The Crisis of the Cameron Conservative Project: The Limits of Progressive Conservatism and 'Red Toryism' Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, July 10th 2009 David Cameron has promised a new kind of Conservative politics: compassionate, ‘voting blue, going green’, concerned about poverty and the ‘broken society’. Pivotal to this has been a ferment of ideas in Conservative circles and in particular debates about ‘Progressive Conservatism’ and ‘Red Toryism’. The two strands were brought together, the former a high profile project at Demos, the UK think tank, and the latter, an intellectual excursion by Phillip Blond, theologian and thinker, who headed the

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The list below is some of the books I am currently reading, being provoked by, enjoying, being infuriated by, or have just finished. Andrew Gamble, The Spectre at the Feast: Capitalist Crisis and the Politics of Recession, Palgrave 2009 Gamble is one of Britain’s finest political writers and analysts explaining contemporary Britain and the global order. His latest book offers a fascinating take on the series of events which led to the global crunch of 2008-9. On the way he addresses the nature of the managed capitalism which sprang out of World War Two, how this unwound, the characteristics of

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This week musically …. its my usual varied bag of eccentricity mixed with if one is being honest by repeated listens of some things too often, and even some things so beyond cheesy as to be beyond redemption. The Lovin’ Spoonful, Greatest Hits: Am a particular fan of some of their great, supposedly lesser hits, Coconut Grove, Darling Be Home Soon, Younger Generation ….. Nino Katamadse, White: An evocative electro-pop diva from Georgia (the nation, not the REM place) who has shades of Goldfrapp, Pet Shop Boys and Liza Minnelli. Finally available in the UK and US from a Russian

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Holyrood and the Search for Scotland’s Soul BBC One Scotland, Sunday 10.20-11.20pm Reviewed in The Scotsman, June 30th 2009 Gerry Hassan ‘Holyrood and the Search for Scotland’s Soul’ was a BBC Scotland special to mark ten years of Scottish devolution and attempt to understand what happened, what it means and reflect on who the Scots are. It certainly had an A-list cast supporting Brian Taylor including Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Alex Salmond, and a chorus line of Henry McLeish, Jack McConnell, Wendy Alexander, George Reid, Michael Forsyth and many more. The opening scenes had Brian Taylor declare

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What Happens When Labour Falls from Power The Scotsman, June 9th 2009 Gerry Hassan Labour is in an historic crisis. It has been pummelled in the council and Euro elections. Gordon Brown’s Premiership hangs on a loose thread. A wider existential crisis now faces Labour about its purpose, who it represents and its future. Labour Government’s have faced huge crises before and faced into the abyss. They have experienced division and fratricide and ultimately been defeated at the polls. In post-war times three Labour Governments have fallen from power, 1951, 1970 and 1979, each of which offer lessons for today.

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Lets Start a New Country Up: The Need for a New Politics Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 22nd 2009 British politics are in exceptional times. So everyone says. Democracy is in crisis say some; parliamentary democracy is in crisis say others; while others more accurately say that the entire British political edifice is tottering on the point of collapse. Comparisons fill the airwaves: 1832, the Glorious Revolution, the loss of the American colonies, none of which work and just underline that these are indeed unprecedented times. Continue Reading Lets Start A New Country Up: The Need for a New Politics

The Cameron Roadshow Reaches Marginal Scotland Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 15th 2009 The week the British political system creaked and cracked under the strain and embarrassment of the self-serving financial actions of politicians across the political spectrum saw David Cameron take his constituency roadshow to the county town of Arbroath. ‘Cameron Direct’ http://www.conservatives.com/Get_involved/Cameron_Direct.aspx is a Blair-like initiative which sees the Conservative leader tour the country – or the marginal seats of it – offering voters the chance to see him up close if not as he puts it ‘in their living room’. Continue Reading The Cameron Roadshow Reaches Marginal Scotland

They Say That Breaking Up Is Hard To Do: Broken Britain or Not? Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 7th 2009 Review of Mark Perryman (ed.), Breaking Up Britain, Lawrence and Wishart 2009 The contrast [over the last 25 years] has been between a determined (if stricken) agent of history and a mere sleep-walker. In 1977 the Cold War political palsy still prevailed, a profound inertia favouring all the tropes of states, parties and intellectuals I have described. By 2000 most instinctive allegiance to ‘establishments’ had drained away, leaving hollow routines and vacant symbols behind. A combination of official servility

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The Legacy of Thatcherism North of the Border Thirty Years On Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 5th 2009 This is the woman that closed down our shipyards and steel mills, believed that unemployment is a price worth paying, and then told us that she knew best. If that wasn't bad enough, she used Scotland as a guinea pig for the poll tax. The Tories abandoned families and offered no support to people in desperate circumstances. Margaret Curran, Labour MSP for Glasgow Baillieston (1) ‘Margaret Thatcher did more good than harm in Scotland’. This was the motion for a packed

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What is Changin’ Scotland? Changin’ Scotland has been a regular event at The Ceilidh Place since 2002. Run twice a year – every March and November – each weekend is put together and hosted by Gerry Hassan and Jean Urquhart – and covers a range of discussions and happenings on politics, culture, music and film, with the intention of having a good time. Weekends cover the entire universe of political and cultural thought, artistic endeavour, community activism, philosophical investigations, international campaigning and imagining new possibilities. Sometimes we just like to have a bit of fun! The story continues into what

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