Scotland the Bold or Scotland the Timid? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, November 22nd 2016 Is Scotland really special? Are we a land that has bucked the retreat of the centre-left and social democracy, and proven itself immune to the right-wing populism sweeping the West from Brexit to Trump? Significant parts of Scottish opinion are always looking for any reason to jump on a wha’s like us exceptionalism: one which invokes our morality, values and commitment to social justice, alongside our collective opposition to all things evil from Thatcherism and Blairism to neo-liberalism. Truth of course is rather different.

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The UK as we know it can't survive Brexit and Trump Gerry Hassan The Guardian, November 17th 2016 The United Kingdom’s sense of itself and place in the world is more in question now than it was before Donald Trump’s election. It was already facing the precarious process of Brexit that has destabilised the nature of fifty years plus of UK foreign policy and international alliances. All of this should be a moment for opposition but Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour are missing in action, focusing on internal battles, and letting the struggle with the Tories slip through their fingers. Whatever the

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How Trump Shook America and the World: My Letter from America Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, November 10th 2016 America has shaken itself and the world. Something seismic has happened which has compounded experts, the political classes, and observers all round the world. But in this year of revolt and surprises - from Leicester City and the Cubs to more seriously Brexit and Trump - the question is why should we be surprised anymore? I spent the last three weeks in the States, attending rallies, speaking and listening to people, and trying to understand what was going on. It was clear

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What does the US Presidential Election Mean? Twelve Thoughts on US Politics Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, November 8th 2016 This has been a fascinating election; a true rollercoaster of emotions - of hope and fear, the spectre of bigotry and violence, and the flames of intolerance, and even insurrection, raised in some right-wing circles. Here are some thoughts and observations based on travels, conversations and attending various political events in the United States over the last few weeks.

1. In the past fortnight I attended a Hillary Clinton-Elizabeth Warren rally, followed by a Donald Trump event, and an eve of

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Scotland the Bold: Making the Case for a Radical Scotland Gerry Hassan Sunday Herald, November 6th 2016 This weekend I attended a Donald Trump campaign rally in New Hampshire. It was a surreal experience - of a Presidential candidate who isn’t a professional politician, who has a limited conventional manifesto, and is running on what amounts to populist instinct and anger. Win or lose, this offer has resonated with a sizeable audience of dissatisfied people who are looking for change and who believe that Trump rather than Hillary Clinton best provides it. Last week I was at a Clinton-Elizabeth Warren

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Fear of a Trump Planet Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, November 4th 2016 Could Donald Trump actually pull off the biggest election shock in post-war US politics? One week ago the US Presidential election was meant to be over. Now the weekend before the election things look very different. For the past week the Clinton campaign has hit stormy waters, aided by FBI Director James Comey, while Trump has in the last stages found a momentum and even belatedly embraced a degree of message discipline. On Friday I went to a Trump rally in the palatial surroundings of Atkinson Country Club,

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Imagination: Scotland’s Festival of Ideas with Electoral Reform Society Scotland Scotland and the UK after the IndyRef and Brexit Wiston Lodge, Biggar, Lanarkshire, ML12 6HT Friday November 25^th-Sunday November 27^th Friday Nov. 25^th: 6.00-7.00pm: Arrival 7.00-8.00pm: Evening Meal 8.00pm: Welcome: Gerry Hassan and Willie Sullivan 8.05pm: The State of Britain’s Politics after Brexit John Harris, The Guardian and Madeleine Bunting, author, ‘Love of Country’ Saturday Nov. 26^th: 10.00-11.00am: IndyRef to Brexit: An Overview Professor John Curtice, Strathclyde University (more…)

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An Empire in Decline: Hillary Clinton, Trump, ‘Nasty Women’ and Kabuki Politics Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, October 26th 2016 The US Presidential election is everywhere you turn in the States. That much is familiar and reassuring, but so much else this year - and in the longer-term -points in the exact opposite direction: a country not at ease with itself, a failing economy and imperial over-reach. On Monday this week I went to an election campaign rally in the beautiful grounds of St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire and heard Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren speak. The latter touched

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The Big Stakes at Play in the US Presidential Election Gerry Hassan October 20th 2016 The US Presidential election has been mesmerising, compelling and a warning from a future that doesn’t work. As with every recent US election we have had wall-to-wall UK broadcast media coverage. Often this has been presented as a fantasyland larger version of Britain – something which is getting less and less plausible given the differences between the two countries politically. There is something increasingly questionable about the time BBC, ITV and SKY spend on covering US elections compared to say French and German elections

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High-wire Politics, the SNP after Conference and the Next Independence Campaign Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, October 17th 2016 The SNP’s rise to become Britain’s third party – in parliamentary seats and mass membership – has corresponded with its annual conference adopting the importance, scale and feel of one of the two UK big parties This is of course fitting and appropriate, but still something of a transition given the SNP are obviously a Scottish-only party, and in places maintain the feel and ethos of a party which for decades has defined itself as a family and community. The mood of

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