Stop the World, Scotland wants to get on!
Stop the World, Scotland wants to get on! Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, February 18th 2012 Scotland has been all over the world news these last few weeks: the independence debate, David Cameron’s high profile intervention, and of course the saga of Glasgow Rangers FC. What has been missing from the Scottish debate is an engagement with the wider environment beyond Scotland, both in relation to the UK and internationally. In times it almost seems as if the debate is being undertaken, irrespective of opinion, in a vacuum. The prevalent Scottish debate amongst politicians, commentators and seasoned observers is to
The Self-Preservation Society of Civic Scotland
The Self-Preservation Society of ‘Civic Scotland’ Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, January 21st 2012 ‘Civic Scotland’ has been spotted these last few weeks, out in public, on manoeuvres, laying out their claims to be not forgotten in ‘the great debate’ about to ensue. The official story of ‘civic Scotland’ matters because various people in the voluntary sector, trade unions and churches are articulating a very partial version of history to justify their place and stance now. And at the minimum we should, like every aspect of public life, put this and its claims under proper scrutiny. ‘Civic Scotland’ says that
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When ‘Two Tribes’ Go To War: Why Independence Needs to Understand the Union Case
When ‘Two Tribes’ Go To War: Why Independence Needs to Understand the Union Case Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, January 14th 2012 This week Scotland exploded onto the UK and international stage. The constitutional debate and independence have become the talk of Westminster and across the world. Pro-union forces have been caricaturing the independence camp as ‘separatists’ with even the British Government paper published this week having contained within its title the phrase: ‘whether Scotland should leave the United Kingdom’. Independence supporters like to think they are above this. Yet they have a tendency to think the union is
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The Scotland that Opposed Thatcher
The Scotland that Opposed Thatcher Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, January 7th 2012 History calls for reflection; leaders’ standings rise and fall and then rise again, and a sense of perspective eventually emerges which tells a fuller picture. Harold Wilson’s stock rose in the 1980s as Labour lost election after election, while some observers tried to make the case for Ted Heath’s apparently doomed premiership; in time some will even attempt to make the case for Tony Blair. This political stock taking moment has now come for Margaret Thatcher, aided by the release of the film ‘The Iron Lady’ with
How to Play Political Poker: The High Stakes of the Independence Debate
How to Play Political Poker: The High Stakes of the Independence Debate Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, December 31st 2011 The Scottish constitutional debate will increasingly be the main, if not the only, debate in our national politics over the next year. It is going to be a debate which not only has a Scottish interest, but for obvious reasons, a UK audience, alongside a wider European and international relevance. It is crucial for many reasons that we conduct this debate in the best way possible. International attention, including the world’s media, will be on us. We have to rise
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Why are so Many Women’s Voices Missing from Scottish Public Life?
Why are so Many Women’s Voices Missing from Scottish Public Life? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, December 24th 2011 Scotland was once a masculinised culture and society, a place where men built big, heavy things and large numbers of women stayed at home. We have changed in many respects, and to some the separate worlds of men and women’s work have almost disappeared. This is the feminisation of Scotland to some, seen in the gender revolution that was the first Scottish Parliament which saw record numbers of women MSPs, numerous women Cabinet ministers, and a raft of prominent women
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Dear Johann or Ken: A Seven-Step Recovery Plan for Scottish Labour
Dear Johann or Ken: A Seven-Step Recovery Plan for Scottish Labour Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, December 17th 2011 Dear Johann (or, in the unlikely event, Ken), Congratulations on being elected Scottish Labour’s sixth leader in twelve years; that’s nearly as hot a seat as Hearts or Chelsea FC, those two tottering giants. Of course, I should be accurate, and acknowledge you as the first ‘official’ leader of all Scottish Labour; but I wouldn’t get too excited about presiding over your mighty empire now shrunken. Once the powerhouse of Scotland, Labour now holds Glasgow and North Lanarkshire at council
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The Voice of ‘We are 99% Scotland’
The Voice of ‘We are 99% Scotland’ Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, December 10th 2011 The Scottish debate trundles on; accusation and counter-accusation are traded in the Scottish Parliament, Westminster and media about the most important issue in recent political history, namely independence. All of the political parties are in unfamiliar terrain and don’t quite know what to do. In this strange situation, everyone sticks with what they know best, trying to feel safe in their comfort zones. Behind the often arid talk of the constitution and things like ‘devo max’ and fiscal autonomy, the real issue is what kind
The End of ‘Sunday Post Scotland’
The End of ‘Sunday Post Scotland’ Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, December 2nd 2011 The SNP Government now finds itself at the onset of what looks like a cultural war with religious organisations on the subject of same-sex marriage. The Church of Scotland has now come out against gay marriage, joining the Catholic Church, Muslim community and ‘Scotland for Marriage’. To observers this has all the hallmark of Section 28/Clause 2a where the then Scottish Executive of Donald Dewar and Wendy Alexander incurred the wrath of Brian Souter and others on the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools. It isn’t the
How Do We Connect with ‘the Lost Generation’?
How Do We Connect with the ‘Lost Generation’? Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, November 26th 2011 The economic storm clouds are gathering and looking increasingly foreboding across Britain: rising unemployment, low to non-existent economic growth, rising debt levels and record youth unemployment. The political ping-pong of Westminster and the Scottish Parliament seems nearly completely irrelevant to much of this showing a debate which is mostly dispiriting and irrelevant to the big economic questions. We have to look seriously at the true nature of youth unemployment in the UK and across Europe. In the UK youth unemployment for those aged
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