Scottish Independence

Have We Passed Peak SNP? After the Three Dreams of Scottish Nationalism Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 18th 2016 Nearly fifty years ago Scotland embarked on a new political journey - one defined by the politics of Scottish nationalism, the electoral challenge of the SNP, and the debate on self-government and how to best express Scotland’s collective interests. It has been a bumpy ride, involving controversies, incidents, moments of elation and disappointment, but while history is never tidy and linear, Scotland post-Winnie Ewing winning Hamilton in November 1967 was never the same. That much is uncontroversial. There have been subsequently

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An Open Letter to the SNP Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, May 15th 2016 Congratulations on last week’s historic third term. It was well deserved. The party has rightly established a reputation for competence. Nicola Sturgeon is popular and liked; none of the opposition come near. The SNP has contributed enormously to public life. It is seen as standing up for Scotland’s interests and after decades of Labour cronyism has been a new broom. This is probably as good as it gets. For the good of the country, the party and independence, it needs to understand the nature of its

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The End of An Era: Goodbye to the 1980s and the Age of the Imperial SNP Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, May 8th 2016 Last week’s election marked the end of a historic era -  a Scotland defined by the explosion and aftermath of the independence referendum. Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP have been given a mandate of sorts – not the kind they were looking for or expecting. It is much more conditional, while still tinged with respect. The SNP won but their expectations about a landslide got the better of them. Sturgeon tried to play it both ways on

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The Scottish Revolution that isn’t quite what people expected Gerry Hassan May 6th 2016 The Scottish election was a foregone conclusion. Everything was settled we were told. But it hasn’t quite turned out that way. A third SNP term, but without the expected overall majority that the Nationalists and polls expected. A Tory revival beyond expectations. And a Labour nightmare implosion which makes it difficult to see a way back. Decent results for the Greens and Lib Dems. All of this will throw up big questions about politics, power and legitimacy. Nicola Sturgeon has talked about ‘a clear and unequivocal

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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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