Breaking the Grip of ‘Fantasy Island Britain’: Social Justice, Scotland and the UK
Breaking the Grip of ‘Fantasy Island Britain’: Social Justice, Scotland and the UK Compass, March 15th 2012 Gerry Hassan The Scottish independence debate has many dimensions, Scottish, English, British, European and global. It is also one that the insular London political class and media have only episodically covered the last forty years, being content to rest on ‘Braveheart’ and romantic, restless nationalist stereotypes. It is then timely and apposite that the Fabian Society in association with Compass held a discussion under the theme, ‘Debating the Scottish Independence Referendum: What Future for the United Kingdom?’ with Labour
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The Scotland that Opposed Thatcher
The Scotland that Opposed Thatcher Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, January 7th 2012 History calls for reflection; leaders’ standings rise and fall and then rise again, and a sense of perspective eventually emerges which tells a fuller picture. Harold Wilson’s stock rose in the 1980s as Labour lost election after election, while some observers tried to make the case for Ted Heath’s apparently doomed premiership; in time some will even attempt to make the case for Tony Blair. This political stock taking moment has now come for Margaret Thatcher, aided by the release of the film ‘The Iron Lady’ with
The Search for an Alternative to Trad Labour: The Cul-de-sacs of Marxism Today and Tommy Sheridan
The Search for an Alternative to Trad Labour: The Cul-de-sacs of Marxism Today and Tommy Sheridan Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, December 16th 2011 Andrew Pearmain, The Politics of New Labour: A Gramscian Analysis, Lawrence and Wishart £15.99. Alan McCombes, Downfall: The Tommy Sheridan Story, Birlinn £9.99. Stories which explain British politics and in particular Labour politics capture a phenomenally narrow strip of the political landscape. The classic accounts and influential books on British Labour have been of this kind. Life in the distant provinces of Scotland, Wales and the North of England exists either in a small walk
Which England Will Dare to Speak in Britain and Europe?
Which England Will Dare to Speak in Britain and Europe? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, November 19th 2011 The European crisis has already told us many things; that the eurozone in its current form is not sustainable; that German leadership of the continent is going to become more pronounced; and that Greece, Italy and maybe one or two others are going to have decades of European-inflicted austerity. Another factor is Britain’s continued role as the awkward, distant partner in Europe; a country which sees the European project as something it was hoodwinked into by its political classes and establishment. And
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Fear and Loathing and the Power of Class in Modern Britain
Fear and Loathing and the Power of Class in Modern Britain Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, October 8th 2011 Britain has changed dramatically since 1945. In most accounts of post-war Britain from populisers such as Andrew Marr – the confident tale told is of the forward march of the classless society. There were the 1950s and ‘you’ve never had it so good’ affluence, the 1960s protest and music, the 1980s individualism and consumerism, and then the noughties and the property and credit card booms. This is the BBC-Ladybird Book guide to modern Britain heard in phrases such as ‘we are
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Why a Left Revival Won’t Happen and What Do We Do About It?
Why a Left Revival Won’t Happen and What Do We Do About It? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, August 20th 2011 The state of Scotland, the UK and the global economy rightly demands that we engage in radical, far-reaching thinking. To some this is the ideal opportunity for a revival of the left and challenging the conventional group think of the last few decades. Most of us recognise that Scotland and the wider world are not happy places. The scale of inequality, exclusion and relative poverty in our own homeland, let alone the globe should shock. The recent figures of
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A Citizen’s Politics for Scotland and the UK
A Citizen’s Politics for Scotland and the UK Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, August 6th 2011 There is a crisis of public life and ethics in Britain: of the standards of public institutions in politics, business and much of the media, which throws up huge questions about the purpose of politics and democracy. Our mainstream politics and politicians seem to be beyond understanding this. Thankfully away from this narrow, cloistered world, numerous writers, groups and initiatives are exploring ways of addressing these challenges. Charles Moore, arch-Thatcherite and official biographer of the great lady has written a fascinating piece, ‘I’m starting
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The ‘Forward March’ of Scottish Nationalism and the End of Britain As We Know It
The ‘Forward March’ of Scottish Nationalism and the End of Britain As We Know It Gerry Hassan Renewal: A Journal of Social Democracy, Summer 2011 Introduction Scotland has been changed dramatically and fundamentally. The SNP landslide victory has resulted in a completely different political map of Scotland. This is a wider set of changes than just a northern, near-foreign politics of little real interest to the Westminster village. For a start there is the demise of the Labour hegemony north of the border. This is part of a deeper crisis of the British political class and state, British identity
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