Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

During the Leveson Inquiry the press was on its best behaviour - as lots of politicians, various celebrities and the odd real person trooped in to give their evidence on what needed to be done - to drive up standards of behaviour. One person's evidence that stuck in my mind was that of former Labour leader - Gordon Brown - who made a passionate plea for the press to stop 'monstering' and demonising politicians. Gordon spoke of his experience of dealing with the situation in Afghanistan where, as Prime Minister, he 'couldn't do right for doing wrong' - whatever he did he got in in the neck and as far as he was concerned the press, or at least certain sections of it,  were out to do him down. Now what I thought at the time was that this all sounded a bit rich coming from Gordon Brown - because the Labour Party while in government never seemed to mind a bit of demonising and monstering - so long as this was happening to the 'other side'.  Which bri

Here's my latest email to the head of Scotland's civil service - Sir Peter Housden. Quite why I should have to fight so hard just to get the Scottish Government to abide by the time limits laid down in its own FOISA legislation - is a mystery. But I have at least now written to my local Holyrood MSP and contacted the Scottish Information Commissioner - to see if they can help. Dear Sir Peter FOISA Complaint I refer to my email dated 23 May 2013 I thought you would like to know that another week has gone by and my FOISA request from 3 April 2013 is now an incredible 28 days overdue. Now this is a glaring breach of the Scottish Government's own legislation, but I would also like to point out that have heard nothing further from your staff as to when my FOISA request is likely to be answered which I find rather rude and unprofessional. My next port of call will be to seek the help of my local MSP and assistance from the Scottish Information Commissioner - as well

The internet is a wonderful invention, but there's no denying that sometimes all it does is to draw attention to the fact that - some people have too much time on their hands. Take the case of the new 'Viking' logo chosen by Serco Northlink to brand its lifeline ferry services to Orkney and Shetland - which is pictured above. Now this is based on a fictional charatcer - Magnus the Viking - who has his left arm raised in the air - but this hasn't stopped the company's critics from claiming that the logo could be taken for a fascist, Nazi symbol. Now I don't know about anyone else - but the comparison sounds ridiculous and more than a bit overblown to me - because we're talking here about a passenger ferry service and not the Waffen SS. Not everyone agrees, however, and a lecturer in Nordic Studies - Dr Victoria Whitworth - based in Orkney has described the artistic choice of a Viking with horned helmet as “the number one schoolboy howler” - claiming

A week or so ago the boss of Unite - Len McCluskey - tried to throw his weight around by telling the Labour leader - Ed Miliband - whom he should have as his trusted aides and allies in the Labour shadow cabinet.  Quite understandably, I have to say, Ed told Len where to get off - which he was bound to do, of course, especially after receiving this rude and unsolicited advice in the columns of the New Statesman magazine. Yet the influence of the Bubs (Britain's unions bosses) is growing as UK unions continue to merge and get ever larger - the three big public sector unions (GMB, Unison and Unite) effectively picked the current Labour leader over the heaads of ordinary members - and oon we may be down to two or maybe even one giant, supersized public sector union. In which case the Bub at the top (just imagine a giant sized version Len McCluskey) will exercise enormous influence over the Labour Party - because the trade unions now dominate Labour Party finances in a way that

Here's a good example of the 'madness' of final salary pension schemes in the public services - how they rob from the pension poor and give to pension rich - how they operate like Robin Hood in reverse. The other day it was announced that the head of the NHS in England and Wales - the much criticised Sir David Nicholson - is set to retire early next year on a pension of more £110,000 a year and a pension pot of £1.9 million - an astonishing figure by any standards. Sir David will also qualify for a 'tax free' lump based on three times his salary - which is currently around £230,000 a year -  including his annual performance bonus payment of £20,000. So he will walk away with well over £600,000 as a tax free lump sum and a guaranteed income of £110,000 for the rest of his life - even though he has earned that amount for only a relatively small part of his working career. Because Sir David's final salary and is used to calculate all of his retirement bene

The news that the BBC has wasted  £100 million in a half-baked technology project   comes as no real surprise - because the public broadcaster displays all the signs of being out of control for years. First we had the film star salaries paid to presenters and senior management figures - then we had the embarrassment of hugely generous 'Golden Goodbyes' being paid to executives who were being shown the door - but often going on to other jobs. Now the new BBC director general - Tony Hall - has scrapped this £100 million digital technology project and suspended the executive in charge - after admitting that it has "wasted a huge amount of licence fee payers' money". The Digital Media Initiative (DMI) was apparently designed to improve the programme making process - to make it faster and more efficient - and dispense with old-fashioned video tape, but the project ended in tears and with a lot of public money poured down the drain. The senior Beeb executive be

A kind reader sent me the following exchange of views between two councillors in South Lanarkshire Council - which appeared in the local press. Now I am firmly on the side of the of the 3,000 plus low paid workers who are pursuing equal pay claims against South Lanarkshire Council, I know - but having declared that interest it still seems clear to me that the Labour Group spokesperson is talking nonsense. Because it's quite correct to say that the Council's so-called 'Living Wage' has nothing whatsoever to do with the thousands of outstanding equal pay claims - which are still before the Employment Tribunals. And it can be argued, quite persuasively, that if the Council had implemented the 1999 Single Status (Equal Pay) Agreement  properly - then there would be absolutely no need for a 'living wage' in 2013. The reason being that the predominantly female jobs (carers, cleaners, cooks, clerical workers and classroom assistants) which stood to benefit mos

The Sunday Herald continues to shine a light on the bizarre selection process used by the Scottish Labour Party - which suggest that 'ghost' members are being signed up to support one particular candidate. Now this is not the first time that accusations of 'dirty tricks' have been made during a Labour selection contest, but the comments from Unite simply beggar belief - as if the submission of allegedly bogus membership applications rests with party machine.  The irony is that these selection contests are supposed to be about choosing the best candidate - whereas what often happens is that one group or another simply levers in another placeman - or occasionally a placewoman.   In any event it is all terribly unedifying and serves to highlight the role of the trade unions inside the Labour Party - which was used to great effect in choosing Ed Miliband as party leader - even though the majority of individual party members voted for his brother, David Miliband.