The Gatekeepers of Scotland’s Business Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, December 19th 2009 One of the paradoxes of devolution is that for all the talk of greater openness and wider engagement, those who have gained most from the whole experience have been the voices of institutional Scotland, namely those who already had access and power pre-devolution. A further paradox is that one of the specific interest groups who have gained most have been those who campaigned against devolution and were dismissive to hostile about the entire exercise - the business membership bodies. It should not be too much of a

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The Shame of ‘The Restaurant’: An Everyday Tale of Post-Blair Britain Gerry Hassan December 18^th 2009 I have over the years watched many ‘reality TV’ programmes (at least in their first series) such as ‘Big Brother’, ‘’Strictly’, ‘The Apprentice’ and ‘The Restaurant’. However, there is intrinsically – and increasingly - something in the format which leads it to debase itself from its original premises, and which prevents it from sustaining its often captivating first idea. The Beeb like to think they do these things with more style and subtlety. This brings us to the final of ‘The Restaurant’ screened last

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Gerry's Top Sixty Albums of the Decade Part Six December 18th 2009 Nos. 10-1 Into the final furlong. This has been both exhausting and exhilarating; now I know how much work those boys and girls at ‘NME’ and ‘Uncut’ work on their end of year lists. For me personally it has been an even more varied, stimulating and utterly captivating decade in music than ever before. There are though some interesting (and some ominous signs) in the state of music (and I am not just taking about Cowell and the X Factor). There is the state of pop and plastic

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Gerry's Top Sixty Albums of the Decade Part Five December 17th 2009 Nos. 20-11 Just like the chart of olden days into the Top Twenty. Cue CCS ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and Jimmy Saville with cigar! It is interesting to note what didn’t make my list. So as I said no Sinatra and I kind of feel guilty. The one Frank release which could have made it was ‘Sinatra in Hollywood’, a brilliant and comprehensive collection of all Frank’s film music – which is saying something – and which had for the first time the theme music for the stupendous ‘On

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Gerry's Top Sixty Albums of the Decade Part Four December 16th 2009 Nos. 30-21 30. Post-War, M. Ward, 2006 This sound very old and very modern, fragile and unique and covered in a sepia-toned mood with Ward’s vocals as if they are coming from the past and the future. It all creates a very distinct atmosphere, with the ghost of Dennis Wilson in there alongside a cover of Daniel Johnston. This album follows his ‘Transfiguration of Vincent’ which is also superb, containing an acoustic, spellbinding cover of Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’. 29. The Drift, Scott Walker, 2006 This is music

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The Late Great Project of British Nation Building: Pathe News Presents from the ESRC! Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, December 16th 2009 A few years ago the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) decided to initiate an annual series called ‘Britain in ….’ each year. This was on one level some wheeze about academics thinking they were advancing public information/engagement, hitting some KPI target on Knowledge Transfer, while branding and positioning itself on newsagent shelves in the slipstream of ‘The Economist The World in …’ annual series. For all its faults as a magazine, ‘The Economist The World ….’ series is

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Gerry's Top Sixty Albums of the Decade Part Three December 16th 2009 Nos. 40-31 40. America Brasil, Seu Jorge, 2008 Rio born Jorge broke through with the music for the film ‘City of God’ and then at some point did an album of Bowie covers in Portuguese which got a lot of attention, but passed me by. This is an album of his own compositions, which while varied in style, has an overall sense of up-beatness, the spirit of bossa nova, being breezy and filled with life and vitality. 39. In a Bad Mood, Geraint Watkins, 2008 Watkins is one

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Gerry's Top Sixty Albums of the Decade Part Two December 15th 2009 Here is Part Two; numbers 50-41 .... 50. Singing for Life: Songs of Hope, Healing and HIV/AIDS in Uganda, 2007 What an unbelievably life-affirming album this is. Addressing one of the most serious issues of our time: the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa, ‘Singing for Life’ details the response of Ugandan musicians. With titles such as ‘Death is Bad’, ‘AIDS Finished Us’ and ‘The Graveyard is Our Home’ some might think this a bleak listen, but it is a celebration of the human (and musical) spirit. 49.

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Groundhog Election Day: The Coming Scottish and UK Westminster Contests Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, December 15th 2009 As the festive season approaches the political and media classes play their own party game which is as familiar as ‘pass the parcel’: guess the election date. The end game of a five-year Parliament approaches, and an unpopular Prime Minister tries to keep his options between March, May and June, the last a non-runner. He knows he has a reputation as a ditherer, who forever will be remembered (like Jim Callaghan) as the PM who failed to call an election when the polls

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Gerry’s Top Sixty Albums of the Decade Part One December 14th 2009 Here it comes day by day …. Gerry’s countdown of the grooves he was listening to over the decade. First things first, this is my chart so the criterion is made up by me. It is mostly new things which came out over the ten years, but also includes some compilations and reissues. Second, looking back on it is interesting to see what is missing. So no ‘latest things’ such as Panda Bear or Fleet Foxes (bought and stuck on amazon within days of purchasing), and no

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