The University of Edinburgh Magazine Issue 16 Summer 1999

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HEADS,YOU WIN Publisher Edinburgh has one of the strongest letting markets in the Communications & Public Affairs, UK combined with excellent capital growth prospects. Stephen Fraser gets inside the mind of the University’s new Professor of Sport. Page 8 The University of Edinburgh Centre, 7-11 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh EH8 9BE Edinburgh house prices continue to move steadily ANOTHER TIME,ANOTHER PLACE Editor Anne McKelvie upwards, outperforming most other cities in the UK. Edinburgh, second time around. Antonia Swinson surveys the landscape. Page 14 Assistant Editors David Eccles, Richard Mellis COVER FEATURE OWN LABEL CHIC Design Cullen Property Ltd act for a large number of individual Neil Dalgleish for Visual Resources, clients, many of whom are Edinburgh alumni, resident Edinburgh’s students - file under style. Page 22 The University of Edinburgh Photography both overseas and in the UK. CANNABIS - THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE Tricia Malley, Ross Gillespie, Ewan Smith, Neil Montgomery muses on our confusion. Page 26 Visual Resources,The University of Edinburgh To receive full details of CULLEN PROPERTY Ltd services (without obligation), Advisory Panel Ally Palmer, John de W. Shaw please fax or post the completed coupon. CULLEN PROPERTY LTD FORTY YEARS ON Advertising Sales Agent NAME: (MR/MRS/DR/MISS) “...and how things have changed”, says Professor Aubrey Manning. Page 30 Mediaworks 5 ALVA STREET 58 Southwold Road Paisley PA1 3AL EDINBURGH ADDRESS: CLOSE QUOTES Tel/Fax: 0141 882 1768 EH2 4PH Professor Richard Coyne considers architectural education in the 21st century. Page 34 © The University of Edinburgh 1999. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior written Tel: 0131 478 8916 consent of the publishers. Edit is printed on environment- TEL: friendly low chlorine content paper. Edit, The University of Fax: 0131 226 2704 NEWS Page 4 OMNIANA Page 7 Edinburgh Magazine, is published twice a year. The views FAX: expressed in its columns are those of the contributors and do E-mail: [email protected] A MEAL TO REMEMBER Page 33 not necessarily represent those of the University. E-MAIL: EDIT 5/99 three edit News

First Scottish Gazetteer for 113 years The first fully comprehensive Scottish Gazetteer to be compiled since 1885 is being created in a flagship geographical research project by the University and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS). The Gazetteer for Scotland project aims to provide easily accessible information about places throughout Scotland.The project,which will take a number of years to complete,will be based on the World Wide Web,and be available as a reference book.Aimed at both the Scottish community and an international audience,this is seen as a major development to promote an understanding of the geography of Scotland. If you want to find out about towns,villages,rivers,bens and glens from the Scottish Borders to the Northern Isles,the Gazetteer will be the most useful source of reference.It will include not only descriptions of geographical features,historic sites and tourist attractions but also informa- tion on family names,famous people,and local industry. With financial support from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and the Robertson Trust,the initial design phase of the Gazetteer has been completed using information Enlightenment on Fife and is already available on the Web at http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/.Data for the Revisited rest of Scotland will be added gradually by the year 2000. Enchantment,Energy,Excitement, Effervescence,Expectation,Experience, Education,Enlightenment,Edinburgh... BBC Correspondent wins Eureka! Pick up a copy of the Centre for Continuing Alumnus of the Year Award Education’s new 1999 International Summer BBC foreign correspondent Allan Little has been selected as the 1998 University of Courses brochure and an exuberant selection of Edinburgh/The Royal Bank of Scotland Alumnus of the Year.The Award is made ‘E’ words jump off the pages at you,transmit- annually to a former student for services to the community,achievements in arts or ting the essence of University of Edinburgh sciences,in business,public or academic life. summer school experience.Education and Allan Little graduated MA in Politics and Modern History from the University in 1982. Enlightenment are what it’s all about and the Joining the BBC in 1983,Allan worked in Glasgow,London and a number of local radio 1999 programme is more exciting than ever stations in England.While working for BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme,he covered the with new courses in Radio Production at the Lockerbie disaster,and in 1989 reported from Czechoslovakia and Romania on the Edinburgh Fringe,Scotland’s Railways and the overthrow of Communism in Eastern Europe. Geology of Southern Scotland,as well as a In 1990,Allan reported on the Gulf War from Baghdad,and his subsequent coverage of the special focus on developments surrounding the suppression of the anti-Saddam uprising in southern Iraq and Kuwait’s reprisals against its new Scottish Parliament.These accompany own Palestinian population earned him the title Radio Reporter of the Year,and Amnesty many well-established popular courses in International Radio Reporter of the Year for human rights reporting.In 1991,the conflict in Scottish Studies,the Edinburgh Festivals and Yugoslavia took Allan first to Croatia,then Bosnia,and for his coverage he was named War much more. Correspondent of the Year in France’s ‘Bayeux’ journalism awards. Summer Courses are open to all adults - no In 1995,having already covered the mass genocide in Rwanda and Zaire,Allan was previous knowledge or experience is required - appointed BBC Southern Africa Correspondent and,last year,he became BBC Correspondent just an enquiring mind and a desire to know in Moscow.He is pictured with (left) Sir Angus Grossart,Vice-Chairman of The Royal Bank of more.You will be joined by adults of all ages Scotland,and the Principal of the University,Professor Sir Stewart Sutherland. and backgrounds from around the world - last year’s participants included a Swedish librarian, an Argentinian teacher,an American ethno- psychologist,a Japanese lawyer,a Macedonian student,a French journalist,a Spanish civil Presenting Scotland to the World Cover Story servant,an Australian financial controller,a The new Museum of Scotland building,purpose built to house over Crime writer Ian Rankin,whose short story Scottish farmer,a Bulgarian musicologist,and a 10,000 objects from the nation’s most precious treasures to every- The Acid Test featured in the last issue of IALS celebrates its 20th Canadian banker,among many others! day items,was officially opened by Her Majesty the Queen on Edit,liked the illustration accompanying the article so much that he asked the photogra- The Institute for Applied Language Studies (IALS) at the University is celebrating its Find out all about the 1999 Summer of St Andrews Day. phers Tricia Malley and Ross Gillespie for 20th anniversary with the publication a review of the Institute’s development.IALS Enlightenment by requesting your free brochure The new Museum,interlinked to the Royal Museum of Scotland in permission to use it on the cover of his next was set up in 1979 (occupying one room in Hope Park Square) by the Department of from Ursula Michels at the Centre for Chambers Street,is the latest development by the National Museums of paperback,Dead Souls. Applied Linguistics with the aim of supporting research and development.It is now Continuing Education,11 Buccleuch Place, Scotland whose very foundations can be traced right back to the ‘Portraits of Excellence’,a collection of photo- the largest university language unit in the country.In its early years,IALS operated Edinburgh EH8 9LW.Tel 0131 650 4400/662 University’s own Talbot Rice Gallery.The National Scottish Collection,as it graphs of members of staff by Tricia Malley and as an English language support service within the University,while developing new 0783 (24 hours) Fax 0131 667 6097 Email was then known,was initially held within the walls of the Talbot Rice Ross Gillespie,which featured in a previous overseas business and gradually introducing courses in other languages.IALS [email protected] Web site at Gallery overseen by one of the University professors.This collection issue of Edit,has been awarded first prize in the moved to its present location in Hill Place in 1982,expanding later into refurbished http://www.cce.ed.ac.uk/summer progressively outgrew the available space and when the Royal Museum best corporate brochure of the year category of ground and basement floors and neighbouring properties.Most recently,the Moray of Scotland was built in Chambers Street in the 1860s,the collection the British Association of Communicators in House merger has seen the English Language Centre at Holyrood joining IALS. moved next door.This donation created a strong link with the museum, Business (Scotland) awards. Development and expansion have been steady; after its first decade,the Institute had 37 perhaps best embodied by the so-called “Bridge of Sighs”which to this staff,ran 23 different summer courses and measured both English Language and Modern day connects the two buildings across West College Street. Language enrolments in the high hundreds.Currently,staff number over 50,there are 38 The new Museum,finished at a cost of £52.2 million,has been created summer courses and enrolments are more than twice their 1989 level.The Institute also to present Scotland to the World,and its exhibits have been themed into runs overseas projects and consultancies,publishes an annual collection of research five categories:Beginnings,Early People,Kingdom of the Scots,Scotland papers and runs an annual Symposium for language teachers,making a continued Transformed and Twentieth Century. contribution to language learning and teaching and to the University.

