Scotland

Monday 13th February

Irish should control their referendum too

Jim Slaven, 13 February 2012
Whitehall has been forced to accept the right of the Scottish people to control their vote on independence. It must not retain a veto over a referendum on Irish unity.
Monday 6th February

So who will speak for a better Scotland?

Gerry Hassan, 6 February 2012
The debate over the Scottish independence referendum plays into the old labels: unionism versus nationalism. Scotland needs to reach beyond these and ask difficult questions if there is to be real change.
Monday 30th January

Scotland needs a One Question Referendum. It is that simple!

Gerry Hassan, 30 January 2012
The Scottish independence referendum may be more than a question of 'in' or 'out'. Would a third option - devo max - empower the people through more choice, or muddy the waters?

The social union between Scotland and the UK: how would it fare with independence?

Cailean Gallagher, 30 January 2012
Crucial to the argument for Scottish independence is the idea that leaving the political union of the United Kingdom will not mean leaving the social union. But what is this 'social union'?
Thursday 26th January

New faces of nationalism

Tom Nairn, 26 January 2012
Around the globe, new forms of governance are being sought to counter-balance the hyper-empire of global capitalism. Scotland is developing its own resistance, could England follow suit?
Tuesday 17th January

Is Britishness a generous thing, or has it damaged England?

Neal Ascherson and Peter Oborne, 17 January 2012
The Daily Telegraph's Peter Oborne and Scottish writer Neal Ascherson discuss national identity in light of the approaching referendum on Scottish independence.
Friday 13th January

What would Scottish independence mean for the North?

Katie Schmuecker, 13 January 2012
Scotland will have its referendum before the end of 2014. Will independence, or further devolution, be good, bad or indifferent for the North of England?
Wednesday 11th January

The beginning of the break-up of Britain?

Gerry Hassan, 11 January 2012
Scotland's independence referendum will be held in Autumn 2014. Whatever the people decide, Scotland and the UK will never be the same again.
Friday 6th January

The ‘three Scotlands’ and how to win an independence referendum

Gerry Hassan, 6 January 2012
Scottish identity, 'dual identity' or British identity: Scotland is being pulled three ways. Soon, the question will be put to the people. What are the politics of winning an independence vote?
Saturday 31st December

No Union, please, we’re English

John Lloyd, 31 December 2011
The UK's Cabinet Secretary has warned of the break up of the union if the Scottish vote for independence, making the issue mainstream.
Monday 12th December

Scotland and the crisis of the British and European Unions: How do we democratise?

Gerry Hassan, 12 December 2011
How does the debate on Scottish independence fit into the wider economic crisis and the conflation of 'economics' with 'business'? Gerry Hassan considers what an independent Scotland might look like and how its democracy could function.
Wednesday 7th December

England, Scotland and the North: a view from 'flyover country'

John Baxendale, 7 December 2011
With Scotland on the road to further devolution if not independence, and the cuts set to deepen, its time to talk about the oft-forgotten North of England.
Sunday 20th November

Goodbye Charter 88: a new epoch for democratic resistance has begun

Anthony Barnett, 20 November 2011
A new epoch of democratic reform in Britain is needed to respond to the transformation of the British state, the disintegration of the old constitutional order and the rise of corporate power, now that hope of a Labour Lib Dem alliance for democracy is over. The pure but totalising strategy of the UK's Charter 88 conceived 25 years ago is buried by its first co-ordinator.
Sunday 13th November

The danger of a Westminster-led Scottish independence vote

Gerry Hassan, 13 November 2011
The referendum on Scottish independence is now inevitable, but will the UK Government initiate a poll?
Tuesday 1st November

England and the Guardian's 'Disunited Kingdom'

Michael Gardiner, 1 November 2011
The British media are now defensively acknowledging a post-imperial constitutional threat they have been silencing for decades.
Sunday 23rd October

Can the Scottish Nationalists embrace post-nationalism, the only route to independence?

Gerry Hassan, 23 October 2011
Scotland's governing party looks forward to independence. But what does this mean in our time? A form of post-nationalist nationalism that embraces the world.
Monday 17th October

What do you do when democracy fails you? The crisis of Scottish Labour

Gerry Hassan, 17 October 2011
Scottish Labour has finally woken up, roused by a speech from the Shadow Foreign Secretary. The old Labour hymns are dead, he admitted - but when will the party find a new tune?
Thursday 29th September

The Purple Book and the new age of rainbow coalitions

Gerry Hassan, 29 September 2011
Urging a 'revising of New Labour', The Purple Book refuses to acknowledge the mistakes of the Blairite era. What it does show is that Britain is in a new age of 'colour politics', where flux and confusion reigns as we struggle to find an alternative to market fundamentalism.
Wednesday 28th September

So long, Free Hetherington: a tribute to the historic occupation at Glasgow University

Jonathan Nicholson and Cailean Gallagher, 28 September 2011
Already this academic year student activism in Scotland is flourishing again. It owes a huge debt to the historic occupation of Hetherington House. Two students recall the seven-month occupation, which ended last month.
Tuesday 13th September

Now is the time for a modern Scottish story

Gerry Hassan, 13 September 2011
Our modern lives fill us with remorse, anger and bewilderment. But in Scotland we have the chance to discover a national story for the 21st century that binds us together and gives our lives meaning
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