Gerry Hassan

Gerry Hassan is a writer, commentator and academic on Scottish and UK politics, power, democracy and social change. He is Professor of Social Change at Glasgow Caledonian University and has written and edited over two dozen books on Scottish and UK politics, social change and imagining and creating different futures. His latest book is ‘Scotland Rising: The Case for Independence’ published by Pluto Press in September 2022. His writing can be found at: www.gerryhassan.com

How the London political classes see Scotland

Attempts made by the London-based centre-left to understand Scottish politics continue to fall flat. Yet it is important for Scotland that figures like IPPR's Nick Pearce, the Fabian's Sunder Katwala and Matthew Taylor of the RSA understand British politics and life beyond Westminster.

By Gerry Hassan

/ 30 Mar 2011

Scotland may not have a left anymore but it must still challenge the new vandals and miserabilists

Once upon a time we had a powerful left which shaped a large part of 20th century Scotland. What has happened to this politics, idealism and radicalism today, and what do we do without it?

By Gerry Hassan

/ 22 Mar 2011

Scotland and the Japanese Earthquake: The World According to Matthew Taylor

A southern 'bloviator' ventures north of the border but before doing so, thanks to "blithering incompetence" in London misses his plane to Scotland and decides to take it out on that country by complaining that it is not as realistic about its failings as Japan. This does indeed annoy OurKingdom's

By Gerry Hassan

/ 18 Mar 2011

Scotland’s shame deniers and the silence of men

What is it about football that gets men in Scotland so passionate that they can't control themselves? Why can't we acknowledge that this is about Scottish men - male behaviour, violence and abuse - and stop blaming disadvantaged communities?

By Gerry Hassan

/ 7 Mar 2011

'Territorial Politics and British Futures' - part III of the Last Utopia paper

Part three of the 'The Last Utopia: Thatcher, New Labour and the Cameron Conservatives and the Demise of Social Democratic Britain'. OurKingdom has published the paper as three consecutive posts.

By Gerry Hassan

/ 27 Feb 2011

'The Neo-Liberal State and its Context' - part II of the Last Utopia paper

Part two of the 'The Last Utopia: Thatcher, New Labour and the Cameron Conservatives and the Demise of Social Democratic Britain'. OurKingdom will be publishing the paper as three consecutive posts.

By Gerry Hassan

/ 26 Feb 2011

'The Long Now: Empire State Britain' - part I of The Last Utopia paper

Part one of the 'The Last Utopia: Thatcher, New Labour and the Cameron Conservatives and the Demise of Social Democratic Britain'. OurKingdom will be publishing the paper as three consecutive posts.

By Gerry Hassan

/ 25 Feb 2011

Whatever happened to Scotland’s Salon Society?

One of the early hopes of the Scottish Parliament and the era of ‘new politics’ was that Scotland would awaken to a new age of engagement which would produce a more informed, inclusive politics. Can we return to an attempt to foster that ideal?

By Gerry Hassan

/ 9 Feb 2011

It is time for an English voice

England is the one nation in the UK without a democratic forum in the shape of a Parliament or Assembly, and which has not voted on its constitutional future. Cameron's radical reforms can only be pushed through because of England's democratic deficit. It is time for people to rise up and speak fo

By Gerry Hassan

/ 4 Feb 2011

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

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?

By Gerry Hassan

/ 26 Jan 2011

Time to stop pretending parliament has the power

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 s

By Gerry Hassan

/ 23 Jan 2011

The Blairite ascendancy goes on: we have to end it

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 Commu

By Gerry Hassan

/ 21 Jan 2011