Gerry Hassan
@gerryhassan.bsky.social
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.
The polycrisis of the UK is also a crisis of the UK's future. No one in the UK's main parties, political classes & elites have a popular or plausible story about the UK's future. Hence the miserable backward politics of the mainstream & Farage's bitter retro-offer of a past that never existed.
Good test of how UK politics at least is failing, there isn't a single frontline politician with a convincing big picture view of the country. Nostalgia, simplism, and warm words will have to do instead.
November 16, 2025 at 2:30 PM
The polycrisis of the UK is also a crisis of the UK's future. No one in the UK's main parties, political classes & elites have a popular or plausible story about the UK's future. Hence the miserable backward politics of the mainstream & Farage's bitter retro-offer of a past that never existed.
Keir Starmer is the most unpopular UK Prime Minister on record with @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social. Starmer’s net satisfaction rating is a -66%. Worse even than Liz Truss, Sunak, Boris Johnson, Brown, Blair, John Major & Margaret Thatcher. How long has he got in office?
November 16, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Keir Starmer is the most unpopular UK Prime Minister on record with @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social. Starmer’s net satisfaction rating is a -66%. Worse even than Liz Truss, Sunak, Boris Johnson, Brown, Blair, John Major & Margaret Thatcher. How long has he got in office?
The Simple Minds doc Everything is Possible on #BBC2 tells the epic story of the rise, fall & reemergence of the Glasgow band. A compelling tale of the pathbreaking early years: Life in a Day, Real to Real Cacophony, Empires & Dance, New Gold Dream, & Jim Kerr & Charlie Burchill.
November 15, 2025 at 10:35 PM
The Simple Minds doc Everything is Possible on #BBC2 tells the epic story of the rise, fall & reemergence of the Glasgow band. A compelling tale of the pathbreaking early years: Life in a Day, Real to Real Cacophony, Empires & Dance, New Gold Dream, & Jim Kerr & Charlie Burchill.
Liz Truss saying out loud what a large part of the feral British right think: siding with Trump, his lies & attack on the BBC.
Liz Truss on Fox News supporting Trump suing the BBC
"There are lots of people in Britain who are cheering President Trump on and want him to sue the BBC"
"And I believe the organisation needs to be defunded"
"There are lots of people in Britain who are cheering President Trump on and want him to sue the BBC"
"And I believe the organisation needs to be defunded"
November 15, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Liz Truss saying out loud what a large part of the feral British right think: siding with Trump, his lies & attack on the BBC.
As we approach a few big days for the Scotland men’s national football team a Kirkcudbright Fringe first. Dinner and conversation between Archie Macpherson who covered Scottish football for five decades & Jonathan Northcroft of the Sunday Times and UK Football Correspondent of the Year: Sat Nov. 22.
November 15, 2025 at 9:45 AM
As we approach a few big days for the Scotland men’s national football team a Kirkcudbright Fringe first. Dinner and conversation between Archie Macpherson who covered Scottish football for five decades & Jonathan Northcroft of the Sunday Times and UK Football Correspondent of the Year: Sat Nov. 22.
Liz Truss might be mad. But she is saying out loud what the lunatic right-wing want to do.
November 15, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Liz Truss might be mad. But she is saying out loud what the lunatic right-wing want to do.
We could get into a UK-wide debate about what was the worst post-war decade. The 1970s; the 1980s; 2010s? Doesn't that at least underline the point that as the Pistols sang in the 70s there is a prevailing feeling about the UK of "No Future" & doom & gloom?
No. No. It's absurd enough to think this for Americans, but fucking Brits!? Do you not know your own history!? Part of the country was in a civil war!
"What is certain, and felt instinctively by almost everybody, is that things cannot go on in their present way" – The Times, May 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
“It is difficult to imagine a previous period when such an all-pervasive hopelessness was exhibited at all levels of British life” – Professor Stephen Haseler, 1975
November 15, 2025 at 12:15 AM
We could get into a UK-wide debate about what was the worst post-war decade. The 1970s; the 1980s; 2010s? Doesn't that at least underline the point that as the Pistols sang in the 70s there is a prevailing feeling about the UK of "No Future" & doom & gloom?
Reposted by Gerry Hassan
The only person whose standard of living has improved during this Trump term is Ghislaine Maxwell.
November 14, 2025 at 9:00 PM
The only person whose standard of living has improved during this Trump term is Ghislaine Maxwell.
