scottish pairlament

when I was visiting edinburgh I took the opportunity to visit the new scottish parliament building. the building wasn't open when we moved to japan and it was a place I'd wanted to visit for what it looked like as much as what it stands for. there's a website in scots for anyone brave enough.

despite having won this years stirling prize for architecture and representing the first parliament in scotland for 300 years, the poor management of the project meant that the budget changed from around 50 million pounds to about 10 times that. the medias almost daily onslaught resulted in the nation being divided over something that was meant to be uniting them. perhaps that says a lot about other issues in scotland too.

having left the bitter controversy behind and viewing the place with fresh eyes the building seemed to be working well - easy to enter, lots of school kids visiting, chance to get into the main chamber to see business suits debating with track suits. it all seemed a world away from even westmister where, a few hundred years ago the same controversy raged over the amount of money it took to build.....