Scotland Rising – Gerry Hassan

 

A systematic exploration of the arguments for Scottish independence from a sympathetic angle.

The Scottish independence question is one of the pivotal questions facing British politics and the future of the United Kingdom. It is also one of the most contentious and misunderstood. 

In Scotland Rising, Gerry Hassan addresses the fundamental questions covering the Scottish independence debate so that people can better understand the case for independence and the nuances, contours, and implications for the whole country. Looking beyond the merits and shortcomings of the SNP and the Conservative government in Westminster, Hassan tackles the larger driving dynamics of 'the Scottish Question' - a growing desire amongst many Scots for an explicit discussion about society, public policy choices, and wider values.

Addressing the constitutional framework, and questions about the role of government and democracy, the nature of the British state, society, and capitalism, Scotland Rising makes an urgent and intelligent contribution to one of the defining political questions of our time.  https://www.amazon.co.uk.Scotland-Rising-

Gerry Hassan ^]is a Scottish writer, commentator and academic. He is Professor of Social Change at Glasgow Caledonian University, 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 Open Democracy. He has written widely in the Scottish and UK press, including The Scotsman, The Herald, Holyrood, Sunday Mail, The Guardian, The National (Scotland) on topics and issues related to the United Kingdom, particularly Scotland and Scottish Independenc^e. 

Noam Chomsky Dissent Across the Decades,

 

Noam Chomsky Dissent Across the Decades, gave an online talk at Edinburgh International book festival 2022.

 

Whether it’s discussing linguistics with Foucault in a televised debate, authoring more than 100 books or being a fierce critic of American foreign policy, Noam Chomsky has been a highly influential figure for nearly seven decades. Now in his mid 90s, he shows no signs of stopping and joins us today to discuss Chronicles of Dissent, an accessible and broad-ranging collection of talks for those who seek new perspectives on the big topics of our time.

 

*BOOK, Chronicles of Dissent, an accessible and broad-ranging collection of talks for those who seek new perspectives on the big topics of our time. Chomsky said that the corporate press often gets it wrong when ideas can be suppressed with things that you just cant think. We must encourage debate and to look elsewhere. To be different to totalitarian regimes. 

 

In 1920s,  where were the Russians getting information, from BBC and America – in fact many censored Russians better informed than Americans. Could the Ukraine war have been avoided if there had been some thought of Russian security and to Russian red lines, and not to move Nato to border closer.

 

Identity politics can be good. Scottish independence might be good, he said we would need think though the many consequences, and decide what you want for yourselves and also to retain the unity of UK. The UK can’t hang together in present form – is federalism an option? There will be lots of complications and consequences. Ireland reunification?

 

Brexit was a major error, and driven the UK into the pockets of the US. We face madman Putin, and the threat of fascism all over the world. Today levels of poverty are unprecedented.

Lea Ypi on Freedom with Allan Little Edinburgh book festival 2022

 

‘Coke can with a rose’ was a symbol of the west

She spoke of the special shops for tourists, and a marker of contact with the outside world.

BOOK Lea Ypi, “Free, Coming of Age at the End of History”

Lea is a lecturer at the London School of Economics. She decided to write her book from the perspective of her childhood and the naivety of seeing the world for the first time.

Albania was isolated and communist and accused other communist nations of betraying communism. It was viewed as the anti-imperialist lighthouse of the world, surrounded by powerful foes and on the right side of history. The College of Communism at the most eastern edge of Europe. 

They used special codes, with code words like “biography” and the mystery around “university”, and “stayed to study” – (was an informer). If accused of treason, executed. Her father was not allowed to study maths because he was a teacher. There was corruption and divisiveness – there were Marxists, Leninists and Scandinavians. The regime collapsed in1923.

 

Her mother, was bourgeoisie and spoke French and had an aristocracy identity. She grew up in Slovakia and lost her identity, in order to preserve her identity. The Ottoman empire last century. Her mother become an MP, father a teacher. Her grandparents met at the kings wedding. 

