pennsylvania University last year found the same gene that causes people to be blood group ‘O’ gives them some protection against heart attack.

But experts warn that while blood type O may offer some protection from heart trouble, blood type alone will not compensate for other factors that are linked to cardiovascular disease.

Other research found blood group O patients may be at greater risk for bleeding and blood transfusions after heart surgery.

Patients with AB blood type are 20 per cent less likely to die after heart bypass surgery than those with A, B or O blood types, said Duke University Medical Center researchers.

Doireann Maddock, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said ‘While these findings are certainly interesting we’ll need more research to draw any firm conclusions about blood type and its role in heart disease risk.

‘Nobody can influence what type of blood they are born with but a healthy lifestyle is something everybody can have an influence over. Eating healthily, getting active and stopping smoking are the types of things you should be worrying about, not your blood type.’