The world comes to Glasgow: Time to Think and Act Big
The world comes to Glasgow: Time to Think and Act Big Gerry Hassan Sunday National, 31 October 2021 Glasgow can do big things. It has revelled in being an international host city – from the most memorable European Cup finals to European City of Culture 1990 and the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The city’s sense of swagger, ambition and constant reinvention has sustained it through good times and bad, and aided it through difficult periods such as post-war deindustrialisation and the Thatcher era. But alongside that, the city has been constantly battered by external forces and had huge change imposed on
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Glasgow School of Art, Power and the Chumocracy
Glasgow School of Art, Power and the Chumocracy Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, 28 September 2021 How power is held to account has been a problem in Scotland, predating the Scottish Parliament and the independence debate – neither of which have aided the shining of a light into the recesses of public life which for too long have been in darkness. Many public institutions and bodies have fallen short and let down people, with their failings only brought to wider attention too late or long after the event – from deaths in hospitals such as the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Glasgow
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Why we need to get serious about sectarianism in modern Scotland
Why we need to get serious about sectarianism in modern Scotland Gerry Hassan The National, 7 September 2021 In 1999, within months of the Scottish Parliament’s establishment, composer James Macmillan delivered an address that had a major impact, ruffling feathers and beginning a long overdue debate. Entitled “Scotland’s Shame”, it spoke about our long disgraceful tradition of anti-Catholicism. He suggested that “we as a nation have to face up to the ignominy of our most prevalent if unspoken bigotry if we are to move together into the next millennium with a sense of common purpose.” This sparked soul-searching, the publication
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The Limits of Seeing Glasgow in Black and White Terms
The Limits of Seeing Glasgow in Black and White Terms Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, 1 September 2021 Last weekend Rangers and Celtic met in the first ‘Old Firm’ derby of the season. Hotly anticipated in some quarters and dreaded in others, it was marked by a Rangers victory with supporters of the club then walking through the city centre singing anti-Irish, anti-Catholic songs full of bigotry and hate, while police officers passively watched them. We have been here so many times before in the strange world of Scottish football that the senses of many are numbed, while others choose to
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Glasgow 2040: The City and the Stories of the Future
GLASGOW 2040: THE CITY AND THE STORIES OF THE FUTURE PROJECT OUTLINE Introduction Glasgow is a city rich in stories, metaphors and mythology. These affect the way the city is presented, represented and understood in public discourse, media and wider culture. They also impact on those who live in the city – and on the possibilities of change, and how the future is created and evolves. As the wider project makes clear the representation of Glasgow is characterised by extremes and binaries: ‘the official future’ of a bright, shiny, optimistic place open for business, tourism and consumption – the
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Glasgow as Tinderbox City
Glasgow as Tinderbox City Gerry Hassan Sunday National, June 6th 2021 Glasgow has had another spate of fires. This week tragedy hit McCulloch Street, Pollokshields with one person found dead and fifteen families evacuated as a result of a fire in a tenement building; only one month ago The Old College Bar in the city centre – known as the oldest pub in Glasgow – was reduced to a shell by a fire that ripped through an area of long-established shops and other businesses. The latest Pollokshields fire was the most recent of three within a few hundred yards of
Glasgow’s future after COVID
Glasgow’s future after COVID Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, June 2nd 2021 Glasgow it was announced this week would finally come out of Level 3 restrictions. By Friday Scotland’s biggest city will have endured 277 days of severe limitations on our freedoms that have come at an increasingly cost to the people and fabric of the city – the only place in the UK where people could not meet their friends in their homes, hug friends and relatives, or travel out of the city. It has begun to feel like a city under siege, where the pressures and restrictions have really
What do we do about Rangers?
What do we do about Rangers? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 19th 2021 Glasgow Rangers FC have returned to the top of the football game in Scotland. At the same time twice in the spate of two months a section of their fanbase (small but incredibly visible) have trashed parts of Glasgow - engaging in hooliganism, thuggery and violence in George Square and its surrounds. What the above events show is something toxic at the heart of Rangers and a section of their support, along with wider collusion and a malaise in the football authorities. Beyond this there is a
Glasgow People Power, Kenmure Street and defeating Priti Patel’s Home Office
Glasgow People Power, Kenmure Street and defeating Priti Patel’s Home Office Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 18th 2021 On Thursday last week Kenmure Street in Pollokshields on Glasgow’s Southside made worldwide headlines. As the forces of the British state, in the form of the UK Home Office and UK Border Agency, attempted to forcibly detain and deport two young men the local community resisted and defeated them showing the potential of people power. On that morning a UK Border Agency van came down the narrow confines of Kenmure Street and officials swooped to detain the two young men, Lakhvir Singh
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Glasgow on the Edge
Glasgow on the Edge Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 28th 2021 Glasgow is a great city with a proud history, traditions, cultures and a rich record of invention, industry and radicalism. There are of course many different Glasgows within the city’s boundaries – and often reality jars with how the city likes to see and think of itself. One key example is the consistent conservatism and high-handed bureaucracy of Glasgow City Council in a city that prides itself on its commitment to radicalism. Too often though down the years the city’s municipalism has been characterised by the exact opposite
