Immateriality – or irrelevance?

In The Importance of Being Earnest Jack Worthing was given his surname by Mr Thomas Cardew, who happened to have a first-class ticket for Worthing in his pocket when he found him in the cloakroom at Victoria station – the Brighton line. When told, Lady Bracknell exclaimed: ‘The line is immaterial!’ This turns out not to be true, since it emerges that Miss Prism left a baby at the cloakroom of the Brighton line.

Was it immaterial that Mr Cardew (whose Christian name – ‘James, or Thomas’ – Lady Bracknell also assumes is immaterial) had a first-class ticket? Not at all, for his wealth made his granddaughter an eligible bride for Jack.

I mention these questions of immateriality or irrelevance because I sometimes run up against materiality used in a sense that trips me up. An investor concerned about the healthiness of Nestlé selling so much chocolate was reported as saying: ‘We see ESG [environmental, social and governance] as a financial materiality.’