Sunday Mail

This is the world of little Britain and Scotland wants no part Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, June 26th 2016 This is what the death of a nation looks like - petty nationalism, populism, fact-free politics, and surprises everywhere. This is the world of ‘little Britain’ - and it isn’t pretty. These are unpredictable times. There is anger and frustration. Whole sections of British society feel that politicians, elites and experts don’t understand them. Such is their desperation and feeling of powerlessness that many felt that Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage are the answer. This referendum is about Europe, and

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This campaign is a future warning from a British Trumpland Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, June 19th 2016 The Euro campaign has been without any joy or love, and has reached depths unseen for decades in British politics – reducing complex subjects to the gutter. This last week has been a humbling one. The tragic death of Labour MP Jo Cox, the UKIP poster ‘Breaking Point’ on the threat of mass immigration coming to the UK, and the disgraceful antics of Leave.EU (the UKIP dominated Leave campaign) linking the Orlando massacre to Muslim immigration. It has been a long low road

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Was 1966 the last great British sporting moment? Andy Murray apart? Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, June 12th 2016 ‘They think it’s all over. It is now.’ These are some of the most famous words ever in the history of British sporting commentary. The fiftieth anniversary of 1966 is upon us. When England beat West Germany 4-2 at Wembley and became football World Cup champions. It is a long time ago, but as the European Championships kick off, with everyone taking part from the UK bar Scotland, the memories and myths of that triumph still linger. 1966 is obviously for English

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Confused by the European Debate? You should be! Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, June 5th 2016 The EU referendum is so far one of the worst political debates in my lifetime, with no sign of it improving. It is unlikely to descend to the gutter of Trump v. Clinton coming up shortly. But it still leaves a lot to be desired. The academic Philip Cowley this week compared the referendum to ‘a shit game of football match, with little skill, in the pouring rain, on a Tuesday, but there still has to be a winner.’ There are good arguments for Remain

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Glasgow’s Success is Key to Scotland’s Success Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, May 29th 2016 Glasgow is Scotland’s biggest city. It may only contain 606,340 people in its council boundaries, but the Greater Glasgow conurbation is double that - at 1.2 million. Glasgow is one of the drivers of the Scottish economy and society: a place of great wealth, enterprise, jobs and culture. But it is also characterised by staggering degrees and levels of poverty, inequality and disadvantage. This isn’t anything remotely new and has been the case since the city experienced rapid industrialisation from the early 1800s, but it limits

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What's Missing from the European Referendum? Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, May 22nd 2016 As memory of the Scottish campaign fades, along comes another one: the European referendum. It is like the deregulated chaos of buses – first none, then a stampede! We now have regular referendums. Scotland has had three, as has Wales, Northern Ireland two, and this is the third UK-wide vote. When they were first mooted in the 1970s they were called, particularly by MPs, ‘alien’, ‘unBritish’, ‘undermining of parliamentary sovereignty’, and the sort of things dictatorships do. Since then the referendum has slowly become part of the

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An Open Letter to the SNP Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, May 15th 2016 Congratulations on last week’s historic third term. It was well deserved. The party has rightly established a reputation for competence. Nicola Sturgeon is popular and liked; none of the opposition come near. The SNP has contributed enormously to public life. It is seen as standing up for Scotland’s interests and after decades of Labour cronyism has been a new broom. This is probably as good as it gets. For the good of the country, the party and independence, it needs to understand the nature of its

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The End of An Era: Goodbye to the 1980s and the Age of the Imperial SNP Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, May 8th 2016 Last week’s election marked the end of a historic era -  a Scotland defined by the explosion and aftermath of the independence referendum. Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP have been given a mandate of sorts – not the kind they were looking for or expecting. It is much more conditional, while still tinged with respect. The SNP won but their expectations about a landslide got the better of them. Sturgeon tried to play it both ways on

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What happened to the Spirit of Scotland’s Democratic Revolution? Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, May 1st 2016 There is a Scottish election going on – played out in TV and radio studios, photo-ops and the occasional party leader debates. Its main contestants are the party leaders, no one else from the main parties, and perhaps more importantly, its key media players - Kirsty Wark, Bernard Ponsonby, Gordon Brewer and Jackie Bird. All Scottish elections are strange affairs. In the early years the result was a foregone conclusion, with only 2007 on a knife-edge, while in 2011 the country moved to

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What is the point of manifestos if they wont treat us as adults? Gerry Hassan Sunday Mail, April 24th 2016 All the party manifestos are out - bar Labour. But the only really important one - that of the SNP - emerged this week. It was an event. A spectacle. A cross between an American sports event and a Barbara Streisand concert, with the associated emotional overload. It is all part of the modern election ritual. Part of the form and planned grid of the campaign which political and media professionals know and understand. If we step back from the

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