Three things I need to admit to before I start this post:

1. I didn’t know there was such a thing as the Stirling Prize before we caught the awards on television.
2. We only watched two and a half out of the six entrants
3. I am biased towards all things F1

So, flicking through the channels, we stumbled across Kevin McLoud. I got all excited, thinking a new series of Grand Designs had started without me knowing, but soon realised it was actually coverage of the Stirling Prize announcement. The Scottish Parliament building won.

Like I said, we only saw two and a half of the entries on the television, but I have done some investigation and I think it’s safe to say that this decision is wrong. (There may have been the words “it’s a fix” and “they’re just trying to justify the money spent on it” flying around, but then again, there may not have been.)

How can the Scottish Parliament building have beaten the McLaren Technology Centre?

“Viewed from the air, the building forms a yin and yang shape, with a formal lake making up the yang to the building’s yin. The lake, although aesthetically pleasing, is not simply there to look pretty: it forms part of the building’s cooling system. The centre is large and low-slung - the architects had a further constraint when designing the centre in that they were building on green belt land. Considering this is a vast complex, it is unobtrusive, with much hidden underground, yet it is well organised enough to let in plenty of light.”

This is a quote from Channel Four.

Talking of Formula 1, the last race of the 2005 season was this weekend. I did my usual trick of getting up early to watch it, sitting through all of the junk that comes before and then falling asleep two minutes before the race actually starts. Apparently, it was very good. In fact, the entire season has been excellent (ignoring the US fiasco, obviously), mostly because Ferrari have been absolutely rubbish. If you need one thing to tide you over until next year, I think this should be it: Michael Schumacher being overtaken by the new World Champ.