I've just got back from 2026's Big Bang Fair at the NEC in Birmingham, having last attended in 2024. On both occasions my attendance was as a volunteer for an organisation whose name I won't mention here because I want it to be clear that these are my thoughts rather than theirs. This year, I left feeling thoughtful. In contrast, my experience in 2024 left me frustrated enough to decline an invitation to return in 2025. To introduce the source of that frustration, I invite you to play a game of 'spot the difference':
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| Spot the difference: lanyards from The Big Bang Fair 2024 (left) and 2026 (right) |
The return of the "M" to Big Bang's branding was encouraging. But after three days at the fair, I came away wondering whether mathematics had really returned in any meaningful sense. Maths was everywhere at the event, yet almost nowhere was it recognised as maths.