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About Gerry Hassan

Gerry Hassan is a writer, policy analyst and researcher. His website is www.gerryhassan.com

Articles by Gerry Hassan

England and the World Cup: That sinking football feeling and how to bounce back

Gerry Hassan 6 December 2010
Viewed from Scotland, England's failure to win the world cup reveals a land that has lost itself, led by a political class of blaggards. But perhaps a different kind of bid for 2030 could show the way for a much better, more original and attractive country.

The Strange State of Undemocracy: Calman and the Scottish and British Questions

Gerry Hassan 2 December 2010
Gerry Hassan examines the proposals made by the Calman Commission, established to review the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. He argues that, far from strengthening devolution and the union, the proposals reveal a gross misunderstanding of the nature of the UK and the nations and regions within it.

The Beautiful Game No More: The Unattractive Face of Scottish Society

Gerry Hassan 30 November 2010
Gerry Hassan takes a long, probing look at the state of Scottish football and the deep-rooted religious and political feeling that shapes the country's relationship to the 'beautiful game'.

The Scottish stalemate and how to change a culture of conservatism

Gerry Hassan 23 November 2010
Scottish society, culture and institutional life is shaped by a lack of dynamism, pluralism and a profound lack of interest in ideas - a movement of Scottish citizens is needed to break the deadlock.

Imagine a Scotland where Thatcherism never happened

Gerry Hassan 22 November 2010
The past of Thatcherism tells us one potential vision of the future to avoid: both in terms of savaging public spending and a mindset of bunkerism.

Scotland: The end of devolution as we knew it

Gerry Hassan 19 November 2010
Scotland's budget may have been announced by the Finance Minister for the governing Scottish National Party, but it closed an era without opening the prospects for a new one

Scotland, the centre-left and social democracy: A conversation between Gerry Hassan and Joyce McMillan

Gerry Hassan and Joyce Mcmillan 18 November 2010
A conversation between two of Scotland's leading political commentators on the significance of anti-Toryism and what it means for the country and its politics.

Revolution in the blogosphere: Tom Harris and Eric Joyce in controversy

Gerry Hassan 16 November 2010
Two significant moments in the British political blogosphere, involving backbench Labour MPs, raise important questions about the role of modern politicians.

Learning how to hug a Tory and the folklore of anti-Toryism

Gerry Hassan 15 November 2010
The unreflective anti-Tory mindset prevalent across much of the left in the UK produces a tribal and blinkered politics. Those of us who disagree politically with Conservative values, ideas and policies have to do better and aim higher.

The humans behind the Tea Party : the US as seen by the Hassans of Middle America

Gerry Hassan 7 November 2010
A Scotsman explains that his middle-America, Tea-Party supporting relatives are good folk and its the British who have a problem if they can't see this

Nation to nation: the problem of speaking for Britain

Gerry Hassan 29 October 2010
The BBC's flagship politics show, Question Time, gives an insight into the closed elitist mindset of the metropolitan political classes and their cultivated ignorance towards the nature of the UK.

What do we do about forgotten Scotland?

Gerry Hassan 26 October 2010
We need an honest public debate about welfare that moves beyond the comforting certainties of "Tory cuts" versus "welfare scroungers" - people's lives depend on it.

The coming big ideas in Scottish politics

Gerry Hassan 18 October 2010
The Scottish political debate needs to decide to think and act big to respond to growing concerns over inequality, the economy and the state of the public realm.

Anatomy of a very British 'revolution': the Spectator puts its foot in its own X-Ray

Gerry Hassan 13 October 2010
The current issue of the Spectator claims to be investigating the political and social elites that form the "new establishment" in the UK. Yet this leading conservative journal has no interest in mapping the wider networks of real power and privilege of which it is a part.

The Slow Hollowing Out of Scottish Labour

Gerry Hassan 11 October 2010
The era of Scottish Labour influence at Westminster is coming to an end.

The Twilight of the Westminster Model: Scotland, Europe and Referendums

Gerry Hassan 9 September 2010
The voodoo world of parliamentary sovereignty and Westminsterism is slowly and unceremoniously coming to an end in the UK.

The first Tony Blair book and the failure of New Labour

Gerry Hassan 6 September 2010
When trying to understand what happened to New Labour, it is instructive to compare the spirit of progressive optimism found in Blair's first book in 1996 with the defence of power and privilege to be found in his recently released autobiography.

The coming Scottish revolution and Tony Blair’s memoirs

Gerry Hassan 3 September 2010
The reflections of The Economist and Tony Blair on Scottish devolution are united by a sense that Scotland matters and that its politics, priorities and dynamics are a threat to the preservation of the existing order.

Where Scotland stands? The strange state of the Scottish Left and the cultural assembly of a nation

Gerry Hassan 18 August 2010
The Scottish left is in decline and crisis today, bereft of ideas and numbers. Yet a new generation of novelists provide hope of a conversation about Scotland which goes way beyond devolution and embraces genuine self-government.

This week's guest editors

openGlobalRights editors

Our guest editors James Ron, Leslie Vinjamuri, Sophie Arie and Archana Pandya introduce this week's theme of:

Emerging powers and human rights.

A Turkish Spring?

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Woolwich - terror or conflict?

Secret Courts: 8 nightmare scenarios now possible in Britain
Jo Shaw

Iran myths

Iranian presidential candidate and chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalill

Myths, falsehoods and misrepresentations about Iran
Peter Oborne and David Morrison

Palestinian borders

Palestine, peoples and borders in the new Middle East map
Ahmad Samih Khalidi

Nobel Women's Initiative

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Europe from the bottom up

European Union stars in Paris. Flickr/notarim. Some rights reserved.

A new Europe can only come from the bottom up
Etienne Balibar

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The media in Europe

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Mali: the plot thickens

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Remote control war

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oDRussia at journalismfestival .com

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