Scottish Independence

Is it really time for another pro-independence party in Scotland? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, August 14th 2019 It is the silly season after all. This used to be the traditional time when daft stories got headlines as newspapers struggled for real news. But now we live in such a topsy-turvy world that silly season stories appear all year round. Thus, on first appearance the news that pro-independence blogger, the ‘Rev.’ Stuart Campbell - ‘Wings over Scotland’ on social media - might launch a political party, seemed to have all the hallmarks of such an item. But these are

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What should we talk about to make Scotland a place we are proud to call home? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, August 7th 2019 There is only one subject on the lips of many this week: independence and Michael Ashcroft’s 52:48 poll. This is the Scotland of 2019 - twenty years of the Scottish Parliament, five years since the indyref, nine years of Tory-led government, and with less than 90 days to the prospect of a ‘No Deal Brexit’. We have also had twelve years of SNP Government. Once upon a time its admirers talked of its competence and sure touch,

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The Future of the Scottish Greens could decide the Future of Scotland Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 28th 2019 This is the summer of leadership contests. After the Lib Dems and Tories, next week sees the turn of the Scottish Greens. This might at first seem of less importance, but the outcome of this contest could play a significant role in the future of Scotland and hence the UK. The Scottish Greens are now a permanent feature on the political landscape. ‘Two decades of devolution have been good to the Scottish Greens’, says Lynn Bennie of Aberdeen University. ‘The

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The Brexit Crisis and Problem with Absolute Sovereignty: From the loss of the American Colonies and Ireland to Brexit Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, July 26th 2019 Britain is not only in crisis but under Boris Johnson’s new hardline Brexit government is heading for the rocks and disaster at turbo-charged speed. Yet with wall-to-wall mainstream media commentary on all things Brexit and Boris Johnson, a number of key characteristics are missing. The first is any understanding that Brexit is nearly entirely an English phenomenon and not only that but an expression of virulent, reactionary English nationalism. Secondly is the unpalatable reality

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Is there any hope for Scottish Labour? And does it matter to the rest of us? Gerry Hassan Sunday National, June 2nd 2019 Scottish Labour once carried all before it. They were admired by some, feared by others. They couldn’t be ignored, were taken seriously and mattered. Today the party is not only struggling to be taken seriously by anyone, but has to fight for attention, battling to avoid the ignominy of being seen as irrelevant by most voters. Many will say ‘hell mend them, they deserve their fate’ but the collapse of this once powerful party has consequences well

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Scotland’s Independent Story isn’t over: A Review of Yes/No: Inside the Indyref Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, March 19th 2019 As British politics enters a mixture of meltdown and an endgame, convulsed by Brexit, everywhere in political discourse there is an obsession with the past. From the rise of Churchill to unquestioned national hero, to the ultra-Brexiteers talking of the UK reduced to a ‘vassal state’ of the EU; and now, Speaker John Bercow announcing there cannot be a rerun of parliamentary votes due to a 1604 English convention, while being compared to Speaker William Lenthall who presided over the long

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The ‘F’ word rears its head again: Federalism and Labour Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 13th 2019 One political principle unites not just the Labour Party from Jeremy Corbyn to Tom Watson but also the Conservative Party - from Theresa May to the most ultra-Brexiteers in the Jacob Rees-Mogg faction. That principle is a belief in parliamentary sovereignty: which for all its elevated sound actually means the right of governments to do what they like and not be bound by things like the rule of law, human rights or what previous administrations have done. It is of course a

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1979: The beginning of the end of the ancien regime that ruled Scotland and the UK Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, March 1st 2019 Today is the 40^th anniversary of Scotland going to the polls to vote in the first devolution referendum on Labour’s proposals for a Scottish Assembly. This marked the beginning of Scotland’s constitutional revolution through referendums which, at the moment, stands at a triptych of 1979, 1997 and 2014 but which may have another addition. Despite this there will be no bunting, no ceremonies and no plaques unveiled to mark today. Both then and now, Labour’s plans for

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Independence is about more than an indyref. It is about changing minds and Scotland Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, January 25th 2019 Independence has to be about more than tactics and processes – which has dominated too many conversations since 2014. Independence is about more than an indyref - and in particular, timing, the question asked and how it comes about. This is politics as process and taking the substance for granted. And it is a trap too many independence supporters have fallen into post-2014. The last four plus years have been a strange time in Scottish politics. The democratic spirit

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We Scots have to start listening to each other Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, January 23rd 2019 Brexit seems to have no end, consuming nearly all political energy and devouring those who come into contact with it. Or so it seems for now. The Economist recently made the point in its ‘Bagehot’ column that one of the seldom understood groups in British politics were the long haulers. These were people who once occupied the margins of political life, and have now in the case of Brexiteers and Corbynistas, come centrestage and turned politics upside down. These two groups involved people

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