The Front Pages
Head shops all over Ireland can expect to face charges of reckless endangerment in the near future. New medicines may become available to prolong your life to 100 years. And, Mary Coughlan is pushing colleges to accept students to courses even if they fail higher-level Leaving Cert Maths.
These are just some of today’s national headlines and, ironically, it is head shop owners who snatch their very own headline on the front page of The Irish Examiner. The story suggests that the Director of Public Prosecutions is toying with the idea of bringing reckless endangerment charges against 13 head shops. If found guilty, the owners may face up to one year in prison if the charges were heard in a district court or a possible seven years behind bars if convicted in higher courts.
On the flipside of the chemical world there is hope that a new pill may produce longevity. According to The Irish Independent a new medicine may be available in two years time which could help people live to a “ripe old age†of about 100 years. One of the world’s leading age scientists, Nir Barzilai, seems to have cracked the mystery of aging. It is not expected that the pill will be on sale in the aforementioned medicinal outlets!
The Irish Times has published passages of Minister for Education, Mary Coughlan’s, letter to college chiefs which details her belief that students who fail higher-level maths should be accepted for courses regardless. With the Leaving Cert just around the corner for thousands of Irish teenagers, the pressure can be on for some students to drop to ordinary level maths in the lead-up. The Minister suggests that an E grade in higher-level should be the equivalent of a D3 on the ordinary paper. It seems Ms Coughlan is trying to balance the books just like another busy mathematical Minister of State.
