Does Scotland Really Want to be the Land of Equality it tells itself it is? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, December 28th 2013 There  is a deeply rooted belief in Scotland that we as a society and community, prioritise and value the idea of equality. This is something found in modern politics, and also in history, tradition and myth. From Burns and ‘We’re a’ Jock Tamson’s Bairns’ to the Declaration of Arbroath as an expression of popular sovereignty, each year these are told and reaffirmed at Christmas and New Year. This is who we are - inclusive, less individualistic and more

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Where is the United Kingdom going in relation to Europe and the world? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, December 21st 2013 The United Kingdom is on the move. Firstly, in how it sees itself in relation to Europe, and secondly, in how it understands and places itself in the world. Take Europe. There is now a rising Euro-scepticism which is very different and more thoughtful, compared to ‘the swivel-eyed loons’ of Tory leadership nightmares, or the retired Colonel Blimp image of Ukip’s unqualified anti-Europeanism. This more nuanced Euro-scepticism is seen in the ‘Fresh Start’ group of Tory parliamentarians, chaired by Andrea

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Why Scotland needs to stop living in the past Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, December 14th 2013 Who do we have such a powerful propensity to live much of our life backwards? This can be seen in the power of the past – from mythical wrongs and injustices, to symbolic, psychic triumphs and disasters – the latter ranging from the Darien scheme to Ally’s Tartan Army’s ill-fated expedition to Argentina. One defining moment of recent history which operates as a lodestar and hinge year politically is ‘the Year Zero’ of 1979. There are several versions of this. The most visible

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The Problem of Patriotism and the Left Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, December 7th 2013 This week Keith Vaz, chair of the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, asked the ‘Guardian’ editor Alan Rusbridger, ‘Do you love your country?’. This was in relation to the ‘Guardian’s’ publication of some of Edward Snowden’s leaked documents on the activities of the US-UK surveillance state. Rusbridger, clearly surprised by the question answered in the affirmative, ‘We are patriots. One of the things we are patriotic about is the nature of democracy and a free press’. Patriotism, for all the uses and misuses of

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The British economic model is bust. Can Scotland be different? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, November 30th 2013 Just over 18 months ago the much-respected journal, ‘The Economist’, turned its attention to Scotland and the independence debate with its famous ‘Skintland’ issue. Its front cover was deemed offensive by some for the names it gave to imagined towns and areas that emphasised the world of no hope on offer from independence -  ‘Grumpians’, ‘Loanlands’, ‘Glasgone’, ‘Edinborrow’ and many more. Inside the magazine’s editorial declared that Scots had to face their decision on independence ‘in the knowledge their country could end up

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A Different Scotland is Happening Gerry Hassan and James Mitchell Scottish Review, November 27th 2013 Many words will be written this week and in the years to come about the independence debate and the publication of the Scottish Government White Paper on independence launched yesterday in Glasgow by Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. All of this has come about after negotiations between the UK and Scottish Governments.  They agreed the question to be put to the Scottish people, about who could vote and the rules of the referendum.  The two Governments and campaign organisations associated with each side seek to

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The crisis of Britain’s institutions is one of the labour movement too Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, November 23rd 2013 One of the defining characteristics of the Labour Party through the ages has been its moral dimension - its indignation at the inequities and injustices of a rotten, economically and socially divisive capitalist system. It has critiqued this via its early socialist, radical and religious roots  – more Methodist than Marx, more the Bible and ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist’ than ‘Das Capital’. As politics and society have changed - the post-war consensus, Thatcher, New Labour - these strands have weakened but

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History in the Making: The Battle for Scotland’s Future Gerry Hassan National Collective, November 20th 2013 The campaign on Scottish independence has reached new levels - a battle of competing specialist documents – firstly, there has been an Institute for Fiscal Studies report, matched by a Scottish Government paper on the economic independence, and next week the much anticipated White Paper on Scottish independence. The latter is a milestone in the pro-independence debate. Whatever its content, style and persuasiveness things will never quite be the same again. A devolved administration in part of the UK lays out the case for

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The continuing relevance of solidarity and class Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, November 16th 2013 Scotland has been informed by the experiences and memories of working class life and culture since the time of the industrial revolution. A majority of Scots see themselves as working class and more people do now than over a generation ago in 1979. In a strange turn of affairs, being working class post-crash is all the rage nowadays. It might not be the sixties when being working class was associated with the age of meritocracy and tearing down the old elites, but change is in

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Doing Politics and Culture Differently: The Potential of Artistic Activism Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, November 13th 2013 Something is wrong with politics. The way it is undertaken, imagined and commented on are in deep crisis. This contributes to the many crises of what passes for British democracy and undermines any possible alternatives. In today’s Britain, provocateur Russell Brand is seen as a major public figure becoming celebrity guest editor of the ‘New Statesman’ where he called for ‘a change in consciousness’ and in a subsequent interview with Jeremy Paxman on BBC ‘Newsnight’, a ‘revolution’. Brand and Paxman were united in

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