Scottish politics

Where does real political power sit in Scotland? And where do we want it? Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, September 6th 2015 The Scottish Parliament is one of the central pillars of public life. It has become the unquestioned landmark and focus of domestic politics in the country. People look to it, want it to have more powers, and generally trust it much more to look after their interests than Westminster. That is all good and well. Yet, when people think of the Scottish Parliament what they tend to have a vision of is not the reality, but the broad idea.

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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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Time for an Independence of the Scottish Mind Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, August 9th 2015 A second independence may be off the agenda of SNP conference for now, but Alex Salmond regards it as ‘inevitable’. Such are the pressures and tensions of success. Where do you take a movement which came close to winning independence last September? How do you balance pragmatic and idealist hopes? What do you after the SNP ‘tartan tsunami’ of May this year which carried nearly all before it – and, when your opponents are so weak and disorientated? There is talk in places of a

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A People’s Revolt in Labour but where will it end? Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, August 2nd 2015 ‘The Labour Party has gone mad’. ‘It has abandoned its senses’. ‘This is a summer of insanity’. These and suchlike comments made about Jeremy Corbyn are now familiar refrains in the Westminster mainstream. Before that this disdain was targeted northwards - asking ‘has Scotland gone mad?’ Jeremy Corbyn’s rise and emergence has caught the Westminster bubble by surprise, but isn’t hard to fathom. The other three challengers are dire. What passes for Labour stars are sitting it out. Labour members are dismayed and

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The Nationalist Lion Roars at Westminster! Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, July 19th 2015 The times are changing in Scotland and Britain: the SNP impact at Westminster; Tory maneouvres to hurt, harm and trap Labour on union reform and welfare, and the vacuum of Labour and Lib Dems post-election defeat. The SNP scored early blood on fox-hunting and English votes for English laws – forcing government postponement on the first and regrouping and redrafting on the second. This has produced Tory anger and fury at the Nationalists, and eventually see the Tories attempt to get their revenge. A significant part of

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Making the Debate on More Scottish Powers Real Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, July 5th 2015 Another week has seen more turbulence and uncertainty across Europe, north Africa and the Middle East. The unprecedented Greek vote on European Union intransigence will, whatever its outcome, have huge continental implications. In this frenetic period, what have Scottish politics been dominated by, since the May general election? From nearly every corner and political persuasion – from the SNP to Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and Greens – the incessant talk has been of ‘more powers’ and whether the Smith Commission and ‘the Vow’ is being

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Clearing the Scottish Fog of War Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, June 28th 2015 This has been a momentous news week. The Greek crisis; Britain and Europe; the human desperation at Calais; and the related tragedy in the Mediterranean. While this has been going on Scotland has had its own mini-ripples which pale in comparison. There was the controversy over Royal Family funding and the Crown Estate in Scotland, and at the same time, the ongoing problem of cybernat abuse and social media misbehaviour. The Royal story saw a whole range of UK papers run front-page headlines stating ‘Scotland to cancel

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The Rise and Fall of the House of Scottish Labour Gerry Hassan June 22nd 2015 The story of the Scottish Labour Party was, until recently, one of the defining stories of Scotland over most of the 20^th century. First there was its rise - the emergence of ‘Red Clydeside’ and the socialist pioneers, and how radicalism gave way to respectability. Second, there was the ‘golden era’ of action and purpose - of Tom Johnston, and the big ideas and schemes, which began to fade as Labour morphed in the 1960s and 1970s into the political establishment. And finally, there has

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