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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

Psychologised Society: What do we gain and lose from emphasising the individual?

Gerry Hassan 26 January 2011
While the Cameroon Conservatives re-draw the state, emphasising the role of the individual, popular culture propagates the myth of the self-made star. Psychology is the zeitgeist - but can society's deep-rooted problems be dealt with on the level of the individual?

Time to stop pretending parliament has the power

Gerry Hassan 23 January 2011
Referendums on Europe have been proposed as a way to defend British parliamentary sovereignty from the encroachment of Brussels. But this is confusing parliamentary and popular sovereignty. Why are the British political classes obsessed with the sovereignty of parliament, why has the idea become so muddled, and what does this tell us about the health of our democracy?

The Blairite ascendancy goes on: we have to end it

Gerry Hassan 21 January 2011
What a fascinating end to a watershed week for Britain, a week shaped by the continued Blairite dominance of British politics. Cameron’s ‘modernisation’ of the health service opened the week; Blair’s evidence to the Chilcot inquiry and the resignation of Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s Head of Communications, closed it.

The Scottish National Party must take the next step

Gerry Hassan 19 January 2011
Gerry Hassan reflects on four years of the first ever Scottish Government committed to independence. He describes a decent administration that has done much to advance social justice, but failed to take on the financial sector; a party that has pushed for constitutional change, but must now embark on a more radical agenda.

Fear of a Red Planet: The World in 2050 Today!

Gerry Hassan 15 January 2011
The future is going to work out fine for the world, for the West and Britain, despite the global crash and increasing competition from Asia. We have it from no less an authority than HSBC and their ‘The World in 2050’ report.

An open letter to Compass: the problem with the British state

Gerry Hassan 12 January 2011
Gerry Hassan furthers an exchange on the call for a New Socialism and the nature of the British state with Neal Lawson, chair of Compass.

The End of the Revolutionary Line: The Demise of Scotland's Tommy Sheridan

Gerry Hassan 24 December 2010
A Glasgow socialist heads for prison - what does this tell us about the unique world of Scotland's love of hard men

After New Labour, the limits of the new socialism and the need for a radical politics

Gerry Hassan 21 December 2010
Social democracy is in crisis, and has been proven inadequate everywhere. We cannot just turn back the clock, and reheat the old progressive story. Instead, we are going to have to break with the politics of the past.

The New Sound of the Streets

Gerry Hassan 12 December 2010
Driving the new wave of protests in England especially is a generational divide that is economic and cultural: the system traded on the alienation of the young from it but it was never mere passivity and now it started to erupt.

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

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Heather McRobie


Heather McRobie is a regular contributor to 50.50

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