National Museum of Roller Derby

Lecture

Creative Action

22 Apr 2022
Close of Play, Glasgow School of Art
Writing

The Glasgow Effect: A Tale of Class, Capitalism & Carbon Footprint

On 4 November 2019, Luath Press published Harrison’s first book. Inspired by her 2016 ‘durational performance’ The Glasgow Effect – for which she refused to travel beyond Glasgow’s city limits, or use any vehicles except her bike, for the whole calendar year – the book provides the complete context for her thinking and action. (Word count: 119,000)
Exhibition

Playword

25 Jul 2014
NN Contemporary Art, Northampton
Media

Out of the Archives

1 Apr 2014
Diva Magazine (p.42-43)
Publication

21 Revolutions

3 Mar 2014
Freight Books (p.149) ISBN 978-1908754448
Newsletter

Bring Back British Rail / 21 Revolutions (Edinburgh Art Festival)

30 Jul 2013
Exhibition

21 Revolutions

20 Jul 2013
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Media

National Museum of Roller Derby

1 Jan 2013
Broadsheet (Issue 22 p.5)
Exhibition

21 Revolutions

22 Sep 2012
Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow
Media

She Shelves Sanctuary

9 Sep 2012
Scotland on Sunday (The Week p.8-9)
Media

National Museum of Roller Derby

1 Sep 2012
Lead Jammer (Issue 3 p.14)
Media

The Revolution on Roller Skates

1 Sep 2012
Inside Line (Issue 5 p.34)
Media

Creating a cultural legacy: the National Museum of Roller Derby

24 Aug 2012
London Rockin' Rollers
Social / Networks

National Museum of Roller Derby

The National Museum of Roller Derby (NMRD) collection was founded at Glasgow Women’s Library in 2012 as Harrison’s contribution to the Library’s 20th anniversary celebrations. As a new ‘outreach’ initiative, the NMRD aims to bring a whole new, strong and revolutionary young audience to the Library, by using it as a home for the UK’s first permanent archive for the new and exciting all-female, full-contact sport of Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby.
Project website
Newsletter

National Museum of Roller Derby / Ellie & Oliver Show

13 Jun 2012
Lectures

21 Revolutions

Talk given by Harrison – in full Roller Derby attire – at Glasgow Women’s Library on 22 March 2012, where she discusses the ideas and hobbies, which developed into her founding of the National Museum of Roller Derby that June.

Ellie Harrison Louise Haigh and Labour say that they will reform the complex fares system to ensure that passengers are confident that they are getting the best fare; confidence that X is the case, and X being the case are not necessarily the same thing. Simplification of fares would have to include the abolition of many fares. The assertion that simplifying the fares structure would reduce travelling costs is based upon a false premise, that being that the complicated-ness of the fares-and-ticketing structure is the reason why fares are expensive, that is not why they are expensive. They are expensive because the base level is too high. If you massively simplify the fares, one might then always be certain of getting the best available fare because there are no obscure cheaper fare hidden away in a Byzantine monolith, but that best fare is likely the best of a bad bunch. Railway fares are complicated, but it is within this myriad complexity that the nuances which facilitate cheaper options lurk; if you take a sledgehammer to the behemoth you bring down the cheaper options which lurk within the behemoth. If there are presently 18 options for doing Thing X, with 15 of those ways being cheap, and 3 of those ways being expensive, if you abolish the 15 cheap options for doing thing X you have massively simplified the paying-to-do-Thing X process because having 3 ways is much simpler than having 18 ways, and you have made it such that one is highly unlikely to not notice the cheapest of the available fares, because one is more likely to notice something when it is one amongst 3 than if it is one amongst 18, but it is nevertheless the case that the person is selecting the cheapest of the 3 most expensive. (i) Being guaranteed to always get the best fare; and (ii). getting cheaper fares are not necessarily the same thing. Be mindful of the actual specific wording of things: both before and after coming into government, Labour has never in actually promised cheaper fares, what Labour has promised is that one will be guaranteed to get the best available fare. The general public, politicians and public-transport campaign organisations alike have been seduced by the word 'simplification'. Simplification is not a virtue in and of itself. Simplification is a neutral concept, neither a good thing nor a bad thing; what is pertinent and important is the nature of the simplification. One can simplify travelling costs upwards. Simplification can simplify out the cheaper options. I deliberately say 'travelling costs', not 'fares', because thinking only terms of fares when it comes to simplification of railway fares and ticketing, and when it comes to Single-Leg Pricing is a proverbial red herring, one should think both in terms of fares AND in terms of travelling costs. Fare decreases do not necessarily mean travelling-cost. LNER is a prime example: with the June of 2023 introduction of Single-Leg Pricing on LNER, and the February of 2024 introduced of the Simpler Fares pilot, travelling costs for using LNER have gone up. Two halved-in-price Singles are more expensive than one Day Return; a fare reduction, but a travelling-cost increase. The changes December of 2023 fares-and-ticketing changes on c2c have many of the same fare-decreases-but-travelling-cost increases as LNER, plus its pay-as-you-go tap-in-tap-out integration with Transport for London (to simplify things) has necessitated the introduction of a weekday early-evening peak period between 4.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m., which has numerous knock-on effects which can hugely increase one's travelling costs. The answer is not reform of the fares-and-ticketing structure. The answer is not simplification of the fares-and-ticketing structure. The answer is to decrease the price of all existing fares. Do not abolish any existing fares. Do not introduce any new types of fare. Just make all existing fares 45% cheaper, and leave it at that.

As the idiom goes: 'Be careful what you wish for, because it might come true'. Reform will only be good if it is good reform. We don't need reform, we need good reform. Some might fear that prices would inevitably be rationalised upwards. Inevitably, the rationalisation would rationalise out the cheaper options. Some might fear that reform of the fares-and-ticketing structure would, inevitably, reform travelling costs upwards, and reform out the cheaper options. Some might fear that simplification of the fares-and-ticketing structure would, inevitably, simplify travelling costs upwards, and simplify out the cheaper options. Just take a look at LNER. Be careful what you wish for, because it might come true.