A rational crossroads

Walking from my flat to the European Movement Rally this morning, I passed Sandy Stoddart’s wonderful statue of David Hume outside the Sheriff Court.

It is at the crossroads where the High St meets the Mound and George IV Bridge and diagonally opposite where the Scottish Parliament spent its first session in temporary premises.

The committee rooms we used then were in the old Midlothian Council Chambers which makes up the third of the four corners. It was bought last year by the French Government and now serves as their Consulate General as well as the Scottish centre of the French Institue . It also houses a nice little French cafe and bistro .

This crossroads in the heart of Edinburgh seems a place dedicated to rationality and European civilisation - a contrast to the consequences of, and much of the rhetoric surrounding, the Brexit issues we were discussing at the event being held in a Church a little further along the road.