Razor Sharp

Now I've been commenting ad nauseum (and some may say nauseatingly) about London, but so far I don't think I've bored you about the course content, nor my lecturers.

I would firstly like to acknowledge that I am a dunce and that my approach to Human Rights has been so far directed by a common-sense approach of fairness as opposed to of intellectual rigour or academic discipline. So as a non-expert, I would like to introduce an expert, my prof., an Irish man with the fabulous name of Conor Gearty (the only thing that could make it sound more Irish is if there was an O' in front of the Gearty), a brain the size of football, a wicked(and often puerile) sense of humour and a twinkle in his eye.

Now Conor and I have got off to a good start in that he had my measure (i.e. a human rights flake!) within oh, about 20 seconds and since then he has been like a hound that smells blood. On curly questions such as, "What position would you hold as a human rights practitioner on abortion?" he likes to throw the ball to me and then after I stutter and stammer and falter and describe my personal opinion (note not the Human Rights opinion i.e. unsubstantiated by law) say something like, "Congratulations, you fell at the first hurdle" with a huge grin on his face, before instantly turning his attention elsewhere.

Aside from feeling about 2 years old and 5" tall I am not unused to this approach having studied in the UK previously (though some of my other classmates, namely the Americans, can be found positioning their chairs behind pillars in order not to attract his attention), and so do not take it personally (well ok, I did take it a bit personally for the first few days, but now that I've acknowledged my dunce-hood I don't!). But I am finding that it is stretching a lot of my pre-conceptions, opinions, perceptions and beliefs for which I am eternally grateful. And it is re-inforcing for me how truly splendid it is to study under a razor sharp wit and leader in their field. And it reinforces for me one of the things I miss about the UK, that in certain circles (admittedly not at your local pub), it is ok to debate contentious issues and it's ok to be a little bit exposed for who you are.

If any of you would like to check out this intellectual powerhouse, try http://www.matrixlaw.co.uk/WhoWeAre_Members_ConorGearty.aspx

and save up your pennies and do an LSE summer school. It's been truly stimulating.