four edit five edit six run by the UK’s schools. six veterinary which makes it unique among hospitals for exotic animals and a wildlife ward, ward It also provides a dedicated theatres. and four operating general wards, three rooms, four specialist treatment Europe with eight consulting rooms, and treatment for small animals. medicine in the future; and search for new cures demands of veterinary modern techniques for treating small animals; train vets to meet the It will use the most opened its doors in January. Roslin, Veterinary Centre, The Dick Vet’s new Hospital for Small Animals at the Easter Bush Pets in practice Andrew Wallace. in a sprint finish by the Club President, 19 January schedule on Tuesday, was finally completed nearly two days ahead of The feat people from 2-8am. including a six-hour shift between three and two-hour sessions during the night, completed one-hour sessions during the day The rowers the heart of Edinburgh. of Edinburgh NHS Trust.Infirmary given to the Simpson’s Special Care Babies charity based at the Royal with £300 being £3,000 to help the club buy a much needed new boat, The event raised west coast of Ireland in 10 days 3 hours 20 minutes. to the Canada, completed the distance of 3,314km from Newfoundland, 57 oarsmen and women Rowing around the clock, in a new record time. row the distance across Atlantic Ocean on an indoor rowing machine Edinburgh University Boat Club completed its attempt to Earlier this year, RowA Record News

The hospital is the largest of its kind in UK and best equipped in The event took place in the Waverley Shopping Centre on Princes Street, edit Richard Walker Watching using often muted or sweet colours. using often muted or sweet handled with thin washes of oil sparse and frail, doorways - entrances and exits is windows, of interiors, The simple subject matter artists. of recent British aesthetic of a whole generation to the bedroom but also associated world, odds with our fast digital seemingly at domestic, screen size) the paintings are quiet and In this exhibition the scale is small (television could almost be said to its opposite. area that why the personal practice of Walker inhabits an space and false drama is one of the reasons to work with this artificial Having performance. providing the right places for effect, and they work with trickery are on a large scale, The backdrops places of drama. the imaginary painting the illusionistic backdrops for theatre connection to both these forms of simulation. have a real and constructed 5 June, show at the Talbot from 1 May to Rice Gallery which will be on paintings of Richard Walker, The We all watch TV or go to the theatre. For years many Walker has worked in the found on the Library’s Web http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/ site at Further details can be Nicolson Street (Tel 0131 650 2252; Fax 0131 650 2253). 7-11 and from the University of Edinburgh Centre, 3384; email [email protected]) Edinburgh EH8 9LJ (Tel 0131 650 George Square, post) from the Main Library, Mark Roget. William Robertson and Peter Colin MacLaurin, Robert Knox, Cosmo Nelson Innes, Sir Archibald Geikie, phies and portraits of such luminaries as Robert Christison, University Library’s Special Collections. are a research resource which attracts scholars worldwide to the Their writings as well to the breadth of their ideas and pioneering spirit. to the high quality of Scottish education, and are a testimony backgrounds, modest Some came from very have had a lasting impact on scholarship. these pioneering academics mathematics and literature, ration to medicine, travel and explo- physics, From astronomy, standard works in their fields. and their books remain the household names through their writings, Some men and women connected with the University before 1901 became WorthiesEdinburgh in Print concert. for his performance in the final voted for by the general public, Audience Award, Robin won the Parnassus Dutch work. of a contemporary prize for interpretation Veronica won the “U-Fonds” the board with additional special prizes. Robin swept Veronica played the Grieg piano concerto and Robin Schumann. In the final, BMus with special interest in performance and composition. is studying for a from Manchester, Robin, of Music. ising in the History special- is studying for a MA general degree in arts, from Taiwan, Veronica, The competition is open to university students worldwide. in Utrecht. and second places in the 3rd International Students Piano Competition held University students Veronica Tzu-Ying Yen and Robin Hutt have won first Musical Success in Utrecht Edinburgh if ordering by £9.95 (plus postage Worthies at in Print is available has been compiled containing biogra- Edinburgh University Worthies, A book, Veronica and In addition to bringing both first and second prizes Edinburgh, O T No.7 T Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.’ your eyes shall be opened, and] [‘For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then In the Authorised Version this reads: (Vulgate) ‘Eritis sicut dii scientes bonum et malum.’ the serpent says to Eve in Genesis 3.5: The Latin inscription is a slight modification of what 1892. Another sits on Lenin’s desk in the Kremlin. number of bronze castings produced by Reinhold in of ZoologyDepartment in 1942. It is one of a small Laboratories at King’s Buildings was presented to the h e MNIANA

a p which stands in the foyer of the Ashworth HIS STATUETTE OF APE AND SKULL e

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seven edit HEADS, YOU WIN HEADS, YOU WIN his professorial robes. Great Britain tracksuit as he is in University is equally happy in his Manchester Metropolitan capture for the University from of Edinburgh. But this new Chair of Sport at the University office as the first holder of incongruous given his academic psychologist seems turned former special forces soldier for you. The impressive bulk of a Professor David Collins Even before you can say it, says it S arts, canoeing, weight training and arts, displays a fair proficiency in martial who says the sportsman, gurus,” talk a good game, management ‘used car salesmen’, people who can scientists - and you have what I call scientists - that is, properhave sports trick-cyclists. my field you “Within jugular of what can seem a circus of today. Collins goes straight for the plethora of outside agencies in sport sympathy with confusion over the motivational psychology. brand of science-backed particular admit they have benefitted from his Steve Backley have been happy to playersrugby and the javelin thrower weightlifting squad, international confidentiality but so far the British Collins offers his clients gentility of tournament golf.surface thunder of professional to the rugby sphere from the blood and of sport, contributing to the triumphs in every in importance taken on a new the stuff of academia even as it has text The man himself is quick to admit Stephen Fraser

