Drawing on a range of original thinkers from a wide range of backgrounds, the book tackles key issues about money, culture, equality, energy, borders, jobs, Europe and other ‘big questions’ head on.
"Hassan and Barrow have a strong track record in producing thoughtful evidence-based collections around the issue of Scottish independence that are not polemical or solely ideological (see Scotland the Brave?, 2019 looking at 20 years of the Scottish Parliament and its impact on society, and A Nation Changed? on the record of the SNP in office, 2017).
They draw together in A Better Nation a well-informed mix of political commentators, activists, journalists and academics to weigh up the arguments and present reasonable and well-informed chapters. The authors aren’t afraid of big or complicated arguments, and all of them are experts in their fields. All of them write well and persuasively: communication of complex ideas is crucial to increasing the public’s understanding of the risks and benefits of independence versus the Union.
Appropriately in a volume characterised by a huge range of voices and perspectives, it finishes with an enjoyable roundtable from some of the more interesting campaigners around, and a sober, thoughtful but hopeful endnote from the editors.
Buy this book, read it, and pass it to your undecided friends. And if you are a Unionist, read it carefully and prepare your arguments. They will need to be pretty persuasive if the quality of debate coming from these authors is anything to go by."
Kirstein Rummery