How We Help Our Friends in the South Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, May 28th 2011 Scotland may have changed and by so doing shifted the UK. And all of this has consequences for the English and England. Listening to the voices of some of England’s so called liberal commentators post-election has been illuminating. David Mitchell said that ‘If Scotland ever goes it alone … the British will have lost their country’. Madeleine Bunting stated that ‘If Scotland goes, all we’ll have left is the Englishness we so despise.’ There is amongst some a tangible anger about Scotland. Tim

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What is going on in the BBC’s Little Britain? Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 25th 2011 Britain has been undergoing dramatic change in these last few weeks. The Scottish Parliament elections, and the arrival of the first ever majority SNP Government following its landslide victory, has been a story of international reach and consequences covered the world over. Strange then that our British media have struggled to address these circumstances other than by caricature or silence. The BBC in particular has not had a good post-election time. The ‘Today’ programme has had Alex Salmond on a couple of times,

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Scotland’s Future: Society, State and Story Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, May 21st 2011 The debate about Scottish self-government is also about how Scotland sees its future. This has seen different interpretations arise about the meaning of independence. This reflects the new realism and gradualism of Alex Salmond’s SNP Government. Experienced voices such as former SNP MP Jim Sillars and academic James Mitchell have made the case for a pragmatic nationalist politics, while Pat Kane on these pages has seen such thinking falling well short of independence and Scottish statehood. This is a timely, crucial debate which needs to be

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Scotland International Gerry Hassan The Guardian, May 20th 2011 The Scottish vision of self-government is alive, vibrant and real. To most Nationalists many things come to the forefront of their minds when they picture an independent Scotland. One is a proud, self-governing nation taking its own decisions. Another is an ethical nation in international affairs not engaging in ‘illegal wars’. A further strand is a society which better cares for its people, and addresses inequality and injustice in a way contemporary Scotland conspicuously fails. Scottish independence has always been a kind of ultimate political fantasy: a blank canvas which

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A Tale of Two Scotlands Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 18th 2011 The last two weeks in Scotland have given many of us a glimpse of a different kind of land, one filled with light, hope, optimism and possibilities. And the weather was even nice for a while. It isn’t an accident that it has been called by myself and others, ‘a Scottish Spring’, but we always need to be careful not to transpose our own hopes onto wider political and national canvases. The turnout at the Scottish Parliament elections was just over 50%, and in parts of Glasgow,

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Where Does Scottish Labour Go After the Landslide? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, May 14th 2011 Scottish Labour has a long, rich history, set of traditions and values. It spoke for a wide part of the nation, middle class and working class, old and young, and combined radicalism and realism. It gave a platform to a host of British and Scottish politicians who changed Scotland and shaped much of Westminster in the 20^th century. It is now in crisis, decline and hurting from its brutal rejection by voters. It is still going through all the excuses and evasions. ‘We held

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A Beginner’s Guide to Scottish Independence and Britain Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 12th 2011 It has never been very simple to describe Scotland and Britain to people from other places. Scotland is a nation, but not a state. The trouble begins when you try to explain the UK. It is not a nation, but a state. It is routinely described in our political conversations and on that fountain of wisdom, Wikipedia as ‘a unitary state’, when it is in fact a ‘union state’. You can see where confusions begin. If all of this troubles foreigners, then it is

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The Strange Death of Labour Scotland Gerry Hassan Compass, May 11th 2011 Scotland is living in historic times. An election that was seen by many of us as a transition from the old Labour Scotland to a more Nationalist era, has suddenly become one of epic transformation. Scottish Labour won a mere 31.7% of the constituency vote and 26.3% of the regional vote; it took a mere 15 out of 73 FPTP constituencies. This broke a number of unenviable records for the party; the lowest number of FPTP seats since the disaster of 1931, and the worst share of

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The Age of Independence Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, May 10th 2011 Scotland has a very different political landscape. A majority SNP administration. A decimated Labour Party in complete confusion. An independence referendum on the cards. A UK Government intent on making concessions at least for the moment. Things will never be the same again. Scottish nationalism as a broad force beyond party has become the defining force of modern Scotland. It has replaced the once potent Labour story. But there are significant limits to its appeal. Its reach, like Labour Scotland before it, does not take in every nook

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The ‘Forward March’ of Scottish Nationalism Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 9th 2011 Scotland has been changed in so many ways by the results of the Scottish Parliament election, and emphatic re-election of Alex Salmond’s SNP administration. It changes how the Nationalists see themselves, the story, place and sense of Scotland, and the United Kingdom itself at home and globally. The Long March from the Wilderness There is a historic dimension to this. There is the Nationalist account of Scotland; the story which is filled by historic and totemic victories and moments of hope: Winnie in 1967, Margo

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