Archive for the ‘Short Essays’ Category
The Auld Enemies Still?
Gerry Hassan
The Scotsman, March 19th 2010
The Scotland-England relationship is one of the defining ways many Scots view the world. It ranges from football and rugby rivalry to history, politics, culture and identity.
At the weekend Scots rugby fans booed English players at Murrayfield, while we have grown accustomed to Scots football crowds booing the playing of ‘God Save the Queen’ for England at Hampden. And then there is the ‘Anyone But England’ phenomenon.
Why should Scotland define so much of its identity and sense of itself via what we think of England? This gives the power over who we are to someone else. Some argue that none of this really matters, and that it is all harmless fun about football and sport, but most of us know this is about much more, and tells us something uncomfortable about ourselves.
The ‘Anyone But England’ opinion uses a lot of false memory history syndrome. It dares to suggest that the English are the ones who have the problem from arrogant English football commentators, to the constant misunderstanding of ‘England’ as ‘Britain’, and 1966 and all that. Read the rest of this entry »
The Strange Story of Labour Scotland
Gerry Hassan
Sunday Times, March 14th 2010
The Scottish Labour Party has always been a strange beast, misunderstood by many, but with a romantic, sentimental sense of itself.
It is a party which has won every Westminster election since 1959 – thirteen in a row – which makes this part of Scottish politics even more uncompetitive than the SPL!
What is interesting is how the party has done this and been changed in the process. For all its myths, Scottish Labour has achieved this success without being that popular. The party has never won a majority of the popular vote, and only come near once (1966 with 49.9%).
A contributory factor to Scottish Labour’s strength – and one which aided Thatcher down south in the 1980s – has been facing a divided opposition, shaped here by the long decline of the Conservatives and the failure of the SNP to mount a serious challenge until recently. Read the rest of this entry »
The Land of Wild West Labour:
The Steven Purcell and Strathclyde Passenger Scandals in Context
Gerry Hassan
The Scotsman, March 11th 2010
Glasgow as a city has always been a bit on an enigma from ‘second city of the Empire’ to ‘second city of shopping’. Its politics have been shaped by the allure of ‘Red Clydeside’, while driven by the reality of a city of pragmatism, deals and doing business.
As long ago as 1953, ‘The Times’ said in an editorial, ‘Nowadays, the ‘Red Clyde’ is no more than pink’, and that has been the prevailing motto of the last few decades, explicitly so in the decades from ‘Glasgow’s Miles Better’ onward as the city consciously tried to rebrand and promote itself.
The resignation of Steven Purcell as Glasgow council leader has been a tragic one personally, but also one with a wider political dimension which has yet to fully unfold. This touches on the unacceptable face of Labour patronage which still prevails in parts of Scotland, and rules Glasgow and much of the West of Scotland in particular. Read the rest of this entry »
From Munich and Suez to the Iraq War
Gerry Hassan
The Scotsman, March 5th 2010
Gordon Brown’s role in the Iraq war will come under focus today when he gives evidence to the Chilcot inquiry.
The Iraq war is the point where Tony Blair lost his political touch, and became ‘Bliar’ in the eyes of many voters. Despite four previous inquiries into the war, none of them as comprehensive as this, a sense of anger, frustration and lack of trust now pervades how the public view politicians and the conflict.
Much of this anger is addressed personally at Tony Blair, his role in making the case for war, the ‘sexed-up’ dossiers, the dissembling and spin, and the relationship with George W. Bush. Gordon Brown faces questions about what his views were in the crucial months leading up to war, why he didn’t oppose it, and when it was set to happen, the contentious issue of funding it.
However, the Iraq war did not happen as an isolated event, or just because of the perfidy of Blair and acquiescence of Brown. It happened in the context of where Britain sees itself in the world, how it understands its past, and its strategic interests. In particular, if we examine the two British foreign policy disasters of the last century, Munich and Suez, we can throw wider light on the Iraq war. Read the rest of this entry »
A Hung Parliament Could Be Good for Our Broken Democracy
Gerry Hassan
The Scotsman, February 19th 2010
A Conservative Government has for a long time been seen as the inevitable outcome of the next election. David Cameron was viewed as a Prime Minister in waiting, and the Labour Party, unpopular, led by a disliked leader, and seen as having lost the will to live.
Now all of this is beginning to change. The prospect of a hung Parliament, where no one party has an overall majority is now being seriously considered. The Conservatives have proven less than sure-footed, while Labour has shown itself less dead in the water than previously assumed.
A hung Parliament is now possible for a number of reasons. The most cited is the way the current electoral system works to the Conservatives’ disadvantage and Labour’s advantage. This is because Labour’s constituencies are generally smaller in the number of voters they have and have lower turnouts, resulting in Labour winning more seats with less votes than the Tories. Read the rest of this entry »
