The aftermath of the Alex Salmond trial and Kirsty Wark's take on Scotland Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, August 19th 2020 Alex Salmond is one of the towering figures of post-war Scottish politics - a politician who dramatically changed the country and his party’s fortunes, taking it into office in 2007, winning majority government in 2011, and taking Scotland close to independence in the 2014 referendum. He has always been a divisive figure: loved by some, hated by others. This division has become increasingly bitter in the aftermath of the trial in March of this year in which he was charged

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After the COVID recession: The age of conservatism is coming to end Gerry Hassan Sunday National, August 16th 2020 This week the scale of damage done by COVID-19 to the UK economy was confirmed as much more serious than previously thought. The drop in GDP for the second quarter of 2020 was 20.4% - the highest on record for a quarter - contributing to a 22.1% fall in the first six months of the year, plus a significant rise in the claimant count to 2.7 million people and a dramatic fall in employment. But this is nothing compared to

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The rise and fall of civil society in Scotland Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, August 12th 2020 Last year in the US in the town of Williamstown, Massachusetts I got into a conversation with a complete stranger who followed politics avidly. I naturally asked him about the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election, to which he responded that even more important than defeating Trump was the vibrancy and health of civil society. It struck me as a perceptive remark in seeing past the debris of the Trump Presidency and looking at something deeper, more long-term and centred on the health of

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The Real Divided Scotland: Time to get serious about class and inequality Gerry Hassan Sunday National, August 9th 2020 The SQA debacle has dominated the news. It is not a good moment for Scottish education or the cause of a more just, equal country. That is the bigger story here – one we should be uncomfortable with until we face up to it. Specifically, the extent of inequality and division in Scotland - this supposed land of egalitarianism. We can see it in the education attainment gap and scale of educational inequality and apartheid which underpins it; it is evident

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The SNP, Salmond and Sturgeon and the limits of court politics Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, August 5th 2020 The UK is in turbulence. The UK Government has failed us on matters of life and death. Scotland has felt very different, even if on some of the fundamentals of COVID19 it has not been actually that different. At the same time the SNP has soared in the polls, Nicola Sturgeon’s ratings have outshone everyone else and independence has moved into the majority. To some this looks like our future - a slow disentanglement from the UK state. Yet across the world,

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Scottish Tory Troubles at the top, in the party and in the unionist cause Gerry Hassan Sunday National, August 2nd 2020 Jackson Carlaw’s resignation was the biggest hit of his short leadership. It marks the end of one of the most unhappy periods of any Scottish party leader. Its only defining characteristics were that it was short and yes, he wasn’t very good. But it does underline bigger troubles in the Tory and unionist world. Carlaw lasted 168 days in the job. Many of these saw him restricted - like Jo Biden in the States - to his house due

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Independence as the new normal: Listening to the Scotland that did not vote Yes in 2014 Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 26th 2020 This week ‘All Under One Banner’ asked on social media: ‘What do you think is the main obstacle to overcome in order to restore Scottish independence?’ This brought forth comments about the state of the mainstream media, BBC, Westminster parties and UK Government, but very little on actual voters. It took pro-independence writer Michael Gray to answer that: ‘The reality that independence was rejected by two million of our fellow citizens for many decent and understandable

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The debate on a new pro-indy party: What kind of democracy and politics do we want Scotland to be known by? Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 19th 2020 You wait years for a new independence party and suddenly you can’t move for them. There is the Alliance for Independence (AFI) supported by former SNP MSP Dave Thompson; the Independence for Scotland Party (ISP), and the fledgling Wings over Scotland-Alex Salmond party, which may or may not happen. To some this is about winning significant list representation which isn’t SNP or Green, for others about ‘gaming’ the system to help the

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We are living through history and we are the history makers Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 12th 2020 The UK Government is convulsed in multiple crises - COVID19 and the related coming economic storm - while Brexit still remains unfinished business with a No Deal Brexit still highly likely by the end of this year. If this were not enough, the UK is committing self-harm at the bequest of a government both rudderless and dogmatic. It is treating large parts of England like distant provinces while remembering Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland only when they cause trouble or to keep

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Border troubles point to the long-term crisis of unionism in Scotland and the UK Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 5th 2020 Reaching 100 days since the start of the UK lockdown was always going to be a milestone, but in many places it has been marked by a kind of cabin fever irritability and over the top remarks. Boris Johnson attempted to convince voters that he was the inheritor of Roosevelt’s political ambition and wanted a ‘New Deal’ in a speech he made in Dudley - whilst 56 miles away, the residents of Leicester were having to deal with a

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