Aberdeen 2 Dundee United 1 in the #mastersfootball final as the Dons retain the trophy. Just like the past times of the New Firm as both Aberdeen & United defeated both halves of the Old Firm. #ScottishMasters
November 14, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Aberdeen 2 Dundee United 1 in the #mastersfootball final as the Dons retain the trophy. Just like the past times of the New Firm as both Aberdeen & United defeated both halves of the Old Firm. #ScottishMasters
The Corbyn-Sultana new party of the left: Your Party looks over before it ever started. Torn apart by the factionalism of the left & the divisions between some of its leading lights. The clear winner from this: Zack Polanski & the Greens of England & Wales.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
MP Adnan Hussain quits Your Party over ‘persistent infighting’
Blackburn MP criticises ‘struggle for power’ amid tensions between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:11 PM
The Corbyn-Sultana new party of the left: Your Party looks over before it ever started. Torn apart by the factionalism of the left & the divisions between some of its leading lights. The clear winner from this: Zack Polanski & the Greens of England & Wales.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Great to get my first ever revolving bookcase. Now I can make sense of my ever expanding book piles: books I am reading; books I plan to read; books I want to get round to reading; and those books slipping into the category that I will never get round to reading for now.
November 14, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Great to get my first ever revolving bookcase. Now I can make sense of my ever expanding book piles: books I am reading; books I plan to read; books I want to get round to reading; and those books slipping into the category that I will never get round to reading for now.
The joke really isn't funny anymore. Ex-BBC & right-wing pub bore Rod Liddle pisses in all the places you would expect on the institution that made him a public figure. And even cites right-wing Institute of Economic Affairs research as proof of #BBC bias.
www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-...
November 14, 2025 at 2:20 PM
The joke really isn't funny anymore. Ex-BBC & right-wing pub bore Rod Liddle pisses in all the places you would expect on the institution that made him a public figure. And even cites right-wing Institute of Economic Affairs research as proof of #BBC bias.
www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-...
It is possible that if Jeremy Corbyn had been PM he would have been less disastrous & incompetent than Keir Starmer. At least Corbyn would have had the excuse of having the entire British establishment ranged against him trying to undermine him. Starmer has no such excuses
November 14, 2025 at 9:51 AM
It is possible that if Jeremy Corbyn had been PM he would have been less disastrous & incompetent than Keir Starmer. At least Corbyn would have had the excuse of having the entire British establishment ranged against him trying to undermine him. Starmer has no such excuses
A blatant Reform lie:
"Nigel Farage never said he wanted to cut council tax": Danny Kruger, Reform MP, #bbcqt, 13 Nov 2025.
"We fight for lower council tax": Nigel Farage, May 2025 local elections.
"Nigel Farage never said he wanted to cut council tax": Danny Kruger, Reform MP, #bbcqt, 13 Nov 2025.
"We fight for lower council tax": Nigel Farage, May 2025 local elections.
November 13, 2025 at 11:42 PM
A blatant Reform lie:
"Nigel Farage never said he wanted to cut council tax": Danny Kruger, Reform MP, #bbcqt, 13 Nov 2025.
"We fight for lower council tax": Nigel Farage, May 2025 local elections.
"Nigel Farage never said he wanted to cut council tax": Danny Kruger, Reform MP, #bbcqt, 13 Nov 2025.
"We fight for lower council tax": Nigel Farage, May 2025 local elections.
The moral vacuum & cesspit that is Trump & Trumpism is being brutally exposed by the attention on Jeffrey Epstein & his serial sex abuse, sex trafficking & industrial scale abuse of minors.
in case you're wondering how the cope is going www.mediamatters.org/megyn-kelly/...
November 13, 2025 at 11:32 PM
The moral vacuum & cesspit that is Trump & Trumpism is being brutally exposed by the attention on Jeffrey Epstein & his serial sex abuse, sex trafficking & industrial scale abuse of minors.
Comedy gold. That well-kent Irish republican leader Steve Coogan according to the New Yorker. www.thenewworld.co.uk/rats-in-a-sa...
Has the New Yorker been duped by a 30-year-old British comedy?
A new documentary from the magazine examines the British broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin leaders’ voices. But one figure looks oddly familiar
www.thenewworld.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Comedy gold. That well-kent Irish republican leader Steve Coogan according to the New Yorker. www.thenewworld.co.uk/rats-in-a-sa...
A certain kind of leader outsources their dirty work & briefings against people to others. This allows the leader deniability & the pretence of being a moral figure.
Hence Starmer & Morgan McSweeney; Gordon Brown & Damian McBride; Tony Blair & Alastair Campbell to cite just Labour examples.
Hence Starmer & Morgan McSweeney; Gordon Brown & Damian McBride; Tony Blair & Alastair Campbell to cite just Labour examples.
November 13, 2025 at 5:45 PM
A certain kind of leader outsources their dirty work & briefings against people to others. This allows the leader deniability & the pretence of being a moral figure.
