A Celebration of Democracy – and Goodbye to Yesterday’s Men Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 12th 2021 The Scottish elections attracted major media coverage - not just here, but across the UK and internationally. They have been portrayed as historic, and a potential turning point that could decide the fate of the independence question, and ultimately, determine the future of the UK. They were a major moment of democratic engagement. The five previous Scottish elections I discussed last week all had fairly unimpressive turnouts - 58.4% in 1999, 49.7% in 2003, 54.0% in 2007, 50.5% in 2011, and 55.8% in

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A big moment for Scotland and Democracy Gerry Hassan Sunday National, May 9th 2021 The morning after the 2014 indyref UK PM David Cameron stood on the Downing Street steps and said it was time to listen to England and bring in “English Votes for English Laws.” Fast forward seven years, Scotland went to the polls and before most of the results were declared Boris Johnson gave an interview to the Daily Telegraph where he said no to another indyref calling it “irresponsible and reckless.” Tory contempt for the people runs deep when they express what Tories decree is the

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Twenty Years of Scottish Elections and the Importance of the Everyday Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 5th 2021 Today is the last day of campaigning in the Scottish Parliament elections – held under the restrictions of the COVID pandemic. This has been a strange experience, almost surreal at times, as if coming from a far-off political universe we have vaguely heard of but never visited beamed into our homes via TV and radio. There is an element of ‘the society of the spectacle’ about most modern elections and politics that raise profound questions. Is this really who we are

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Europe puts a light on for Scotland Gerry Hassan Sunday National, May 2nd 2021 Remember in 2014 Scotland was told: “What is [the] process for removing our EU citizenship? Voting Yes.” Now the same voices tell us that Scotland becoming an EU member is too difficult – the supposed ‘queue’ for membership, EU terms and spectre of a ‘Spanish veto’. Yet large parts of Europe have not forgotten that Scotland voted to remain a European nation - and part of the EU - in the 2016 vote, and still has the desire to be a self-governing EU nation. An initiative

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Glasgow on the Edge Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 28th 2021 Glasgow is a great city with a proud history, traditions, cultures and a rich record of invention, industry and radicalism. There are of course many different Glasgows within the city’s boundaries – and often reality jars with how the city likes to see and think of itself. One key example is the consistent conservatism and high-handed bureaucracy of Glasgow City Council in a city that prides itself on its commitment to radicalism. Too often though down the years the city’s municipalism has been characterised by the exact opposite

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Scotland’s choices and future after the election Gerry Hassan Sunday National, April 23rd 2021 It has been a momentous week. The George Floyd verdict put racial justice and police violence in the US centre-stage, while the over-reach of the plutocrats involved in the European Super League self-destructed in 48 hours. The scale of Tory sleaze and corruption surrounding Boris Johnson and his government rises by the day, with contracts and public monies awarded via access to the UK PM’s mobile phone number and What’s App discussions returning government to a Dickensian system of private favours and kleptocracy. Next week will

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Breakaway: The rise and fall of the European Super League Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 21st 2021 What has been the big media story so far this week? Not COVID, not Boris Johnson’s many scandals, or even the George Floyd trial in the US. Rather, by far the biggest story media-wise has been the announcement of the European Super League – with some of the continent’s biggest football names announcing their intention to join together in a league which would make them an even more out of touch elite, before the fans rebelled and the powers to be had

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The crisis of unionism has become the death of the union as we know it Gerry Hassan Sunday National, April 18th 2021 The UK is not in a good state - undermined by the concerted actions of the UK Government, continuing to showing a lack of understanding of the union. All of this is coming to a head as we approach the Scottish elections, raising the stakes for how people vote and raising difficult questions about the nature of UK democracy. This Tory Government is dramatically changing the UK and the union, how political authority is exercised, the relationships between

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The UK is not a fully-fledged democracy: An alternative history of Britain Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 14th 2021 The events of the past few days, in the aftermath of the death of Prince Philip, have brought the nature of British society, history and democracy to the fore – or rather the all-pervasive official account that is articulated day in and day out. We are continually told – sometimes subliminally and sometimes explicitly - that the monarchy is central to Britain, Britishness and our way of life and being, and that it is part of what makes us unique, stable

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The politics of populism in Scotland and the challenge of Alex Salmond and George Galloway Gerry Hassan Sunday National, April 11th 2021 Once upon a time politics were simpler. Parties stood unambiguously on the left and right; politics was about class and the economy, and there was no such thing as “identity politics”. This is of course make-believe as politics was never so completely clear cut. But in recent decades this has become even more messy and unpredictable, with existing parties open to new challenges across the developed world. Today one of the big stories of politics is the rise

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