Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

Jo hn Swinney is fond of telling us his government is 'strapped for cash', but the Times reports SNP ministers have handed £400,000 of taxpayers money to an Islamic centre with ties to the Iranian regime, an exporter of terrorism in the Middle East via proxies in Hamas and Hezbollah. Allegedly the funds were to help Muslims: "reduce carbon emissions in the areas of energy, waste and food” and to encourage “upcycling, food growing, sustainable cookery and interactive climate change educational workshops”. What a diabolical waste of public money notwithstanding the links to Islamic extremism.  

Fergus Ewing points out that some of his colleagues in the SNP are setting up private companies, presumably in order to reduce their tax liability - from book royalties and suchlike.  Now Fergus mentioned no names, but Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have both done this recently - Humza in conjunction with his wife (Nadia El-Nakla) who is an SNP councillor in Dundee.  

A late entry in the competition to name the new Sultana/Corbyn or Corbyn/Sultana party (depending on which faction you you support). The Jezbollah Party has been a clear favourite up till now, but there's some late money being placed on the 'Fruit & Nut Party: Fruit - Sultana Nut - Corbyn

The Scottish TUC will need to come up with some catchy new slogans given the news that its boss Roz Foyer owns five homes and separate plot of land in Glasgow. Now that is funny - I wonder if Roz knows that SNP ministers and Glasgow City Council have declared a housing emergency?

Fergus Ewing has been a thorn in the SNP's flesh for years with his campaign to speed up the 'dualling' of the A9 road between Inverness and Perth. Successive SNP governments have failed to deliver on the party's manifesto promise in 2007 to make road travel safer by turning the A9 into a dual carriageway. I'll eat my hat if Fergus doesn't win the Inverness and Nairn seat at next year's Scottish Parliament elections which he's contesting as an independent candidate against the SNP.

So Roz 'Five Homes' Foyer has invited this on herself. I can't see how the Scottish TUC can be taken seriously while Roz remains at the helm -  Scotland's political establishment is now a complete laughing stock.