The Road from 2014 is Over: A New Road Map is needed for Scotland and Independence
The Road from 2014 is Over: A New Road Map is needed for Scotland and Independence Sunday National, 27 April 2025 Gerry Hassan Scottish politics has had some climatic moments recently - the UK Supreme Court decision on women’s and trans rights; the SNP and Labour trying to deal with the challenge of Reform; and the brief excitement of an opinion poll with a sensational degree of independence support. Beyond this Scottish politics is characterised by drift and by being in the doldrums with a lack of dynamism, direction and purpose –
Continue Reading The Road from 2014 is Over: A New Road Map is needed for Scotland and Independence
Not doing the Labour thing is what Labour do
Not doing the Labour thing is what Labour do Scottish National, 30 March 2025 Gerry Hassan This Labour government faces tough choices. Constrained domestically and internationally, they are hampered by the structural weaknesses of the UK economy; the legacy of fourteen Tory years; by Brexit and by Trump, along with the limits of Starmer and Reeves’ agenda. Allowing for all this there is also the inherent conservatism of Labour; its lack of understanding of the British state; and the lack of political touch of this Labour government. Reeves has shown a complete absence of political antenna and sensitivity. Combined with
Continue Reading Not doing the Labour thing is what Labour do
Labour, the Starmer Project, the Battle for Britain and Our Collective Future
Labour, the Starmer Project, the Battle for Britain and Our Collective Future Gerry Hassan Sunday National, 24 November 2024 We are nearly five months into this Labour government - elected after 14 years of Tory government mired in scandal, division and failure which the public were desperate to see the back of. Why then does it already feel as if this government is running to stand still, barely able to articulate what its vision, and nervous about the kind of Britain it wants to bring about? What consequences does this have for challenging the status quo; for healing a broken
Continue Reading Labour, the Starmer Project, the Battle for Britain and Our Collective Future
Ten Years on from 2014: Making Sense of the Next Ten Years of Scotland
Ten Years on from 2014: Making Sense of the Next Ten Years of Scotland Gerry Hassan Sunday National, 29 September 2024 The ten-year anniversary of Scotland’s indyref has come and gone relatively unmarked. For something which shook things up so much it was very quiet and understated, a low-key affair from every political persuasion, media and academia. This does not mean that the ten-year point is not significant. Rather it is a time to pause, to draw breath and reflect on what has passed, on the bigger context and forces changing Scotland and the UK, and what the future may
Continue Reading Ten Years on from 2014: Making Sense of the Next Ten Years of Scotland
The union case needs to deal with the return of the British Empire State
The union case needs to deal with the return of the British Empire State Gerry Hassan The National, 7 December 2021 The UK may have been around a fair amount of time but it has never been static; always changing, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. While many UK supporters repeat the great thread of British history, the current UK borders only date from 1922 and the aftermath of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 (its centenary on Monday) while the current name - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland –became legally adopted in 1927. Despite this,
Continue Reading The union case needs to deal with the return of the British Empire State
The lessons and warning from New Labour
The lessons and warning from New Labour Gerry Hassan The National, 26 October 2021 The spectre of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and New Labour may seem a long time ago given the mess the UK is in, but their period of dominance still casts a long shadow over British politics and offers lessons and warnings for the present. The new BBC five-part series: “Blair and Brown: The New Labour Revolution” is a major political documentary with all the main players - including Blair and Brown, Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson - present and correct. This is “big beast”, Westminster-focused, insider
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
How to defeat the Tories and aid democracy
How to defeat the Tories and aid democracy Gerry Hassan The National, 5 October 2021 Tory problems mount by the day. There’s fuel and food shortages evoking the 1970s, a Brexit that seems only to be delivering problems and, in Boris Johnson, a PM who seems to know and care little about detail and the real lives of people. Despite all of this and more the Tories are still in the lead in the polls and the odds remain against Labour winning the next election outright. Labour has a mountain to climb to win the next election that could be
Keir Starmer, Labour and the Limits of Gordon Brown’s Britain
Keir Starmer, Labour and the Limits of Gordon Brown’s Britain Gerry Hassan Sunday National, 3 October 2021 The state of Labour matters in UK politics - and to Scotland. Can it mount a serious challenge to Boris Johnson’s Tories, or does UK politics faces the bleak prospect of perpetual Tory Governments? Thus, the mood of Labour at its recent conference and after has consequences. The party gathering at Brighton was filled with drama, controversy - and heckling. In his lengthy keynote speech Starmer covered subjects including Scotland, the SNP, and the case for the union – citing Gordon Brown and
Continue Reading Keir Starmer, Labour and the Limits of Gordon Brown’s Britain
Labour’s problems are about much more than Keir Starmer
Labour’s problems are about much more than Keir Starmer Gerry Hassan The National, 28 September 2021 Labour meet in Brighton this week for another conference in opposition and in the wilderness, with clear evidence of being collectively bewildered and confused. Not only that but Keir Starmer’s leadership is openly being questioned across the party – not just from the Corbynite left but on the centre and right from where he has drawn most support until now. No one seems sure what Starmer stands for, or even if he has the real skills needed to be a leader. Yet
Continue Reading Labour’s problems are about much more than Keir Starmer
