Gerry Hassan
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gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan
@gerryhassan.bsky.social
1.9K followers 330 following 2.4K 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.

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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
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 19h
Peter Mandelson shows his non-existent remorse & concern for those Epstein & his friends abused. This is Mandelson speaking to the FT's George Parker in February 2025. On so many occasions Mandelson told us who he was & publicised his lack of morals & empathy.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 20h
Prince Edward breaks the UK royal family silence on Epstein. He said: "It's important to always remember the victims." This is the first occasion the royals have publicly talked & shown concern for Epstein's victims. This despite Andrew's record of serial sex abuse along with Epstein.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 22h
Peter Mandelson did not happen in isolation. He was enabled by a class of politicians, media & corporate business & is the embodiment of a rotten, venal, self-serving political & economic system. Below: Jon Sopel writing that "Mandelson is a class act" one year ago.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 23h
Tory Michael Forsyth is Speaker of the Lords & today announced Peter Mandelson exit from the Lords. Forsyth is Chairman of Secure Trust Bank & a Director of J&J Denholm & Denholm Logistics Ltd. The Lords is filled with such corporate capture & business interests.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 1d
The Europeanisation of UK politics continues unabated in a 5 party system. Reform bandwagon stalling in mid-20s despite media hype.

Reform UK: 26% (+1 )
Lab: 19% (-2)
Cons: 18% (+1)
Greens: 17% (+1)
LibDs: 14% (=)
WM voting intention
1-2 February 2026
+/- 25-26 Jan.
Via @yougov.co.uk

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 1d
. @skynewsrss.bsky.social states that "Peter Mandelson has served every Labour leader in the past 40 years". Not quite correct. He did not serve or work for John Smith or Jeremy Corbyn when each was Labour leader.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 1d
Danny Kruger, Reform MP, responds to Tommy Robinson's support of Matt Goodwin in Gorton & Denton claiming Reform stand for a "civic nationalism" embracing people "no matter where you come from." Goodwin stands for ethno-nationalism defined by colour where you cannot be black & British. #PoliticsLive

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 1d
Mandelson is emblematic of a rotten world system and ideology: unfettered, unrestrained, unethical global capitalism. The downfall of Mandelson is not just abt him; but the system that made him possible and allowed him to thrive.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 1d
The Peter Mandelson scandal is not just abt Mandelson. It is about:
The influential friends of Mandelson who colluded with him;
His contacts & networks in the UK political system & media;
His corporate class allies & advocates;
All punting a worldview that deregulation & inequality are unavoidable.

Reposted by Paul Ekblom

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 1d
The Peter Mandelson scandal on the front pages of UK papers. For decades Mandelson has briefed, lobbied & spun his views to senior journalists undermining colleagues in his own party & advocating for corporate interests (who were paying him). Finally the dam has burst.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 1d
Peter Mandelson has been throughout his entire political career and still is a serial, shameless liar. Tragic that it has taken until the last few days for his amoral character to catch up with him.
sundersays.bsky.social Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d
Peter Mandelson did a lengthy Times comeback interview feature, on Jan 25th, released tonight with updated comments.

"I feel the same about the recent download of Epstein files, none of which indicate wrongdoing or misdemeanour on my part", he said (last night)
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Peter Mandelson: Epstein is like dog muck; the smell won’t go away
Peter Mandelson was sacked as ambassador to the US because of his links to Jeffrey Epstein. Now, he has resigned from the Labour Party. Is this the end for him?
www.thetimes.com

Reposted by John Foot, Gerry Hassan

sundersays.bsky.social
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d
Peter Mandelson did a lengthy Times comeback interview feature, on Jan 25th, released tonight with updated comments.

"I feel the same about the recent download of Epstein files, none of which indicate wrongdoing or misdemeanour on my part", he said (last night)
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Peter Mandelson: Epstein is like dog muck; the smell won’t go away
Peter Mandelson was sacked as ambassador to the US because of his links to Jeffrey Epstein. Now, he has resigned from the Labour Party. Is this the end for him?
www.thetimes.com