ports science has become ports

nine edit HEADS, YOU WIN

“In sport, if you virtually professionals. Take importance of the mind game everyone has got much fitter or Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell, that was David Sole stalking there’s something in the water,” stand still, you go for instance, who complained out at Murrayfield like a he suggests. backwards, and if of his rugby and his church gladiator. Collins, though, work suffering as he trained to believes the game was won for you work like stink become the best. “The mark of Scotland and lost for England E HAS encountered you might stand the greats has not changed. well before that hair-raising many athletes so They still share an obsession, a entrance. “The sum of your H obsessed with still, and you have compulsion to train and train achievement is your potential achievement they knowingly to work really super and train until they are the best minus something called risk their own health. “We have they can be,” he adds. A real ‘product losses’, which are worked with bodybuilders who duper extra hard to Alf would never have stood factors like anxiety, or would use a combination of 12 get a jump on a chance. complacency. The Scots had different drugs - it’s called Collins was switched onto already cracked it before the polypharmacy - at somewhere people.” psychology when he saw match. The mood in the between 20 and 40 times the physiologists, who often study England camp visibly relaxed. recommended dose - and that the body in isolation, The training routines changed. includes doses for animals. conducting tests to determine The Scots maximised their People know the dangers. But the maximum effort possible strengths, they kept their focus, they are obsessed with looking for an athlete. “They said their and they maximised the for an edge, with winning, and results found the max. I English product losses.” The many people will do whatever thought that sometimes they result is still one of Scottish they believe it takes.” didn’t. What if there had been sport’s most vibrant His powerful opposition to a lion on the other side of the achievements. drug use does not translate to a running machine? What if the There are other ways into blanket condemnation of athlete’s level of motivation was athletes’ minds. Smell works. athletes who use. He believes low that day? I knew their Collins had archers pause after they are often victims of a results couldn’t be the full a good shot to visualise their culture where the international story.” We all know the actions and smell a lavender- sporting bodies collude in the apocryphal stories of soaked patch. When he had pressures and temptations by rugby himself. “My job is to The best physically general realise exactly how hard functions. But then he’ll move remarkable strength in them shoot in a room failing to demonstrate real make myself redundant by athletes have to work to get on to the mind of the athlete, extremis, little old ladies lifting permeated with lavender, their political will on drug use teaching athletes to motivate prepared athletes can anywhere. It needs total and working out which buttons to cars off their husbands when scores went up. Another project through adequate punishments. themselves. Unlike many, I’m not be undone if they are utter commitment.” And the push to motivate them to greater the jack collapses. Collins knew worked on nastier stimulants. “I have had to counsel clients interested in getting a continuing best way to progress, believes performance. “You need a very from his medical studies that in He gave weightlifters a through positive tests and it slice of my client’s action.” not properly mentally Collins, is to build a special qualitative personalised most cases, humans only use a substance they were told were destroys their lives. This is a “I guess from my appearance I prepared group of advisers round the understanding of the person’s percentage of their muscle steroids, and recorded greater complex area and the media don’t look like a professor and I athlete. “He or she will have a emotional make-up. We’d use fibres at one time. Fire a greater lifts as a result. Next time simplify it into black and know I may sometimes not coach, a biomechanist, a questionnaire-based measures of percentage, and get ready to round he told half the group white, with users evil people to sound like one but I’m physiologist, if a thrower an processing load, assessing how pick up your medal. the truth about the placebo be vilified. I do think they are confident that what I’m doing is believes, as do most in his field, orthopaedic surgeon or shoulder hard the person is working. All He had already been exposed only for their scores to drop, cheating, but remember the US scientifically rigorous. I’m not that the best physically prepared specialist. They’ve got me as a of these things go together to to psychology in his military whereas the other group’s athletics team in the last going to turn round to this athletes can be undone if they psychologist, they’ve got a show how we can help someone career, which took him into the increased again. Olympics was sponsored by a ten athlete and say,edit for example, are not properly mentally masseur and they’ve got a to react in the best possible way Royal Marines. “It’s an amazing Collins has conducted drug manufacturer.” ‘What we are doing is increasing prepared. The apparatus which physiotherapist. That’s their when the ordure hits the fan.” thing to run at somebody when research on steroid use and He does not see the lucre on the degree of coupling in the surrounds sport now is all about support team. That’s what they they are shooting at you but refers anyone unsure of the role offer in sport today as a spur dynamical system below the trying to gauge not just the need. Because that’s what it T ALL SEEMS very far that is what they train you to of the pharmacist in sport to for the use of stimulants. waist’. I’m going to say, ‘We are physical movements involved in takes. Because in sport, if you away from the cartoon book do. I knew people could go one research project conducted “These people are obsessed going to work the legs, John’. an action - the bio-mechanics - stand still, you go backwards, Iworld of Alf Tupper, the further and further, because the after the 1992 Olympics. A with being the best, not the But if his coach turns round and but also the neurological and if you work like stink you Tough of the Track, who raced service specialises in taking you leading doctor surveyed the richest.” Other deeper forces asks why we are doing it I can impulses from the brain and the might stand still, and you have to victory on a diet of fish and to places you don’t want to be.” achievements of endurance can, however, have an impact. say, ‘Look at this data on the impact of emotions, like stress to work really super duper extra chips, the epitome of cheerful He has also seen competitors athletes in the preceding games. Collins cites one test where it laptop’, and explain the science and anxiety, on the mind. hard to get a jump on people.” amateurism. Is it naïve to make up for inferior natural The norm was clustered quite was found that athletes tried underpinning the Any successful athlete or team When he is analysing an imagine an Alf Tupper type capability and talent with far down the graph, with the harder and achieved more if the straightforward advice.” now needs an extensive athlete, say a javelin thrower, coming from nowhere to win mental toughness and effort, exceptions all out on their own person testing them was of the The portable computer he backroom team if they want to Collins uses a gamut of the big prize? Crushingly, outdoing rivals with greater on- in terms of their VO2 max, their opposite sex. “It worked much wields is the first clue to the be able to compete at the top scientifically valid observational inevitably, the answer is ‘yes’. paper attributes. maximum potential effort. Four more for men than women, extent of science’s penetration level, given the rapid pace with techniques. He’ll use kinematics, Besides, Collins adds slyly, Alf Cue the Scotland-England years later, the two groups were with men anxious to impress.” into sport and, by extension, which the boundaries of the science of body movement. belongs to the comic book. The rugby clash in 1990, the Grand more equal in number, many of Some things are basic. into the brains and conscious achievement are being pushed He’ll use heart and brain great heroes of athletics, the Slam game. Ten years on, the athletes had moved into the Stephen Fraser is Education minds of athletes. For Collins back. “I don’t think people in monitors to assess physiological golden age amateurs, were people still debate the higher category. “Either Correspondent of Scotland on Sunday.

eleven edit

fourteen edit

another time

text illustration Antonia Swinson

another place Fiona Stewart yet familiar... sounds are subtly different, University city. Sights and with her family to live in her Antonia Swinson came back writer and columnist years living in London, Four years ago, after many F with that Generation X seriousness you never, ever managed when you were their age. until you walk through George Square, and see eighteen year olds chatting on their mobile phones a briefcase. did you turn into her? OfWhen on earth course inside yourself, you still feel twenty two, someone else is staring back at you, a mother of two, hair cut in bob, dressed in a suit and carrying expecting to see the young undergraduate Toni Swinson - long red hair and floppy jumper - but round the corner. But Princes Street windows bring you back to reality. You stare, somehow crash through there is the constant feeling that you might at any moment OR THE FIRST FEW MONTHS Back to the Future’s

Space Time Continuum by meeting your younger self coming

fifteen edit sixteen wears off, buildings the new Capacitor, Doc! another time. Go get the Flux looks at me as if I really am from term on my full grant, and he used to be able save £100 a was at University. I tell him that receives has barely gone up since I was born and that the grant he Conference Director the year he realise that I was Freshers shock comes when I suddenly half-amused horror, but my own the Bar. and offers me a drink upstairs in chatting me up in the salad queue to my amazement, a fresher starts lane when, going down memory well of trays. I am doing very are the same queues and clattering a perpetual conference, but there is more grown up these days, like at Pollock Halls. The atmosphere two children for Saturday supper other life you once had. ing smell of beer bring back that crimson buses and the all-pervad- The sharp, cutting wind, the James Centre remain fixed points. foul concrete stump of the St David Hume Tower and even the while the Castle, Mound, Caley, gentility in place Princes Street, North Bridge, and Jenners keeps Scotsman office dominates the behind the counter. The slightly loopy Australian girls menu and its special brand of 60s murals, still has the same Hendersons, with its deliciously attached. your personal history building has a giant tag with every familiar which surprises, as if AT FIRST When the shock of familiar My children fall about with Feeling rather smug, I take my

