The Lessons of Glasgow East Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, July 25th 2008 Gerry Hassan shows how the Scottish National Party's by-election victory in a previously unassailable Labour fiefdom is a signal of shifting tectonic plates in United Kingdom politics as a whole. Scottish and British politics are clearly moving into a new political era. The sensational Glasgow East by-election victory for the Scottish National Party (SNP) and humiliation for Labour in one of its safest seats is evidence enough, but even it only hints at the scale of the changes underway and the degree to which a momentous contest

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The Artistic Imagination and the Progressive Imagination: Beginning A New Dance Gerry Hassan Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy Arts and Culture Special Issue Editorial, Summer 2008 1. Society cannot be arranged for the benefits of artists; 2. Without artists civilisation perishes. I have never yet seen this dilemma solved (there must be a solution), and it is not often that it is honestly discussed. George Orwell, ‘As I Please’, Tribune, 1944, quoted in Anderson (2006: 186) Introduction Arts and culture in Britain are blossoming. Gallery attendances have hit new highs. Museums are enjoying new levels of popularity aided

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Changing Scotland, Differing Scotlands: The Future of the Union After Devolution Gerry Hassan Chapter in Gilles Leydier (ed.), La dynamique de la devolution au Royaume-Uni, Universite du Sud Toulon-Var 2008 Introduction Scottish politics has changed dramatically in the last decade. We have seen the establishment of a Scottish Parliament, the election of the Parliament by a broadly Proportional Representation system and the formation of the first coalition government made up by Labour and the Lib Dems. (more…)

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Changin’ Scotland No.  11   March 14-16th 2008 Sue Palmer on ‘Toxic Childhood’ and ‘Detoxing Childhood’ with Carol Craig, Rowena Arshad on racial equality, Philip Schlesinger on the media and broadcasting, Iain Macwhirter, Gerry Hassan and Susan Deacon explore Scottish and British politics after Blair, Kevin Williamson on radical books, Brian Turner on poetry and the US war in Iraq and Madge Bray on working with Georgian street children.

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Brown and the Importance of Being British Gerry Hassan Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy Winter 2008 There is a golden thread which runs through British history, of the individual standing firm against tyranny and then of the individual participating in their society. It is a thread that runs from that long-ago day in Runnymede in 1215, on to the Bill of Rights in 1689 to not just one, but four great Reform Acts within less than a hundred years. Gordon Brown, Hugo Young Memorial Lecture, December 2005 ‘Come on,’ he said.’ ‘It’s not a trick question. Just

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A short history of the future: the story of the beginning of the break-up of the UK Gerry Hassan Chapter in Mark Perryman (ed.), Imagined Nation: England after Britain, Lawrence and Wishart 2008 I think the unravelling, should it come, would probably be a protracted nightmare. It would be a divorce, a division of the spoils on a kind of epic, spectacular scale. If we think of such issues as the army, things like British embassies overseas, Britain’s permanent representation on the United Nations – all of these things would have to be unravelled and negotiated and fixed somehow.

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A Scottish Spring for Independence? Gerry Hassan Sunday Times, November 18th 2007 In a week in which it became quicker to get from London to Paris by rail than Edinburgh to London it is not surprising that Scotland and England are beginning to feel more like separate worlds. Alex Salmond this week made the prediction that Scotland will be independent by 2017 and set out to woo the wavers he needs to achieve this. He has made these sort of predictions before, but this time things are different with the SNP in power in Edinburgh and the Union slowly cracking

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The Dreaming City: The First Step To A Better World Is Imagining One Gerry Hassan Soundings: A Journal of Politics and Culture 'Tales of the City' Special Issue WInter 2007 Thinking of the future is one of the characteristics of being human through the ages and different societies. Imagining different worlds can be seen in the novels of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne and in the modernist visions of films such as Metropolis and Minority Report with their urban utopian/distopian worlds of flying cars and isolated individuals. However, these powerful public images are far removed from the world

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Glasgow 2020: Final Project Paper Gerry Hassan, Melissa Mean and Charlie Tims Glasgow 2020, a 'project of mass imagination' - which  shows how new media, and community outreach, could be combined to generate and sustain this new culture of seriousness. Pat Kane, The Democratic Interact, 2007 1. Introduction This project paper covers the following areas: •    The idea of ‘the official future’ •    The importance of story •    Learning from the process •    Learning from the content •    Glasgow possible futures •    Assemblies of hope •    Lessons for public agencies •    Dissemination Continue Reading Glasgow 2020: Final Project Paper

THE STORIES OF THE FUTURE GERRY HASSAN Glasgow 2020 set out with a belief in the power and importance of story - of story as a way to develop mass imagination, to contribute towards the reimagining of Glasgow and the articulation of a non-institutional view of the city, and to further the understanding and practice of futures literacy. There are numerous ways of developing creative discussion and dialogue. Many of these are used in scenario planning, forecasting and strategic corporate decision-making. Such techniques include the idea of the ‘strategic conversation’ which in the words of Peter Schwartz is based on

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