• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • blog
  • About
  • Book Publications
  • Other Reading
  • Social Wall
  • Back Pages
  • Contact Me
< Back

The Day that Scotland Changed

December 19, 2015

The Day that Scotland Changed

Gerry Hassan

Prospect, December 18th 2015

May 7th 2015 stands out as the day Scotland changed.

The House of Cards that was Labour dominance collapsed: a domino effect which witnessed 40 out of 41 Labour seats being won by the SNP.

Scotland has seamlessly switched from a nation of Labour supremacy to one of SNP ascendancy, and no one is quite sure why and what it means.

The standard explanation is that Labour tied itself to the Tories in the independence referendum, but that is one small part. Much more pronounced is the decline of British Scotland, the hollowing out of the Presbyterian and Catholic traditions, and the absence of any popular, instinctual story of Britain.

The liberal unionist establishment of the law, other professions and churches is no longer so sure of its views and place. This has produced an independence of the Scottish mind – where Scotland sees itself as an autonomous nation and one increasingly self-governing. That is an enormous shift, but also one with challenges, in recognising some of the domestic continuities and inequities in public life and public services which need greater scrutiny.

The big questions are: what happens next, can Scotland develop a public culture which is self-governing and honest about some of our own shortcomings, and does formal independence follow from this informal sentiment?

 

 

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Scottish Labour Party, Scottish Nationalists, Scottish politics, UK General Election 2015

Primary Sidebar

categories

  • Blog
  • Events
  • Futures Thinking
  • International Conversations
  • Longer Essays
  • Short Essays
  • What Gerry's groovin' to
  • What Gerry's reading
FacebookTwitter

featured publication

Scotland Rising: The Case for Independence

Click here to buy Gerry’s latest book.

what Gerry’s groovin’ to

My Musical Highlights of the Year

December 17, 2021

what Gerry’s reading

My Favourite Books of the Year 2021

December 15, 2021

tags

Scottish politics | Scottish Independence | Scottish Review | British politics | The Scotsman | Scottish Nationalists | Scottish Nationalism | Open Democracy | Nicola Sturgeon | Scottish Labour Party | Scottish society | Sunday National | The British State | Sunday Mail | Brexit | Boris Johnson | Social Democracy | Scottish National Party | Conservative Party | British Labour Party | Alex Salmond | Jeremy Corbyn | David Cameron | Popular Culture | The National | Scottish Parliament | Bella Caledonia | Scottish Media | Scottish Independence Referendum | British Conservatives | British Nationalism | Social Justice | Scottish Unionism | The Future of the Left | Scottish Men | 2021 Scottish Parliament elections | British Society | Scottish Culture | Football | CoronaVirus

Categories

Footer

about Gerry

Gerry Hassan is a writer, commentator and thinker about Scotland, the UK, politics and ideas.

More >

recent

  • How the 1970s began for me and how I was nearly written off at the age of five
  • Independence is not about process politics. It is about democracy
  • What Scotland’s big independence debate is about and should be about

search

FacebookTwitter

Terms of Use | Privacy Statement
Copyright © Gerry Hassan - writing, research, policy and ideas. All Rights Reserved.
Illustration and website design by Infinite Eye