Coordinator: David Hughes

David ‘Aphid’ Hughes is one of the future-shocked who is finding his place in a world he tries hard to understand. He has spent most of his time in pubs and is a great example of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. A sociable Henry’s cat with a moustache and a bald head. He has many ideas and concepts and is looking for the right people to throw them at.  David cofounded Glasgow Ragged University producing a range of events across a variety of venues.
“I saw my place in the Ragged University as an enabler, bringing together venues, groups and individuals as well as subjects topics and experiences to form areas of society where ideas, discussions, projects and relationships can flourish and be challenged…
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London: Palatine Bar

The Palatine Bar in Shacklewell London is a new and developing venue with a focus on great music and quality real ales brought in from micro brewerys Brodie’s of Leyton and Ha’penny of Ilford. An arts bar with a relaxed atmosphere it is becoming increasingly popular with the locals of Shacklewell, especially creative types with paintings by local artists adorning the walls of the bar.  Read more…

Community Open Online Courses: Create Your Own MOOC

My thoughts on Community Open Online Courses – COOCs – is that it is a vitally needed platform and resource for the enablement of knowledge sharing as well as personal and group development. Increasingly the production of knowledge is being coopted by market values which is resulting in the narrowing of who gets to make meaning, and who gets valued in our culture for having created public content. Read more…

Paths, Parks and Pencil: The Background Story by Adele Gregory

I think I was still a teenager when I saw a strange and wonderful film called “The Swimmer”. In it wealthy suburbanite Burt Lancaster makes his way home from a party not by the streets or pavements but by swimming through the pools in his neighbours’ backyards. The possibility of finding adventure in unusual routes through familiar territory has intrigued with me ever since.
Decades later I decided to try it for myself but with parks rather than pools (a better choice in Edinburgh). I wondered how many parks I could traverse between St Margaret’s Loch in Holyrood and Portobello Beach (I managed five: Holyrood, Meadowfield, Baronscourt [now alotments], Figgate, Rosefield).  Read more…

Coordinator: Will Bentinck

Grant and Jess introduced me to Al, because Al wanted to start organising some events, inspired by the Ragged Schools, and Grant thought I might like to help. I was hugely interested – I think education is the single most important thing – so joining a small team of friends on an exciting journey of experimenting with new ways of taking pleasure in learning and in teaching sounded like an opportunity I couldn’t miss. Read more…

The Role of the Exotic and Collusion with Nationalism by Sonia Soans

During a casual conversation with a few friends about an acquaintance of ours a friend casually said ‘it is all very nice that she learns the English language but she must not forget her culture’. The words hit hard as one of the two black women in the room we were struck by the power those words had over us. The inequality and indifference expressed by those words felt as if we had stepped back into an era where women of colour were still subservient to white women, looking after them but never equal.

There are several issues I have with those words…

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