In 1919 the peoples drama when the independent nation state of Albania was declared. Things changed, with a communist republic. Mass emigration and shot at border if trying to escape. The market economy became a gangster capitalism and people became poorer and lost jobs. Parts of the economy became criminalized. Civil war erupted and an economic crisis. There was no financial sector, and fraudulent investments. Collapsed, and started looting and violence. Detested any foreign imposed system. 

Liberalism had won and right all along, great powers decide borders. The EU said to reform economy. In 1989 the Berlin wall came down, but there was also nostalgia for the east and maternity leave. 

The Ottoman empire had 3 different religions - Catholic, Greek orthodoxy and Muslim. There was Freedom of religion and Religions living peacefully and not an issue. Albania is a Nato country and close friends to US. The politicians promised citizen-led grassroots, privatization and shop therapy, 

 

Tyranny and coercion versus freedom and democracy. The idea of freedom has no blueprint – the abstract idea of freedom. Against ‘Empire” and inclusive democratic idea of sovereignty and afraid of forces outside that they can’t control. Civic engagement to regenerate they can’t control.  

**Albania is a country in SE Europe located on the Adriatic, Ionian and Mediterranean seas and land borders with Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Greece. Albania has been inhabited by Illyrians, Thracians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, and Ottomans. The Albanians established the autonomous Principality of Arbër in the 12th century. 

Albania formed between the 13th and 14th centuries. Ottoman conquest in 15^th c. Albania remained under Ottoman rule for five centuries. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, the Albanian Renaissance. 

After the defeat of the Ottomans in the Balkan wars, the Nation state of Albania declared independence in 1912. In the 20th century, the Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy, before becoming a protectorate of Nazi Germany. 

 

Enver Hoxha formed the Peoples republic of Albania after WWII modeled under the terms of Hoxhaism. 

The Revolutions of 1991 concluded the fall of communism and the establishment of the current Republic of Albania.

Albania is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic and a developing country with an upper-middle income economy dominated by the service sector, followed by manufacturing.^[10] It went through a process of transition following the end of communism in 1990, from centralised planning to a market-based economy. Albania is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, UNESCO, NATO, WTO, COE, OSCE, and OIC. It has been a candidate for membership in the EU since 2014. 

 

Diana Gabaldon at Edinburgh book festival 2022

 

Diana Gabaldon in Edinburgh

 •    NEW BOOK – Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone

(we must tell the bees if something important is happening.) 

 About rebuilding the house on the ridge – with a third floor as a refuge.  She said this book is like a snake – she only knows where it is going a third of the way through. To  preserve what they love, and loop through the woods and time, always back to the Ridge. About “Loyalty”

 

She spoke of  keeping the Gaelic culture alive. 

For her first two books she was getting Gaelic from a dictionary. Ian Taylor got in touch with her and did translations. They were afraid Gaelic would be a dead language in ten years – “It would not be because we didn’t try.” She said, and Gabaldon was quite emotional over this. 

 

She has been in recent times one of the most significant people for Scotland’s soft power on the world stage.  She hopes there has been a Gaelic culture revival.

 (She would certainly enjoy Niteworks, who perform with beautiful Gaelic singers, I highly recommend.)

 

She is now writing book ten, and perhaps the last in this long running saga. While the first books were set in Scotland , the more recent seasons have been set in America, on the Mackenzie Ridge. In this way she has melded her own unusual roots – Mexican and English - with the important contributions  the Scots made in the early years of  European settlements in America before the wars of Independence. .

 

Her books are on the Number One best sellers list.

 As a child she read Disney comics and later thought, I could write better stories – so she wrote to the magazine editor. – Her first comic book was Scrooge McDuck.

G spoke of her writing process - ‘who is this character and what do they want.” The people are real for me she said. She enjoys the research process too and walking on battlefields, which are very spiritual. The research plus what appeals to me. 

