The Scottish Stalemate and How to Change a Culture of Conservatism Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, November 22nd 2010 Party politics and the wider art of politics are profoundly about tribes. Are you part of my tribe or the opposing tribe? How is my side or camp doing? Are we up or down: making the political debate, or in retreat and on the defensive? At the same time we know our political tribes – Conservative, Lib Dem, Labour – are in major crisis leaving aside the disorientation they all feel as they come to terms with the reality of coalition government

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Imagine a Scotland Where Thatcherism Never Happened Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, November 20th 2010 ‘It was twenty years ago today ….’ No, not the latest anniversary of the never-ending sixties nostalgia and the Beatles ‘Sgt. Pepper’ album.  Instead, on Monday November 22^nd it is the twentieth anniversary of the fall of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister. Mrs. Thatcher and Thatcherism have for so long cast a deep, dark shadow over our lives, that the twentieth anniversary of the fall and Tory regicide are an appropriate time to assess what her real impact was on Scotland. What would Scotland be

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Scotland Before the Cuts and the End of Devolution Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, November 18th 2010 Scotland has just entered a new era: a world of public spending cuts and job losses after a decade of devolution largesse. In this Scotland is just like everywhere else in the UK; some English and even some Scots people will say ‘and about bloody time too’: it was high time to put a stop to ‘the land of milk and honey’ and ‘subsidy junkie Scots’. Such gut, instinctual views miss that something much more significant is going on north of the border –

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A Nation Rejoices! Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, November 17th 2010 The country might be going to the dogs – with even David Cameron panicking and talking of ‘decline’ and sacking his photographer, hairdresser and what other vital things the No. 10 Vanity Squad did. Yet Britain still does some things well which make you proud and allow you to get out the old Union Jack. No I am not talking about wars. We tried those under Blair and they are damned expensive when the final bill comes in. I am talking of course about that other time-honoured British tradition: the

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Revolution in the Blogosphere: Tom Harris and Eric Joyce in Controversy Gerry Hassan November 16th 2010 Two significant moments in the British political blogosphere: Tom Harris’s declaration that he is retiring from writing a blog, and Eric Joyce’s attack on voters as ‘liars’ and then subsequent qualification/semi-withdrawal. Harris and Joyce have many similarities: both are Scottish Labour MPs of a fairly undiluted right-wing character, both are identified Blairites, and have attracted and courted all kinds of controversies with their opinions: Harris in identifying himself as an anti-Brownite when Gordon Brown was PM, and Eric Joyce in willingly portraying himself as

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Scotland, the Politics of the Centre-Left and the Future of Social Democracy: A Conversation Between Gerry Hassan and Joyce McMillan Open Democracy, November 15th 2010 This conversation was sparked by Gerry Hassan’s Saturday ‘Scotsman’ on the limitations and pitfalls of anti-Toryism in both Scotland and the UK https://www.gerryhassan.com/?p=1414 Dear Gerry, It is right to reject the Tories as long as they continue to promote a destructive, inadequate and wrong-headed neo-liberal ideology. I'm waiting for them to change, and to enter a real conversation about where the policies of the last 30 years have failed. They never do. So really, Gerry,

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Learning How to Hug a Tory and the Folklore of Anti-Toryism Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, November 13th 2010 It has been a strange old week. Controversial Tory-Lib Dem welfare reforms have been announced. Angry students have protested, some rioted and some taken direct action. The hoary old battle cries of ‘Tory cuts’ and ‘Tory scum’ have again filled the streets and airwaves. Much of this is fed by the potent, emotional and deep-rooted mindset of anti-Toryism. This has a long historical lineage, and was given a powerful fillip by the 1980s and anti-Thatcherism. However, the 1980s did not create this

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The Humans Behind the Tea Party: the US as seen by the Hassans of Middle America Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, November 6th 2010 America has always fascinated me – from its music, culture and sit-coms to its politics. At the same time I have become more bemused and mystified in recent years at the way American politics is portrayed and understood in this country. Our general perception of the US makes no attempt to understand large swathes of the country – both geographically – the bit in the middle people fly over but which millions live

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The Fog of War about Scotland’s Soul Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, October 30th 2010 Scottish Labour gathers in Oban rather pleased and comfortable with itself. It is confident that it is going to win next year’s Scottish Parliament election and see a return to the natural order of things: itself in office, and those pesky Nationalists brushed off once and for all. At the same time, there is an element of uncertainty about what Scottish Labour stands for, what kind of vision it has, and what it wants power for beyond its own sake. Yet in one area: the party’s

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Nation to Nation: The Problem of Speaking for Britain Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, October 29th 2010 BBC 'Question Time' is BBC’s flagship UK political programme, or at least once was. Now with populist current affairs programmes such as ‘The Week in Politics’ and ‘The Daily Politics’ we are dealing with a crowded marketplace. ‘Question Time’ is still a programme which aims at a wider public audience than the political anorak classes (like myself). It reveals in its style and content much about the state of the nation, the state of our politics, and public anger, disenchantment and occasionally optimism. Across

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