Shami Chakrabarti Visits
On Tuesday afternoon, prominent political campaigner Shami Chakrabarti visited school to work with senior pupils. Shami is the Director of Liberty and one of the UK’s leading experts in Human Rights. She had lunch with members of the LVI Cecil Stagg Society, who had written essays based on her recent book “On Liberty” earlier in the year, before giving a lecture for the Fifth Form and above in the Memorial Hall. The boys were impressed by Shami’s energy and incisive arguments and asked a range of pointed and thoughtful questions.
Pictured with Shami are Daniel and Edward (both LVI), winner and runner up of this year’s Cecil Stagg Essay Prize. Based on a reading of Shami’s book the boys were challenged to consider how they might update Magna Carta for 2015.
Merchiston Masterchefs 2015
Cameron and Eric won the title of Merchiston Masterchef Champions for 2015 on Saturday in what was a very competitive and hectic competition.
Their menu was probably the most ambitious of the five and they managed to pull it off very successfully. Their pan-seared scallops with black pudding and minted pea purée starter was what clinched it for them, with their sticky toffee pudding and Irn-bru sorbet sealing the deal.
In a close second place were Jun Hay and Andrew who did not put a foot wrong in the competition with their feta and haggis salad, coq au vin and mustard mash and home-made profiteroles with orange-flavoured chocolate sauce. They might have won had it not been for the creative edge shown by the winners.
Joe and Jamie (third place) deserve a special mention, not just for their haggis ravioli which was quite a challenge, one which they mastered with a lot of determination and resilience, but also for their good-natured attitude as they ran up and down the stairs too many times to count—due to the increased numbers in the competition this year and a lack of space in the Masterchef department, it was necessary to put them in the Evans kitchen.
Victor and Simon also deserve a mention for what was probably the most delicious pudding of the competition -their molten lava cake was chocolate perfection!