Running away

I have a mixed relationship with the Edinburgh TV festival.  I find it anxiety making and exciting in almost equal measure so when it got a bit too much over lunchtime I went off to the National Gallery of Scotland to see the superb Andy Goldsworthy 50th Anniversary exhibition.  Part record of his achievements and partly installations made specially for the gallery it was everything I needed.   This is a curtain of recovered lengths of barbed wire that made you think of its fragility and danger at the same time.  

The morning started with breakfast with Gaynor where we talked through quite a lot of things.  It was followed by the event of the festival, Shonda Rhimes receiving the inaugural Edinburgh Fellowship award.  Introduced by Fatima with the words ‘have we got her?’, the whole event began with a standing ovation.  She was introduced by Mishal Hussein and was wise, calm thoughtful and fascinating.  From Grey’s Anatomy to Bridgerton she’s transformed television for twenty years. 

In the afternoon I got back for the Channel 4 event and then went with Amit to the McTaggart lecture.  James Harding talked about how to protect the future of impartiality in news and the existential threat the BBC is under.  

I didn’t get to go to the usual drinks at the Museum of Scotland as I was booked out for dinner by Fox TV.  Fish restaurant in Thistle street. They dropped me home before midnight.