another time edit , it is the another place headquarters. headquarters. Scottish Office near the new ing with studied nonchalance Britannia is now in dock, float- living and chic restaurants. visit Leith and take in the loft bursting with business. Then national Conference Centre Nearby, the Edinburgh Inter- centre financial business district. and the Exchange, city the new and there is the Sheraton Hotel oped. Drive down Lothian Road city which have been redevel- system and the whole areas of the one-way that I take in the new University. So it is as a driver great national self-confidence. new the wind which are testament to a huge number of Saltires waving in proclaim the city’s renaissance, the stretched across the skyline which which excite, but the cranes not the grey stone and the spires the David Hume Tower, and it is Edinburgh day from the top of long gone. once worked has Sean Connery where dray horses at the dairy remains, but the pong of old housing. The smell of beer development for leisure and therearound the brewery is new area elegance, and all conservation £7 a week is now sandblasted into there where I rented a room for bridge? The condemned building Whatever happened to Fountain- Murrayfield internationals? where we used to get tickets for Bridge replace the old Bingo Hall did the Festival Theatre on South personal map of the city. When apparent impostors in your own become the biggest eye-openers, I never had a car when I was at Look across the skyline on an T I self-confidence a great new national wind are testament to Saltires waving in the the huge number of city’s renaissance .... skyline proclaim the stretched across the genteel paralysis so many years to such condemned the city for makers argue has which many decision- for vested interests Edinburgh’s penchant t has been he cranes into residential use. Many are flats lawyers’ back offices converted many financial services’ and Town, which has recently seen changes, however, are in the New employees within five years. expected to attract 50,000 town in its own right, and is this is rapidly becoming a mini proximity and M8, to the airport City has become. With its creaturefootprints of the new the Edinburgh Park are like huge nearby business mecca of massive Marks & Sparks and the Bypass, the Gyle Centre with its round the City While further Brent Cross a clean pair of heels. dazzling and could show London’s its satellite retail parks. It is UCI cinema, its Toys R Us, and Kinnaird Park with its monster Newcraighall and here lies and restaurants. chic overhaul offices with new land, is on course for a radical Edinburgh’s vacant industrial Granton, which has 50% of liners, while visiting cruise will provide retail facilities for Oceanby 2003 the new Terminal developmentthroes and of new Newhaven to Leith is in the full district fromThe waterfront make the whole area republican. in 50s tat is surely enough to tion celebrating the Royals’ taste gentry. Britannia, with its exhibi- abandoning any mores of the cosmopolitan street cred, thrusting fication, but with a new Though not with 80s style gentri- to be conquered. territory ment here that this is new Perhaps the most subtle Drive south east to There is a heady pioneer excite- tionally, by being designated a has been put on the map interna- without controversy and pain. tight time-frame which are not huge dramatic changes within a nation which is currently forcing expectation for the Scots, a combi- Parliament’s arrival is raising high international tourism, the market share of national and Edinburgh is having to fight for genteel paralysis. And now, just as city for so many years to such makers argue has condemned the interests which many decision- Edinburgh’s penchant for vested sector. Yet, it has been and the public financial services big three employers along with round with tourism one of the Now there are Festivals all year more or less tolerated the Festival. provincial town for lawyers who ago, Edinburgh was a chummy EIGHTEEN YEARS Nichols.branch of Harvey consent, to house the Scottish just £3 is soon, if given planning brought me up from London for Andrew’s Square which once the draughty old bus station in St foreseen, twenty years ago, that Street, and who could ever have ground retail street under Princes race. There is talk of an under- life offices. This is now a city in buy into what were once Scottish consulates and press agencies to been a trend for small offices of past six months too there has the Scottish Parliament. For the ment rocket with the arrival of who are now seeing their invest- parents of University students which have been bought up by Though in recent years the city www.foraid.demon.co.uk/antonia_swinson The Antonia Swinson Web site - 17 June by Hodder & Stoughton. is published as a Flame paperback on Sunday; her new novel The Cousins’ Tale business section of Scotland On She now writes a weekly column for the Freshers Conference Director in 1978. University of Edinburgh in 1980 and was Antonia Swinson graduated MA from the for making lentil soup. and have rediscovered my talent thick cardis, shoes, comfortable Edinburgh’s present. I just wear for now I own my own piece of following me around the streets, Swinson has at last stopped helps me belong. The young Toni affection as a hinterland which University life with enormous my fascinating of cities, and view on the issues facing this most accepted. introduce road pricing has been application to Government to Edinburgh will learn whether its spenders. In the summer encouraging both workers and big reduce through-traffic while Chambers which is keen to science in Edinburgh’s City management’ is now the buzz for work or cultural life, ‘demand Lothians buying into Edinburgh of people across Fife and the parks. With increasing numbers as the outlying retail and business sustainability of the centre, as well park, and this now threatens the now that you cannot drive in and success. Traffic.is perception The almost the by-product of its Edinburgh’s development is wide, the biggest threat to Edinburgh on TV screens world- Government Meeting which saw Commonwealth Heads of because of the 1997 World Heritage Site in 1995, and I now feel, at last, up to speed

eighteen edit W ‘Her Majesty’s Prison Zeist’ under guard the two men are safely tucked away in Megrahi - into Scottish custody. Now that Khalifa Fhimah and Abdel Basset Ali Al- Qaddafi gave up the two Libyans - Lamen never be taken up. made it look like the solution that would government and bureaucratic hostility problem. But ever since it was mooted, agreed, a useful solution to thorny legal of Holland. Ittory was, almost everyone under Scots law but on the ‘neutral’ terri- the two Libyan suspects strategy of trying Edinburgh, the man who devised legal Professor of Scots Law at the University of families. The other is Robert Black, and who is now spokesman for the British daughter Flora was killed on Pan Am 103 Dr Jim Swire, the Bromsgrove GP whose people the British media reach for. One is climbs back onto the agenda, there are two charged subject of the Lockerbie bombing But all that changed when Muammar EEE H emotionally- HENEVER THE George Rosie meets the Professor of Law at the University of Edinburgh who has doggedly sought to solve one of the most intractable problems of this century. - to go university,” he declares. first member of my family - on either side Edinburgh in the autumn of 1964, “the began studying law at the University of Lockerbie and Dumfries Academies, Black Scotland.” After a prize-winning career at one of the last full-time mole catchers in is still at the mole catching. I think he’s a mole catcher. In fact, one of my cousins of lawyers,” he says. “My grandfather was Aberdeen. “So I don’t come from a family his mother came from a fishing family in Lockerbie man, a plumber to trade, and the bombing happened. His father is a town. In fact, he was there days after a few was born and raised in the little Border Black’s preoccupation with Lockerbie. He have an effect on the real world.” often that an academic like myself gets to absolutely delighted,” he says. “It’s not police, Black feels vindicated. “I’m by Scots law officials, prison officers and His student career was a success; First There is a powerful irony in Robert tising advocate. In 1981 he returned to which he followed by three years as a prac- officer with the Scottish Law Commission Bar. Between 1975 and 1978 Black was an to the Scottish er in Scots Law and entry University of Edinburgh in 1972 as lectur- in Johannesburg, then it was back to the spell teaching at Witwatersrand University - should pay.”or the negligent party someone else’s fault, then the wrong doer - pose. If somebody is injured because of opposed to that. Fault a moral pur- serves fault liability,” he recalls. “But I was arguing in favour of what was called no- agenda in the 1960s. “A lot of people were Death’, an issue that was high on the legal of Reparation for Personal Injuries and of the Scottish Law LLM on the ‘History University in Montreal where he did an Commonwealth scholarship at McGill Scholarship. Then it was three years on a Memorial Prize and the Vans Dunlop Class Honours, the Lord President Cooper

