Kings, Scarfe, Marx and Obama...
I'm afraid it's been a while since my last update which has mainly been a result of not having internet access at my place in London. I'm technically still waiting for the engineer to turn up and fix the socket on my wall, but as I've been waiting four weeks now (and there is one resident in my block whose been waiting for six months) I'm not holding out much hope...
The other reason of course is that I have now started my MA at Kings College London. The only thing I can say about the course so far is that it is a real challenge but one that I am enjoying. The reading lists are of the size I've never seen before and although I only have five contact hours a week, I feel I'm having to work much harder than I had to in the first few years at Sheffield! 
In fact, Kings College had some good news this week too - the news that it has risen in the standings of the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings making it now the fifth best university in the UK and 22nd best in the World (click here)*.
What did surprise me about this news was that Kings College is ranked higher than the LSE (whose facilities I am able to use for my course) and trails only Oxbridge, Imperial and UCL in the UK. Not too shabby at all... (!)
In terms of my course, well, because I'm off to France from January I was predictably restricted in the modules I had the choice of taking. Nonetheless I have opted for modules that study the Foreign Policies of the European Union and the Global Political Economy - a topic that could not be more relevant in today's economic crisis. At the moment, both of these modules are in the stages of explaining theories, which to be honest I'm struggling to grasp immediately, but hopefully it won't take me long.
It has been a little demoralising leaving a seminar thinking you'd understood the subject and rapidly realising that you really hadn't at all, but the look on people's faces when I pull out a book on Economic Theory (or Marx as I had been doing this week) is truly priceless.
One of the major advantages of living in London is that when you have some spare time you can guarantee that there is something going on to fill it. Last Saturday, as a break from reading, I went to the British Museum and attended a talk there by Gerald Scarfe, whose work for Pink Floyd, The Sunday Times and the BBC for Yes Minister I am a big fan. 
In his talk he spoke about his career and talked through a large number of his works, all of which was really interesting and really made me wish that I could draw something. Anything. He rung around at the end and I left the museum some time after with a photo and a personally signed diary which has now been removed from service and takes price of price on my desk. An exhibition of his political portraits is currently running in Portcullis House, Westminster until late November and I will make sure I get along to that! (more details)*
Without the internet at my place I'm having to be resourceful and downloading some programmes to watch using BBC iPlayer on my laptop using the university WIFI service. Because of this, it was only last night that I managed to watch the second televised American Presidential debate, which I can say without a shadow of a doubt, was won by Barack Obama.
Throughout that debate, all John McCain said was 'Obama this' and 'Obama that' and I noticed he always alluded to what Obama had (and in more cases than not) what he had not done when answering his questions. I felt this was a poor tactic and didn't reflect on him very well, especially as Obama did not lower himself to that level and answered his questions without constantly having to slate the opposition. After all McCain has doing that for him...
I was impressed with Obama and am more confident now that he would be the best choice for the next US President. Now I must now sign off so to catch the train home - after all, there's reading to be done. I shall return with another update soon, I hope!
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