review - Ellie Harrison

Media

Ellie Harrison’s glorious piece of agit-prop theatre

30 Jan 2023
The Herald (p.3)
Media

Bus Regulation: The Musical Review

30 Jan 2023
FringeReview Scotland
Media

Bus Regulation: The Musical at Platform Review

30 Jan 2023
The Scotsman (p.33)
Media

The Glasgow Effect – Book Review

17 May 2022
Goodreads
Media

Wit Ye Readin? Ellie Harrison – The Glasgow Effect

2 Jan 2022
Colour Ways
Media

Review: Edinburgh Art Festival 2020

4 Aug 2020
Fleming Collection
Media

The Glasgow Effect – Book Review

1 Apr 2020
Art Monthly (Issue 435 p.43)
Media

The Glasgow Effect – Book Review

28 Feb 2020
Amazon
Media

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

13 Feb 2020
Social & Cultural Geography, Taylor & Francis Online
Media

You can’t take the girl out of Glasgow

3 Nov 2019
The Herald (Scottish Life p.6-9)
Media

The Glasgow Effect – Book Review

28 Oct 2019
Goodreads
Media

What Bus Regulation: The Musical can tell us about the follies of privatisation

3 Oct 2019
CityMetric
Media

A Real Moving Story: Fifty years of Greater Manchester transport policy On Wheels

28 Sep 2019
East of the M60
Media

Data as Culture: Humour and absurdity stalk the internet

2 Feb 2018
New Scientist
Media

Harnessing the Wind

1 Nov 2015
Art Monthly (Issue 391 p.33)
Media

Island: Adaptation I & II

14 Aug 2015
This is Tomorrow
Media

Dead Reckoning: Ellie Harrison & The Art of Austerity

24 Jun 2015
Furtherfield
Media

High Street Casualties: Ellie Harrison’s Zombie Walk

18 Jun 2015
This is Tomorrow
Media

The top artists at this year’s Venice Biennale

14 May 2015
Dazed Digital
Media

Artworks that Clock Working Life

20 Mar 2015
Hyperallergic
Media

Dark Days Follow-Up

3 Mar 2015
Central Station
Media

Dark Days with Ellie Harrison

3 Mar 2015
Furtherfield
Media

Transmediale Festival’s 2015 Exhibitions Bring Artist Labour and Bodies into Focus

2 Feb 2015
ArtSlant Berlin (Germany)
Media

Transmediale

1 Feb 2015
We Love Design

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.

Ellie Harrison’s glorious piece of agit-prop theatre

30 Jan 2023 The Herald (p.3)

Bus Regulation: The Musical Review

30 Jan 2023 FringeReview Scotland

Bus Regulation: The Musical at Platform Review

30 Jan 2023 The Scotsman (p.33)

The Glasgow Effect – Book Review

17 May 2022 Goodreads

Wit Ye Readin? Ellie Harrison – The Glasgow Effect

2 Jan 2022 Colour Ways

Review: Edinburgh Art Festival 2020

4 Aug 2020 Fleming Collection

The Glasgow Effect – Book Review

1 Apr 2020 Art Monthly (Issue 435 p.43)

The Glasgow Effect – Book Review

28 Feb 2020 Amazon

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

13 Feb 2020 Social & Cultural Geography, Taylor & Francis Online

You can’t take the girl out of Glasgow

3 Nov 2019 The Herald (Scottish Life p.6-9)

The Glasgow Effect – Book Review

28 Oct 2019 Goodreads

What Bus Regulation: The Musical can tell us about the follies of privatisation

3 Oct 2019 CityMetric

A Real Moving Story: Fifty years of Greater Manchester transport policy On Wheels

28 Sep 2019 East of the M60

Data as Culture: Humour and absurdity stalk the internet

2 Feb 2018 New Scientist

Harnessing the Wind

1 Nov 2015 Art Monthly (Issue 391 p.33)

Island: Adaptation I & II

14 Aug 2015 This is Tomorrow

Dead Reckoning: Ellie Harrison & The Art of Austerity

24 Jun 2015 Furtherfield

High Street Casualties: Ellie Harrison’s Zombie Walk

18 Jun 2015 This is Tomorrow

The top artists at this year’s Venice Biennale

14 May 2015 Dazed Digital

Artworks that Clock Working Life

20 Mar 2015 Hyperallergic

Dark Days Follow-Up

3 Mar 2015 Central Station

Dark Days with Ellie Harrison

3 Mar 2015 Furtherfield

Transmediale Festival’s 2015 Exhibitions Bring Artist Labour and Bodies into Focus

2 Feb 2015 ArtSlant Berlin (Germany)

Transmediale

1 Feb 2015 We Love Design

30 Jan 2023
The Herald (p.3)

30 Jan 2023
FringeReview Scotland

30 Jan 2023
The Scotsman (p.33)

17 May 2022
Goodreads

2 Jan 2022
Colour Ways

4 Aug 2020
Fleming Collection

1 Apr 2020
Art Monthly (Issue 435 p.43)

28 Feb 2020
Amazon

13 Feb 2020
Social & Cultural Geography, Taylor & Francis Online

3 Nov 2019
The Herald (Scottish Life p.6-9)

28 Oct 2019
Goodreads

3 Oct 2019
CityMetric

28 Sep 2019
East of the M60

2 Feb 2018
New Scientist

1 Nov 2015
Art Monthly (Issue 391 p.33)

14 Aug 2015
This is Tomorrow

24 Jun 2015
Furtherfield

18 Jun 2015
This is Tomorrow

14 May 2015
Dazed Digital

20 Mar 2015
Hyperallergic

3 Mar 2015
Central Station

3 Mar 2015
Furtherfield

2 Feb 2015
ArtSlant Berlin (Germany)

1 Feb 2015
We Love Design