Nicola Sturgeon

Independence is a story about all of us – and there is serious work to do Gerry Hassan Sunday National, December 6th 2020 2020 has been the year of many striking things. It has been a year of progress for Scottish independence. A raft of polls show a consistent majority for independence and the SNP is polling strongly. Nicola Sturgeon is massively more popular than Boris Johnson; while the SNP’s trust ratings on a range of issues is impressive. All of which points towards the likelihood of a pro-independence majority in seats and votes in the 2021 elections. Some independence

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The SNP, independence and the politics of solidarity Gerry Hassan The National, November 30th 2020 The SNP annual conference was, like all party gatherings at the moment, a strange affair conducted through virtual discussions connecting thousands of homes and living rooms. This gave it a decent social media footprint, but restricted what broadcasters had to cover and portray to the wider nation. This conference was the starting gun for the 2021 elections, with the major chance for any cut through being Nicola Sturgeon’s keynote address on St. Andrew’s Day. This was carried by most broadcasters - with the right-wing

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The Pressures of Success: What Independence has to do to win Gerry Hassan Sunday National, November 15th 2020 It has been a historic week, and we are only half way through the month. Trump defeated, Dominic Cummings leaving Downing Street, a COVID-19 vaccine, fourteen polls in a row for independence, and - to top it all - the Scottish men’s football team qualifying for the Euros. Things are looking up. Being in a winning position changes everything. It brings fresh questions, expectations and pressures. There is the cumulative effect of the SNP being in office by 2021 for fourteen years

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Is This The Tipping Point of Scottish Independence? Gerry Hassan Sunday National, October 18th 2020 Independence is the new normal and the mainstream. This is a huge historic shift and moment. It is a dramatic change and opportunity that will require a very different politics and attitude compared to 2014. Then independence represented the insurgents and outsiders, the new kids on the block, shaking the insiders, taking independence in from the cold and the margins. This is independence’s tipping point – or getting close to that point; the moment when everything changes: the argument, context and how the public see

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The aftermath of the Alex Salmond trial and Kirsty Wark's take on Scotland Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, August 19th 2020 Alex Salmond is one of the towering figures of post-war Scottish politics - a politician who dramatically changed the country and his party’s fortunes, taking it into office in 2007, winning majority government in 2011, and taking Scotland close to independence in the 2014 referendum. He has always been a divisive figure: loved by some, hated by others. This division has become increasingly bitter in the aftermath of the trial in March of this year in which he was charged

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The SNP, Salmond and Sturgeon and the limits of court politics Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, August 5th 2020 The UK is in turbulence. The UK Government has failed us on matters of life and death. Scotland has felt very different, even if on some of the fundamentals of COVID19 it has not been actually that different. At the same time the SNP has soared in the polls, Nicola Sturgeon’s ratings have outshone everyone else and independence has moved into the majority. To some this looks like our future - a slow disentanglement from the UK state. Yet across the world,

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Scotland’s Right to Decide and the Future of Anglo-American Capitalism Gerry Hassan Sunday National, May 10th 2020 As we reach seven weeks of lockdown more and more questions are emerging about the actions and shortcomings of the UK Government’s approach, particularly as sections of the Tory Party get restless about the length and economic costs of the lockdown. At the centre of this is the issue of what is driving policy – scientific and public health evidence or political priorities - and how it is all presented and portrayed. Then there is the relationship between the UK Government and Scottish,

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The End of an Era: The Imperial Era of the SNP Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, February 12th 2020 The SNP were once the bright promising future of Scotland but all such periods of political promise come to an end. It isn’t possible to permanently remain the new kids of the block with the passing of time. The resignation of Derek Mackay as Finance Secretary and his subsequent suspension from the SNP came like a bolt out of the blue – shocking everyone in his party, fellow parliamentarians and political opponents, and the media. The SNP stands dominant in Scottish

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Scotland after Brexit: What needs to happen to win independence? Gerry Hassan Sunday National, February 2nd 2020 Leadership isn’t easy. It can be lonely and difficult. But it is not without rewards when you get it right. Nicola Sturgeon said on Friday: ‘leadership is not about giving people easy answers … It is about being honest with people.’ In the aftermath of Sturgeon’s announcement hours before Scotland was dragged out of the EU against our democratic wishes – many felt a plethora of different emotions about Scotland’s future, independence, and the role of the Scottish Government and SNP. Some felt

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The Declaration of Arbroath is Alive and Kicking in Modern Scotland Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, January 28th 2020 This year is the 700^th anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath. This seminal and pivotal point in Scottish history, in the making of our nation and collective imagination, still says something about each and everyone of us to this day. It has echoed down through the years, along with William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, Bannockburn and the Wars of Independence. These are all part of the foundation stories and myths of what Scotland is and what it means. The Declaration was designed

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