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Election could be big crunch for Labour and SNP
Election could be big crunch for Labour and SNP Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, April 30th 2011 The Scottish elections have been shaped by two diametrically opposed campaigns, with two different themes and moods, one SNP and one Labour. They have met with very differing responses from voters, with the SNP surging ahead in the polls as Labour have badly stumbled and blown a double-digit lead. Alex Salmond has talked of the SNP offering ‘a positive vision of the future’, one filled with optimism and hope. This is of course the language and rationale that the Nationalists used in the
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Scotland’s Future Story of Hope: How we Defeat the Forces of Pessimism
Scotland’s Future Story of Hope: How we Defeat the Forces of Pessimism Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, April 28th 2011 Imagine this. If you were studying Scotland from a far off world, say Venus or Mars, what kind of impression would you get? If you were looking and listening to our TV and radio you would find a very peculiar place. It would be one that lived on or off one street: Byres Road, Glasgow; it would be nearly entirely male, with very few women; and the men would be often boorish, angry and shouting perhaps because of this; and
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What’s the Story of Scotland’s Future?
What’s the Story of Scotland’s Future? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 28th 2011 Like many people I have been watching and reflecting on the Scottish Parliament elections, and finding them in equal parts fascinating and frustrating. In one way, these are elections of some theatre and drama, the Labour-SNP contest, the background of the cuts, what happens to the Tories and Lib Dems. And yet they are not really an example of an imaginative, emboldened, or even in parts honest politics. Post-war Scotland: From ‘We Have a Dream’ to ‘We are Doomed’ There is so much unsaid and unstated.
Scotland’s Election, the Future of the Union and Ed Miliband’s Labour
Scotland’s Election, the Future of the Union and Ed Miliband’s Labour Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, April 26th 2011 Three opinion polls in a row have now given Alex Salmond’s SNP double digit opinion poll leads (1). Bookmakers William Hill offer odds for the SNP of 2/9 on and Labour of 3/1 to be the biggest party in the Scottish Parliament after May 5th: a huge turnaround from barely a week ago (2). It is now fashionable and commonplace to dismiss modern elections as ‘boring’ and the Scottish elections are no exception. The normally thoughtful Alf Young in ‘Scottish Review’
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What comes after Unionism and Nationalism?
What comes after Unionism and Nationalism? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, April 23rd 2011 The Scottish Parliament elections seem to be being determined on competence, trust and leadership. The record of the SNP administration, Alex Salmond’s leadership, and who we most trust to stand up and speak for Scotland. Behind this there are competing visions of Scotland. There is Labour’s rather conservative vision of an ordered, deferential, respectful society which might not have much dynamism, but would prioritise law and order. Then there is the SNP prospectus of a more confident, outgoing and generous nation, defined by inclusiveness, but which
The Scottish Election Comes to Life
The Scottish Election Comes to Life Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, April 21st 2011 Suddenly Scotland is everywhere on the British airwaves and media. Two very different sides of the nation. Alex Salmond’s cheeky sunlit Nationalists, the scheming separatists in Labour parlance on one side, and on the other, the dark side of football, ‘the Old Firm’ and sectarianism. To some English listeners and viewers, this fantasy/nightmare Scotland portrayed by these accounts must seem like a strange land. A place where the population lives the life of reilly on English subsidies while complaining all the time that their culture of
What is happening to Scottish Politics, its Future and Why It Matters?
What is Happening to Scottish Politics, its Future and Why It Matters? Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, April 19th 2011 Something interesting is happening in Scottish politics. The forthcoming elections were meant to see the return of Scottish Labour and normal service resumed. Instead, the SNP is pulling ahead, Labour is slipping back, confused and fighting an inept campaign, while in a sign of the times Murdoch’s ‘Scottish Sun’ has – unlike last time – just come out for the SNP, with a front page endorsement of Alex Salmond, ‘Play It Again, Salm’ (1). This later story has got the
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How I Survived the 1980s
How I Survived the 1980s Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, April 9th 2011 It certainly feels like ‘Back to the Future’. Tories presiding over cuts; Labour in their comfort zones. A Royal Wedding as unemployment mounts. And household living standards falling for the first time since 1981. Is it really back to the 1980s, the era of ‘two nations’, the defining era for a generation of Thatcher lovers and haters, or is the past more complicated? The 1980s were not all grim. Recently I reflected on how I survived the 1980s as a young man growing up in Dundee. And
The New Market Man of History and the McCliche View of Scotland
The New Market Man of History and the McCliche View of Scotland Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, April 7th 2011 The Scottish Parliament elections are if not in full swing, then reaching a certain tempo. This week has seen the launch of the Tory, Lib Dem and Labour manifestos, next week the SNP, and even the notorious Londoncentric media and political classes have twigged that there something is going in Scotland which they don’t like or understand. Andrew Neil is a talented broadcaster and ‘The Daily Politics’ and ‘This Week’ both good TV and must watches for the Westminster classes.
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The Scotlands of the Mind
The Scotlands of the Mind Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, April 2nd 2011 We once prided ourselves on being a learned nation, a place which gave birth and sustenance to serious ideas and debate. This is a story which still informs much of our sense of ourselves, but is increasingly at odds with reality. In the last decade, what have been the books which have defined and shaped modern Scotland that have enriched our culture? I would like to leave aside the world of Scots fiction which has had a particularly fertile and rich last decade, in part because the relationship
