As COP26 meets ‘It’s the Economy Stupid’ which needs to change
As COP 26 meets ‘It’s the Economy, Stupid’ which needs to change Gerry Hassan The National, 2 November 2021 The world’s media currently has one subject - will COP26 succeed in committing leading nations to act and change their ways on climate change. What is less talked about are economic assumptions and versions of the economy, who gains and who loses from it – not just in the UK and developed world but globally. Nearly thirty years ago Bill Clinton and the Democrats came up with “It’s the Economy, Stupid.” This not only prioritised economic growth but indicated that the
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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
The Afghan War and the Problem that is the West
The Afghan War and the Problem that is the West Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, 18 August 2021 The Afghan War has ended in abject failure. A failure whose shape, consequences and brutality will only be fully clear as it is played out in the coming weeks, months and years. In response the UK Government has recalled Parliament to sit on Wednesday, confirming the impotence of the UK. Events on the ground have overtaken the US and UK authorities and other Western capitals. In places there appears a dereliction of duty with UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab caught AWOL on holiday
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We are living in age of multiple revolutions
We are living in an age of multiple revolutions Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, June 22nd 2021 This Wednesday is five years exactly since the UK overall – led by England and Wales – voted for Brexit. The matter is still alive and present in so many ways – in the Northern Ireland protocol, in Scotland, in the UK argumentative relationship with the EU, and in the dividing lines which shape British politics. Here are eleven takes about the state of British politics and its future. ONE: Brexit is not just about leaving the EU. It is not just a
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A new economic and social order is being born. We have to make it an egalitarian one
A new economic and social order is being born. We have to make it an egalitarian one Gerry Hassan Sunday National, May 24th 2020 The economic tsunami engulfing the world is like nothing experienced in our lifetimes. The scale of damage and numbers affected are almost impossible to comprehend; as is the impact on our individual and collective livelihoods, and the future of the global economy, UK and Scotland. The UK economy could contract by a staggering 35% of GDP in the second quarter of this year. Already 2.1 million people are unemployed - the highest rate in 24 years.
There is an Alternative: Another World is Possible
There is an Alternative: Another World is Possible Gerry Hassan Sunday National, March 22nd 2020 The world is in flux, filled with uncertainty, confusion, panic and fear where many, if not all, of the assumptions that have defined politics are now open for challenge. Many things are still unclear but one certainty is that the dominant global economic model of recent decades is now being openly questioned. The Financial Times Sebastian Payne talked this week about ‘the ideology of last week’ –meaning the assumptions of the past four decades politically. There are still numerous voices clinging to the wreckage of
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History in the Making: The End of the Era of Neo-liberalism – in the UK and Globally
History in the Making: The End of the Era of Neo-liberalism – in the UK and Globally Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, November 27th 2019 This, we are continually told, is meant to be a seismic, even historic election - usually referring to the fundamental implications of Brexit. What is seldom addressed is that this election also signifies far-reaching change in another aspect of politics. This is the confirmation of the jettisoning of the economic assumptions which have defined UK politics for the past 40 years - sometimes described as neo-liberalism. This shift is a continuation and reinforcement of a change
The Revolution has not been televised: And why mainstream politics and media prefers not to talk about it
The Revolution has not been televised: And why mainstream politics and media prefers not to talk about it Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 7th 2018 Switch on your TV news these days and you will find, when they get past the poor weather and Royal Family announcements, that the world doesn’t exactly feel a happy place. There is disorder, division and disaster seemingly everywhere, but also very little attempt to make sense of why much of this happening. Last week the BBC news and current affairs programme ‘This Week’ hosted by Andrew Neil began with a film and discussion
The World Has Been Turned Upside Down: The End of the Era of Robber Baron Capitalism
The World Has Been Turned Upside Down: The End of the Era of Robber Baron Capitalism Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, January 24th 2018 The world has been turned upside down in the last few weeks. Ten years after the banking crash showed that the economic assumptions which shaped most of our lives were bogus, along has come the collapse of Carillion, the biggest outsourcing company in the UK. The taking of the public out of public services has been a long war of attrition which has been waged by all the mainstream Westminster parties. It hasn’t improved public services
What part of Britain is not for sale?
What part of Britain is not for sale? Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, April 3rd 2016 This week the future of the steel industry moved centrestage, Scottish parties have finally started talking tax, and the Tories version of what they call a ‘national living wage’ came into force. British steel used to lead the world. In 1875 it accounted for 40% of world production. The industry employed 320,000 people in 1971, which has fallen to 24,000 now. It produced 24 million tonnes in 1967, down to 12 million tonnes today. Tata Steel - an Indian company based in Mumbai who bought
