The British establishment is now broken beyond repair. But Scotland needs more than a ‘not Westminster’ attitude
The British establishment is now broken beyond repair. But Scotland needs more than a ‘not Westminster’ attitude Gerry Hassan The National, 22 February 2022 Sixty years ago, the British establishment was losing its authority, moral compass and in deep decay. The Tory Party was mired by scandal and misconduct by senior ministers, with an out of touch PM Harold Macmillan failing to grasp the scale of crisis and decay. Meanwhile organised religion and traditional authority were characterised by hypocrisy and double standards, with repressive attitudes holding back progress. In this climate people were indignant, filled with anger and rage at
In the age of rebellion we can do better than Boris Johnson and Toryism
In the age of rebellion we can do better than Boris Johnson and Toryism Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, 2 February 2022 2022 is the centenary of a year of rebellion. The Irish Free State was born in 1992, the ‘Red Clydesiders’ went to Westminster; and the year gave its name to the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers after they overthrew a sitting Prime Minister – David Lloyd George – then heading up a Tory-Liberal coalition government. Boris Johnson and this Tory Government should know that today we live in even more an age of rage and rebellion – being the
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The political times are changing: Boris Johnson’s broken economic Britain and beyond
The political times are changing: Boris Johnson’s broken economic Britain and beyond Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, 6 October 2021 Boris Johnson’s campaign of shameless differentiation from the Tory Governments that directly proceeded him goes on, as he tries to distance himself from David Cameron, George Osborne and Theresa May. It has now extended to a break not just with the past Tory decade of austerity, but over the past weekend to a rupture with the politics and economics of the past four decades which have shaped the UK. This is in words a break with Thatcherism and New Labour, and
The Twilight of Empire State Britain
The Twilight of Empire State Britain Gerry Hassan Sunday National, 22 August 2021 The UK’s reputation took another hit last week, as after the Brexit debacle and 150,000 dead from COVID-19 came the Afghanistan humiliation. The calamity and chaos in Kabul has united people in shock and fury at the incompetence and hubris of the present UK Government in a way those other disasters have not. It has provided defining accounts of a rotten, venal Tory class of entitlement timeservers such as Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab – and a government that only cares about its own self-preservation. It is
Toryism is bad for your health. Literally it kills
Toryism is bad for your health. Literally it kills Gerry Hassan The National, July 20th 2021 Boris Johnson and his administration have presided over the biggest domestic disaster to befell a UK Government in living memory - arguably since the UK began. There have been terrible calamities before such as Blair and the Iraq war, Eden and Suez, Chamberlain and appeasement, Salisbury and the Boer war. But these are all foreign policy disasters which cost the UK’s reputation severely – and all saw military conflict in which many died including UK citizens. The current Tory Government’s miscalculations, mistakes and arrogances
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We are living in age of multiple revolutions
We are living in an age of multiple revolutions Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, June 22nd 2021 This Wednesday is five years exactly since the UK overall – led by England and Wales – voted for Brexit. The matter is still alive and present in so many ways – in the Northern Ireland protocol, in Scotland, in the UK argumentative relationship with the EU, and in the dividing lines which shape British politics. Here are eleven takes about the state of British politics and its future. ONE: Brexit is not just about leaving the EU. It is not just a
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Labour has to stop being ambivalent and tell a convincing story about Britain: its past, present and future
Labour has to stop being ambivalent and tell a convincing story about Britain: its past, present and future Gerry Hassan Prospect, September 24th 2020 Keir Starmer in his keynote conference address has indicated that he wants to reclaim patriotism as a principle and thread that runs through everything the Labour Party stands for. This on the surface might sound uncontroversial but it isn’t. The Corbynistas had an instinctive opposition to all things patriotic and to many of the traditional symbols and institutions of Britishness. More than this the Conservative Party have long claimed patriotism as their own. And in response
Inequality – including in Britain – kills and why we need to organise to defeat it
Inequality – including in Britain – kills and why we need to organise to defeat it Gerry Hassan Sunday National, April 19th 2020 As the scale of the coronavirus challenges rises by the day, another debate is emerging – about how society copes with the scale and inequity of income, wealth and power – and the overall issue of inequality. Just over a week ago Emily Maitlis opened ‘BBC Newsnight’ with a powerful polemic: ‘You do not survive the illness through fortitude and strength of character - whatever the Prime Minister's colleagues will tell us. And the disease is not
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A Very British Coup: And can this revolution be made to last?
A Very British Coup: And can this revolution be made to last? Gerry Hassan Sunday National, March 29th 2020 Coronavirus is affecting everyone. Across the world people are becoming ill and some are dying, with many self-isolating if they are symptomatic - or as a precaution to keep safe, reduce risk and remain well. And as in the UK, many millions of people are now required to stay at home. Britain and the world are changing. On Thursday at 8.00pm across the UK people emerged from their front doors and showed their appreciation of the NHS and carers. More than
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There is an Alternative: Another World is Possible
There is an Alternative: Another World is Possible Gerry Hassan Sunday National, March 22nd 2020 The world is in flux, filled with uncertainty, confusion, panic and fear where many, if not all, of the assumptions that have defined politics are now open for challenge. Many things are still unclear but one certainty is that the dominant global economic model of recent decades is now being openly questioned. The Financial Times Sebastian Payne talked this week about ‘the ideology of last week’ –meaning the assumptions of the past four decades politically. There are still numerous voices clinging to the wreckage of
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