Sunday National

After the COVID recession: The age of conservatism is coming to end Gerry Hassan Sunday National, August 16th 2020 This week the scale of damage done by COVID-19 to the UK economy was confirmed as much more serious than previously thought. The drop in GDP for the second quarter of 2020 was 20.4% - the highest on record for a quarter - contributing to a 22.1% fall in the first six months of the year, plus a significant rise in the claimant count to 2.7 million people and a dramatic fall in employment. But this is nothing compared to

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The Real Divided Scotland: Time to get serious about class and inequality Gerry Hassan Sunday National, August 9th 2020 The SQA debacle has dominated the news. It is not a good moment for Scottish education or the cause of a more just, equal country. That is the bigger story here – one we should be uncomfortable with until we face up to it. Specifically, the extent of inequality and division in Scotland - this supposed land of egalitarianism. We can see it in the education attainment gap and scale of educational inequality and apartheid which underpins it; it is evident

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Scottish Tory Troubles at the top, in the party and in the unionist cause Gerry Hassan Sunday National, August 2nd 2020 Jackson Carlaw’s resignation was the biggest hit of his short leadership. It marks the end of one of the most unhappy periods of any Scottish party leader. Its only defining characteristics were that it was short and yes, he wasn’t very good. But it does underline bigger troubles in the Tory and unionist world. Carlaw lasted 168 days in the job. Many of these saw him restricted - like Jo Biden in the States - to his house due

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Independence as the new normal: Listening to the Scotland that did not vote Yes in 2014 Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 26th 2020 This week ‘All Under One Banner’ asked on social media: ‘What do you think is the main obstacle to overcome in order to restore Scottish independence?’ This brought forth comments about the state of the mainstream media, BBC, Westminster parties and UK Government, but very little on actual voters. It took pro-independence writer Michael Gray to answer that: ‘The reality that independence was rejected by two million of our fellow citizens for many decent and understandable

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We are living through history and we are the history makers Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 12th 2020 The UK Government is convulsed in multiple crises - COVID19 and the related coming economic storm - while Brexit still remains unfinished business with a No Deal Brexit still highly likely by the end of this year. If this were not enough, the UK is committing self-harm at the bequest of a government both rudderless and dogmatic. It is treating large parts of England like distant provinces while remembering Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland only when they cause trouble or to keep

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Border troubles point to the long-term crisis of unionism in Scotland and the UK Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 5th 2020 Reaching 100 days since the start of the UK lockdown was always going to be a milestone, but in many places it has been marked by a kind of cabin fever irritability and over the top remarks. Boris Johnson attempted to convince voters that he was the inheritor of Roosevelt’s political ambition and wanted a ‘New Deal’ in a speech he made in Dudley - whilst 56 miles away, the residents of Leicester were having to deal with a

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Scotland’s future as an independent nation is being created in the here and now Gerry Hassan Sunday National, June 28th 2020 Independence is back in the news and making the news. Truth is it never went away, but last week’s 54:46 poll in this paper set a surge of energy through the Scottish political scene. The British state and government, and Boris Johnson’s serial incompetence and inability to tell the truth in a national crisis of life and death proportions, is making the case for independence. Johnson represents all that most Scots are repulsed by - a posh entitlement

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How to organise and defeat the forces of fascism, racism and bigotry Gerry Hassan Sunday National, June 21st 2020 The popularity and power of the message ‘Black Lives Matter’ was always going to provoke a reaction. In the past fortnight there has been the emergence of the ultra-right on the streets of the UK. And in the past week, these ugly forces congregated in George Square, Glasgow on Wednesday disrupting a peaceful march in support of asylum seekers and refugees. This is unwelcome, ugly and not completely surprising. But it raises questions about the size and scale of the constituency

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After the Virus: Debating the Big Issues in Society and Scotland Gerry Hassan Scottish National, June 14th 2020 After COVID-19 what will our society, our lives and our politics look like? How will we return to talking about the big issues and in a way that faces up to the huge challenges in Scotland, the UK and beyond? A brief survey of the landscape we will face is illustrative. At least 64,000 UK citizens are dead from COVID-19. On Neil Ferguson’s assessment at least 25,000 of these deaths were avoidable and could have been prevented by earlier more decisive action

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All Across the Globe: The Politics of Protest Gerry Hassan Sunday National, June 7th 2020 All around the world people are protesting. Black Lives Matter have filled the streets of America. Everywhere from Canada to Australia, New Zealand to Germany, France to England and here in Scotland people are showing their solidarity with those taking a stand after the killing of George Floyd and linking it to their own specifics in a global cause. There has never been a time in recent history when streets, park gates and public spaces across Scotland have been more festooned with home-made signs and

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