The years at McGill were followed by a

nineteen edit B

any appeal against sentence or conviction in a Scots gaol and tence would be served Scot. There would be no jury. Any sen- of international judges presided over by a held in a ‘neutral’ before a panel country trial under Scots ‘law and procedure’, but January 1994, to come up with his plan; a Libyans. and prosecution’ of the two indicted information leading to the apprehension were offering a price of $8 million ‘for American jury.” Particularly as the FBI never get a fair trial in front of a Scots or bombing that the accused men could much publicity about the Lockerbie cation I think - that there had been so the problem into stark relief. of British as well as Libyan lawyers) threw the Libyans’ defence team (which consists cleared. A meeting in October 1993 with tried for murder - and either convicted or until the two Libyan suspects had been concluded that nothing could be done unblock the sanctions log-jam. He quickly Libya to see if there was any legal way to neering companies despatched him to broadsheets. with a journalist from one of the London easy,” after a run-in he says, still smarting and television reporters. “Not always microphone and wise in the ways of press sources, adept in front of camera and Scotland’s most ‘media friendly’ legal Encyclopaedia, and to become one of Scots Law the Stair Memorial General Editor of that massive tribute to ed. In between, he found time to act as the judicial bench in Scotland is appoint- an intriguing critique of the way in which the Scottish Judiciary’ (1998). The latter is Scottish Parliament(1968) to ‘The and from ‘Delict and the Conflict of Laws’ enumerate. He has written on everything legal researcher. external examiner, conference speaker and which he makes occasional forays as an post he has held ever since, and from the University as Professor of Scots Law, a twenty

All of which prompted Black, in believed - and with some justifi- “They Black’s published canon is too large to edit when a consortium of Britishwhen a consortium engi- Lockerbie calamity ever since 1992 involved in the LACK HAS BEEN handed over to the Scots for trial. “He whether or not the two suspects were liked to claim that it was not up him as “arevolutionary strange man” who Jim still has it.” Black describes the Libyan swapped him the hat for tie. I suppose tie as a small gift. Sotartan Qaddafi straw hat. Jim Swire had brought him a “He greeted us wearing this extraordinary time he did look at us,” says. “That September 1998 was a more relaxed affair. pay for that’.” leader laughed three times. Someone will laugh. Our interpreter said to us ‘The quite a useful meeting. We even made him distance. But in the end it proved to be conversation he just stared into the middle never looked at us once. All through the of the tent. Qaddafi in the lounge part Tripoli,” he says. “We sat at this little table armouredthis extraordinary tent near ing with Qaddafi in April 1998. “It was in matic figure. He first meet- recalls his very the hands of Scots Law. would have a fair trial at two countrymen to persuade the Libyan leader that his with Muammar al-Qaddafi in an attempt and Black have had two lengthy sessions and advocates. porters Together Swire the Black plan’s most determined sup- The Lockerbie families have remained do with the bombing of Pan Am 103). convinced that the Libyans had nothing to behind it (even though he personally is threw the weight of the Lockerbie families Black’s scheme for a Scots trial abroad he done, that just wouldn’t work.” thing that was infeasible, couldn’t be Secretaries have all dismissed it as some- Successive Lords Advocate and Foreign British authorities were dead set against it. Libya’s Deputy Foreign Minister. But the writing. was also confirmed by That view problem with the idea, and they said so in immediately,” had no Black says. “They trio of Scots judges.) international panel has been replaced by a of the plan remain, although the original of Criminal Appeal’.Court essentials (The Justiciary ‘in its capacity as the Scottish would be heard by the High of Court Black’s second meeting with Qaddafi in He found the Libyan leader an enig- But when Dr Jim Swire got to hear of Libyans agreed more“The or less solution that would never be taken up. government and bureaucratic hostility made it look like the It legal problem, but was a useful solution to thorny B problems of modern times. of the most difficult, politically-loaded credit for almost singlehandedly solving one When it happens, Robert Black can take the Zeist will be a genuinely historic event. the Libyan people. say) that suspicion will remain to haunt Fhimah ‘thole their assize’ (as Scots lawyers modern history. Until Megrahi and behind the worst aviation atrocity in there is still the suspicion that Libya was Nations may have lifted the sanctions, but bombing of Pan Am 103. The United Libyans to ‘clear’ themselves of the the best - perhaps only way for riddled with inconsistencies like that one.” The whole case against the Libyans is model that is only available in the USA. contained the bomb,” he says. “It’s from a the cassette player that’s supposed to have who have since been discredited. “Look at evidence is based on work done by men the extreme. Some forensic of the crucial against Megrahi and Fhimah is shaky in friends - Black believes that the evidence a lot to Mandela.” going to be a trial in the Netherlands owes fact that there is active,” he says. “The Unity. “Nelson Mandela was particularly League and the Organisation for African Qaddafi from two sources; the Arab level, behind the scenes pressure on for him than we realise.” whole thing might be much more difficult suspects to a western legal system. The Qaddafi is called - handing over the two not be best pleased with the Leader - as Megrahi and Fhimah come from might clans which putes,” Black says. “The that Libya has its internal feuds and dis- the two men to Scots. “We understand taken a real political risk by handing over of the Libyan people’. Well, maybe…” ple. He kept saying ‘I am only the servant said that decision was for the Libyan peo- the Sunday Herald. George Rosie is joint Deputy Editor of Whatever the outcome, trial at Camp Black remains convinced that the trial is He says there was a good deal of high- Black does think that Qaddafi may have Swire - with whom he is now firm conviction is another. Like Jim UT A TRIAL IS one thing; a University of Edinburgh are entitled to a range of discounts off: Travel Insurance Car Insurance Home Insurance Find out how much you can SAVE World wide medical assistance car while repairs areCourtesy carried out Highly competitive rates or if you’reAdditional savings for good over home security, 50 24 hour helplines for legal advice and help in a domestic emergency Product replacement scheme ra rti,are pleased to announce that Alumni of the Great Britain, Royal & SunAlliance one of the largest general insurers in UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH Our normal underwriting criteria apply. be recorded or monitored. telephone calls may For your protection, The above discounts apply to new policies only. 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file style

chic label own about 16." slowly, and then it just gets stretched. I've had it since I was "That's a flesh tunnel in my ear, I did it myself. You do it quite the moment to get into any fashion college. finished Geography, but I don't have a big enough portfolio at "I made the trousers. I thought might study fashion after I've Timothy Lenkiewicz, attractive, but I think she'd probably prefer if I did have hair." happy with it. She said to me she thought it was very when I was younger. When it ended up shaved, I was really changing my hair because mum never let me experiment "I've had it like this for a couple of years now.....I kept Ruth Dlugolecka, developed their own, highly individualistic style. the song. These Edinburgh students have “You’ve either got or you haven't style,” goes studying Fine Art studying Geography

(opposite)

