Open Democracy

Reading the Political Times: A Cultured Tory Writes Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, July 27th 2010 Keith Simpson has in the words of his own website issued ‘his famous Summer Reading List’ (1). Simpson is Tory MP for Broadland, currently PPS to the Foreign Secretary, and has had a rich, productive life before being a politician – working as an academic in international affairs, including a spell at Sandhurst, and is the author of five books on military matters, including a history of the German Army. There are not many of such types left nowadays in the days of the professional

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The al-Megrahi Case, ‘Britain plc’ and the Scottish Government Gerry Hassan Open Democracy. July 21st 2010 The approach of the first anniversary of the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber, al-Megrahi has reopened sensitive feelings and wounds in the United States and UK and nearly derailed David Cameron’s first Washington trip as Prime Minister. Only nimble footwork by Cameron offering his ‘violent agreement’ with Obama on the wrongness of the release averted what could have been a major row. Nearly one year on from al-Megrahi’s release on ‘compassionate grounds’ by the Scottish Government following medical advice that he only had three

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The Paradoxes of Devolution and the Forces of Conservatism Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, July 16th 2010 Devolution north of the border has always been filled by paradox and contradiction. Promising radicalism, while influenced by conservatism. Articulating a vision of ‘the new politics’, yet in reality shaped by institutional vested interests. Supposedly about Scotland’s voice and place as a nation, but driven by Labour fear of the Nationalists and the bogeyman of ‘separatism’. A new pamphlet by centre-right think tank Policy Exchange, ‘The Devolution Distraction’ by Tom Miers savages most of the assumptions and emotional supports of

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The Coming British Revolution Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, July 6th 2010 In the streets and parks of Britain everything seems to be as it always has been. This feels like a typical British summer with those totems of modern life passing us by: Glastonbury, Wimbledon and England crashing out of the World Cup after another catastrophic underperformance. Yet behind these comforting cultural moments things are changing dramatically. The new Con-Lib Dem government is presenting the case for public spending cuts the like of which we have never seen in the history of the UK. Its call for a rebalancing of

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A New Era Starts for Scottish Politics: Alex Salmond and Independence Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, June 26th 2010 Scottish politics are on the verge of their biggest shakeup for decades. A linked debate on the Calman commission, fiscal autonomy and the implications of the Budget and forthcoming cuts, will now be shaped by Alex Salmond’s repositioning of the SNP on the call for independence. Not since the early years of the Thatcher Government has Scotland politically faced the prospects of such fundamental and irreversible change. Salmond shows the scale of his ambition and intent in an interview in Friday’s edition

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The Official Voice of Our Broken Constitution Speaks Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, June 19th 2010 Vernon Bogdanor is a respected authority on the British constitution, and someone who we should take seriously. In his writing and in his previous position as the tutor to the young David Cameron at Oxford University, Bogdanor has become in effect a pillar and part of the British constitution. Bogdanor is both a reformer and a deep conservative, someone who sees the British constitution in needs of radical overhaul, but believes in it as an idea and sees reform as reinforcing its legitimacy, authority and

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The Darkness at the Heart of Labour Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, June 17th 2010 British politics may have been changed utterly by New Labour and entered uncharted waters with the new coalition, but part of Britain has shifted back to what it sees as normal service. Labour post-election has returned to some of its favourite comfort zones, with the party viewing itself in opposition to what it calls a ‘Tory Government’ and opposing public spending cuts which it is seeing as the return of Thatcherism. What does all this say about Labour and the New Labour era? To many it

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Labour Begins its Long Conversation: The Leader Hustings Come North of the Border Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, June 13th 2010 The Labour summertime show headed northwards; the first UK party leader election since Tony Blair began the New Labour era in 1994. The five Labour candidates gathered in Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall before a packed audience of 400 Scottish party members. This proved to be a lively hustings with good humour, animated discussion and no rancour. If it had any faults it lacked any real disagreements, provided little detail, and pandered to what they thought a Scottish audience would want,

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The Labour Leadership Contest and What We Do About the New Labour Generation Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, June 9th 2010 It is now the famous five with Ed, David, David and Andy joined by Diane Abbott. This is the widest Labour leadership contest for thirty-four years – since 1976 when Jim Callaghan beat Michael Foot for the leadership (and hence Prime Ministership) from a field of six candidates. Thank goodness for small mercies in terms of the number of candidates, yet as has been pointed out this is the narrowest, most unrepresentative Labour leadership contest – socially – in the

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Labour’s Future and the Story of Labour Britain Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, June 1st 2010 The limits of Labour’s understanding of what has happened to it, where it is, and what it should do are becoming clear. This has been given added clarity by the contributions by the current six Labour leadership candidates who have written short manifestos and credos for ‘The Guardian’ (1). All of them display different degrees of ambiguity to the two questions Madeline Bunting poses: was the 2010 election result a good result for Labour or a disaster, and ‘how does one treat New Labour’s record

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