Scottish Independence

Why Boris Johnson cannot say no forever Gerry Hassan Sunday National, January 19th 2020 Thirty years ago the Proclaimers sang ‘What do you do when Democracy's all through? What do you do when minority means you?’ This was the environment in Scotland after Thatcher’s third term victory of 1987. The Proclaimers caught the denial of democracy and sense of powerlessness many felt in the face of that political juggernaut. They also gave voice to the need to name the democratic crisis of the UK as such and its impact on Scotland, while emphasising our collective refusal to acquiesce to

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Taking Back Control: The Rise of People Power in Scotland Gerry Hassan Sunday National, January 12th 2020 Rallies and marches are an intrinsic part of politics the world over. Throughout history the politics of protesting and marching has made an impact and on occasions truly shaken power. Chartist rallies for democracy in the 19^th century, Suffragette protests of the early 20^th century, the civil rights marches of the 1960s of Martin Luther King and others, the anti-Vietnam war protests which spanned the globe in the late 1960s; and the anti-Communist rallies across Eastern Europe in 1989 which overthrew rotten

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The Long Game of Scotland’s Independence Referendum: 2020 and Beyond Gerry Hassan Sunday National, December 29th 2019 Scotland is on the move. The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has requested that the Scottish Parliament be given the legal powers from Westminster to hold a future independence referendum, and has written to Boris Johnson asking him to enter into serious negotiations. The case for a second indyref is based on Scotland voting to remain in the UK, and being told that this was the only way for Scotland to remain in the EU. In 2016, Scotland voted 62:38 to remain in the

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Time to Decide: Scottish Labour and the Independence Question Gerry Hassan Sunday National, December 22nd 2019 This week reality hit the Labour Party in Scotland. In the aftermath of yet another disastrous election defeat senior figures in the party have decided to question Labour’s long held opposition to an independence referendum, believing they should champion Scotland’s right to self-determination. Paul Sweeney, Monica Lennon and Neil Findlay as well as others have indicated that the party cannot be seen as standing for Westminster minority rule and against the democratic right of the Scottish people. There was a backlash against these pronouncements.

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The 2019 election and the End Games of Imperial Britain Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, December 17th 2019 The 2019 UK election campaign had few memorable moments, but despite this the result will have implications for most of us for the rest of our lives. Maybe this is what ugly history looks like. The phrase ‘British politics’ is now a misnomer. There is no real UK-wide politics, rather a distinct four nations politics, and within this all kinds of divisions and cleavages - of young and old; within the working class; in education and housing; and between and within cities, towns

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Scottish Labour, Self-Government and the SNP Gerry Hassan Compass, December 17th 2019 The 2019 UK general election confirmed the divided nature of politics, the demise of British-wide politics and the emergence of a four nation political system. The Tories were elected on a 43.6% UK vote made up through winning England with 47.2%, finishing second in Wales with a respectable 36.1%, while achieving second place in Scotland with 25.1%, losing votes and seats. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland increasingly march to different political beats. This is the third election in a row in which a different party has won

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Is Britain Broken? And what should we do in this election and beyond? Gerry Hassan Sunday National, December 8th 2019 The United Kingdom is not a happy place at the moment. This has been a strange, unsatisfying election campaign. People feel ignored and distrustful of politicians. But more than that, they don’t feel that they own what passes for democracy. This has a longer tail than this election. A host of factors have contributed to the current state of Britain. There is the UK’s struggle to find a global role post-Empire. The dependency on the so called ‘special relationship’ with

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Jeremy Corbyn, Labour and Scottish Independence Gerry Hassan Sunday National, November 17th 2019 This week Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s trip to Scotland made the headlines - and not for positive reasons. Corbyn’s position in less than 24 hours changed more than once on independence. First, he shifted from his previous position of not having an independence referendum in the ‘early years’ of a Labour Government, indicating that a vote would not take place in ‘the first term’ of an administration. Then when this was seen as the significant shift it was, he rowed back and returned to the first position,

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Conventional wisdom is no guide to the future in an age of turmoil and surprise Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, November 13th 2019 UK general elections are never about one single subject even when politicians try to define them as such. Ted Heath’s ‘Who governs Britain?’ election of February 1974 became about the state of the country, and Winston Churchill’s belief after the war in Europe ended in 1945 that he would be elected by a grateful electorate turned out to be illusive as voters instead looked to the future. Similarly this election will not be about just one issue

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The Last UK General Election Ever? Or the Last Bar One? Gerry Hassan Sunday National, October 27th 2019 Boris Johnson on Monday makes what is his third attempt to get the votes to call a UK general election – needing 434 votes to win a two-thirds majority under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act. This piece was written before the moves by the Lib Dems and SNP to bring about an election on December 9^th via a simple, single line bill. This may have more chance of succeeding later this week. But whether it does or does not it doesn’t invalidate

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