A Cut Out and Keep Guide to Understanding the 2015 General Election in Scotland
A Cut Out and Keep Guide to Understanding the 2015 General Election in Scotland Gerry Hassan May 5th 2015 This has been an election campaign like no other in living memory in Scotland. While Westminster commentators have regularly stated that this is the ‘most boring’ and ‘risk free’ election they can ever remember, north of the border nothing like this has ever been seen before. Scotland is on the cusp of huge political change which could see Scottish Labour’s Westminster political establishment vanquished, and a new political dispensation and map of the country created, which will not only have
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Scotland’s Quiet Revolution: How we changed and what it may mean
Scotland’s Quiet Revolution: How we changed and what it may mean Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, May 3rd 2015 What in the future will people say about the state of our nation today? They will say they saw a Scotland on the cusp of historic change, shifting from an older, predictable order to something new and potentially different. A SNP wave looks certain to wash over Scotland next Thursday, toppling most Labour and Lib Dem strongholds. Cameron has given up on the Scottish Tories - in the pursuit of undermining Scottish Labour and winning back soft English UKIP voters. Ed Miliband
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Can Scottish Labour clear up the mess it has got itself into?
Can Scottish Labour clear up the mess it has got itself into? Gerry Hassan Compass, April 30th 2015 Something amazing is happening in the UK general election in Scotland. Its campaign and mood is so different from the rest of the UK. Voters are animated and engaged: one survey predicting 85% certain to vote, 20% more than the highest figures in England. The old certainties have gone. Whereas once Scotland returned a block of 40-50 MPs to Westminster, and nothing of any real significance happened here, now the entire world has been turned upside down. Instead of a Scottish Labour
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It’s a Family Affair: the Strange Relationship of Labour and SNP
It’s a Family Affair: the Strange Relationship of Labour and SNP Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, April 26th 2015 The forthcoming general election in Scotland, and to an extent in the UK, is being decided by the battle between Labour and the SNP. There is history and bad blood here which almost amounts to a bitter family feud. Insults such as ‘tartan Tories’ and ‘red Tories’ are exchanged – both phrases pre-exist their current Labour and SNP use, but are now synonymous with the enmity between the two. The past is a distant country in this. The SNP electoral breakthrough
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Scotland isn’t Mad, but Animated and Engaged
Scotland isn’t Mad, but Animated and Engaged Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, April 12th 2015 The election has definitely taken off this week. There were the two Scottish leader debates. The Tories getting personal with Ed Miliband. Labour daring to talk about tax. Scotland is in a different place. Some once thoughtful pro-union commentators have scratched their heads and come to the conclusion – ‘Scotland has gone mad’ and talked of ‘the madness of Scottish politics’. It is never good to start citing ‘madness’ and nearly always reflects back on who said it. The fact that pro-union commentators think this
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Are the Days of Scottish Labour Over?
Are the Days of Scottish Labour Over? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 8th 2015 The official general election campaign kicked off last week. But in reality it has been running since the turn of the year, with all parties and observers knowing in advance that polling day would be May 7th. Scotland has witnessed a palpable air of perma-campaigning for the last two or three years with the experience of the referendum. But there has been an air of excitement and expectation for some about the coming general election, since the aftermath of the indyref, and when the first polls
A Watershed Moment for Scottish Labour, Scotland and the UK
A Watershed Moment for Scottish Labour, Scotland and the UK Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, March 8th 2015 Scottish Labour’s predicament and condition is centre stage in British politics. It has become one of the major factors which will determine the fate of the next UK election and government. Jim Murphy’s leadership, with its constant announcements and hyper-activity, whilst not having created the fundamental problems the party faces, seems to offer no real solution so far. Underneath all this Scottish Labour does not understand the position it finds itself in and how to get out of it. Fundamentally the party does
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Scottish Labour and how the World As We Know It Turned Upside Down
Scottish Labour and how the World As We Know It Turned Upside Down Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, February 8th 2015 The Scotland we have known has been turned upside down. Once Scottish politics followed certain, predictable lines. Scottish Labour had become the dominant party of the land. It sent 40-50 MPs to Westminster, ran most of local government, and in huge swathes of Scotland no real opposition existed. All empires come to an end. And so it has proven with Scottish Labour. The party which was on the winning side of the independence referendum now finds itself facing electoral Armageddon
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The Myth of ‘Glasgow Man’
The Myth of ‘Glasgow Man’ Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, February 1st 2015 ‘Glasgow man’ is expected to be a critical factor in the forthcoming general election contest in Scotland. He, or it, is central to Jim Murphy’s attempt to save Scottish Labour and win back 200,000 Labour supporters who voted Yes in the referendum. It is also pivotal to the SNP’s attempt to breakthrough in traditional Labour seats. Glasgow man is shorthand for a certain political demographic - the equivalent of ‘Basildon man’ who supposedly won it for Thatcher, and of ‘Mondeo man’ who contributed to Blair’s three election
Jim Murphy’s ‘Clause Four’ Moment and ‘Putting Scotland First’
Jim Murphy’s ‘Clause Four’ Moment and ‘Putting Scotland First’ Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, January 11th 2015 Jim Murphy has to do some simple things right now - as well as some difficult ones. He has to get noticed, cause a noise and get up certain people’s noses. Murphy faces some significant challenges. He has a short time span in which to make an impact on, and make a difference to, Labour’s electoral prospects for the May 7th UK general election - and how it is seen by the electorate. Both are tough asks. Who was the last Scottish Labour leader
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