What are politicians for today? In Defence of a Different Poliitics
What are politicians for today? In Defence of a Different Politics Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 9th 2016 For all my adult life, I have defended the potential of politics and politicians to aid a better world. I have defended politics as the means to bring about change, for people to come together collectively and exercise power, and to aid the art of living together well. I have defended politicians as both a necessary evil - not all being the same and tarred with the same brush – and as people undertaking an activity in which many try their best.
Continue Reading What are politicians for today? In Defence of a Different Poliitics
Fear, Loathing and the Problem of ‘Sovereignty’ in the EU Referendum
Fear, Loathing and the Problem of ‘Sovereignty’ in the EU Referendum Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, March 2nd 2016 After years of second guesses and a rising tide of Europhobia and scare stories, finally the UK faces the certainty of a vote on June 23rd on whether or not it remains a member of the European Union. This will be a debate about so much - about how people see Britain and its future, the English question, and the distinctiveness and autonomy of Scotland – all illustrating the absence of any uniform national British politics. The referendum will be dominated by
Continue Reading Fear, Loathing and the Problem of ‘Sovereignty’ in the EU Referendum
The ‘War’ on Free Speech and Free Thinking in Scotland and the UK
The ‘War ‘on Free Speech and Free Thinking in Scotland and the UK Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, February 24th 2016 Freedom of expression and thought are cornerstones of any ‘free society’. Who could disagree with such an uncontentious statement? It is not quite as simple. There are always going to be tensions and conflicts, but more and more the issue of what is ‘free speech’ has become heated and controversial, with claims and counter-claims on what people have the right to say and shouldn’t say, and who can say it. This can be seen across the UK and West, from
Continue Reading The ‘War’ on Free Speech and Free Thinking in Scotland and the UK
The Last of the True Believers: Comrades of the World Unite!
The Last of the True Believers: Comrades of the World Unite! Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, February 17th 2016 The age of insecurity has turned out to be an age of rage and anger. Yet, so far, a near-decade of economic collapse, turmoil and corporate deception hasn’t led to a widespread revival in the fortunes of the left’s ideas and popularity. Instead, the picture is a very mixed, patchy one. There has been a rise in populism, xenophobia and identity politics: Trump and the US Republicans, UKIP and the French Front National, and the much more sinister hard-right examples in Poland
Continue Reading The Last of the True Believers: Comrades of the World Unite!
The Real Glasgow Effect on all of us
The Real Glasgow Effect on all of us Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, February 10th 2016 Glasgow is many things. It is a place, an idea and a story. Willie McIlvanney once captured this writing: ‘Glasgow is a great city. Glasgow is in trouble. Glasgow is handsome. Glasgow is ugly. Glasgow is kind. Glasgow is cruel.’ There is a Glasgow industry of books about the city - the biggest and most burgeoning concerning any UK city - London apart, which is over ten times its size. There are dry academic accounts and studious examinations. There are cultural tours. Then there is
The Herald and Rangers FC: Noise annoys and listening for the Sounds of Silence
The Herald and Rangers FC: Noise annoys and listening for the Sounds of Silence Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, February 3rd 2016 A series of illuminating conflicts in the last week - the Graham Spiers sacking from ‘The Herald’ and the J.K. Rowling/Natalie McGarry argument on twitter - show something revealing about modern Scotland. Spiers sacking from the paper, along with Angela Haggerty’s from the ‘Sunday Herald’, brought up numerous issues. One immediate issue was where power lay in the newspaper group – with open disagreement emerging between ‘The Herald’ and ‘Sunday Herald’ editors. More fundamentally it touched upon the legacy
Continue Reading The Herald and Rangers FC: Noise annoys and listening for the Sounds of Silence
The Last Days of the Old BBC Scotland
The Last Days of the Old BBC Scotland Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, January 20th 2016 These are turbulent times for the BBC. The patrician age of benign liberal paternalism and enlightened elites knowing what is best for us, unquestioned and unchallenged, have long since passed. We have now swung to the other end of the spectrum. Not a day seems to go by without the BBC being criticised from somewhere. The ‘Daily Mail’, ‘Daily Telegraph’ and Murdoch press conduct a never-ending war undermining the Beeb’s status - questioning the legitimacy of the licence fee and what they see as its
Whatever happened to the Scottish Tut?
Whatever happened to the Scottish Tut? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, January 13th 2016 Once upon a time there was a thing called the Scottish Tut. It defined many of our exchanges, stalked our land and policed the boundaries of permissible behaviour. It gave and took away acceptance; and once it was seemingly everywhere and now seems nowhere. Whatever happened to the once powerful tut, can we live without it, and should we lament its apparent demise? The Scottish Tut involves many different motivations, styles and gradations. It could be used to indicate someone seen as ‘getting above their station’
There is a Light That Never Goes Out: Ian Bell, Willie McIlvanney & the Power of the Word
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,
Scotland’s Football Revolution of Recent Years
Scotland’s Football Revolution of Recent Years Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 6th 2015 The last few years have seen the natural order of things disrupted in Scotland. The once dominant force in the land has been humbled, its traditional place and authority usurped by others, and a series of ineffective and incompetent leaders have promised salvation and then not delivered. This is the story of Glasgow Rangers, although there are similarities with the recent experience of Scottish Labour. And yet until the last six months or so of the indyref, the big news story of our country was not
Continue Reading Scotland’s Football Revolution of Recent Years
