The Nationalist Lion Roars at Westminster! Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, July 19th 2015 The times are changing in Scotland and Britain: the SNP impact at Westminster; Tory maneouvres to hurt, harm and trap Labour on union reform and welfare, and the vacuum of Labour and Lib Dems post-election defeat. The SNP scored early blood on fox-hunting and English votes for English laws – forcing government postponement on the first and regrouping and redrafting on the second. This has produced Tory anger and fury at the Nationalists, and eventually see the Tories attempt to get their revenge. A significant part of

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The Summer of the Living Undead: A Labour Party for What? Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, July 15th 2015 The Labour leadership contest is noteworthy for a number of factors, none positive or helpful for the party. Labour have just suffered their second consecutive defeat. They finished 113 seats behind the Tories in England. It has now become a cliché to say they face an existential crisis; as Matthew Norman pointed out in ‘The Independent’ this week, it is in fact a ‘post-existential crisis’ (1). The party is in collective denial, retreating into its comfort zones, and almost numb at the

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Is Osborne’s Budget the Future of Britain or Will His Bubble Burst? Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, July 12th 2015 For the last fortnight I have been sailing round the northern coast of Norway on holiday – perhaps an appropriate place to view George Osborne’s budget. He clearly thinks that he is on top of the world - the first Tory majority government budget since 1996, his seventh budget, and the second this year, the last only in March. Osborne did many traditional Tory things – cutting inheritance tax and welfare, stole some of Labour’s clothes on a higher national minimum

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Making the Debate on More Scottish Powers Real Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, July 5th 2015 Another week has seen more turbulence and uncertainty across Europe, north Africa and the Middle East. The unprecedented Greek vote on European Union intransigence will, whatever its outcome, have huge continental implications. In this frenetic period, what have Scottish politics been dominated by, since the May general election? From nearly every corner and political persuasion – from the SNP to Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and Greens – the incessant talk has been of ‘more powers’ and whether the Smith Commission and ‘the Vow’ is being

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Clearing the Scottish Fog of War Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, June 28th 2015 This has been a momentous news week. The Greek crisis; Britain and Europe; the human desperation at Calais; and the related tragedy in the Mediterranean. While this has been going on Scotland has had its own mini-ripples which pale in comparison. There was the controversy over Royal Family funding and the Crown Estate in Scotland, and at the same time, the ongoing problem of cybernat abuse and social media misbehaviour. The Royal story saw a whole range of UK papers run front-page headlines stating ‘Scotland to cancel

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The Rise and Fall of the House of Scottish Labour Gerry Hassan June 22nd 2015 The story of the Scottish Labour Party was, until recently, one of the defining stories of Scotland over most of the 20^th century. First there was its rise - the emergence of ‘Red Clydeside’ and the socialist pioneers, and how radicalism gave way to respectability. Second, there was the ‘golden era’ of action and purpose - of Tom Johnston, and the big ideas and schemes, which began to fade as Labour morphed in the 1960s and 1970s into the political establishment. And finally, there has

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The Greek Crisis matters to Scotland, Britain and Europe - as well as Greece Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, June 21st 2015 Europe is not a happy place. The European Union has failed to agree a common stance on the human disaster of Mediterranean immigrants, while Vladimir Putin has used military aggression to alter the boundaries of Russia and Ukraine and annex Crimea, as Europe has stood by. Closer to home, Britain is preparing for a referendum on whether or not to continue its EU membership - the first full member state to ever do so. And then most seriously, there

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The SNP Ascendancy is changing Scotland and the SNP Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, June 14th 2015 The Scottish sun is out, and summer is approaching. This is true not just of the weather but reflects the mood of the SNP, their popularity, and especially that of leader Nicola Sturgeon. In the last week a TNS opinion poll for next year’s Scottish Parliament election put the SNP on 60% and Labour 19% in the constituency vote - a historic all-time high and low respectively. This would give the SNP a second overall majority and more seats than it won in its

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Debating with ‘The Economist’ its Scottish Independence Coverage An Exchange between Gerry Hassan and Jeremy Cliffe June 11th 2015 June 10^th 2015 17.00 Dear Gerry, Thank you for your letter of May 14th (1). Zanny has asked me to reply on her behalf. On our use of "secession", "secessionist" and "separatist", I refer you to my email of March 24th. On "partition" and "dismemberment", I repeat the points made in that earlier message. Those terms are descriptive and accurate. We use them in other contexts where - unlike that of the United Kingdom - we support the separation in question.

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A Man of Principle and the End of an Era of Liberal Radicalism Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, June 7th 2015 Politics and public life in Britain caught its breath this week with the tragic death of Charles Kennedy. MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber for the past 32 years; leader of the Lib Dems from 1999-2006; the youngest MP elected to the Commons in 1983 at the age of 23 - none of these do justice to the talents, principles and wit of Kennedy. He got, as many people have said, many big things right. He was the most successful

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