The Long and Winding Road to What Kind of Scotland? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, June 22nd 2013 The Scottish independence debate has not so far connected or impacted on the vast majority of Scots beyond the politically committed. It is a point Alex Salmond reflected on this week, for his own obvious reasons, but true nonetheless. A small but significant watershed moment took place this week with the conclusion of ‘Road to Referendum’, a three part STV series on Scotland’s recent political history presented by Iain Macwhirter. ‘Road to Referendum’ was well made, persuasive and accessible with good choices of

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The Voices of Tomorrow’s Scotland: A Challenge to All Our Politicians Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, June 15th 2013 For once young people have become central to the Scottish political debate due to the Scottish Government’ giving 16-17 year olds the vote in the September 2014 independence poll. Rarely do we hear directly and in detail from young people which is why I was enthusiastic to participate this week in the National Museums Scotland conference in Edinburgh bringing together over 300 pupils from more than 20 state schools from Glasgow and Coatbridge to Biggar and Inverkeithing and further afield, to discuss

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British social democracy is dying a slow death Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, June 8th 2013   Ed Miliband and Labour have been busy this week making policy announcements, marking out political terrain, and in the eyes of opponents, making unprincipled U-turns. Labour has announced it will not reverse the end of winter fuel payments for wealthy pensioners and child benefit for top rate taxpayers, as well as imposing an overall ‘cap’ on welfare spending for the first three years of a future Labour Government. There are short-term factors at work. Labour are increasingly keen to reposition itself and challenge the

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Time for a Radical Scotland to challenge our forces of conservatism Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, June 1st 2013 Scotland has long prided itself on its radical and socialist traditions, from Red Clydeside and UCS to rent strikes, occupations and the campaign which achieved the Scottish Parliament. This week Alex Salmond faced more criticism over his corporation tax policy from predictable quarters such as Johann Lamont and less predictable ones such as pro-independence supporters and economists Jim and Margaret Cuthbert and Council of Economic Advisers member Professor Joseph Stiglitz. This raises all sorts of questions: about the nature and dynamics of

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Can Scottish politicians understand that social justice is about everyone? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, May 25th 2013 There was a revealing exchange on Newsnight Scotland this week which got to the heart of the matter of the substance (or lack of) in much of the independence debate. Asked to elucidate on what social justice measures an independent Scotland could advance SNP MSP Kenny Gibson first stuttered and then at second attempt offered as a contribution, the abolition of the bedroom tax. Then it was Labour MSP Ken Macintosh’s chance to show his mettle on social justice and what his party

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Nigel Farage, the Scottish Debate and the Future of Europe Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 19th 2013 This is an age of uncertainty, crisis and doubt. The UK is experiencing multiple crises: political, constitutional and economic, of the UK in Europe and of Europe itself as an idea and project. And underneath all of this is a deep-seated Western fear, of loss of confidence in Western modernity and anxiety about the future. The lack of sureness now being displayed in Britain’s political elites is one manifestation, as is the rise of Nigel Farage’s UKIP. The Westminster village has been

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What Kind of European and British Union is Emerging? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, May 18th 2013 Prague Spring. Two words which evoke a certain feeling, the hopes of a generation, European idealism and the past. Today Europe could not be in a more different place and frame of mind, the brief optimism of 1968 and 1989 long gone. All across the continent, European political, elite and civic conversations are underway about ‘whither Europe?’ and ‘what future for the eurozone?’ In the last two weeks I have participated in two of these, attending the Prague Press Forum and before that speaking

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The Framing of the Scottish Independence Debate: A Tale of Two Referenda Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, May 15th 2013 Two independence campaigns are now running in the UK: one on Scottish independence; the other which has become more public in the last week, on the UK’s possible exit from the European Union. Strangely they operate in near complete isolation of each other, with the Euro referendum being talked about as if we still lived in the high days of untrammelled Westminster parliamentary sovereignty. In the last week, the front page of the Scottish edition of The Times reported a

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Who Speaks for Scotland and Where are the Empathy Makers? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, May 11th 2013 These are baffling times – of big issues and challenges, but of a politics and political conversations which are increasingly problematic, not just in Scotland but across much of the world. How many times have we been told that the independence debate is a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ or ‘a historic moment’? Funny that, because it doesn’t feel like that too many people outside the ‘bubble Scotland’ that lives and breathes politics. There have been comedy wars, twitter spats, stupid interventions, and

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What Difference Does It Make? Making Explicit the Change of Independence Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, May 4th 2013 It has been another fast-moving week in Scotland’s constitutional conversation even leaving the comedy controversies aside. There was Denis Canavan, chair of ‘Yes Scotland’, distancing himself from SNP policy in suggesting Scotland that should have its own currency; while the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee made the startling observation that independence will involve shaking things up for the UK. Then there was Alex Salmond’s announcement that an independent Scotland would not have a central bank. This is part of the

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