twenty three edit

file style twenty four

life, it's fun!" different clothes - just go for it! It's nice to have different colours, it brings a bit of zest into influence. You16 years before, so I've had quite a Middle Eastern get more energy in "I lived with a bedouin family for two years in the Sinai desert and Middle East Deborah Gibson, in the supermarket, until I remembered I had green spiked hair." blue. Back home in Dunoon I was surprised to see children hiding behind their mother's skirt colours are bright orange and pink - the green was a mistake, it meant to be "I dye my hair every 5 to 6 weeks. It's fun and I can get away with it just now. My favourite Mary Rhodes, edit studying English Literature and Classics studying Nursing and Social Anthropology (top and middle) [email protected] (e-mail), or write in confidence to the address shown. 354 5229 or 01245 226864 respectively (out of hours), 0171-405 3310 (f ment advisers, Don Leslie or Angela Heath at BLT on youwould like more,out find If to recruit- please contact the management consultancy high earnings • team-based, supportive andnon-hierarchical environments • genuine meritocracy • continued intellectual challenge • opportunities to strengthen business expertise, even from a low base • exposure to • Our clients offer: twelve years work experience to tors, andniche boutiques - wish to recruit Edinburgh graduates with around threeto mentconsultancies the in UK. Our clients - strategy h majorBLT a is management consultancy recruitment constantly . . strivingfor . . improvement able to find your way around. obstacles. . able to set andachieve high objectives orientated to getting r Drive and Energyyou: - are ...... interestan in learning ...... numeracy skills ...... business acumen...... high intellect Problem Solving Ability - do you possess: 0171 405 3404 IN LEADING? NINTEREST AN DO YOU MEASURE UP? DO Youhave the potential to be a consultant top management. top management issues and top management wide a in variety of ind If you scoredIf twelve more, or congr esults ...... esults become management consultants. cetciiim. accept criticism bring ...... take calculated risks . demonstrate initiative Leadership - can you: ...... date to up on currentaffairs ...... able to create new challenges good . at working in teams. mature,a Personalyou: Impact - are u h eti tes. out the best in others firm. We act for ouses, Big 5 0171-405 3404 (office), 0171- effective communicator ...... effective communicator atulations! firms, system in over 200 manage- ustries tegra- ax), W: http://wwwW: E: [email protected] F: 0171 405 3310 London WC2A 1HP Chancery Lane 5/9 Quality Court Quality H Limited Consultancy Recruitment Thomas Leslie Beament ouse .blt.co.uk Cannabis examines the many contradictions PHILOSOPHER’S in our attitude to cannabis. Neil Montgomery STONE ? THE y might reveal - words and expressions that follow are chosen carefully. communicators reveal about what their outer concerns an inner concern benign respondent in a shallow conversation. Even the most adept emblematic to apprehensive - seeing becomes looking and I am no longer a am being completely reassessed. transforms Deep within, their gaze from time indeed has not stopped. Within a fraction of a second I can see that the third syllable. Only the sheer panic escaping from their eyes reveals that seems to solidify,their epidermis in the expression frozen it held on hearing comes out and, suddenly, the person I’ve been speaking to stiffens into a shell; when I introduce my subject to conversation. Cannabisnervous - the word I have noticed, over a number of years, that some people become distinctly tions you could find yourself in where you Think for a moment, though, about the situa- same thing to me. people have said the very nineties’. You would not be alone; a number of the mention of cannabis anymore - this is the ing to yourself, ‘surely nobody is shocked by respectableperfectly topic of medicine. because we can now begin to discuss the relief can be spotted in the eyes of the nervous rather than recreational substance. A certain ing of cannabis being used as a therapeutic has presented itself through the public report- paralysis and social panic from such temporary word ‘cannabis’. Recently, however, an escape social images for association with the uncertain knowledge, language and actions. of our become embodied and codified; part that have meanings and associated constructs consumables have broadly agreed symbolic inner consultation. These minority group leave their body in limbo while withdrawing to in conversation would probablypartner not subject was instead ‘heroin’, or ‘real ale’, my repugnance or automatic acceptance? If my word ‘cannabis’ not encounter programmed word. But why this tension? Why does the triggered by a highly significant but ambivalent W You may indeed be reading this and think- We confusing and have developed very grammed hesitance deliberation, a pro- moment of unconscious course, is a brief describing, of HAT I’M activity, themes under which cannabis is used: ning to emerge from the fog. They are places of distinct areas that have some overlap are begin- picture is beginning to show some form; three plete and as such is disturbing. However, the knowledge is limited. The picture is incom- on one’s future actions. The fear is real because about cannabis could have a debilitating effect knowledgecertain that too much loose talk militant tokers. acrobatic solutions in the creative discourse of that has, more than once, stimulated almost without possessing it is problematic. A muse not illegal; though how one consumes it Interestingly, the consumption of cannabis is substance; illegal to possess, supply or cultivate. ownership in this fear. It is after all a controlled in cannabis smoking to have some participate thinks I smoke cannabis? One does not need to future actions. What might the boss do if he personal guilt of past deeds but to the fear importantly, the caution is not related to the readers who are closet cannabis users; however, a disclaimer. with considerable caution or the insurance of where any discussion about cannabis proceeds those that involve a hierarchical relationship, children. There are situations, and in particular bank manager, perhaps your parents or Perhaps it would be with your boss, or the cannabis - in particular, raising the subject. talking about would not be comfortable This fear is real; it is based on the sure and This scenario will be a familiar one to the already being prepared. suffering for it. An environment for change is not prepared to break the law yet might be cannabis use, therapeutic or not; those who are benefit from but will not involve themselves in include potential patients; those who may Furthermore, the question readily expands to after its prescription was prohibited. patients’ and ‘legal programmes’ just 20 years pharmaceutical company discussing ‘cannabis such a question to be asked. Here we have a ability for that some of them lie in the very in our legal programmes?” breakers as participants to a significant portion we get from 100% of cannabis patients as law- do we bring patients in from the cold? How do UK Medicinal Cannabis Project, put it: “How GW Pharmaceuticals, which is conducting the tions of a darker side? As Dr. Geoffrey Guy of narcotic drugs’, that carries with it connota- control as ‘perhaps the most dangerous of all of its ance of a substance, described at the birth are right. How do we pave the way for accept- believe that cannabis has therapeutic benefits numerous institutions and individuals who for a moment that the ASSUME LET’S medicine? something that we may want to apply as problematic. How do we resolve a fear of Here, I want to focus on one particular trial use; and therapeutic use, the most topical. recreational use, the most (in)famous; indus- Amidst the search for answers it is obvious

NEIL MONTGOMERY

twenty seven edit photographs by kind permission of Dr Geoffrey Guy, GW Pharmaceuticals that this framework was inflexible; slowthat this framework to However, it would be misleading to imagine tion, a tangible grid of mutual understanding. be in place and it can only but a simplifica- must dencies accessible, a legible framework make this complex relationship of interdepen- understanding of mutual dependence. To nate desires become resolved in an dialogue between people and the State, alter- these decisions will be the correct ones. In a made for us, and we demand assurances that are ordered, when difficult decisions can be place and time, we seem to need it. disasters left in its wake - but the fact is, our given the numerousedge - particularly to function as the only authoritative knowl- tific, codified, ostensibly objective knowledge against the desire, indeed hunger, for scien- years. There may be many good arguments been ‘common’ knowledge for thousands of stamp to legitimise something that has rubber considerable angst the need for a lab coat and campaigners’ corner as they question with tive bleating from the ‘legalise cannabis’ knowledge is scientific. I can hear the collec- gathering has governmental authority and the type of knowledge.and a particular The Importantly, it is a specific kind of gathering area,one crucial the gathering of knowledge. status of cannabis, progress is being made in appear determined to maintain the illegal

