Open Democracy

Scotland’s Shame Deniers and the Silence of Men Gerry Hassan Open Democracy. March 7th 2011 The power and pull of Scottish football reaches into every nook and cranny of Scottish society for good and ill. It obsesses us, transfixes us and blinds us to addressing so many things in our country. The most recent Celtic v Rangers game has shown that football has a life force of its own which takes over most of Scotland: three Rangers players sent off, 13 yellow cards, the Celtic manager and Rangers assistant in a bitter exchange, hundreds of arrests, and the number of

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The Blairite Ascendancy Goes On and How We Have to Stop It Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, January 21st 2011 What a fascinating end to a watershed week in British politics. A week shaped by the continued Blairite dominance of British politics. Cameron’s ‘modernisation’ of the health service opened the week, and Blair’s evidence to the Chilcot inquiry and Andy Coulson’s resignation, David Cameron’s Head of Communications, closed it. The Blairite ascendancy continues shorn of its New Labour platform. In many respects this worldview does not now need to be rooted in any one political party to

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Back to the Future, Or Not: The Strange Rise of Scottish Labour Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, January 19th 2011 Scottish politics is away to change and not change – with according to the most recent TNS-BMRC poll – Scotland getting itself into a frenzy of excitement at the anticipation of Iain Gray’s Scottish Labour returning to office (1). The figures are worth highlighting: Labour is polling 49% of the constituency vote and 47% of the regional vote: enough to see it get an impressive 69 seats in the 129 seat Parliament and thus an overall majority. What is going on

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An Open Letter to Compass: The Problem with the British State Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, January 12th 2011 After Neal Lawson and John Harris wrote a call for ‘New Socialism’ in the ‘New Statesman’ (1) I responded (2). Now Neal has posted a note about what I said (3). He feels that I am being uncomradely and this upsets him as I have long been complementary of Compass’ work and have collaborated with them in a number of ways. I consider myself a friend and admirer of Compass and its work. In these challenging times they are one of the

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The End of the Revolutionary Line: The Demise of Tommy Sheridan Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, December 24th 2010 The jury in the Glasgow High Court has found Tommy Sheridan guilty of perjury. His political career and hopes, whatever his rhetoric, lie in ruins, as does the party he helped found – the Scottish Socialist Party – which he briefly made a semi-potent electoral force. This is the end of a long journey for a revolutionary dream, illusion and fantasy – in which Scotland for a period had the world’s most electorally successful Trotskyite party. It has been three years since

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The Strange State of Undemocracy: Calman and the Scottish and British Questions Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, December 1st 2010 The Calman Commission proposals and their enshrinement in the paper, ‘Strengthening Scotland’s Future’ (1) and the Scotland Bill – are meant to be a moment of history and importance: the narrative of ‘the evolution of devolution’, of ‘devolution as a process’, and other questionable clichés. These proposals are important for both Scotland and Britain, revealing a political class and media which mostly does not understand the detail of what is being put forward or the resulting consequences. This is – leaving

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The Scottish Stalemate and How to Change a Culture of Conservatism Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, November 22nd 2010 Party politics and the wider art of politics are profoundly about tribes. Are you part of my tribe or the opposing tribe? How is my side or camp doing? Are we up or down: making the political debate, or in retreat and on the defensive? At the same time we know our political tribes – Conservative, Lib Dem, Labour – are in major crisis leaving aside the disorientation they all feel as they come to terms with the reality of coalition government

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Scotland Before the Cuts and the End of Devolution Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, November 18th 2010 Scotland has just entered a new era: a world of public spending cuts and job losses after a decade of devolution largesse. In this Scotland is just like everywhere else in the UK; some English and even some Scots people will say ‘and about bloody time too’: it was high time to put a stop to ‘the land of milk and honey’ and ‘subsidy junkie Scots’. Such gut, instinctual views miss that something much more significant is going on north of the border –

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Scotland, the Politics of the Centre-Left and the Future of Social Democracy: A Conversation Between Gerry Hassan and Joyce McMillan Open Democracy, November 15th 2010 This conversation was sparked by Gerry Hassan’s Saturday ‘Scotsman’ on the limitations and pitfalls of anti-Toryism in both Scotland and the UK https://www.gerryhassan.com/?p=1414 Dear Gerry, It is right to reject the Tories as long as they continue to promote a destructive, inadequate and wrong-headed neo-liberal ideology. I'm waiting for them to change, and to enter a real conversation about where the policies of the last 30 years have failed. They never do. So really, Gerry,

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Nation to Nation: The Problem of Speaking for Britain Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, October 29th 2010 BBC 'Question Time' is BBC’s flagship UK political programme, or at least once was. Now with populist current affairs programmes such as ‘The Week in Politics’ and ‘The Daily Politics’ we are dealing with a crowded marketplace. ‘Question Time’ is still a programme which aims at a wider public audience than the political anorak classes (like myself). It reveals in its style and content much about the state of the nation, the state of our politics, and public anger, disenchantment and occasionally optimism. Across

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