Another Scotland is Possible! The Joy of Jonathan Meades and Momus Gerry Hassan February 4^th 2010 I have just watched the second part of Jonathan Meades' idiosyncratic, challenging work of genius, ‘Off Kilter’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00mqlzz/Jonathan_Meades_Off_Kilter_Episode_2/, his travelogue around Scotland - part rumination, part history, part observations on life, place and the meaning of it all. The first programme was on Aberdeen and focused mostly on its architecture, while this second one mostly covered Lewis and Harris, and centred on the landscape, the ether and feel of the place. Meades commented that its awesomeness made it felt like being witness

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Putting Politics Back into the Equality Debate: The Limits of ‘The Spirit Level’ Gerry Hassan The Guardian Comment, February 3rd 2010 Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett are right to talk about inequality (Guardian, January 30^th) and do so at length in ‘The Spirit Level’, a debate which seems to have captured something about the anxieties and fears we have about modern Britain and life. Yet, despite its popularity and the claims of its authors, ‘The Spirit Level’ does not offer a new egalitarian credo, and instead leaves crucial areas unexplored. Wilkinson and Pickett pose that inequality hurts and harms all

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Gerry Hassan in Top Scottish Blog Vote Gerry Hassan February 2nd 2010 The Scottish Blog awards today gave their verdict on the best journalist and mainstream blogs in Scotland http://scottishroundup.co.uk/2010/02/02/top-journalists-mainstream-media-blogs/ putting me in an honourable third place, behind Alex Massie of The Spectator and with the winner Joan McAlpine -  with Go Lassie Go, a site whose praises I was only singing last week! As a bit of a novice at this and just beginning to find my feet I am a bit chuffed to find myself in third place. That’s like having a proper hit single in the

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The Glorious World of Scottish Football Commentary Gerry Hassan February 1st 2010 I am still recovering from the amazing experience of being at Rugby Park and the crazy world of last Saturday’s Kilmarnock v. Dundee United match. A gorgeous Scots winter day for a start; it has taken me thirty years of football-watching to see a 4-4 draw and honestly it could have been much higher. United were 3-1 up after 35 minutes and looked like they would score a barrowload, and then when Killie fought back, aided by United kamikaze defending, and went 4-3 ahead in the

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Scotland as a Magical, Foreign Land: Jonathan Meades Off-Kilter Guide to Scotland Gerry Hassan January 28th 2010 I have just watched the first part of Jonathan Meades three part series on Scotland on BBC Two, late Wednesday night, 11.20-12.20 available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ml5wx/Jonathan_Meades_Off_Kilter_Episode_1/, and was astounded by the sheer brilliance and aplomb of it on every level. Here was an hour-long programme about Aberdeen and its architecture. An hour-long programme about Aberdeen which was compelling, challenging, deeply serious and yet with a rich undertow of humour. An hour about Aberdeen with no Aberdonians, no talking heads, no stupid vox

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The Nation of Imagination: The Slow Birth of Creative Scotland Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, January 28th 2010 Tomorrow a long run Scottish soap opera reaches a new stage. I am not talking about BBC’s ‘River City’, but the appointment of the chief executive of Creative Scotland, the new quango bringing together the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen. It has been a long and painful birth. Creative Scotland was like many things not originally an SNP idea, instead stemming from Scottish Labour with its genesis a concept coming from UK New Labour thinking. Many pinpoint long gone Culture Minister Mike

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The Strange Case of the Missing Scottish Independence Bill Gerry Hassan The Guardian Comment, January 26th 2010 The SNP are driven by one over-riding factor, the restoration of Scottish statehood and independence. More than left versus right, this is what matters in the party. It is woven into its DNA, and provides the soul of the nationalist movement. The SNP government has undertaken a ‘national conversation’ and published a White Paper on independence, ‘Your Scotland, Your Choice’. All of this was meant to lead to the publication of the referendum bill yesterday – on Burn’s Night - and then if

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Scotland in Cyberspace: New Media, Blogs and Public Conversation Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, January 26^th 2010 The role of the internet and emergence of the blogosphere is much commented upon in the political and media world. Do people such as Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale have a new found political influence? Will a whole host of Labour bloggers emerge out of the ashes of the party’s election defeat? In Scotland, there is the influence of the ‘cybernat’ community who have a huge influence. Its black and white zealotry was recently profiled by the Universality of Cheese run by Mark MacLachlan,

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A Letter to The Spectator on Charles Moore, Jonathan Ross and Rod Liddle Gerry Hassan January 25^th 2010 To the Editor, Am I missing something in my understanding of Spectator coverage? For month after month Charles Moore (Spectator, passim) rightly berated the BBC for employing Jonathan Ross for however million and stated that he would withhold one of his TV licences as a result of the Ross-Brand scandal, inviting readers to do the same. Jonathan Ross then leaves the BBC and not a squeak from Mr. Moore. Has he started paying his TV licence again? And why the strange

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The Times We Live In: George Orwell, Rod Liddle and Me Gerry Hassan January 25^th 2010 I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls, And woke to find it true; I wasn't born for an age like this; Was Smith? Was Jones? Were you? George Orwell, 1935 (1) The influence of Gordon Orwell throws a long shadow and influence on many of us who choose to write, are active politically and define ourselves as ‘left’. I think of it as an impressive, friendly, beneficial shadow: a guide, a set of suggestions and inspiration. Most of all I value Orwell for the

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