A Tale of Two Nations and Becoming Normal: Ireland and Scotland Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 30th 2018 Ireland has made international headlines in the last week as the country voted to legalise a woman’s right to choose, overturning decades of religious and moral dogma. Meanwhile in less dramatic terms Scotland’s debate on independence and its future has been shaped by the publication of the governing SNP’s Sustainable Growth Commission. The two have similarities in ways neither is aware of. i) Ireland’s trust in its own people Ireland’s debate was ostensibly about a woman’s right to choose and repealing the

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The Royal Family, Britishness and Living in Disneyland Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 23rd 2018 The Royal Family are an important part of what it means to be British, and whether you like them or loath them, they are one of the few remaining national symbols of cohesion which unite lots of people. Yet the monarchy is more popular in some places than others. A recent Delta Poll for Policy Exchange showed that support for the monarchy ranged from 55% in England to 52% in Northern Ireland, 49% in Wales and 46% in Scotland. Asked if the monarchy was a

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The coming rebellion against the world of the Sunday Times ‘Rich List’ Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 16th 2018 Starting in 1988, The Sunday Times ‘Rich List’ is now in its 30^th year. It has survived and prospered through all sorts of political seasons and economic social periods, from the high point of Thatcherism and ‘Loadsamoney’ to New Labour’s own embracing of the super rich, and the slow turning against the grotesque excesses and indulgences of such forces. And yet here we are, nearly a decade after the banking crash and years of static and falling living standards for most,

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Independence has to be about more than an indyref. It is a state of mind Gerry Hassan Sunday Herald, May 13th 2018 Scotland and the UK feel in hiatus and stasis - awaiting the unfurling and unraveling of Brexit. Some people are marching. Last Saturday’s gathering was significant given the lack of SNP and Scottish Green support. It shows the energy, but also frustration and impatience, in parts of independence opinion. But it also shows the limits of such a politics. Any movement that marches under banners like ‘Tory Scum Out’, and with Tommy Sheridan on the platform, isn’t

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The Future has been Postponed: Making Sense of the Age of Nostalgia Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 9th 2018 Nostalgia is everywhere. The past seems all around us – alive, noisy, ever-present, and more relevant and dynamic than the voices of today and the concerns of tomorrow. Take a couple of examples. The British Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn seems to define its moral compass through a host of reference points from its past - from Keir Hardie to 1945. Then there is the regressive radicalism and conservatism of Brexit. And less seriously, there is how popular culture increasingly re-presents

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Ideals for Living: The need for guides on how to live a better life Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 2nd 2018 How many times do you hear people say that these are ‘grim times’? It has become commonplace – but a bit of perspective and history is needed. These aren’t after all as grim times in the UK, or the West, as they were in the 1980s in terms of economic dislocation and the Cold War, and nor are they anywhere as dark and foreboding times as the 1930s and the march of fascism and world war. They are

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Loss is too important to be left to the hate mongers Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 25th 2018 The bewildering nature of modern society – its incessant, demanding change, shifts in employment, remuneration and technologies, and a sense that big decisions are taken elsewhere – means that a feeling of loss is commonplace today in the UK and other developed societies. Yet such is the overwhelming nature of these changes and so deep-seated are feelings of confusion and dislocation that we don’t have time or inclination to stop and pause and understand the many facets of what loss is,

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Living in the Shadow of Empire State Britain and the Problem of Cultural Dementia Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, April 19th 2018 The UK has been an uncomfortable place in the last few days. There has been the controversy over the Windrush deportations, Tory Cabinet minister Esther McVey defending the rape clause at the Scottish Parliament as ‘non-invasive’, and the resuscitation of Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ 1968 speech from beyond the grave. On top of this there has been the Trump-led bombing of Syria, backed by UK and French forces, without parliamentary vote or international approval. We have to understand

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Enoch Powell’s Ghost and Bigotry still haunts modern Britain Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 17th 2018 This week sees the 50^th anniversary of Enoch Powell’s infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech which occurred on April 20^th 1968, with the BBC deciding to recreate it and broadcast on ‘Archive on 4’ - read by actor Ian McDiarmid. The speech has never been broadcast before in full, and this decision hasn’t been without controversy, both before and afterwards. It was an extraordinary experience to hear this much cited, even legendary, speech in its entirety - 45 minutes of powerful, passionate, and shockingly over

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Breaking the Taboos and Silences of Belting Scotland’s Children Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 11th 2018 Scottish education has always had an important, even disproportionate place in society - emphasising its distinctiveness, traditions, and of course, multiple individual stories and experiences. Yet our education system has had for all the good and positive stories, too many which are bad and dark. This legacy continues to this day. For all the pride in the best of our schools and education, there has been a historical culture of fear, punishment and violence, and teachers and authority using power inappropriately to control children.

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