We feel more when our lives comfortable Despite a political landscape that would

twenty eight edit C process takes time. ered and redundant facts are disposed of; the facts come to light, old arenew rediscov- Knowledge changes, it develops and grows; react perhaps, but indubitably mobile. Cannabis ‘between the lines’ became elevated subversive mandarins. and revolutionary knowledge of reforming, became the property the mêlée of unstructured activity, cannabis knowledge about it became redundant. Amidst became almost non-existent; codified, scientific lines’. State funded research into cannabis also moved off the grid and in ‘between the and cannabis the liberator. symbol of resistance. Cannabis the poisoner its distinct seven-fingered leaf became a weapon for the State in the War on Drugs and eration of its recreational use became a handy activity moved ‘between the lines’. The prolif- lobby was pretty much non-existent. Cannabis were ignored. The ‘don’t criminalise’ cannabis any attempts at antidisestablishmentarianism status that it had established on the grid and rigidly codified as unacceptable; it lost any medicinal value). All cannabis activity became became absolutely illegal (deemed to have no except stalk, roots and non-germinating seeds) until the use of almost entire plant (all The gathering and distribution of knowledge subject to tighter and controls the Poisons List in 1925, became inclusion on ANNABIS, SINCE ITS with support from numerouswith support respected groups therapeutics are moving towards the ‘grid’ application of cannabis. Gradually, cannabis benefits can be gained from the therapeutic the categorisation is underway. whatever pigeonhole we decide to place it in, sensoriant. However we decide to describe it, functioning of the sensorium - cannabis is a genic. It seems to variably affect the narcotic and almost positively not hallucino- depressant or stimulant. It is arguably not a cannabis because it is poorly described as a wordnew needs to be employed to describe variable, difficult to categorise and regulate. A effects seem unpredictable, awkwardly science knows remarkably little about. Its which medicine; its mind altering properties problematics with cannabis for the world of therein lies one of the most important be the product of a Philosopher’s Stone. And such an extensive list is instead consigned to kind of Philosopher’s Stone or it may be that of cannabis will indeed make it a properties extensive list of the measured medicinal body. It may, of course, be that in time an Philosopher’s Stone, a cure-all for mind and many of its followers, the plant became and medicinal qualities expanded until, for and liminal groups. to cult status. Unsurprisingly attractive to fringe through music, myths, legends and folk-heroes There are doubts now few that some In this environment the list of its spiritual Cannabis Project. Email [email protected] Anthropology, is Consultant Anthropologist to the UK Medicinal Neil M. Montgomery, a postgraduate student in the Department of Social a valuable contribution to the quality of life. will not only contribute to ‘a body of knowledge’ but make eventually, even if it takes more than a lifetime, its findings this is what drives most if not all research; the belief that to be able help ‘bring patients in from the cold’. Surely, immensely satisfying that my work puts me in the position and its combination with ‘fieldwork’ stimulating. It is also into ‘what’senquiry going on with cannabis?’ fascinating, process, and why? I find the theoretical and academic codify, what forces drive the selection and appropriation appropriation of knowledge. If we are going to reduce and in understanding the processes we employ in the selective not only in making legible the savvy of cannabis users, but my interest, of course, is AS AN ANTHROPOLOGIST, a burdensome task,’ I hear you say. of cannabis users in the UK - ‘what observation participant method of anthropology, involves me in the long-term, accessible as possible. To do this, following a traditional as Consultant Anthropologist to make this knowledge as to an understanding of this knowledge. It of my role is part and being conducted by GW Pharmaceuticals, is committed Medicinal Cannabis Project, licensed by the Home Office edge because it appears not to be scientific. The UK lines’ knowledge, that we don’t dismiss a wealth of knowl- cannabis activity, we pay profound attention to ‘between the that, as we begin to codify our understanding of important ‘grid-dwellers’.Office to name but a few; It is terribly Church of Scotland, the House of Lords and the Home and institutions - the British Medical Association, the and regulate difficult to categorise awkwardly variable, unpredictable, Its effects seem C 19 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 19 69 89 00 20 405 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 20 Grid references should quote eastings followed by the northings engineering in the University. psychological situation of science and reflects on the geographical and Professor Emeritus Aubrey Manning forty years on Secretary, Charles Stewart, set up three Principal, Sir Edward Appleton, and the way. redevelopment of the University was under- became aware scheme for the that a big new early days as an Assistant Lecturer I rapidly been anticipated a decade earlier and in my bursting at the seams. This problem had College and into Buccleuch Place, were also expanded into the vacated space in Old Law, and Social Arts Sciences, which had out in force at King’s Buildings. But by now sion and during the 1960s cranes were science began another big period of expan- physics), burst its bounds. After the war operating in Old from College (apart the late 1920s when science, until then across the site. temporary, had begun to spread inwards sions, huts and lean-tos, more or less arrived in 1956 an accretion of ugly exten- public eye, never matched up, and when I Chemistry. Their backsides, away from the of Engineering, Zoology, Geology and Mayfield Roads, the handsome stone facades out along be seen, strung West Mains and really, because from the 1930s there were to K The University urged by the Court, The development of the site had begun in : where are we now? estate’. Not a bad description called ‘the academic industrial Engineering, has often been our Faculty of Science and ing’s Buildings, the home of labelled ‘Zoology’ and ‘Engineering’. I Buccleuch Place, were long rectangles There, on the site of demolished drawings of the whole area were on display. the main architect of the scheme, at which public meeting addressed by Basil Spence, first, intended to be exactly that. I recall a redevelopment in George Square was, at public taste? Georgian building because of the offence to putting an unsuitable doorbell onto a University or City will scarcely contemplate and priorities have evolved that now to contemplate how much tastes marvellous was demolishing St James’ Square. Is it not course, more or less simultaneously, the City none which had the muscle to stop it. Of therePlace. Certainly were protests, but George Square18th century and Buccleuch scheme which involved of demolishing part the University sailed blithely on with this to reflecthad, but I find it instructive that achieved. No matter now. names, so that the desired answer was the George Square group with the big the McEwan Hall. Perhaps packed Court ing Old College, the Medical School and was irresistible because it avoided abandon- the other two recognised that George Square School Yards and King’s Buildings. Perhaps rebuild, identified as George Square, High groups to look at the possible sites for a big

Few now remember that the University’s I don’t know what input the City planners

thirty one edit cast at all that space in the Tower. and various envious eyesdepartments, were courses under their own eyes in their own people wanted to set up more elaborate The science classes became ever bigger, enough for years, but gradually it decayed. academic staff, the scheme worked well of the University.heart securely bonded to people and places at the King’s Buildings, they would have already they had to take subsequent courses out at familiar with life at the centre. Then, when with those from other faculties and become University studies, would be able to mingle The idea was that freshers, beginning their physics, chemistry, geology and biology. There were splendid, well equipped labs for accommodate all 1st year science teaching. It was designed internally with great care to aim at its inception. ugliness, had a worthy Edinburgh. find the ugliest post-war building in anybody’s list in a competition to short Appleton Tower, which surely would be on plan which ever came to pass was the of the grand science-back-to-the-centre silence is best. It’s ironic that the only part has some style but, for the rest, Library materials have weathered well. very The It has a fine form and, externally, its compensate for the loss of George Square. David Hume Tower, which begins to buildings, the only the first of those new However, I feel in architectural terms, it is the centre and their work has flourished. architect’s dreams would come true. tion. I sensed, with relief, that not all the Engineering was actively under construc- of Electricalextension for the Department out of my lab window where a big new didn’t want to move. Next day, I looked Already I loved the place and certainly in deep stone relief over the front door. Lorimer building with ZOOLOGY incised thought wistfully of our handsome Robert

So years on, the split between then, forty Whilst never wildly popular with the However, the Appleton Tower, for all its and SocialArts Sciences did redevelop in

