Festival Town

Couldn't let August go by without musing over the Edinburgh Festivals. Apart from not being able to walk down the street because of the hoards rushing to fringe venues in the strangest locations, it is an amazing place to be at this time of year. From the classically sublime to the extremely ridiculous, and everything in between, all aspects of the arts are on offer. Reassuringly (I think) for book welfare of the future, I was able to get a ticket to see Ian Rankin (last night, fantastic) but could not on the first day of booking get tickets to take my 3 year old to see "Spot the Dog". In an environment where for a short while most of the rules seem to go out the window, there does seem some form of coexistence between emerging artists, celebrities, corporate sponsorship and control. Walking around the Book Festival you could feel creative inspiration buzzing away. Perhaps some lessons for the rest of the year?

The Rice Genome - questions or answers?

The international Rice Genome Sequence Project, a public consortium, has published the genetic code for the rice plant. So far, much of the commentary is positive, with the hope that this can be used to further research for more resistant crops to reduce the risks from drought and disease.

It remains to be seen, however, how much support will be given to future work in the field, particularly against the continuing concern over genetically modified organisms. I think that if there is either private or public commercialising in the future there is real scope for competition law tools, such as compulsory licensing and restrictions on tying/third line forcing,to ensure that the benefits are available where needed to further human rights goals. The involvement of Monsanto in the project, (after initial concern over its withholding relevant material) suggests that there is scope for work to carry on in this area for the public good.