I mean, what the holy F*CK is that white excrescence on the top? The whole thing looks like bits of discarded fridge and computer, thrown in a deformed skip. Hideous. It looks like an early 1980s State Museum of Soviet Progress, perhaps located in Belarus, or Baku.
Ah so that's where they are hiding the aircraft carriers
From the Sunday Times, Better Together don't have a pot to piss in.
BETTER TOGETHER, the cross-party campaign to save the Union, faces a financial crisis after failing to raise even half its £7m funding target.
With 200 days to go till the Scottish referendum, the group led by Alistair Darling says it fears public opinion could swing the nationalists’ way because it cannot match the yes camp’s war chest.
As near as you can get in diplomatic language to telling the leader of the western world to f*ck off:
Putin has everything to lose. He simply has to make gestures. The only gain he can make is if he can offer a serious olive branch at some key point. If he marches into Ukraine he'll scupper everything, but being seen as able to march into Ukraine is very helpful.
The Chinese won't want Russian forces demonstrating any rights to an extended sphere of influence too. It's unhelpful for them because of the bordering states, but also because they really don't want to be seen to have any option in contested regions. Waving the flag in the vicinity of the Japanese islands is good, but actually doing something about them isn't.
However, it may be that these big issues aren't right. If in the personal files of the Ukrainian President there is stuff that would implicate senior Russian politicians then it won't be terribly surprising if they seek cover.
British politicians? Oh, yeah, they're over there, on that rock.
I mean, what the holy F*CK is that white excrescence on the top? The whole thing looks like bits of discarded fridge and computer, thrown in a deformed skip. Hideous. It looks like an early 1980s State Museum of Soviet Progress, perhaps located in Belarus, or Baku.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. David Owen was the Nigel Farage of his day. I wonder if we'll see a defeated, humiliated and forgotten Farage joining the Conservative Party in 2047?
PS Portcullis House is not bad. It's not a stunner, but it slots quite well into that Gothic-Edwardian streetscape of Westminster and Whitehall.
And that was a tough assignment for Hopkins, the architect responsible for Portcullis.
Barry's and Pugin's Houses of Parliament, right next door, is one of THE greatest buildings in the world, I would say. Probably in the top 10. Not only is it iconic, it was very technologically advanced for its time, and it is also wistfully beautiful. It must have been difficult to work with that next door.
It's interesting you should say that. People forget that the HoP were far from universally acclaimed when they were built, and were condemned by many. From what I've read, it seems that the Gothic Revival was a very controversial choice, however much it may seem 'perfect' now.
I've just finished re-reading a biography of William Smith, a pioneer in geology, and near the end of his life he was co-given the task of choosing a stone to clad the palace. They made an incorrect choice of a stone that reacted badly to pollution and weathered poorly, so the entire thing was reclad in a different stone in the early 1900s.
Imagine how well that sort of mess would go down today!
Agree about Portcullis House: a difficult job, sensitively done. Although they could have done without £400,000 rented fig trees ffs!
Comments
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/euromillions-winners-give-yes-scotland-another-1m-1-3325089
And if we think the Scottish Parliament took a long time, then the HoP took 20-30 years to complete. There was even a worthy debate about the cost overruns:
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1848/mar/02/new-palace-at-westminster
I've just finished re-reading a biography of William Smith, a pioneer in geology, and near the end of his life he was co-given the task of choosing a stone to clad the palace. They made an incorrect choice of a stone that reacted badly to pollution and weathered poorly, so the entire thing was reclad in a different stone in the early 1900s.
Imagine how well that sort of mess would go down today!
Agree about Portcullis House: a difficult job, sensitively done. Although they could have done without £400,000 rented fig trees ffs!