Open Democracy

The Long March to Scotland’s Independence Referendum Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, September 4th 2009 The world of politics and history sometimes throws up by complete accident fascinating and revealing coincidences. So it proved on the 70th anniversary of Britain and France reluctantly declaring war on Nazi Germany after Hitler had taken the decision two days previously to unleash his war machine on Poland. On such a day laden with history the SNP administration fired the first official shots in the referendum on Scottish independence. Alex Salmond, First Minister, committed his administration to bring forward a bill to hold

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'Libyagate': The Stark Face of ‘Britain plc’ Revealed Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, August 30th 2009 The idea that the British government and the Libyan government would sit down and somehow barter over the freedom or the life of this Libyan prisoner and make it form part of some business deal ... it’s not only wrong, it’s completely implausible and actually quite offensive. Peter Mandelson, First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, President of the Board of Trade and Lord President of the Council  (1) Nobody doubted that Libya wanted BP and BP was

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The Consequences of the Lockerbie Release and the Fools of Devolution Gerry Hassan Open Democracy. August 28th 2009 The fallout after the al-Megrahi case continues to show that devolution – and Scottish devolution in particular – has the capacity to show the limited understanding that many have about the current constitutional state of the UK. Worse than that for many this boils over into resentment, anger and rage, which at points is directed at the Scottish Government and Parliament, and sometimes ‘Scotland’ as an entity. James Macintyre’s short piece in today’s New Statesman, ‘The Folly of Devolution’, is a

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The Releasing of al-Megrahi: Scotland’s Parliament Debates Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, August 24th 2009 The decision by the Scottish Government to release the convicted Libyan bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person who has been found guilty for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 which blew up over Lockerbie, has had huge consequences, both domestic – in Scotland and the UK, and internationally. The ripples and waves caused by the Scottish Government’s release of al-Megrahi are manifold, and show how Scotland, its statehood and nationhood are misunderstood – from Scotland, to the UK and further afield. Firstly, the recall

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Lockerbie, Justice and the Price of Devolution Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, August 21st 2009 Scotland’s Government arrived on the international stage with the announcement by SNP Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill that Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the one person convicted of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 and the death of 270 people over the Scots town of Lockerbie on that fateful day, December 21st 1988, was being released. MacAskill took his responsibilities seriously and appropriately, realising the importance of his decision with the eyes of the world on him. In his demeanour, statement and subsequent interviews, MacAskill seemed to

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Breaking Out of ‘The Golden Thread of Liberty’: Understanding and Interpreting the United Kingdom Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, August 10th 2009 Vernon Bodganor, The New British Constitution, Hart Publishing, 319 pp., £17.95. James Mitchell, Devolution in the UK, Manchester University Press, 216 pp., £60. Anthony King, The British Constitution, Oxford University Press, 432 pp., £25. Peter Kellner, Democracy: 1,000 Years in Pursuit of British Liberty, Mainstream, 540 pp., £25. As a theoretical proposition the United Kingdom would probably win few converts because it seems such a fragile concoction. Imagine the reaction to a political scientist who proposed to create

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Lets Start a New Country Up: The Need for a New Politics Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 22nd 2009 British politics are in exceptional times. So everyone says. Democracy is in crisis say some; parliamentary democracy is in crisis say others; while others more accurately say that the entire British political edifice is tottering on the point of collapse. Comparisons fill the airwaves: 1832, the Glorious Revolution, the loss of the American colonies, none of which work and just underline that these are indeed unprecedented times. Continue Reading Lets Start A New Country Up: The Need for a New Politics

The Cameron Roadshow Reaches Marginal Scotland Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 15th 2009 The week the British political system creaked and cracked under the strain and embarrassment of the self-serving financial actions of politicians across the political spectrum saw David Cameron take his constituency roadshow to the county town of Arbroath. ‘Cameron Direct’ http://www.conservatives.com/Get_involved/Cameron_Direct.aspx is a Blair-like initiative which sees the Conservative leader tour the country – or the marginal seats of it – offering voters the chance to see him up close if not as he puts it ‘in their living room’. Continue Reading The Cameron Roadshow Reaches Marginal Scotland

They Say That Breaking Up Is Hard To Do: Broken Britain or Not? Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 7th 2009 Review of Mark Perryman (ed.), Breaking Up Britain, Lawrence and Wishart 2009 The contrast [over the last 25 years] has been between a determined (if stricken) agent of history and a mere sleep-walker. In 1977 the Cold War political palsy still prevailed, a profound inertia favouring all the tropes of states, parties and intellectuals I have described. By 2000 most instinctive allegiance to ‘establishments’ had drained away, leaving hollow routines and vacant symbols behind. A combination of official servility

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The Legacy of Thatcherism North of the Border Thirty Years On Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, May 5th 2009 This is the woman that closed down our shipyards and steel mills, believed that unemployment is a price worth paying, and then told us that she knew best. If that wasn't bad enough, she used Scotland as a guinea pig for the poll tax. The Tories abandoned families and offered no support to people in desperate circumstances. Margaret Curran, Labour MSP for Glasgow Baillieston (1) ‘Margaret Thatcher did more good than harm in Scotland’. This was the motion for a packed

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