The State of the Union Debate
The State of the Union Debate Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, July 5th 2011 BBC Newsnight addressed the difficult issue of the state of the union. Up for discussion was how we all get on with each other, Scottish nationalism, the English dimension, the four nations, the meaning of the union, and issue of Europe (1). The BBC had conducted a poll of English respondents with Com Res (2) which found that 36% thought Scotland should be independent with 48% disagreeing. There was a general feeling of ambiguity about the consequences of this. 19% thought England would be better off
Rising Now and Being Four Nations Again!
Rising Now and Being Four Nations Again! Gerry Hassan The Guardian Comment is Free, June 24th 2011 The Olympics are coming to London and apparently it has been decreed by the high-heiduns of the British Olympic Association (BOA) that there will be a ‘Team GB’ taking to the football field. They insist this has absolutely nothing to do with their 1.7 million unsold tickets which went on sale this morning, mostly for football, or the losses they think they can cover with ‘Team GB’ replica strips. The Olympics aren’t really about football, so you could say does
It’s Only a Game: ‘Team GB’, Football and the Nature of the UK
It’s Only a Game: ‘Team GB’, Football and the Nature of the UK Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, June 22nd 2011 The story of the ‘Team GB’ football project entering next year’s Olympics has been rumbling on for a few years. Some people will think this is a sideshow and only about the game of football, but instead it goes to the heart of what the UK, who runs it, and how it is seen internationally. ‘Team GB’s’ role in the 2012 London Olympics was lauded by the British Olympic Association’s (BOA) claim of ‘a historic agreement’ with the other
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How We Help Our Friends in the South
How We Help Our Friends in the South Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, May 28th 2011 Scotland may have changed and by so doing shifted the UK. And all of this has consequences for the English and England. Listening to the voices of some of England’s so called liberal commentators post-election has been illuminating. David Mitchell said that ‘If Scotland ever goes it alone … the British will have lost their country’. Madeleine Bunting stated that ‘If Scotland goes, all we’ll have left is the Englishness we so despise.’ There is amongst some a tangible anger about Scotland. Tim
A Differerent Future: A Reply to Nick Pearce on Scotland, England and Britain
A Different Future: A Reply to Nick Pearce on Scotland, England and Britain Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, February 14th 2011 The nature of the United Kingdom, the territorial dimensions of its politics, and the national questions of these isles are going to come to the fore of British politics in the next few years. Tony Blair post-Cool Britannia and his anxieties about multi-culturalism, Gordon Brown and Britishness, and now David Cameron mowing both lawns at the same time in Munich, all indicate the sense of uneasy and nervousness in the political class since Labour’s constitutional reforms and 9/11(1). At the
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The English Democratic Deficit
The English Democratic Deficit Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, January 29th 2011 What happens in England matters to us north of the border, from its politics and culture to general state of mind. England is by far the largest part of the UK in population, size and wealth, and despite devolution, what goes on in England has enormous consequences for Scottish politics and society. At the same time, England finds itself in the strange position of being the one nation in the UK without a democratic forum in the shape of a Parliament or Assembly. It is also the one nation
