The Scottish Potential of ‘the Big Society’ Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, August 13th 2010 The prevalent reaction of many people I know in Scotland to David Cameron’s idea of ‘the Big Society’ is to pour scorn on to it, and dismiss it as window dressing for the forthcoming cuts. This has a similarity to the haughty dismissal of ‘the Con Dem Nation’ prevalent in centre-left chattering circles. Whatever you think of the coalition, there is a smugness, self-satisfaction and unattractive sense of certainty in this mindset. Politics often involves the knee-jerk, tribalism and the instant dismissal of opponents, but there

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The Last Man of Iron: Who Comes After the Jimmy Reids of this World? Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, August 13th 2010 The tributes to Jimmy Reid have been many and fulsome. They have come from across the political spectrum and from near and far – from his hometown of Glasgow to the Govan of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders, to across the UK and internationally. If Reid hadn’t lived and led the public life he did, you almost feel that he would have been invented. His life and persona told the story of a certain part of Scotland: of Red Clydeside, the

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Gerry’s Desert Island Disc Grooves Gerry Hassan August 10th 2010 For some reason over the last few weeks I began thinking about my Desert Island Disc choices. In part it has been listening to the show a bit more of late – usually by accident, rather than design – caused by an increase in Radio 4 listening. Then there is my rising dissatisfaction with the conservatism and smug self-satisfaction with what modern pop culture has turned into. People going on about the Beatles. Give it a rest. The sixties. Punk and new wave which turned out to be even more

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Where do we go from here? Part Three: Agency and self-determinations, retaking the future without Marx Gerry Hassan and Anthony Barnett Open Democracy, August 5^th 2010 This is the third, final, exchange of a wide-ranging three part conversation between Anthony Barnett and Gerry Hassan, touching on the state of British politics and democracy and how the left - weak and disorganised in the face of a resurgent neoliberalism - can propose and build alternatives to the dominant dogmas of the past thirty years. You can read Part I 'The frustrations of British politics' here, and Part 2 'Challenging

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Where do we go from here? Part Two: Challenging 'the Official Future' Gerry Hassan and Anthony Barnett Open Democracy, August 4th 2010 This is the second of a wide-ranging three part conversation between Anthony Barnett and Gerry Hassan, touching on the state of British politics and democracy and how the left - weak and disorganised in the face of a resurgent neoliberalism - can propose and build alternatives to the dominant dogmas of the past thirty years. You can read Part I here. Thanks for the message Gerry! How am I supposed to get to sleep without an answer to

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Where do we go from here? Part One: The frustrations of British politics Gerry Hassan and Anthony Barnett Open Democracy, August 2^nd 2010 In the first of a wide-ranging three part conversation, Anthony Barnett and Gerry Hassan discuss the state of British politics and democracy and how the left - weak and disorganised in the face of a resurgent neoliberalism - can propose and build alternatives to the dominant dogmas of the past thirty years. Hi Gerry, There is a strange mixture of moods here in political London. There is a Tory right, with Spectatorish leanings, used to

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The Collective Illiteracy at the Heart of the UK Gerry Hassan August 1st 2010 More proof if it were needed of the constitutional and political illiteracy which now guides our political classes and media about the nature of the UK. Another day, another al-Megrahi story and this time the ‘Sunday Times’ (1) tells us in all earnestness that if the UK Government had wanted to it could have stopped the release of the Libyan prisoner by the Scottish Government. I am not sure the ‘Sunday Times’ has any real belief or faith in this story, because it has tucked it

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The Fantasyland of ‘The Spirit Level’ and the Limitations of the Health and Well-Being Industry Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, August 1st 2010 I feel that the world is full of closet egalitarians, that at some level people know this makes sense. They were pushed into the closet by Reagan and Thatcher and monetarism and neo-liberal economics, but many people didn’t really stop believing that some of the old left ideas were important. We just lost confidence in them, and I think maybe we thought they just weren’t relevant to the modern world. I feel that the left entirely lost its

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The New Religion of ‘The Spirit Level’ Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, July 30th 2010 Sometimes books for good or bad define ages. Will Hutton’s ‘The State We’re In’ captured the hopes many people had before New Labour were elected. George Orwell’s ‘1984’ tapped fears of the Cold War and totalitarianism. And in the midst of the bubble, Malcolm Gladwell’s lightweight ‘The Tipping Point’ told people change was easy, simple and all about stories. ‘The Spirit Level’ by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett has reached these levels, but is a serious book by two epidemiologists. Its central thesis is that inequality

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The Coming AV Referendum, Coalition Problems and the Electoral Commission Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, July 28th 2010 There is a sense of gathering storm clouds for the coalition on the forthcoming AV referendum. Nick Clegg made a statement to the House of Commons on its last day sitting before summer recess, and dismissed any concerns about having the AV vote on the same day as the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish devolved elections, as well as English council elections. Forty-four Tory MPs have signed a Commons motion tabled by backbencher Bernard Jenkin opposing a referendum on the day identified: May

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