British Constitution

The crisis of British democracy and Parliament isn’t going away anytime soon Gerry Hassan Sunday National, September 29th 2019 The British Parliament returned to work last week – reopened after the historic Supreme Court verdict. Its undertakings were highly charged, contentious and even abusive in language and exchange. Attorney General Geoffrey Cox sneeringly stated ‘this Parliament is dead ’ with ‘has no moral right to exist’, Boris Johnson talked dismissively of a ‘paralysed’ and ‘zombie’ Parliament, while even the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg described it as ‘exhausted and broken’. Beyond the drama and high tension, one emerging question is what is

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The Fantasyland Version of Britain is alive and kicking – and driving Brexit Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, Oct0ber 25th 2017 British democracy used to be presented as the envy of the world - the Whig version of history, the rule of law and above all the sense of continuity which was meant to differentiate the UK from its European neighbours. Such a view permeated British elites, institutions and public life. But it also informed many left-wing radicals and dissenters. One notable example was provided by the American writer Edward Shils on visiting the UK in 1953. He reflected on being

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The UK as we know it can't survive Brexit and Trump Gerry Hassan The Guardian, November 17th 2016 The United Kingdom’s sense of itself and place in the world is more in question now than it was before Donald Trump’s election. It was already facing the precarious process of Brexit that has destabilised the nature of fifty years plus of UK foreign policy and international alliances. All of this should be a moment for opposition but Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour are missing in action, focusing on internal battles, and letting the struggle with the Tories slip through their fingers. Whatever the

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What do we do about the British constitution? Gerry Hassan The Conversation, May 22nd 2015 There can be little doubt that Britain is on the move. This can be seen in the aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum and forthcoming European Union vote. This is a time of flux and uncertainty. While for some such as the SNP and critics of the British status quo this is a positive, for many elites and experts this produces anxieties and worries. No more is this is so than with benign liberal opinion – which believes that for every problem there should be

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