thirty two edit gets a rolling contract, and only achieves nicate well. The young academic usually published work, and an ability to commu- have some recognised ‘form’ in the shape of ladder a good deal older and after they luck. It’s not so easy now. order to make a satisfying career. It was my Edinburgh, and I didn’t have to move in the University was excellent and I loved for them. I didn’t want to move because when I was about readymy Department it easy. Promoted posts fell vacant within period of growth in universities and I had high orderof a very for that to happen!) have taken moral or intellectual inadequacy could have been removed, but it would security of tenure until retirement. (Well, I at 29 and with it, straight away, came would have matched up. I got a lectureship than ever I was, and I’m not sure how I subjected to much more rigorous scrutiny wishing to join the academic world are Humility,Service. since young people now three jobs when I emerged from National humility I recall that I had a choice of well to choose Edinburgh, and it is with and, in many ways, much tougher. I did since the time I arrived at King’s Buildings more strongly as time passes. haven’t; indeed I have felt the division believed that I would get used to it, but Snow’s Two Cultures! At one time I embodiment of C. P.schism, the very find out!’ Nothing could better express the Buildings? Our intrepid reporter sets off to Student newspaper, ‘Is there life at King’s Years ago there was a big headline in Tower sought to solve are real enough. of the University which the Appleton integration of science students with the rest universities. The worries about the full that it is larger than many other whole many students and staff are based here now Buildings is a huge, crowded site and so University is well nigh complete. King’s science and engineering the rest of the Nowadays, on the academic people start The 1960s and 1970s were a tranquil The style of life too is much changed forty years on : good value for money. or King’s Buildings, I think we give very less. George Squareseem to feel we deserve graduates sitting round the Cabinet table, either persuasion, with all those university understand why recent governments of regret this deeply and still find it hard to charging students for their education. I and raise our own finances, not least by are being pushed hard to keep up standards With more students than ever before, we now and university funding is in a bad way. indeed slack in the system. That’s all gone endure has had useful results; there was this is not what I’m to argue. trying Social Sciences. I don’t agree, but anyway is awash with cash compared or with Arts moans from science, which they will argue aspects of an academic career. split between these two, essentially linked subject. Let’s hope we can avoid a dismal experience of the cutting edge their come from people who have first-hand - quite the opposite. The best teaching will conflict. Under good conditions they’re not feel that teaching and research are in grants help with teaching. Students often them. got the money to run facilities wax and wane depending on who’s result, we shall lose a lot of flexibility as proposal. That’s fast disappearing and, as a were ready a full scale to put forward or keep something ticking over until you out an idea facilities so that you could try and provideddepartments basic staff and government of funded the general running grants for large scale work. Until recently, ing grants. ability to finance one’s research by obtain- aspect of this is the absolutely crucial tenure once really proven; and an T Some of the cost cutting we’ve all had to Nor does the constant chasing after Science in universities always required dismiss much of it as the usual Those from other faculties may University’s southern edge. from the HIS IS A VIEW T moussaka and occupied the verandah. shack. The sole customers, we ordered our tant, heat-shimmering, Jack-Daniel’s mime, a local pointed to the diner, a dis- in Classical Greekenquiry and obscene into a chopped Swiss roll. Replying to an the columns of temple had slithered meal at midday. the hallmark of Britishness was a cooked day was lunch. In those days, incredibly, heat was punishing. The highspot of each ples, most of which had fallen down. The reading Classics, and wanted to visit tem- day in Greece. Our unofficial leader was 1960s undergraduate ritual summer holi- Another trudging figureAnother trudging appeared. We were somewhere god-awful where EEWR three of us, doing the HERE WERE

Thanks for the insult... A Meal To Remember by Professor Ged Martin, Thanks for the insult... Director of the Centre Canadian Studies “What part of Canada do you come part “What the assumption. inverting Americans could best be deflated by who were our Commonwealth partners. question always embarrassed Canadians, the United States they came from. The never ask North of Americans what part Somewhere I had read that one should the 1960s, fuelled by Vietnam. should shove off. Oblivious, he sat down. British body language signalling that he you boys?” Not at all, we replied, our ety. The stranger asked, “Mind if I join suggested the Northshirt American vari- would be out in the baking sun. A check Obviously an Anglo-Saxon: nobody else So with menacing cordiality, I asked, There was a mild anti-Americanism in 7-11 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9BE. Edit, The University of Edinburgh Centre, lingers on. Details please to: memory The Editor, diner, person, and tell us why the or simply a hungry meals consumed as a tourist, dinner guest, restaurant Write to us with your (good or bad) memories of only intended to insult him. Happily, he never did realise that I had rosis about identity and I was intrigued. encounter with the famous Canadian neu- recognised as Canadian. It was my first with delight over the moussaka at being on a cultural tour, history of art he glowed know Ontario’s largest city. “How did you ment into the dialect pronunciation of “Tronno,” he said, lapsing in his astonish- from?” The stranger recoiled in shock.

?” I gave a shrewd A professor shrug.

thirty three edit

illustration Ross Gillespie thirty four lead and not just follow, and to challenge equip students to be agents of change, and critique. their work to scrutiny factors to bear on some task, subjecting together, discuss, reflect and bring diverse the studio, where trainee designers work education in design is promoted through human needs. In an architecture school, means to formulating and addressing and configuration of spatial elements, as a focuses on spatial design, the definition realised in spatial terms. Architecture factors into tangible proposals that can be cause of synthesis, integrating complex the person who speaks and acts for position of the overseer, but the designer as be ‘design’, understood not from the good for people and the environment. process or the final arbiters on what is overseers, the controllers of the building no longer the master builders, Architects commonly lament that they are reside with a single body of professionals. procurement of buildings too complex to built environment are too vast, and the consensus is emerging that the issues of has changed over the years. A general tutes the core of architectural education and individuals. Of course, what consti- standards, and the accreditation of schools tect, a concern realised in our attention to what to expect when they employ an archi- though the community needs to know of architecture. and to challenge accepted understandings need to equip students stir things up, liberal education, educators recognise the On the other hand, in tradition of and pass on a core of architecture skills. T

On the other hand there is the need to The core of architecture now appears to On the subject of core skills, it seems as edit illustration Ross Gillespie they must preserve, promotethey must preserve, the one hand educators think education of an architect. On conflict in the HERE IS A architecture degree fits within a combina- uum in the education of architect. An of a contin- architectural education is part practices and contexts. differences within and amongst artefacts, identifying and promoting productive tecture, then it does so as a critical pursuit, If design is to remain at the core of archi- and even solutions to technical problems. ‘virtual architecture’, events, installations, as paintings or sculptures,construed proposals for buildings that may be produce spatial explorations other than design in this broader way. Students may process. Some architecture schools see of a cation it engenders can be part not be the end of story, but the provo- tion. need The building, the intervention, or an instantia- proposal, an intervention to its definition. To design is to produce a architectural education then we can attend to resolving this tension. then perhaps design itself provides the key liberal goal of decentering architecture, skills, focusing around design, and the education between the notion of a core of this tension in architectural IF THERE IS collectors, archivists and historians. specifiers, facilitators, critics, theorists, be managers, entrepreneurs, documenters, other than in design. In practice they can It seems that architects can be specialists technical problems, with routine buildings. tioners are involved in solving detailed as students. Mostthey undertook practi- of comparable vision and spectacle to those Most architects are not involved in projects architects spend their time designing. few familiar lament that when they graduate, among architectural educators. There is a centrality of design. the core of the profession, even the

Second, we can recognise that formal First, if design is to be the focus of The centrality of design is controversial Close Quotes ‘decentres’ architecture. Professor RICHARD COYNE prospects for the professions, millennium series on the Continuing our end-of-the- taught and its revision and reconstruction. otic tension between what needs to be that restlessness is the core itself, a symbi- an anarchic restlessness, but it recognises this movement is given free rein. It is not architecture school can be the site at which subversion that is already of sorts there. An tecture, we find this restless movement, a is also the case with architecture. diverse professional community then this within a design thrives on participation If and who participated. the intervention, to the question of who was consulted in built environment commonly come down ture, and disquiet over the quality of Complaints about architec- participation. horizons, working through conflicts, and community, a sharing and colliding of of design. Design involvesis at the heart himself or herself within it? This diversity ture. Will the graduate make a place for professional community that is architec- position to contribute the diverse architect, but will he or she be in a student has the skills to be an particular student we don’t need to ask whether a of what is architecture.views In assessing a educational policies and even different different schools have different strengths, community in the UK. We recognise that recognisedfact partly in the educational community that is architecture is diverse, a ture, is a restless pursuit. activities. Design, as the core of architec- architecture can be seen as all these diverse architecture, with deviations from this, but not that there is a pure career strand that is specialisms and even changes in career. It is changes in practices, and undertaking degrees, finding oneself in different involves experimentation with new tion of moves by the professional, which Computing at the University of Edinburgh. Richard Coyne is Professor of Architectural In design, which is at the core of archi- Third, recognising it is worth that the