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‘Slummy mummies’ – the overreach of schools
For the past couple of days the newspapers have been buzzing with a story summed up in this Daily Telegraph headline: ‘Head teacher tells parents to stop wearing pyjamas on school run’ The Daily Mail, rather more pointedly, talked about an ‘unrepentant slummy mummy’, referring to a mother who responded to the Headteacher’s letter by… Continue reading
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For its own sake – an end of year mull (of the non-alcoholic sort)
Looking back over the past, say, thirty years, future historians might think it distinctly queer that we have spent so much effort and time in promoting a view of play that is somewhat to the side of what we value, what we believe: that is, the non-instrumental value of play. But who are ‘we’? ‘We’… Continue reading
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When the evidence bites back
I quote: ‘ For three-and-a-half years, all pupils at St Ninians primary have walked or run a mile each day. They do so at random times during the day, apparently happily, and despite the rise in childhood obesity across the UK, none of the children at the school are overweight. ‘The daily mile has done… Continue reading
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Come on, it’s not so bad – the APPG report on play
It’s true, the recent report on play by the All-Parliamentary Group on a Fit and Healthy Childhood would have benefited from some judicious editing and organising in terms of structure and length. True, too, that there are points where it veers off in directions that some might feel are not entirely consistent with other points… Continue reading
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Discordant harmony
From a simple humanitarian perspective, it’s easy to be outraged at some countries’ response to the current refugee crisis. The UK’s response is, I think, simply shameful. And, once again, from a straightforwardly humanitarian view, Hungary’s response is both cruel and brutal. These sentiments are easy to feel, and as easy to express. But from… Continue reading
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A conversation about Play England’s future – an invitation to all
A conversation about Play England’s future – an invitation to all We are asking individuals and organisations to circulate this letter to your mailing lists and contacts. At Play England’s recent meeting entitled ‘Children’s Play – The Challenge Ahead’, a significant number of people agreed that now was the time to generate a wide-ranging discussion… Continue reading
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ASTM and Surfacing Standards – back again, so organise
As you will see from Tim Gill’s blog – Playground Safety: Troubling New Move From ASTM – and the quote below, there appears to be a renewed attempt to amend ASTM surfacing standards, albeit in what looks like a surreptitious way. ‘Overall, the proposal appears to focus on how surfacing is safety-tested once it has… Continue reading
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If Kids Company were a bank…
For the present, let me hold it to be the case that Kids Company did good work. I think it reasonable to make that assumption on these grounds: a study by the London School of Economics, authored by Prof Sandra Jovchelovitch, who, in the words of the Daily Telegraph, ‘heaped praise’ on Miss Batmanghelidjh. The… Continue reading
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The seductions of rubbish talk
It is perhaps a particular feat of our notionally advanced society that it has contrived to obliterate the possibility of communicating in a language which actually communicates what we wish to say, as distinct from what we think we must say. Adept are we at chucking words and sentences in one direction, and meaning and… Continue reading
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Making Places to Play – Is not Enough
Originally posted on Playground Guru: This article was first published in Playground Professionals Newsletter, July 20, 2015 As a child of the sixties I spent my teen years grappling with the issues of the Vietnam War, the free speech movement, and civil rights. Our generation wanted to do something to make the world a better… Continue reading
About Me
This is Bernard Spiegal’s blog.
I write mainly about Palestine/Israel and related issues; sometimes other stuff too
Bernard Spiegal 