Crass words

Whether research councils should spend money on art works to promote science is a fair question for discussion (“Simon Singh criticises wasteful spending in science outreach”, News, 13 October). However, Singh defeats his own argument with childish generalisations such as “people hate physics, they hate ballet”. Perhaps he should visit the inmates at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility, who recently beat the Harvard University debate society. He might even find a funder to help with travel costs – in the name of improving public communication of science, of course.

Lyn Grove
London School of Economics