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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The SNP has got us where we are, but the SNP on its own isn’t enough in the future Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, October 12th 2016 The SNP have played a huge role in getting us to where we are today. They are central to where Scotland goes in the future - but they on their own are not enough. Without the SNP there is significant doubt that we would ever have got a Scottish Parliament. It is true that Labour legislated for it, but they were first brought back to devolution in the 1970s by the electoral threat of

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Theresa May, the End of Empire State Britain and the Death of Unionism Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, October 7th 2016 The Tory conference tried to sail on as if the sea wasn’t turbulent and choppy, with the ship heading for the rocks. Tory statecraft, élan, even class confidence, have all contributed to this along with the vindication of the long held faith and religious zeal of those of a Brexit disposition. Many have come late to the latter, while Theresa May has embraced this dogma with the zeal of the new found convert. You don’t have to look very far

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Where is the Jeremy Corbyn Labour Party revolution going to end? Gerry Hassan Scotttish Review, September 29th 2016 Jeremy Corbyn and Labour have some major positives going for them. He has been re-elected Labour leader with a huge majority in an election in which over half a million people voted. On the wave of a surge of excitement and engagement, Labour’s membership has risen to 650,000 - over four times that of the Tories, and representing the largest political party in all Europe. On top of that Jeremy Corbyn is clearly a different kind of politician. He is untainted by

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