The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Council Housing across Scotland and the UK Gerry Hassan Sunday National, August 4th 2019 Council housing once defined much of Scotland – geographically, culturally, and how people saw themselves and lived. In 1975 54% of Scottish homes were council owned; in England one-third of households then lived in local authority housing. This turned out to be the apex of council housing here and across the UK – with the council stock now forming a little over a quarter of homes in Scotland and significantly less in England. Today it is no longer the

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The Future of the Scottish Greens could decide the Future of Scotland Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 28th 2019 This is the summer of leadership contests. After the Lib Dems and Tories, next week sees the turn of the Scottish Greens. This might at first seem of less importance, but the outcome of this contest could play a significant role in the future of Scotland and hence the UK. The Scottish Greens are now a permanent feature on the political landscape. ‘Two decades of devolution have been good to the Scottish Greens’, says Lynn Bennie of Aberdeen University. ‘The

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The Brexit Crisis and Problem with Absolute Sovereignty: From the loss of the American Colonies and Ireland to Brexit Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, July 26th 2019 Britain is not only in crisis but under Boris Johnson’s new hardline Brexit government is heading for the rocks and disaster at turbo-charged speed. Yet with wall-to-wall mainstream media commentary on all things Brexit and Boris Johnson, a number of key characteristics are missing. The first is any understanding that Brexit is nearly entirely an English phenomenon and not only that but an expression of virulent, reactionary English nationalism. Secondly is the unpalatable reality

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Edinburgh: Inspiring Capital for Whom? Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 21st 2019 The world – or rather a very narrow, self-selecting part of it – is preparing to head to Edinburgh for the annual carnival of festivals and the Fringe. These are good times for Edinburgh. It has experienced over two decades of sustained population growth – up from under 450,000 to 513,000, a rise of 14%. Unemployment is at a record low and across the city in sector after sector it feels like a boom town. This is, in the eyes of the official version of the city, a

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Linda McCartney: A Life, Love and Family in Photographs Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 14th 2019 Linda McCartney is a name known to most people but many will relate to her through her thirty-year relationship and marriage to Paul McCartney, not being fully aware of her undoubted talent as a photographer. Now, and not before time, she is the object of an outstanding exhibition – the ‘Linda McCartney Retrospective’ at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, and its UK premiere. It covers the arc of over thirty years of photographic work - from the mid-1960s to close to 1998 when she

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Where is the vision for Scotland’s First City: Glasgow? Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, July 11th 2019 Glasgow is Scotland’s first city in size and importance. There are of course several different Glasgows - from the official council area of 621,020 inhabitants to the metropolitan region of between 1.2 million to 1.7 million people, depending on the definition. Glasgow matters. It’s success, wellbeing, vibrancy, the happiness of its people, sustainability, and state of its public realm all matter not just to the city, but to all of Scotland. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like that to many Glaswegians. The past weekend saw

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The Scottish Parliament at 20: Are we really ‘Children of the Devolution’? Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, July 1st 2019 It was twenty years ago today that the Scottish Parliament officially opened. Donald Dewar spoke eloquently, the Queen attended, and there was a small amount of pomp and circumstance in Edinburgh Old Town. Time for reflection and an assessment - cue Allan Little’s ‘Children of the Devolution’ shown on the new BBC Scotland channel, and subsequently BBC Scotland (the last episode shown this Tuesday on the former, and Wednesday on the latter). This offers an appraisal of the past twenty years:

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Doubts Even Here: The Potential of Doubt in the Age of Certainty Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, June 26th 2019 The world at the moment is in a state of flux. Yet everywhere there is assertion and statements that imply certainty and do not allow for any doubt. Doubt is central to being human. Galileo once said, ‘Doubt is the father of invention’. There is the personal doubt many of us experience – the inner voice that measures yourself by impossible standards. And there is the wider collective, societal and social doubt that poses that true faith and blind belief might

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Where will the new ideas for Scotland’s public services come from? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, June 19th 2019 Scotland seems to be at an uneasy, calm place at the moment. The storm clouds are gathering on the horizon yet still seem distant - from the threat of Brexit and even worse the car crash of a No Deal Brexit - to the expected arrival of Boris Johnson as Tory leader and UK PM, while alongside this the Scottish Government demands that the UK Government listens to it on Brexit, so far to no avail, and considers how to progress a

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‘Seven Up’, Class and Modern Scotland Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, June 12th 2019 Last week saw a significant moment in TV programming when ITV broadcast the latest in the legendary series ‘Seven Up’, namely ’63 Up’. Michael Apted began first as a researcher then Director tracking fourteen seven year olds in 1964 and has subsequently returned to them every seven years since. Over the past 55 years one of the fourteen has died (Lynn) and two have withdrawn leaving us with eleven people who contributed to the current edition of this bold experiment in broadcasting and social history. ’63 Up’

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