The Day Britain Died: Brexit, Trump and Scottish Independence
The Day Britain Died: Brexit, Trump and Scottish Independence Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, February 15th 2017 Last week a Rubicon was crossed as the House of Commons voted 494 to 122 – a government majority of 372 - to give a third reading to triggering Article 50. Just as seriously on the same day - Wednesday February 8th 2017 – the UK Government reneged on its promise to take 3,000 child refugees (what was called the Dubs amendment) and slashed the number to 350. If that wasn’t enough the Commons at the same time voted to refuse to offer any
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Scottish Independence has to move with the times
Scottish Independence has to move with the times Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, February 1st 2017 Scotland has in recent times liked to see itself as progressive, democratic and European. What’s so special about that you might think? A bit like apple pie and being kind to animals. But these undoubtedly mainstream values were rightly seen as increasingly at odds with the direction of the UK in the last few decades. The UK wasn’t any of these things and this has become even more pronounced and obvious post-Brexit vote. The Scottish case for these three qualities in 2014 was about something
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Could Scotland really be reduced to the status of a region?
Could Scotland really be reduced to the status of a region? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, January 18th 2017 When did present day Scotland begin? Not the ‘modern’ Scotland of post-war times, or the upside and then downside of Labour Scotland. But the land that we visibly live in today – shaped by the ghosts of industries long gone and the sins and excesses of Thatcher and Blair. The conventional answer is 1979: the ‘Year Zero’ of Scottish sensibilities when, for many, the world was turned upside down with election of the Thatcher Government and the stalled first devolution referendum. However,
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The Continuing Scottish Revolution: Time to Tell New Stories of Scotland
The Continuing Scottish Revolution: Time to Tell New Stories of Scotland Scottish Review, January 10th 2017 Gerry Hassan It has been an unprecedented political year, and 2017 will also be full of high drama - globally, across Europe, in the UK, and nearer to home in Scotland. Politics isn’t everything. Just as important is culture - a word used and over-used, seemingly about everything and everywhere, but difficult, and sometimes impossible to pin down and define. Culture when we forensically examine it can mean so many things. It can describe individual growth and enrichment. It can be about a
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As Britain crashes and burns can Scottish politics embrace more humanity and substance?
As Britain crashes and burns can Scottish politics embrace more humanity and substance? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, December 8th 2016 Britain is falling apart by the day. ‘British politics’ no longer exist in any form outside the House of Commons; ‘Brexit Britain’ is an inaccurate term considering the divided vote and kingdom; while the UK Government wastes our resources going to the Supreme Court to prevent a parliamentary vote actioning a referendum decision that was supposedly about parliamentary sovereignty. It’s confusing isn’t it? Meanwhile Tory politicians and newspapers rail against judges as ‘Enemies of the People’, and the influence of
Time for a Bolder Scotland: The Seven Stories of Scottish Independence
Time for a Bolder Scotland: The Seven Stories of Scottish Independence Gerry Hassan The National, November 30th 2016 We are living through unprecedented times of change and uncertainty. The words and phrases we use can barely keep up - ‘post-truth politics’, 'fake news', ‘alt-right’, the vacuity of ‘Brexit means Brexit’, and the debate on whether Trump is a ‘fascist’ or not. Language itself is struggling to convey and understand these times. This is true in Britain and Scotland. ‘The Economist’ magazine, in its review of the year and assessments of next year, when talking of Brexit observed that ‘When
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Tom Nairn’s Break-up of Britain turns 40 and is as relevant as ever
Tom Nairn’s Break-up of Britain turns 40 and is as relevant as ever Gerry Hassan The National, November 24th 2016 Few books about politics stand the test of time like Tom Nairn’s The Break-up of Britain. Next year will see its 40th anniversary. Originally published during the Queen’s Jubilee of 1977, the book offered a blistering counterblast to the then official commemorations – and self-congratulation of political and media elites who used the occasion to reflect on the wonders of the British way of doing things. The UK has undergone dramatic change since then. Superficially in form and appearance it
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Scotland the Bold or Scotland the Timid?
Scotland the Bold or Scotland the Timid? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, November 22nd 2016 Is Scotland really special? Are we a land that has bucked the retreat of the centre-left and social democracy, and proven itself immune to the right-wing populism sweeping the West from Brexit to Trump? Significant parts of Scottish opinion are always looking for any reason to jump on a wha’s like us exceptionalism: one which invokes our morality, values and commitment to social justice, alongside our collective opposition to all things evil from Thatcherism and Blairism to neo-liberalism. Truth of course is rather different.
Scotland the Bold: Making the Case for a Radical Scotland
Scotland the Bold: Making the Case for a Radical Scotland Gerry Hassan Sunday Herald, November 6th 2016 This weekend I attended a Donald Trump campaign rally in New Hampshire. It was a surreal experience - of a Presidential candidate who isn’t a professional politician, who has a limited conventional manifesto, and is running on what amounts to populist instinct and anger. Win or lose, this offer has resonated with a sizeable audience of dissatisfied people who are looking for change and who believe that Trump rather than Hillary Clinton best provides it. Last week I was at a Clinton-Elizabeth Warren
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High-wire Politics, the SNP after Conference and the Next Independence Campaign
High-wire Politics, the SNP after Conference and the Next Independence Campaign Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, October 17th 2016 The SNP’s rise to become Britain’s third party – in parliamentary seats and mass membership – has corresponded with its annual conference adopting the importance, scale and feel of one of the two UK big parties This is of course fitting and appropriate, but still something of a transition given the SNP are obviously a Scottish-only party, and in places maintain the feel and ethos of a party which for decades has defined itself as a family and community. The mood of
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