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Flicking through the Sky channels last night, I chanced on the Lords debate on maths teaching. The peers have a good understanding of the dire state of the subject at school level and there is a political will to do something about it.

Hull University's closure of its maths department was mentioned several times and it is clear that Hull may have damaged itself far more than it realises. The logic is as follows: maths is a core subject of enormous importance to the economy; "proper" universities do core subjects; therefore Hull (despite having excellent departments in many subjects) is no longer a proper university. Hull's vice-chancellor would do well to consider the wider fallout from such closures.

Martin Greenhow

Department of mathematical
sciences, Brunel University