recent articles
Barbarism Begins at Home: The Continuing Great Moving Right Show and War on Democracy
Barbarism Begins at Home Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, 2 July 2024 Across the West politics are fractured, divisive, and raise more questions than answers. Biden vs. Trump; the authoritarian US Supreme Court extending Trump’s Presidential immunity; the march of the far-right in the French legislative assembly elections; the UK election and emptiness of the mainstream – a trend reflected by Andrew Hindmoor in Haywire: A Political History of Britain since 2000 as ‘the growth of modern miserabilism’ and as evidence that ‘the country is in decline and everything is getting worse.’ Everywhere the forces of the populist right are either
Seventy Years of Hurt Never Stopped Us Dreaming: Scottish Football and the Need for Change
Seventy Years of Hurt Never Stopped Us Dreaming Gerry Hassan Sunday National, 30 June 2024 We all know the script. The Scottish men’s national team qualify for a major tournament. We raise our hopes. Once more they go out in the first round to deflation and dismay. All of this feels very familiar. We have been disappointed and hurt so often. The men’s national team have turned up for twelve major tournaments. Twelve major tournaments have seen us come home at the earliest opportunity. This story of underachievement and underperformance runs from the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland to last
How not to do radicalism: The hold of capital-ism on Labour’s left from Benn to Corbyn
The Searchers: Andy Beckett, Allen Lane £30. Review by Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, 14 June 2024 This book covers the rise and fall, and rise again and subsequent fall, of the Labour left over a period of over fifty years - from the late 1960s to the present. Andy Beckett locates such an epic canvas through telling the story of five connected individuals - Tony Benn, Ken Livingstone, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Diane Abbott. Such an approach aims to make this more human and relatable. However, this is a questionable conceit, as it assumes a major thread connecting all
UK Election 2024: The emptiness of the mainstream, punishment elections and ghost parties
UK Election 2024: The emptiness of the mainstream, punishment elections and ghost parties Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, 11 June 2024 The UK is experiencing a turbulent, messy, argumentative election contest. One where the main players and institutions seem unsure of themselves; their place in the world; their relevance - and moreover their ability to govern and present policies and ideas. Whatever the final election result it looks certain that the Labour Party will be elected with a sizeable majority. The Conservatives will be decisively rejected, the right split by the rise of Farage’s Reform; while in Scotland the dominant governing
Change is coming to Scotland: Can Scottish Labour seize the opportunity?
Change is coming to Scotland: Can Scottish Labour seize the opportunity? Gerry Hassan Chartist, 10 June 2024 This is a change election; both in the UK and Scotland. A sense of wanting to punish the Tories after 14 years pervades the UK; and a similar, if less emphatic, desire can be felt in Scotland with regard to the SNP after their 17 years in office. Scottish politics are in flux. This is the end of the era of SNP’s effortless dominance under Salmond and Sturgeon. The SNP is in a crisis of leadership – both of party and of government.
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As Scotland goes to the polls caution and continuity – in Labour and the SNP
As Scotland goes to the polls caution and continuity are not enough – in Labour and the SNP Gerry Hassan Sunday National, 26 May 2024 The UK election on 5 July has huge consequences that could draw the curtains on fourteen Tory years - and see the election of a Labour Government under Keir Starmer. All expectations are that the Tories will lose badly, and Labour could win by a landslide. However the Tories won emphatically in 2019 and Labour need to gain 124 seats for a majority of one seat - something they have done twice in post-war times
Continue Reading As Scotland goes to the polls caution and continuity – in Labour and the SNP
The Art of Growing Up: The SNP after Sturgeon, Independence and the Power of Light
The Art of Growing Up Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, 14 May 2024 Sunday was the 25th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament’s opening day in 1999; and the 30th of the tragic death of Labour leader John Smith - two totemic moments which changed political realities and with implications to this day. The Scottish Parliament opened with its most senior member, Winnie Ewing, declaring: ‘The Scottish Parliament, adjourned on the 25th day of March in the year 1707, is hereby reconvened’, an expression of a nationalist narrative. The political void left by John Smith’s death produced the election of Tony Blair
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Walls come tumbling down: The SNP crisis and the state of Scottish politics and independence
Walls come tumbling down Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, 1 May 2024 The events of the past few days have caught many off-guard. Humza Yousaf‘s abrupt termination of the agreement with the Greens, their resultant fury and desire for revenge, with the inevitable resignation of Yousaf as it became obvious that he could not win a vote of confidence without paying a high price to Alba and Alex Salmond. All political parties, parliaments and political systems have crises. They are the life and blood of politics. They are revealing, tell us much about what the main players (whether parties or individuals)
Twenty-five years of the Scottish Parliament and the need for a new story
Twenty-five years of the Scottish Parliament and the need for a new story Gerry Hassan Sunday National, 28 April 2024 The past few days have seen Scottish politics shaken to the core. Humza Yousaf terminated the SNP-Green Bute House Agreement bringing the prospect of a vote of no confidence. This could end his Premiership and SNP rule, and even result in a special Holyrood election before the coming Westminster contest. In such a febrile atmosphere no one could be sure how voters would act in a surprise poll, or who they might blame for calling it! Politics in Scotland hasn’t
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The Last Great British Story: The enduring story of the Beatles, how they changed Britain and what it means
The Last Great British Story: The enduring story of the Beatles Gerry Hassan Scottish National, 31 March 2024 One of the strange things about the Beatles phenomenon is that the further we are from the 1960s, the more fascinating, unique and important they become. Sixty years ago – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – produced new levels of excitement and exhilaration as “Beatlemania” reached a crescendo. The Beatles returned from their all-conquering trip to America – something no other British musical act had done before. “Can’t Buy Me Love” was released and topped the charts; in
