The coming rebellion against the world of the Sunday Times ‘Rich List’
The coming rebellion against the world of the Sunday Times ‘Rich List’ Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 16th 2018 Starting in 1988, The Sunday Times ‘Rich List’ is now in its 30th year. It has survived and prospered through all sorts of political seasons and economic social periods, from the high point of Thatcherism and ‘Loadsamoney’ to New Labour’s own embracing of the super rich, and the slow turning against the grotesque excesses and indulgences of such forces. And yet here we are, nearly a decade after the banking crash and years of static and falling living standards for most,
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The Future has been Postponed: Making Sense of the Age of Nostalgia
The Future has been Postponed: Making Sense of the Age of Nostalgia Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 9th 2018 Nostalgia is everywhere. The past seems all around us – alive, noisy, ever-present, and more relevant and dynamic than the voices of today and the concerns of tomorrow. Take a couple of examples. The British Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn seems to define its moral compass through a host of reference points from its past - from Keir Hardie to 1945. Then there is the regressive radicalism and conservatism of Brexit. And less seriously, there is how popular culture increasingly re-presents
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Ideals for Living: The need for guides on how to live a better life
Ideals for Living: The need for guides on how to live a better life Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 2nd 2018 How many times do you hear people say that these are ‘grim times’? It has become commonplace – but a bit of perspective and history is needed. These aren’t after all as grim times in the UK, or the West, as they were in the 1980s in terms of economic dislocation and the Cold War, and nor are they anywhere as dark and foreboding times as the 1930s and the march of fascism and world war. They are
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Loss is too important to be left to the hate mongers
Loss is too important to be left to the hate mongers Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 25th 2018 The bewildering nature of modern society – its incessant, demanding change, shifts in employment, remuneration and technologies, and a sense that big decisions are taken elsewhere – means that a feeling of loss is commonplace today in the UK and other developed societies. Yet such is the overwhelming nature of these changes and so deep-seated are feelings of confusion and dislocation that we don’t have time or inclination to stop and pause and understand the many facets of what loss is,
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Enoch Powell’s Ghost and Bigotry still haunts modern Britain
Enoch Powell’s Ghost and Bigotry still haunts modern Britain Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 17th 2018 This week sees the 50th anniversary of Enoch Powell’s infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech which occurred on April 20th 1968, with the BBC deciding to recreate it and broadcast on ‘Archive on 4’ - read by actor Ian McDiarmid. The speech has never been broadcast before in full, and this decision hasn’t been without controversy, both before and afterwards. It was an extraordinary experience to hear this much cited, even legendary, speech in its entirety - 45 minutes of powerful, passionate, and shockingly over
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Breaking the Taboos and Silences of Belting Scotland’s Children
Breaking the Taboos and Silences of Belting Scotland’s Children Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 11th 2018 Scottish education has always had an important, even disproportionate place in society - emphasising its distinctiveness, traditions, and of course, multiple individual stories and experiences. Yet our education system has had for all the good and positive stories, too many which are bad and dark. This legacy continues to this day. For all the pride in the best of our schools and education, there has been a historical culture of fear, punishment and violence, and teachers and authority using power inappropriately to control children.
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In Praise of Gentleness
In Praise of Gentleness Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 28th 2018 Where is the gentleness in life? Instead - in too many places - we have a surfeit of anger, dislocation and frustration. For some the big issues of the day necessitate, even demand, such assertive and sometimes negative qualities. We live in times defined by corporate dishonesty, brazenness and theft, where the vast majority of us feel unheard, marginalised, alienated and silenced. Anger is clearly an understandable response, but can only take us so far, and too often blows itself out through exhaustion and disillusion. Too much of
The View of Britain from Europe: A Perspective from Lublin
The View of Britain from Europe: A Perspective from Lublin Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 21st 2018 Europe feels very different when viewed from its eastern borders. This week I have been travelling across Europe and staying for several days in the beautiful Polish city of Lublin – 95 miles from Warsaw, in the south-east of the country, not far from the Polish-Ukrainian border. Lublin is a proud city with a rich history and sense of its past importance. It currently has a population of 349,103 and four universities, numerous colleges and lots of successful and impressive businesses and start-ups.
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As Brexit Britain heads for the rocks what does Corbyn’s Labour stand for?
As Brexit Britain heads for the rocks what does Corbyn’s Labour stand for? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 14th 2018 The diminished global status of Britain and our future post-Brexit has been on display in the last few days. The attempted murder of Sergei Skripa and his daughter Yulia and the possible role of Russian authorities; the visit of the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince, and the continued saga of Donald Trump’s unpredictable, erratic Presidency from trade wars to his state visit, all illustrate the challenges a diminished UK will face in the aftermath of Brexit. Twenty-one months on from the
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The Revolution has not been televised: And why mainstream politics and media prefers not to talk about it
The Revolution has not been televised: And why mainstream politics and media prefers not to talk about it Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 7th 2018 Switch on your TV news these days and you will find, when they get past the poor weather and Royal Family announcements, that the world doesn’t exactly feel a happy place. There is disorder, division and disaster seemingly everywhere, but also very little attempt to make sense of why much of this happening. Last week the BBC news and current affairs programme ‘This Week’ hosted by Andrew Neil began with a film and discussion
