Individuals

Super busy day during which my sciatica continued to improve - if slowly. I had a chat to the doctor in the morning, and he seemed reasonably happy, although a little worried about the loss of motor power in the muscles in my right leg, but bit by bit it is coming back as presumbly the pressure eases on the nerve. I fear there will be work to be done when back in Edinburgh in September to restore muscle tone.

A chat with my two hosts over coffee in the morning, and some plans for future collaboration across a number of dimensions. Then a lunchtime seminar presented by one of my fellow visitors (a lecturer from Glasgow), preceded by a chat over sandwiches with a fascinating elderly woman who announced herself initially as a Sydney alumna, but who had had a fascinating career in legal practice, legal research and legal knowledgement management. In the afternoon, I participated in a mentoring workshop, where four members of staff talked about their projects at different stages. Quite fascinating and inspiring, and one of the main reasons to be here. Finally, after meeting up with Mr A who had been invited over, we went along to a presentation by a political philosopher visiting at UNSW on citizenship deprivation. The presentation itself was excellent - superbly well communicated to a diverse audience, and the Q&A was high quality. Afterwards, we repaired with many of the group for a Lebanese dinner in a local restaurant and staggered back here by taxi. By then, I had run out of energy, as I really didn't sleep well on Wednesday night. As I'm now backblipping, I can report that I did sleep well on Thursday night!

This sculpture - gifted by the artist Andrew Rogers to the University - is called Individuals, and it was previously exhibited outside the UN building in New York. I photographed the plaque, but unfortunately cannot read what it says, but from memory it talked briefly about the relationship between individuals and the community. It's very apt to put this outside the Law School, but it is also a great leitmotiv for my own research on citizenship. I'll doubtless be using it to illustrate one of the posts on my blog.