Time to Wake Up to the Realities of Fantasy Island Britain
Time to Wake Up to the Realities of Fantasy Island Britain Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, September 13th 2012 The ‘phoney war’ of the referendum long debate seems like it is slowly coming to an end with Nicola Sturgeon’s appointment as SNP campaign head. In so doing, it has illustrated the paucity of much of what has passed for discussion so far. There are significant omissions and avoidances on the Nationalist side - the presentation of independence as continuity, a new state of affairs where everything can be different and the same, and where we can still be British and
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The Scotland of a Different Generation and The Last Game of ‘the 42’
The Scotland of a Different Generation and The Last Game of ‘the 42’ Part Two Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, January 18th 2012 The whole day out to Peterhead was enjoyable and entertaining and made me reflect. This was a warm, sociable group of Celtic fans. There were no pub bores or people who dominated the conversation of the whole bus. There was leadership, organisation and a culture of soft collective discipline. Some of the songs being sung on the way up wouldn’t pass the Offensive Behaviour Act 2011. But what do I make of that? Singing of the hunger
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Football, Friendship and ‘the 42’
Football, Friendship and ‘the 42’ Part One Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, January 17th 2012 Many things matter to Scots: politics, culture, religion, the list is endless and varied. But to many nothing matters more in life than one thing: football or more accurately, their football club. In the last few years myself and my best friend Eddie have undertake a tour of the Scottish 42 football teams, from the big grounds of the Scottish Premier League (SPL) to the once big teams making up Division One, and the struggling minnows of the lower divisions. Nearly all human life
The Story of Becoming a Modern Scottish Man: Part Two
The Story of Becoming a Modern Scottish Man: Part Two Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, June 9th 2011 First, my father took voluntary redundancy from NCR in 1978. He was for a period of six months unemployed and went on a government-training centre course. This involved him fine-tuning his arithmetic and maths skills to a level I was well past, so I was able to assist my dad’s tutoring. I felt ashamed that my dad was unemployed. We lived in a working class neighbourhood filled with bank managers, teachers, and people running small firms. I had only known one unemployed
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The Story of Becoming a Modern Scottish Men: Part One
The Story of Becoming a Modern Scottish Man: Part One Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, June 8th 2011 I am a Scottish man and I think we have a problem. There is the familiar story of Scots men behaving badly – drinking, being violent, committing crime, harming others and themselves. We have the worst health and life expectancy for men in Western Europe, and shameful suicide rates for men. Then there is the stereotyping of Scottish men – with clichés about ‘the West of Scotland man’ and the caricaturing of some of our poorest communities by middle class professionals talking
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A Tale of Two Scotlands
A Tale of Two Scotlands Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, May 18th 2011 The last two weeks in Scotland have given many of us a glimpse of a different kind of land, one filled with light, hope, optimism and possibilities. And the weather was even nice for a while. It isn’t an accident that it has been called by myself and others, ‘a Scottish Spring’, but we always need to be careful not to transpose our own hopes onto wider political and national canvases. The turnout at the Scottish Parliament elections was just over 50%, and in parts of Glasgow,
What’s the Story of Scotland’s Future?
What’s the Story of Scotland’s Future? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, April 28th 2011 Like many people I have been watching and reflecting on the Scottish Parliament elections, and finding them in equal parts fascinating and frustrating. In one way, these are elections of some theatre and drama, the Labour-SNP contest, the background of the cuts, what happens to the Tories and Lib Dems. And yet they are not really an example of an imaginative, emboldened, or even in parts honest politics. Post-war Scotland: From ‘We Have a Dream’ to ‘We are Doomed’ There is so much unsaid and unstated.
