At first look, I love the new Guardian look. Let’s see what happens on Monday.
Author: Anthony
New Scottish Parliament building
The outside is interesting, if occasionally a bit Bluewater (proverbs calligraphed into the outer walls). The setting, however, is magnificent.
Heritage open days
There are hundreds of free Heritage Open Days around the country over the next few days. The list of sites in East Sussex is here.
Travel notes: Edinburgh
Not a good hotel experience in Edinburgh today. Place booked at the Bank hotel, sight unseen through Expedia, but they bumped me to a ‘sister’ hotel called the Three Sisters. Sister hotel as in ugly sister. Stuck down on Cowgate, in the lee of Castle Mound, the outside area is a huge courtyard with a giant screen showing (today) Channel 4 racing. No room service either (noooooo).
The room was small and heavily overlooked, with cheap accountant’s-office blinds that moved in the slightest breeze. Oh, and there was an aircon unit outside the window that sounded like the Saturn V taking off.
I am now in the bland and corporate Radisson SAS on the corner of South Bridge, a much nicer spot, and handy for this evening’s do at the Scottish Parliament.
Metafilter: less sexy than a Bill Gates lapdance
Metafilter discusses the iPod mini’s replacement, the iPod nano, as well as the new Motorola phone with iTunes built in.
Polska – Walia 1:0. Na awans czekamy do października
A pleasant evening in the Polish Bar by Holborn, as Poland beat Wales 1-0 to advance to the World Cup finals.
Hurrah!
Edit: To advance to at least the play-offs for the World Cup Finals.
Your shout on the South Downs
The Sussex Express reports on the creation of a new consultative body to talk about issues around the South Downs. Apparently representative bodies are involved – are yours? More information at the South Downs Virtual Information Centre.
John Roberts’ philosophy
The Washington Post has an interesting article on the legal philosophy of aspiring Chief Justice Roberts. Roberts, it says, is devoted to legal process – not legislating from the bench, in other words. Now, I say this as a European liberal in a Parliamentary system, but that attitude does have a lot to recommend it.
For all the iconic status now placed on Roe v. Wade, it can be argued from a democratic point of view that judges creating rights out of – essentially – thin air is undesirable, particularly in such a contentious area. I speak as a supporter of abortion availability (alongside measures to reduce its incidence), but would it not have been better for states (or the Feds) to have introduced something like Britain’s 1967 Abortion Act.
Then there would have been a debate, a democratic agreement, and (as in the 1967 Act) provision could have been made for people with a conscientious objection not to participate in the process. To apparate a right to an abortion, however hedged around, and however supported by the public as a whole, is always going to be undemocratic in the eyes of its opponents. What is more, as Katha Pollitt mentions in a recent issue of The Nation, it can make supporters of abortion rights lazy, and over-reliant on the existence of a constitutional right rather than winning hearts and minds.
My Technorati profile
Nemo iudex in causa sua
This story gave me a huge laugh – George W Bush, the President of the US, has taken it on himself to lead the inquiry into what went wrong with the handling of Katrina. Quick summary of the results, courtesy of my friend Nostradamus:
- (Democrat party) officials in NO and Louisiana – guilty as hell;
- Federal Government (prop. George W Bush) – pure as the driven snow, honest public servants doing hard work in difficult circumstances, etc. etc.
“No-one should be judge of his own cause” indeed.
The BBC report: Link.