While in London I got the chance to sit on a session in the British Parliament's House of Lords. Right now, there is a lot of public outrage over the Libel rate fixing by Barclay Bank. Honestly, I don't understand the technicalities of what caused the national mortgage crash but hearing the political debate between the Government ( Whigs) and the Labour party was fascinating. The opposition kept calling for a public judicial hearing in order to regain public trust, while the government insisted upon a bi-partisan parliament investigation so that legal changes could be made. It was easy to see that banking scandal embarrassed both sides. At one point, the Attorney General demanded an apology from the Shadow Solicitor of the opposition since he was in office when the financial decisions that resulted in the scandal took place. Representatives from both sides stood up, yelled, and booed at random. The Madam Speaker of the House had to remind everyone that they were being watched by the public. I couldn't help but notice the constant comparison being made between the investigative bodies of the US and the UK. The UK officials kept driving home the point that unlike in the US, UK investigative bodies severely lacked political clout. Statements like this illustrated the sibling like relationship between the US and the UK; the UK being the younger brother who regularly compares himself to his big brother. Even though this debate bored my family, I was happy as a clam.
While I really enjoyed my time in London, I'm excited to be in a brand new country. The drive to Scotland took us about eight hours in total. To say that we were happy to get out of the car and start exploring Edinburgh is an understatement. One great thing about the UK is that the museums and galleries are free. I definitely took advantage of that today. Meandering around the National Gallery of Scotland was fantastic. My favorite exhibits were that of the French impressionists (Cezane) and the Scottish painters. Diana and Her Nymphs, painted by Scottish painter Burns really stood out from amongst the other paintings and happened to be my favorite in the entire gallery. On our way home we happened to pick up vegetarian Scottish pies. I can feel my arteries clogging as I write. Basically, nom nom nom.
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