Reposted by Gerry Hassan

sundersays.bsky.social
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d
Sunday Times interview: Goodwin does set out his family connections to Manchester, which include grandparents, his Dad going to work there, studying & working there + meeting his ex-wife there too
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 2d
The Mandelson revelations are going to rewrite the entire New Labour era. Mandelson was operating as a paid adviser to Jeffrey Epstein & as a senior minister acting to directly serve the interests of Epstein & the global corporate class not the govt he was a minister in.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 2d
Have you got a chapter on Mandelson and the Epstein Files? If not maybe you could cover it in a revised edition. Do think the scale of Mandelson's immoral and unethical behaviour are going to lead to the rewriting of the history of New Labour.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 2d
Keir Starmer has said Mandelson should no longer be a member of the Lords but that he does not have the power to bring this about. Yet again Starmer presenting himself as PM as powerless. Mandelson can be removed by an act of Parliament in govt time which only Starmer can make happen.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 2d
Two of three panellists on #BBC #PoliticsLive Conservative Party members. Has to be said Henry Hill of ConservativeHome is the most informed & thoughtful on the scandal of student loan debt. Damningly @jeevunsandher.bsky.social, Labour MP says that he has no opinion on student loans. WTF?

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 2d
The political descent of Peter Mandelson: constantly being updated. So many senior Labour figures colluded in Mandelson's ascent & decades at the top of Labour: Blair, Brown, Starmer, Morgan McSweeney. They all have questions to answer abt this moral stain on public life.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 2d
Peter Mandelson has finally resigned from Labour over Epstein contacts. For all his protestations Mandelson was never really fully Labour. Rather he was an apologist for the corporate global class even when a minister advocating in 2009 he "mildly threaten" the Chancellor on the bankers' bonus tax.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 3d
With quotes and reflections from several of the candidates who stood: Jim Sillars, Doug Chalmers and Bernard Ponsonby - along with others on the result and its enduring relevance: a warning to today's political classes and a symbol of hope.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 3d
The Govan 1988 by-election was a seismic shock to Scottish politics: Jim Sillars & SNP's victory; Labour's defeat. All of it carries lessons for today's politics: voters always eventually turn on political establishments. My essay in @scotnational.bsky.social
www.thenational.scot/news/2581217...
Govan Act Two: Why 1988 election matters to the modern day
GOVAN Act Two took place 15 years and two days after the first act. The context was even more dramatic: an unpopular Tory government just elected…
www.thenational.scot

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 3d
Peter Mandelson is one of the most amoral figures in public life since his first resignation over 20 years ago. Despite this he has presented himself as a judge of probity & driven by moral authority. Now we know how debased he has been: given $75k from Jeffrey Epstein with no conditions.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 3d
The extreme awfulness of the Melania film captured in The Independent's review. For all this film's brazen dishonesty, emptiness & flaunting of the lack of any ethics in anyone in the Trump world it does have a kind of honesty: they don't fucking care as Melania once said.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 3d
The new Trumpian enemy within is "militant Scandinavian socialists." What an honour!
chriso-wiki.bsky.social ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 4d
MAGA's villain of the day is militant Scandinavian socialists, apparently

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 3d
The Daily Telegraph's commitment to class privilege every day is sadly not a spoof. From the improbably named Sophia Money-Coutts.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 4d
The CCA closure with the demise of The Arches a decade ago leaves a desert where there was once a rich cultural ecology. The CCA closure is an act of cultural vandalism: aided by Culture Sec Angus Robertson’s Edinburgh bias, aftermath of the GSA fire & Sauchiehall Street decline.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 4d
The closure of the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow is the end of a 50 year era stretching back to the Third Eye Centre opening in 1975. The CCA nurtured challenging art, culture and ideas. And its closure marginalises art that dares to take a risk in Scotland.

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 4d
Human rights activist and campaigner Peter Tatchell has been arrested for carrying a 'globalise the intifada’ placard. Wonder if any of the so-called free speech advocates on the right or Trumpian apologists in the UK & US will speak up?
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Campaigner Peter Tatchell arrested for carrying ‘globalise the intifada’ placard
The veteran activist called his arrest at Palestine solidarity rally in London an ‘attack on free speech’
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Gerry Hassan

chriso-wiki.bsky.social
ChrisO_wiki @chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 4d
MAGA's villain of the day is militant Scandinavian socialists, apparently

gerryhassan.bsky.social
Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 4d
Groundhog Day Brexit Britain ten years on with the Express still banging the same isolationist & anti-EU message. You would expect nothing less from the Express. But across the British right they are bereft of original ideas: Michael Gove in The Spectator going on still about "Taking Back Control."