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The Real Divided Scotland: Time to get serious about class and inequality
The Real Divided Scotland: Time to get serious about class and inequality Gerry Hassan Sunday National, August 9th 2020 The SQA debacle has dominated the news. It is not a good moment for Scottish education or the cause of a more just, equal country. That is the bigger story here – one we should be uncomfortable with until we face up to it. Specifically, the extent of inequality and division in Scotland - this supposed land of egalitarianism. We can see it in the education attainment gap and scale of educational inequality and apartheid which underpins it; it is evident
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The SNP, Salmond and Sturgeon and the limits of court politics
The SNP, Salmond and Sturgeon and the limits of court politics Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, August 5th 2020 The UK is in turbulence. The UK Government has failed us on matters of life and death. Scotland has felt very different, even if on some of the fundamentals of COVID19 it has not been actually that different. At the same time the SNP has soared in the polls, Nicola Sturgeon’s ratings have outshone everyone else and independence has moved into the majority. To some this looks like our future - a slow disentanglement from the UK state. Yet across the world,
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Scottish Tory Troubles at the top, in the party and in the unionist cause
Scottish Tory Troubles at the top, in the party and in the unionist cause Gerry Hassan Sunday National, August 2nd 2020 Jackson Carlaw’s resignation was the biggest hit of his short leadership. It marks the end of one of the most unhappy periods of any Scottish party leader. Its only defining characteristics were that it was short and yes, he wasn’t very good. But it does underline bigger troubles in the Tory and unionist world. Carlaw lasted 168 days in the job. Many of these saw him restricted - like Jo Biden in the States - to his house due
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Independence as the new normal: Listening to the Scotland that did not vote Yes in 2014
Independence as the new normal: Listening to the Scotland that did not vote Yes in 2014 Gerry Hassan Sunday National, July 26th 2020 This week ‘All Under One Banner’ asked on social media: ‘What do you think is the main obstacle to overcome in order to restore Scottish independence?’ This brought forth comments about the state of the mainstream media, BBC, Westminster parties and UK Government, but very little on actual voters. It took pro-independence writer Michael Gray to answer that: ‘The reality that independence was rejected by two million of our fellow citizens for many decent and understandable