After Sturgeon and ‘Sturgeonism’: Facing Up to the Democracy of Scotland
After Sturgeon and ‘Sturgeonism’: Facing Up to the Undemocracy of Scotland Bella Caledonia, 25 March 2025 Gerry Hassan The past week has seen the end of a monumental era of Scottish politics: of Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP and of ‘Sturgeonism’. This has generated a welter of instant commentary as expected but with much of it focusing only on the immediate, the party’s prospects for 2026 and what Sturgeon might do post-politics, rather than look at the longer story in addressing how we got here and where this might take us. There was lots of over-the-top commentary as there always has been
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As Scotland goes to the polls caution and continuity – in Labour and the SNP
As Scotland goes to the polls caution and continuity are not enough – in Labour and the SNP Gerry Hassan Sunday National, 26 May 2024 The UK election on 5 July has huge consequences that could draw the curtains on fourteen Tory years - and see the election of a Labour Government under Keir Starmer. All expectations are that the Tories will lose badly, and Labour could win by a landslide. However the Tories won emphatically in 2019 and Labour need to gain 124 seats for a majority of one seat - something they have done twice in post-war times
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Walls come tumbling down: The SNP crisis and the state of Scottish politics and independence
Walls come tumbling down Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, 1 May 2024 The events of the past few days have caught many off-guard. Humza Yousaf‘s abrupt termination of the agreement with the Greens, their resultant fury and desire for revenge, with the inevitable resignation of Yousaf as it became obvious that he could not win a vote of confidence without paying a high price to Alba and Alex Salmond. All political parties, parliaments and political systems have crises. They are the life and blood of politics. They are revealing, tell us much about what the main players (whether parties or individuals)
How do we put government and leadership back in Scotland and the UK?
How do we put government and leadership back in Scotland and the UK? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, 25 May 2022 UK government and politics are not in a good place. They have been traduced and trashed in ways once unimaginable. Boris Johnson has presided over an administration from top to bottom of unbelievable incompetence, serial lying and disdain for the law and due process, vandalising government, civil service and public standards. At the same time in Scotland fifteen years of SNP rule do not find things here in a good place. All across society and public life there are questions
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What is missing from Scottish politics, the SNP and independence and can we rectify it?
What is missing from Scottish politics, the SNP and independence and can we rectify it? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, 16 February 2022 What are the main characteristics of Scottish politics? Fifteen years into SNP Government the party is still popular; the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has ratings any incumbent could only dream of having. Yet underneath this, things don’t quite seem right. There is a stillness across Scottish politics and public life. For a start there is no credible opposition to the SNP. The Tories under Douglas Ross just don’t cut it; while Labour under Anas Sarwar might have a
The rise, fall and rise of party and movement and the changing idea of Scotland
The rise, fall and rise of party and movement and the changing idea of Scotland Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, 7 January 2022 Review of The National Movement in Scotland, Jack Brand, Routledge The SNP have been in existence for a long time and a serious electoral force since the 1960s. But at the same time there have been few studies of the party that have contextualised it within the wider nationalist movement and the changing nature of Scotland, and that have attempted to analyse and understand the dynamics of this relationship. The National Movement in Scotland by the late Jack
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Seven years of Nicola Sturgeon and resolving the tensions between party and movement
Seven years of Nicola Sturgeon and resolving the tensions between party and movement Gerry Hassan The National, 23 November 2021 Nicola Sturgeon has been First Minister and SNP leader for seven years. This formidable achievement is part of a bigger picture of the SNP’s emergence as the dominant party, the rise of independence, and the relationship of the Nationalists to the wider independence movement. This is an appropriate time for reflection and assessment not just of her leadership but of the wider context in which it sits. Specifically of the SNP as a party and its record in office, and
Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon: A Tale of Two Very Different Leaders and Parties
Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon: A Tale of Two Very Different Leaders and Parties Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, 15 September 2021 Last weekend the world marked 20 years since the 9/11 attacks, while many of us were absorbed in the birth of a new British tennis star, Emma Raducanu, as she sensationally won the US Open on Saturday evening at the age of eighteen. There were also the rival attractions of the annual conference of the SNP, this year held online, and the inaugural conference of Alex Salmond’s Alba Party in Greenock Town Hall. Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon
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The Alex Salmond Scandal and its Aftermath
The Alex Salmond Scandal and its Aftermath Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, 9 September 2021 Break-Up: How Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon Went to War, David Clegg and Kieran Andrews, Biteback Publishing, £20. Scottish politics has been transfixed the past three years by the fallout between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon – the defining figures of the SNP over the past twenty years. This has been a saga like no other - of serious allegations made against Salmond, two court cases and judgements, a parliamentary inquiry and independent review, all of which have created huge political waves and turbulence which have
Where are the politics of hope in the SNP and independence?
Where are the politics of hope in the SNP and independence? Gerry Hassan The National, 24 August 2021 Hope is fundamental to politics and political change, and indeed, human life. It has been central to the politics of the SNP when they have been successful but seems to have got lost in recent times and needs restating. It was pivotal to the way that the SNP won in 2007, to how they won a majority in 2011, and to the politics of the indyref Yes case in 2014. Yet at times since 2014, despite the dominance of the SNP electorally,
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