I notice Peter K has gone all quiet since you posted the pictures of the British library and the carbuncle McGrath - point well made I think. Both stick out a mile, make one feel slightly nauseated and are a dangerous red colour. Charlie certainly has the knack of picking a good simile!

As for the extention to the National Gallery that Peter K doesn't like, I think he's mad. I spent a fair amount of my free time in there during my 3 1/2 years in London and it is absolutely splendid in every way - light, modern, well planned, and fitting into the existing structure with grace and wit - as one looks at it from outside you notice that the Greek (Corinthian?) relifs on the architrave continue into the new building and then become fainter and less detailed until they vanish into the modern structure - beautifully done. Inside the great scissor arch over the main staircase pays gentle tribute to English Perpendicular (Wells cathedral springs to mind) while being entirely modern. If Peter K thinks that ugly blocks of glass smashed into the middle of old and beautiful structures are 'modern' then he lacks maturity - in fact is ideal republican fodder.
   As for a republic here in Autralia - it is a salutary thought that if we had had one a few years back we would have had Pauline Hanson as president! (think of a female NF member with a screechy voice who considers herself attractive).