Gerry Hassan
@gerryhassan.bsky.social
1.6K followers 320 following 1.9K posts

Writer commentator academic. Books Editor, Bella Caledonia; Co-founder Kirkcudbright Fringe Festival; Co-editor, 'Britain Needs Change: The Politics of Hope & Labour's Challenge', pub. Nov. 28 2024.

Gerry Hassan is a Scottish writer, commentator and academic. He currently holds an Honorary Professor title at Glasgow Caledonian University for Social Change, having previously worked at the University of Dundee and the University of the West of Scotland, where he completed his doctorate. He has also previously worked for the Institute for Public Policy Research and Demos where he led their Scotland 2020 and Glasgow 2020 programmes and OpenDemocracy. He has written for the Scottish and UK press, including The Spectator, The Scotsman, The Herald, Holyrood, Sunday Mail, The Guardian and The National (Scotland) on topics and issues related to the United Kingdom, particularly Scotland and Scottish Independence. .. more

Political science 50%
History 39%
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gerryhassan.bsky.social
Hi Pat, Great show & performance. Loved it all & hope you did as well.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Superb Saturday night music with the force that is Hue and Cry: Pat and Greg and their full band getting into the groove of their deep hits & sounds at the magnificent Paisley Town Hall. HT @patkane.bsky.social

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Know some SNP & indy supporters still think such heretical questions should not be asked. But post-2014 the SNP has undertaken no serious work progressing indy or doing the heavy lifting needed to address the big issues. Pretending all is well & keeping quiet aids no one.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Are the SNP leadership really serious about independence in 2026? Or are they trying to give that impression to party members? Could it be that promoting independence without doing anything substantial about it is a way to divert the attention of voters from their record in office? #SNP

gerryhassan.bsky.social
The grubby nature of power & men who think they can do anything. Jeffrey Epstein invited into Downing Street to meet Tony Blair. All aided by Peter Mandelson, Jonathan Powell & Bill Clinton. What a cast of reprobates. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Tony Blair met Jeffrey Epstein in No 10 on advice of Peter Mandelson, documents reveal
National Archives papers show how then MP pushed for 2002 meeting between PM and ‘young and vibrant’ financier
www.theguardian.com

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Nigel Farage & Richard Rice standing with a group of Brexit Party MEPs arriving at the European Parliament at Strasbourg to take their seats in July 2019. With Nathan Gill standing next to him who Farage claims he barely knows.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
A View from the Terrace has been a joy over its past seven series. Shame it has now been cut by #BBCScotland from 60 mins to 45 mins. And shame that this week's show was filmed before the Scotland v Greece game.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Trump: "Where's my Peace Prize?" From Matt Davies. #NoblePeacePrize

gerryhassan.bsky.social
#OTD 10 October 1974. Harold Wilson is reelected Labour Prime Minister being returned for a fourth term: a record then & to this day for a Labour leader. Labour won an overall majority of 3 while the SNP returned 11 MPs & 30.4% of the Scottish vote: record highs until 2015.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Ash Regan leaving the Alba Party is surely its final death-knell. Always verging on the comedic with its splits & divisions it has never in its 2.5 years ever elected a representative or made any real impact even with Alex Salmond. A lesson in how not to run a party.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
The UK's right-wing media are having a meltdown about the Green Party's Zack Polanski. They have had it easy too long & have forgotten what it is like to have their groupthink challenged.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Yet more whinging from the self-preservation elite. A mere 7% of the UK population go to private schools & refuse to 'integrate' with the remaining 93%.

Yet this minority comprise the vast majority of senior journalists & media, judiciary, senior legal profession & more. Very off-putting.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
69% of respondents in Great Britain are of the opinion that Donald Trump should NOT be awarded the #NoblePeacePrize in the future. A mere 14% think he should.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
The Nobel Peace Prize 2025 has been awarded to Venezuelan democracy activist María Corina Machado.

She has been awarded the #NobelPeacePrize because she is in every way the exact opposite of Trump: pro-democracy, principled, courageous. All of which Trump is not.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Kirsty MacColl (1959-2000) would have turned 66 today. A great talent, composer, singer & musical collaborator. She was tragically killed in the Gulf of Mexico in 2000 when struck by a speedboat in a swimming area; the owner of the boat was never punished. #KirstyMacColl

gerryhassan.bsky.social
The joy & surprise on the face of Lyndon Dykes after he nicked that third goal is a glorious, glorious sight. #Scotland #WorldCupQualifiers

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Scotland 3 Greece 1. What an impressive & consequential result by #Scotland. Great heart & commitment & a major steal with that late save from Gunn crucial. A feel-good result but we do have to try play football to a higher technical level at every tier. #WorldCupQualifiers

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Leaving a light on for John. Last Photo: John Lennon's bedroom, 251 Menlove Avenue, Liverpool. Tonight. #JohnLennon #Beatles

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Trump & the Trump world continually return to referencing Germany in the 1920s & 1930s & the rise & imposition of Nazi Germany.
paleofuture.bsky.social
"Antifa has been around in various iterations for almost 100 years in some instances, going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany."

- Jack Posobiec at Trump's roundtable on antifa

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Big respect for Joyce and Lesley. But think they are missing the sheer joy, drama, fun, treachery & ridiculous nature of #CelebrityTraitors.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
The spectre and threat of ignoramus American authoritarianism.
atrupar.com
Q: Have you given any more thought to possibly suspending habeas corpus?

TRUMP: Suspending who?

Q: Habeas corpus

TRUMP: I don't know. I'd rather leave that to Kristi.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
"The Saudis have reportedly paid their headliners up to $1.6 million each with the proviso that they mustn’t mock religion, the royal family or Saudi 'culture' - including, apparently, slavery."

Malin Hay on the Riyadh Comedy Festival.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/oc...
Malin Hay | Laughing Their Heads Off
If there’s anything ironic about being so scared of telling the wrong joke that you run straight into the arms of the...
www.lrb.co.uk

gerryhassan.bsky.social
A Beatle Blether session of myself & Alan McClure with musician Adam Blake: a musical polymath. This double sized session covers how he grew up with the Beatles in the 60s, his appreciation of how they made music, and his love of Beatle bootlegs. 68a9a46c09c9f0-62282495.castos.com/player/21552...
Castos
68a9a46c09c9f0-62282495.castos.com

gerryhassan.bsky.social
The first episode of #celebritytraitors was stellar. The BBC have a format that looks like it has it all: characters, plotting, scheming & comedy. Will be interesting to see how the miserablist anti-BBC media portray it & if they try to trash it like they do so much in the UK.
atrupar.com
Q: Have you given any more thought to possibly suspending habeas corpus?

TRUMP: Suspending who?

Q: Habeas corpus

TRUMP: I don't know. I'd rather leave that to Kristi.
paleofuture.bsky.social
"Antifa has been around in various iterations for almost 100 years in some instances, going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany."

- Jack Posobiec at Trump's roundtable on antifa

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick. From David Brown.
#ToryConference #ToryLeadership #CPC25

gerryhassan.bsky.social
One of Kemi Badenoch's main arguments is that the Conservatives failed by not following their principles in 2024 & succeed when they follow their principles. Where does that leave the current logic of chasing & emulating Farage and right-wing populism? #CPC25

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Kemi Badenoch is a poor speaker & leader & a warm-up act for Robert Jenrick. But the problem is deeper: the intellectual bankruptcy of British Conservatism & their refusal to address their systemic failures in office. Hence they are stuck chasing the glib & nasty soundbites of Farage. #CPC25