Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category
What Do ‘Fred the Shred’ and David Murray Tell Us About Scotland?
Gerry Hassan
Bella Caledonia, February 17th 2012
This is not another article on football. The Rangers crisis has filled the airwaves and media this week. For the second time this year Scotland has gone international and viral, spreading across the globe connecting the diaspora and other interested parties.
Many people ask how this came to pass with Rangers. All kinds of reasons and conspiracies are proposed: pro-Rangers bias, anti-Celtic opinion, Protestantism/anti-Catholicism, and the carve up of ‘the Old Firm’ duopoly.
We need to lift our heads from thinking of football on its own and see this in the context of Scotland. For what the Rangers story tells us is that Scottish society has a problem with power, its relationship to it, and how they hold it to account, scrutinise and inquire into its actions.
This can be seen across Scottish public life from football to business to politics. The Rangers saga has festered for many years. David Murray’s massive overspending and the bludgeoning of the club’s debts were very public and known to be unsustainable. Craig Whyte’s credentials were widely questioned when he took over. Read the rest of this entry »
The Long Revolution: Scottish Self-Government and the Case for the Union
Gerry Hassan
Open Democracy, February 17th 2012
David Cameron came north to Scotland speaking with the authority of Prime Minister of the UK and the status of leading a party with one MP out of 59 Westminster representatives.
He delivered an important speech and intervention and met with First Minister Alex Salmond; this can be seen as part of the long campaign and positioning of each man and side seeing himself as a long distance runner, pacing themselves, sizing up and trying to get the better of their opponent.
Cameron’s speech was in its tone and content, thoughtful and astute. It was in the view of Joyce Macmillan, ‘the strongest explicitly unionist speech made in Britain since the 1950s’ (1). That may seem an overstatement, but it is one of the most nuanced interventions made in Scotland for many a year, perhaps since the advent of Thatcherism in 1979. It avoided the pitfalls Edinburgh born and educated Blair used to regularly get into coming north, who was often seen as hectoring and patronising Scottish audiences to the extent Alastair Campbell once called the Scots press ‘unreconstructed wankers’ (2). Read the rest of this entry »
Changin Scotland
A weekend of politics, culture and ideas …. And fun!
Friday March 23rd-Sunday March 25th
The Ceilidh Place, Ullapool
The Independence Weekend Read the rest of this entry »
The Battle for Britain: A Note for Independistas and Anti-Independistas
Gerry Hassan
Open Democracy, January 25th 2012
January 25th 2012, Burns Night, will be remembered as a historic, watershed day for Scotland and the UK.
Alex Salmond announced to the Scottish Parliament his government’s proposed question for the autumn 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, ‘Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?’ This was he said ‘short, straightforward and clear’ (1).
The Scottish Government consultation paper, ‘Your Scotland, Your Referendum’ (2) is a cogent, thoughtful document, offering the vision of a modern, progressive Scotland at ease with itself and its neighbours. Alex Salmond even states in his forward, ‘Scotland is not oppressed and we have no need to be liberated’ (3).
The ‘Braveheart’ Nationalism of the British State
Those are important words because of the caricatures of Scottish nationalism which its enemies have. This can be witnessed in the widespread misinterpretation of the most famous exchange in the film version of ‘Trainspotting’ where the main character Renton invokes that Scotland has been colonised but not by an oppressor you can respect, proclaiming that, ‘we, on the other hand, have been colonised by wankers’ (4).
This was meant by writer Irvine Welsh as satire of a certain, ahistorical take of the Scottish predicament, but sadly it has become the view of many unionists and non-nationalists of Scotland, its culture and nationalist movement. Read the rest of this entry »
The Beginning of the Break-up of Britain:
The Consequences and Potential of Scottish Independence
National Library of Iceland Lecture, January 20th 2012
1. Introduction
I am going to talk about the following:
- What is the United Kingdom?
- How did we get here: a short backstory
- Independence: Constitutionally
- Independence: Practically
- Independence: Politically
- Wider Context
2. What is the United Kingdom?
The UK is a state comprised of four nations.
Not technically speaking a nation, but a state. This is a situation which gets mainstream UK politicians into linguistic trouble all the time; Gordon Brown and his fascination with ‘Britishness’; David Cameron today.
UK is a hybrid – clearly not a federal state, but nor is it as is often claimed a unitary state.
The UK is now increasingly accepted in political science thinking as a union state – or even in some accounts as a state of unions (Bogdanor, 2009; Mitchell, 2009). Read the rest of this entry »