 

After the fact storylines and shaping. She references her earlier books with delicate engineering, picking up the threads and little bits of the pattern.

 

130K book sales of her first edition. – and she has managed to stay ahead of the TV show. 

She is now writing on a prequel, of Brianna and Allan, Jamie’s parents and the Jacobites. 

 

She worked in research Arizona state university. 

Gabaldon studied Zoology, marine biology, and a PHD in behavioral ecology. Later she wrote

software reviews and technical articles for computer publications, as well as popular-science articles and Disney comics. She was a professor with an expertise in scientific computation at ASU for 12 years before leaving to write full-time.

 

And yes the Kilt inspiration!  

Season 6 Outlander

Edinburgh festivals Review 2021

Times of Change: “A year of Transition”

Its as if this year the festival is taking baby steps after our year of traumas and the set backs of the pandemic, and at its new location at the Edinburgh Art college at the heart of Edinburgh historic old town. 

I don’t know what to say about the new location, its very different, and also with the festival only running at a third of its normal scale because of Covid. This book festival is iconic and has taken place at Charlotte Square since 1983, for nearly 40  years now, so it’s a big change. There are many things I loved about the Charlotte Sq location, at the heart of Edinburgh’s famous Georgian new town. A concern might be that this new location is more out of the way, then again its close to Edina’s historic auld town – the Grassmarket, castle, university, Meadows and the High street.

 

**The festival is now hybrid with many events only online and authors on zoom. Some events have author and interviewers in person – Tom Devine and Alan Little; Douglas Stewart and Nicola Sturgeon; Jackie Kay and Susan Bonar; David Keenan, Tracy Thorn. 

 

TALKS – this year I attended talks by Satham Sangheri, Empireland; Jackie Kay, Bessie Smith, Gavin Esler, How Britain Ends; Samir Puri, The Great Imperial Hangover, Legacies of Empire; Ali Smith, Art in a time of Lies; 

AND ONLINE Tom Devine, Douglas Stuart, (Booker prize winner for Shuggie Bain).

David Keenan

Tracy Thorn

 

After Jackie Kay’s talk I have a great chat at the bar with two lady patrons of the festival. One lady had attended the book festival for decades and had met many famous authors from Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’s Muriel Spark, to William MciLvanney. I speak of the famous faces I’ve met – Seamus Heaney, John Byrne, Brian Cox, Alan Cummings, Iain Banks, Ian Rankin, Edna O’Brien. 

**On entering the courtyard there’s a big screen showing the talks, with places to sit among several small tented marquees and fairy lights hung on the mature trees. Its not immediately obvious where the Press tents or cafes are, but I do pick up a plan. There’s no ticket offices or rows of pamphlets or EIBF books this festivals year, all on a smaller scale and after all everything is online. Covid has affected everything, from music concert bubbles, to sporting events with no audience at all. 

There are no crowds of school children either, although there is a play area. There are only a handful of photo shoots. So the usual buzz is a much more subdued one. 

 

The  Book festival is close to the Edinburgh’s auld town and the next day I have an interesting walk around Edinburgh’s Grassmarket, which is pretty busy with many outdoor cafes. The High street has performers and some crowds. George IV bridge has been closed to all buses and pedestrians all week, there has been a major fire at the Elephant house restaurant, where JK Rowling wrote her Harry Potter books, which has caused major disruption and no access for pedestrians or buses.  

 

**Edinburgh is a perfect city to walk around the back alleys and closes with their incredible views. I spent my student days around the Meadows and University union and Forest Road, and it’s busy with a buzz of life returning. On the Saturday I walk around historic George Sq and find young, eager and expectant graduates at their delayed graduations (so many memories) thronging around in front of Edinburgh university.

This is where I graduated too and had a photo taken for the papers! I visit the Pear Tree, which is where the blind poet Blacklock entertained the great and good of Edinburgh in 1780s, including one Robert Burns. Now its the hip and happening place for young people with large outdoor gardens and a large screen showing football, to my surprise. 