Hence Starmer & Morgan McSweeney; Gordon Brown & Damian McBride; Tony Blair & Alastair Campbell to cite just Labour examples.
Hence Starmer & Morgan McSweeney; Gordon Brown & Damian McBride; Tony Blair & Alastair Campbell to cite just Labour examples.
A take on this Labour Govt from a far-off desert island. If indeed they had "a plan" let alone a ten year one someone should tell Starmer and Reeves what it is.
Starmer and Reeves have a 10 yr plan. I like their plan. I don’t expect it to materialise in 16 months. And I don’t expect it to be without its challenges. I also accept external factors will play a part. That’s why it’s a 10 year plan.
50+ manifesto pledges achieved/on course
50+ manifesto pledges achieved/on course
November 13, 2025 at 5:39 PM
A take on this Labour Govt from a far-off desert island. If indeed they had "a plan" let alone a ten year one someone should tell Starmer and Reeves what it is.
A centrist, complacent take from @economist.com on the crisis of the #BBC. Not one word on the conservative undermining of the BBC from within by Robbie Gibb. Or of the right-wing ideological assault to diminish & eventually destroy it. www.economist.com/britain/2025...
The BBC’s boss quits over a “doctored” Trump speech
Shifts in politics and the media business are making the broadcaster more crisis-prone
www.economist.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:03 PM
A centrist, complacent take from @economist.com on the crisis of the #BBC. Not one word on the conservative undermining of the BBC from within by Robbie Gibb. Or of the right-wing ideological assault to diminish & eventually destroy it. www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Generation Z pessimism abt their future. Young people in the UK believe they will be worse off than their parents' generation by a margin of 3 to 1: 62% to 21%. HT @pippacrerar.bsky.social #Peston
November 12, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Generation Z pessimism abt their future. Young people in the UK believe they will be worse off than their parents' generation by a margin of 3 to 1: 62% to 21%. HT @pippacrerar.bsky.social #Peston
Damning on Starmer:
"Keir’s only source of legitimacy was a historic victory, which looks as if it is turning out to be little more than a prelude to a historic defeat." He has no plan, "no personal charisma", "no reserve of loyalty" & no party followers.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
"Keir’s only source of legitimacy was a historic victory, which looks as if it is turning out to be little more than a prelude to a historic defeat." He has no plan, "no personal charisma", "no reserve of loyalty" & no party followers.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Sir Keir Starmer is a prisoner of the politics he pledged to end
When rigmarole becomes reality
www.economist.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Damning on Starmer:
"Keir’s only source of legitimacy was a historic victory, which looks as if it is turning out to be little more than a prelude to a historic defeat." He has no plan, "no personal charisma", "no reserve of loyalty" & no party followers.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
"Keir’s only source of legitimacy was a historic victory, which looks as if it is turning out to be little more than a prelude to a historic defeat." He has no plan, "no personal charisma", "no reserve of loyalty" & no party followers.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
Jonathan Brash, Labour MP for Hartlepool since 2024 talking complete economic bullocks. Showing he has zero understanding of the UK economy. How sadly typical of Blue Labour.
What on earth is this nonsense from a Blue Labour MP?
What, you want a policy targeting zero illness, no full time caring responsibilities, no skills mismatches or career breaks and you think we should heavily crack down on migration until we get there?
Just not serious policy/politics.
What, you want a policy targeting zero illness, no full time caring responsibilities, no skills mismatches or career breaks and you think we should heavily crack down on migration until we get there?
Just not serious policy/politics.
November 12, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Jonathan Brash, Labour MP for Hartlepool since 2024 talking complete economic bullocks. Showing he has zero understanding of the UK economy. How sadly typical of Blue Labour.
Keir Starmer is either allowing senior Downing Street advisers to brief against Cabinet colleagues. Or he has completely lost control of Downing Street. Whichever is true is proving time & time again that he is not up to being PM.
New - I understand angry MPs this afternoon spoke to Starmer at PLP committee to ask he sack whoever was briefing against Streeting or who authorised any attacks.
He refused to say he would sack anyone or that there would be consequences.
MPs said they took this as backing McSweeney.
He refused to say he would sack anyone or that there would be consequences.
MPs said they took this as backing McSweeney.
November 12, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Keir Starmer is either allowing senior Downing Street advisers to brief against Cabinet colleagues. Or he has completely lost control of Downing Street. Whichever is true is proving time & time again that he is not up to being PM.
"The predators circle their prey": the BBC saga. From Ben Jennings.
November 11, 2025 at 7:50 PM
"The predators circle their prey": the BBC saga. From Ben Jennings.