Two Bullies, a Lie and War: Blair, Campbell and ‘In the Loop’
Two Bullies, a Lie and War: Blair, Campbell and ‘In the Loop’ Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, April 21st 2009 It is a season of films about Britain, tapping a sense for nostalgia and who we are as the UK economy, our government and banks reel from crisis to crisis. Thus, we have ‘The Boat that Rocked’, Richard Curtis’s limp slapstick about an Austin Powers like swinging sixties where life was one long party, and ‘The Damned United’, on Brian Clough, mercurial football manager, and showing us what men and the North were like in the 1970s rebelling against the stuffiness
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The Politics of Liberty in the Age of ‘Liquid Democracy’
Zygmunt Bauman on this essay: Combining 'the practical wisdom of an insider/actor with the detached/critical perspective of an outsider/thinker - an ability rarely nowadays encountered either among the practitioners or visioners of the polis.' The Politics of Liberty in the Age of ‘Liquid Democracy’ Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, March 27th 2009 It wasn’t, I realised after all, that the world had run out of ideas. It was simply that the world had forgotten how good ideas were created in the first place. Gordon Torr, Managing Creative People (1) The world has been turned upside down. Assumptions long held
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Why we need a very British Democratic Revolution!
Why we need a very British Democratic Revolution! Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, February 19th 2009 Review of Peter Facey, Betham Rigby and Alexandra Runswick (eds), Unlocking Democracy: 20 Years of Charter 88, Politico’s Publishing 2008 You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away and know when to run. Kenny Rodgers, The Gambler British politics are going through a rapid period of change, at once profoundly disorientating and emphasising the dislocation and disengagement at its heart between people and the system. In the last few weeks, we have seen the
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Britain’s neo-liberal state
Britain’s neo-liberal state Gerry Hassan and Anthony Barnett Open Democracy, December 16th 2008 The global financial crisis exposes anew the flaws of a British polity that resists democratic modernisation. In a long, sweeping overview, Gerry Hassan & Anthony Barnett declare the United Kingdom state unfit for purpose. The world we have lived in, created from the twin oil-price shockwaves of 1973 and 1979 and validated in the eyes of many by the events of 1989, is at last suffering its own crash. The era of Thatcher and Reagan, inflated by their offspring Clinton, Bush and Blair; the era of
After Glenrothes: The Continuing Struggle for Scotland’s Soul
After Glenrothes: The Continuing Struggle for Scotland’s Soul Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, November 8th 2008 Labour's surprise victory in the Glenrothes by-election bespeaks a new fluidity in Scottish politics, argues Gerry Hassan. The Glenrothes by-election has shown that Scottish and British politics are on the move. Gordon Brown is clearly back from the dead; David Cameron and George Osborne have been wrong-footed, while Alex Salmond, that other thorn in Labour’s flesh, has seemingly misjudged the economic and political moment, and the SNP honeymoon is over. Has ‘the Brown bounce’ led to ‘the Salmond trounce’? Continue Reading After Glenrothes: The Continuing Struggle for Scotland’s Soul
A Tale of Two Nations: How the UK is Influenced and Shaped by US Presidential Elections
A Tale of Two Nations: How the UK is Influenced and Shaped by US Presidential Elections Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, November 4th 2008 Gerry Hassan looks at how past presidential elections have played out on this side of the Atlantic. This is a momentous week for democracy, the future of America and the world, but it is also a week which yet again shows the inter-connections and differences between US and UK politics. (more…)
The Next Left: Life After the Labour Party
The Next Left: Life After the Labour Party Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, September 21st 2008 He who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself: and if thou gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze into thee. Friedrich von Nietzsche, quoted in George Orwell, ‘As I Please', September 8th 1944 The Labour Party to put it mildly is in crisis. It does not know what it stands for, who it represents or what vision of society it has. Many now pore opprobrium onto the shoulders of Gordon Brown, while others blame ‘the legacy' of Tony
Scottish Labour, Where’s the Coffee?
Scottish Labour, Where's the Coffee? Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, September 15th 2008 Iain Gray faces a daunting set of challenges as the new leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament. In this essay, Gerry Hassan asks whether the party could yet find a way forward, in Scotland and beyond, in challenging an unravelling global order. As one Scottish born leader’s hold on power diminishes, his prospects now hanging on an ever-weakening thread, another, a young pretender, enters the gladiatorial ring. We are talking about the fate of Gordon Brown and the new leader of ‘Scottish Labour’ (more
The Limits of the ‘Think Tank’ Revolution
The Limits of the ‘Think Tank’ Revolution Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, September 8th 2008 Gerry Hassan has worked extensively with several UK think tanks. In this comprehensive essay, he argues that, in Britain as in America, the think tank model has worked better for the right than for the left, and calls for new thinking about the kind of institutions that can nurture progressive ideas. ‘Think By Doing: From Local to Global’, ‘Giving Communities More Power to Run Themselves’, ‘Diverse Communities Bring Benefits For All’, ‘Free the Radicals’, ‘Make Life Chances Depend Less on the Lottery of Birth’. These soundbites
Thatcher’s Shadow Falls over Alex Salmond
Thatcher's Shadow Falls over Alex Salmond Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, August 26th 2008 Alex Salmond's remark to Iain Dale that Scots 'didn't mind the economic side' of Thatcherism, created a storm of hypocrisy and exposed a fundamental truth about Scottish politics, argues Gerry Hassan, in this extensive essay. Mainstream politicians are as united in tacitly accepting Thatcher's legacy as in publicly abominating her policies. British politics have for the last thirty years been shaped by Margaret Thatcher, Thatcherism and the legacy of Thatcher’s period in office. All of the mainstream politicians who have followed her – John Major, Tony Blair,