 

I go the Biblos restaurant for a meal as usual to find the menu changed! I order a chicken burger and wine and remember how much I enjoy Indy cafes and restaurants that play their own music playlists. Long live indy shops, cafes, bars and restaurants, to me that’s the future of the High Street. Local and greener and individually creative. (Good example is Castle Douglas high street which has no chains and not even a Greggs). Global homogenization is so BORINGly dull!

 

On the Tuesday I attend an excellent live concert with rock singing legend Chrissie Hynde.

at the Queens hall Edinburgh, the ideal venue with high ceilings and space. She sang Bob Dylan, Ray Davies and other songs, backed by an excellent top class band. 

 

After I think of all the young artists, writers and musicians trying to establish their careers. I hope all those grassroots artists get supported, because without them there is no creative future. They’ve been doubly hurt by both Covid and Brexi   the arts are crucial.  **Festivals offer something out of the everyday, a place to discover, interact, refresh, be inspired, take time out, break down barriers.  Every year I often have at least one great chat with people I meet there! Thanks to all those who organise the festival.  EDINBURGH FESTIVAL - https://www.eif.co.uk

Bye Alasdair Gray

RIP Scottish legend Alasdair Gray. 1934 - 2019

Great artist and innovator. Much missed. Best known for his book Lanark and his artwork at the Oran Mor and the Glasgow underground.  

I took photos of him at Edinburgh years back. What a great character!

New Voices Edinburgh book festival 2019

Rory Stewart

The people I meet.

The festival is about bringing people together to celebrate the spoken word. 

The challenges and the cycles of life: renewal and recharge.

After only a few days, I meet many interesting people. 

The people who attended are from so many different backgrounds, viewpoints and voices. We need more room and platforms for free debate.

Kenny MacAskill

There is supposed to be intermittent showers but its been mostly warm and sunny so far. Typical changeable August – perhaps more so than usual even. 

We need to new voices, but more than ever we need as many diverse voices as possible. So many of us feel betrayed, confused, let down, and not sure where the answers are anymore. We are in a great state of flux, things are shifting and great change is inevitable. At Biblos  restaurant- I wonder is the festival too big these days, with too much average and too little great? Another year gone. But I'm always inspired and often exhausted!

Rachel Long

Isabella Hammad

Heida Ásgeirsdóttir

 Inua Ellams

The theme this year was – We need new stories. 

One of the most original voices I’ve read in recent years over the present political madness of Brexit, is Irish Times writer Fintan OToole. His event at eibf sold out instantly when tickets went on sale- so I was surprised when I joined the long queue to see him that is was doing his talk in the small Spark tent on George street, rather than the main New York Times tent. 

Clare Balding

Nicola Sturgeon and Arundhati Roy

Fintan O’Toole

I am presently reading O’Toole’s recent book, Heroic Failure, on the Brexit carry on, and what an excellent story teller he is in his well researched tale. Things are badly off kilter and we certainly need well researched and original new voices. 

Question?  Is EIBF, or rather why does eibf not cater for the young adults, if not why not? 

Photography -  Some people have a presence or inner light that shines through in their photos. Perhaps its experience, character or simply knowing who you are. At eibf there is such a great variety of characters to shoot – from explorers, composers, journalists, illustrators, scientists, poets, comedians, politicians,.

Tania Nwachukwu

Amna Saleem 

Denis mina

Miriam Khan

**TALKS

Gender Debate: What is Gender in the 21^stcentury.

Her Scotland, author Rosemary Gorling

Lowland Clearances, Tom Devine

**BOOKS

Fintan O’Toole – Heroic Failure

Tom Devine – The Scottish Clearances

David McCraw - Truth in Our Times 

Robert Crawford – The Book of Iona

Marina Warner – Forms of Enchantment : Writing on Arts and Artists