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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In Praise of Gentleness Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 28th 2018 Where is the gentleness in life? Instead - in too many places - we have a surfeit of anger, dislocation and frustration. For some the big issues of the day necessitate, even demand, such assertive and sometimes negative qualities. We live in times defined by corporate dishonesty, brazenness and theft, where the vast majority of us feel unheard, marginalised, alienated and silenced. Anger is clearly an understandable response, but can only take us so far, and too often blows itself out through exhaustion and disillusion. Too much of

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The View of Britain from Europe: A Perspective from Lublin Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 21st 2018 Europe feels very different when viewed from its eastern borders. This week I have been travelling across Europe and staying for several days in the beautiful Polish city of Lublin – 95 miles from Warsaw, in the south-east of the country, not far from the Polish-Ukrainian border. Lublin is a proud city with a rich history and sense of its past importance. It currently has a population of 349,103 and four universities, numerous colleges and lots of successful and impressive businesses and start-ups.

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Culture in Scotland in the midst of storms: A Call for Dangerous Cultures Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, March 16th 2018 Culture in Scotland is in difficult times: public spending cuts, the lost decade of stagnant living standards for the vast majority of people, limits to the Scottish Government’s largesse and devolution powers, controversy over Creative Scotland’s decision making and funding priorities resulting in the debate over the future of the Scottish Youth Theatre - and much more (with some questioning the continued existence of Creative Scotland). If you think these are dangerous waters you ain’t seen nothing yet. While some

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As Brexit Britain heads for the rocks what does Corbyn’s Labour stand for? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 14th 2018 The diminished global status of Britain and our future post-Brexit has been on display in the last few days. The attempted murder of Sergei Skripa and his daughter Yulia and the possible role of Russian authorities; the visit of the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince, and the continued saga of Donald Trump’s unpredictable, erratic Presidency from trade wars to his state visit, all illustrate the challenges a diminished UK will face in the aftermath of Brexit. Twenty-one months on from the

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The Revolution has not been televised: And why mainstream politics and media prefers not to talk about it Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 7th 2018 Switch on your TV news these days and you will find, when they get past the poor weather and Royal Family announcements, that the world doesn’t exactly feel a happy place. There is disorder, division and disaster seemingly everywhere, but also very little attempt to make sense of why much of this happening. Last week the BBC news and current affairs programme ‘This Week’ hosted by Andrew Neil began with a film and discussion

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After the Oxfam and Save the Children scandals what does it take to be a good organisation? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, February 28th 2018 The last few weeks have seen huge controversies surround the charity organisations Oxfam and Save the Children. In both senior men have been accused of acting inappropriately; in the case of Oxfam, involving the grotesque spectacle of Haitian disaster survivors being sexually exploited. It didn’t take long for this to become a political football. Elements of the right, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg, called for the UK international aid budget to be revisited, while former International Aid

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