Throughout your short life, you will be told what to do and what not to do. People around you will seek to control your actions, your behaviour, your thoughts and your feelings, because they feel better to have control, to have a following and to have a familiar environment in which to snuggle. Some of us fight, some of us stand astute in silent resistance but most of us still obey without question, without doubt. But you must remember that every word uttered at you seeks to change who you are; you must question them, doubt them and and cross examine their utterer, for obedience without question occurs only with ignorance, and ignorance without more is a recipe for disaster.

Welcome again, ladies and gentlemen, to the University, an institution for the intellectually curious, a haven for those who yearn to learn, and a welcome respite from the cold, controlling world outside. Here, you are free to pursue your wishes. No longer are you under the fear or threat of prosecution for trying to discover the “why”. This is a place where anything is possible. You will grow strong here and become resilient to the forces of silence, the very same forces that intend to keep you far from knowledge, and dangerously close to ignorance.

There is more to life than what your seniors tell you. They have lived their own life, perhaps just that of others, but they will not live your life, and you will not live theirs’. Modern media continues to bombard your youth with words such as career, job, money and so on, but greatness does not begin with wanting a ‘career’, or a ‘job’. It comes with a passion for things that you will discover in University and through life by questioning those you come across, by seeking the truth, and never stopping until they have exhausted their excuses.

By the time you graduate, you will have forgotten this speech. Your internships will have eroded you of your willpower. The jobhunt will have exhausted you and brought you to the edge of reason. Your parents, your peers and even your friends will begin to remind you that this is only an ivory tower, isolated from the pressures of life, removed from their truth. Your questioning will grind to a halt, you will begin to obey once again, you will follow without question. Unless, ladies and gentlemen, you remember that the world does not change without disobedience, revolt and prosecution. Unless you want to live the lives of others, remember this. Stay hungry, stay foolish.

The gates of doubt are now open to you. Forget your examinations, forget your grades, forget what you are, who you know and rest your ego at the door. Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the University.

I can only remark it as interesting that the same people who wrote the Bible, Koran and other religious texts may well have understood the world to be flat. But it is even more remarkable that the Church prosecuted people who tried to change what people knew about this world.

“An airport should be a celebratory structure. It is a celebration of flight and a celebration of place. It should combine a strong visual identity with a humanistic sense of clarity, so that the experience of air travel is uplifting, secure, welcoming and efficient. Airports are the gateways to cities and nations and are the windows on the world… for their realisation, depend totally on the distillation of highly complex systems into a single vision.

An airport is pure infrastructure; if you like, it is inhabited infrastructure.”

“I will not tolerate continued non-compliance.”

How do two people come together to strike a flame? What is the magic? Why do I feel like I have no clue?

On another somewhat unrelated note, I went to a lovely exhibition with a lovely friend and saw a few ol’ classmates of mine. Great job, you two – I’m impressed.

… and where did I take this picture?

According to Scottish health authorities, the number of hospital admissions for heart attacks has declined by 17% only a year after its indoor smoking ban took effect. Hail the campaign.

The PCLL has been going on for a week and the time table already seems monstrous to me. According to sources, it is a hectic, everchanging beast that soars and crushes you under its exercises, lectures and freezing-cold torture chambers.

I ought not return.