politics | Frances Bell

A letter I sent to my Macclesfield MP today

Dear Mr Rutley, You are my MP (I live at XXXXXXXX) and whilst I did not vote for you, I have no reason to doubt your integrity. Also, I understand that you served as a government whip until recently. You are in a good position to understand the responsibilities shouldered by those who seek to…

Gradually, then Suddenly – caring and careful responses to COVID-19

“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” “What brought it on?” “Friends,” said Mike. “I had a lot of friends. False friends. Then I had creditors, too. Probably had more creditors than anybody in England.” https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/08/06/bankrupt/ The idea of gradually then suddenly was playing around in my…

Singing, Acting and Listening across Generations

MUSE – Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir sing They’ll all Sing Bread & Roses Please listen to this lovely song from a beautifully diverse choir as you read what follows. Having been involved in leafletting and campaigning for Labour in Macclesfield over the last few weeks, I sensed that a Labour victory was becoming ever more elusive…

Peterloo Massacre

The 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre was celebrated in Manchester yesterday. Tony Hall, a Manchester poet, tells the story of the mass demonstration that ended with 18 deaths. 17 men, women and children from the 60-80,000 protestors died, variously sabred, trampled or shot; and one Special Constable was killed by a mob. I knew…

Digital Trespass and Critical Literacy #OER17

Peter Riley explains the Kinder Scout Trespass that took place in 1932 as a protest against the permanent closure of all the wild uplands of Derbyshire for about 12 days of grouse shooting in the year. It has been described as “the most successful direct action in British history” Lord Roy Hattersley, 2007. The other…

A balanced complaint

I caught part of a BBC2 documentary, Trump’s America a Newsnight Special, last night and was appalled by what I saw. From my armchair I tweeted, and it seems a few people saw my tweets but they didn’t seem to make much of a difference except that I probably felt a bit better for having…

Language, Politics and #OER17

This blog post started life as a comment on Martin Weller’s post about language and how it affects behaviour and thoughts in Edtech. The comment mysteriously disappeared as I posted it so I thought that I would repost it here and link from Martin’s post. The title of the post “Let’s think inside the box“…

Processing our grief and looking to the future

Yesterday when I heard the EU Referendum result, my feelings moved from dread to grief, and I am hopeful that writing this post will be therapeutic for me. I’d be delighted if anyone wants to respond. Part of my philosophy is that we can learn from mistakes so surely there is something to be learned…