Scottish Independence

What happened to the Spirit of Scotland’s Democratic Revolution? Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, May 1st 2016 There is a Scottish election going on – played out in TV and radio studios, photo-ops and the occasional party leader debates. Its main contestants are the party leaders, no one else from the main parties, and perhaps more importantly, its key media players - Kirsty Wark, Bernard Ponsonby, Gordon Brewer and Jackie Bird. All Scottish elections are strange affairs. In the early years the result was a foregone conclusion, with only 2007 on a knife-edge, while in 2011 the country moved to

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‘Arise Now and Be a Nation Again’: The neverending story of Scotland’s history Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 23rd 2016 Tom Devine has been a huge intellectual influence in Scotland in recent decades, having made major and thoughtful contributions to many important historical and contemporary debates. His latest work, ‘Independence or Union: Scotland’s Past and Scotland’s Present’ is part a summary of his previous research, ‘The Scottish Nation’ and his work on Scotland’s Empire, seen through the prism of Scotland’s place and influence in the union. This descriptive, wide-ranging book covers not only over 300 years of Scottish history,

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There is a Light That Never Goes Out: Ian Bell, Willie McIlvanney and the Power of the Word Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, January 6th 2016 Scotland values words. It has always had a place in its heart for wordsmiths and for those who powerfully combine language with a sense of some higher calling – from religion, to morality, to various causes for a better world. In the weeks running up to Christmas, within a matter of days of each other, we lost two of our most celebrated public figures who expertly used words - William McIlvanney and Ian Bell. Sometimes,

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If Independence is a State of Mind then we have to fundamentally change Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, November 8th 2015 Years ago the dream was that the Scottish Parliament would usher in a new politics. It was going to be different from adversarial Westminster – consensual, caring, thoughtful, leading to better debates and laws. Much of this was wish-fulfillment. There has always been mutual scorn between Labour and SNP – aided by the fetishisation of tiny differences, given they agree on so much. But in recent years all of this seems to have got worse. And the last week in

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‘Nationalism alone is not enough’ as the SNP finally shows it is mortal Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, October 4th 2015 After eight years of defying the laws of political gravity, the normal rules of politics are back. The SNP are, like everyone else, mortal. Michelle Thomson, newly elected SNP MP for Edinburgh West, has built a £1.7m property portfolio with her husband through buying properties at knock down prices from vulnerable people. Her solicitor, Christopher Hales, who undertook the conveyancing work on 13 properties was struck off last year by the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal. Whatever the legality of

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 ‘The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil’ Still Matters Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, September 27th 2015 One year after the referendum has seen a golden summer and autumn of Scottish theatre. Adaptions of Alasdair Gray’s ‘Lanark’ at the Citizens’ Theatre, and Alan Warner’s ‘The Sopranos’ at the Traverse, along with John McGrath’s ‘The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil’ at Dundee Rep. These are all iconic, evocative plays that tell much about the Scotland in which the original texts were written, the times in which they are set, as well as the present day.  ‘Lanark’

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Scotland and Britain Have Changed: The 'Big Bang' of the Indy Ref and After Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, September 13th 2015 One year ago Scotland went to the polls. An amazing 85% of us voted: 45% for independence and 55% against – both expressions of Scottish self-government and a desire for a different Scotland. Scotland did not vote for independence, but nor did it settle for the status quo of the existing union. Instead, it voted to continue in a kind of interregnum – a transition from something familiar to something still hazy with a destination as yet unknown.

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One Year on from the IndyRef: Making the Scotland of the Future Gerry Hassan Open Democracy, September 2nd 2015 Scottish public life has dramatically changed in recent times – the SNP 2011 first landslide, the independence referendum, and the 2015 tartan tsunami. Yet Scotland, like everywhere, is about more than politics. In this and other areas there have been huge changes, but also continuity and conservatism, the balance of which we are still trying to make sense of, and with huge consequences for the future of Scotland and the UK. Take the indyref. It didn’t come from nowhere. It came

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Can Radical Scotland find its Voice? And if so could it be RISE? Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, August 30th 2015 This weekend a new force in the Scottish political scene emerged – RISE – standing for Respect, Independence, Socialism and Environmentalism. What do we need a new political force for, you may ask? We already have a crowded political landscape. And why do we need another pro-independence one? At last count there were already four: SNP, Scottish Greens, Scottish Socialists and Solidarity. RISE, in case anyone thinks otherwise, has no connection to George Galloway (he is another kind of Respect)

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Kezia, Jezza and Indy: Where are the Big Ideas of the Next Scotland? Gerry Hassan This week the SNP hit a new high mark in the polls - 62% for next year’s Scottish elections. Elsewhere Kezia Dugdale was elected Scottish Labour leader as the Jeremy Corbyn bandwagon came to much acclaim north of the border. What do you with popularity? It is a question politicians seldom have to answer. The nearest equivalent to the SNP now is Blair’s New Labour – which, less we forget, was once hugely popular. There is the question of where opposition comes from and what

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