Ming Campbell Visit

[dil_em_ma]

The one thing i would say though, was that although lacuna is a nice place to hold it in theory, some aspects of it were a bit dodgy today. People were quite crowded, and if you were anywhere near the back, it was really quite hard to hear things. I suspect that it's partially to do with the acoustics of the room, and maybe the mic not being up enough, but a lot to do with the twats who were sitting right behind us, making an effort to be noisy.

Perhaps for future events, a way to prevent random folk interrupting things could be looked into?

[mypanda]

That was the first time we did something like that in Lacuna. The problem I think was that politicans are used to much more sensitive microphones.

I was speaking with the General Manager and he is thinking of having additional smaller speakers installed.

Thanks everyone for coming!

[erithromycin]

I think the acoustic situation in Lacuna wasn't brilliant, but the drilling or whatever the hell it was outside didn't help.

Having had the opportunity to interview him (if even for only ten minutes) he strikes me as a lovely auld duffer, but, well, Paddy Ashdown could kill a man with a look, and Charles Kennedy told jokes that were quite funny. He seems to be genuinely well meaning, but a bit of a softie, but let's be honest - he's not going to be Prime Minister, so we'll just have to hope that under his peaceable reign the Liberal Democrats are cultivating some fresh new talent with a killer instinct.

I don't think we could get Gordon Brown into the QM - at the moment there aren't two road routes for egress - it'll be fine when the construction is gone, but at the moment it's too much of a security risk. Also, I mean, can you imagine? Snipers on top of the Boyd Orr, and so on.

[Roslyn Scoular]

I was very impressed with the turn out yesterday, but agree that the location and sound were problematic. However, it didn't help that every time Jamie tried to move the microphone closer to him he moved further away.

[Iain W]

Why was Lacuna chosen for it and not Qudos?

[djtoast]

The Kiev / Chernobyl thing is clutching at straws.

Kiev is not only the name of a city, but of an administrative region (or "Oblast") and Chernobyl lies within that. So it's entirely correct to say the accident happened in Kiev.

Now write to Sir Ming and apologise for believing that you, not he, had the superior knowledge of Soviet-era geography.

Although admittedly confusing Russia and The Ukraine takes the shine off that slightly.

[endless psych]

You should get Salmond in - you may not agree with his policies but he's reasonably entertaining in public speaking and debate.

[Potatojunkie]

The Kiev / Chernobyl thing is clutching at straws.

Kiev is not only the name of a city, but of an administrative region (or "Oblast") and Chernobyl lies within that. So it's entirely correct to say the accident happened in Kiev.

Now write to Sir Ming and apologise for believing that you, not he, had the superior knowledge of Soviet-era geography.

Given he used the qualifier "or wherever it was", I think I'll pass.

[djtoast]

How up on your Ukranian administrative regions are you?

I really, really doubt that someone my age or older could forget the name of the power station, there was nothing else in the news for a steady six months. I don't think it was so much confusion about the place as, thinking on his feet, trying to work out a way to express the location that would be meaningful firstly to people who hadn't been aware of the accident at the time and for whom it's less ingrained, and secondly translating that through the post-Soviet transition: it didn't happen in the Commonwealth of Independent States, it happened in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, but that no longer exists, so it might be hard to gauge how meaningful that latter term would be to a room full of 18 year olds without interrupting your train of thought briefly, given that it was something of an aside anyway.

Anyhow, he's an educated man, that really does seem to me to be clipping your toe on an uneven paving slab, not falling arse over tit and landing in a big heap, as you seem to wanna suggest.

[Potatojunkie]

How up on your Ukranian administrative regions are you?

I don't have any

Anyhow, he's an educated man, that really does seem to me to be clipping your toe on an uneven paving slab, not falling arse over tit and landing in a big heap, as you seem to wanna suggest.

Oh, no, I was just highlighting it as an oddity amongst the crashing-through-the-back-of-the-restraunt-destroying-crockery-and-ending-up-in-a-crate-of-chickens that made up the remainder of his performance. Also a waiter who'd been carrying crêpes suzette was knocked sprawling, setting light to a tablecloth.

[djtoast]

That was deliberate: to distract your attention away from the shoal of coots in his briefcase.

[Potatojunkie]

Ack! He's smarter than I thought.