Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

South Lanarkshire Council are up to their old tricks again on Freedom of Information (FoI) and having been around this track once or twice before in recent years - I've decided not to mess about.  So, I have submitted the following FoI appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner - watch this space for further details. Rosemary Agnew Scottish Information Commissioner Kinburn Castle Doubledykes Road Fife KY16 9DS Dear Ms Agnew South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) – FoI Appeal I enclose an exchange of correspondence with South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) regarding a FOISA enquiry, which I initiated with the council on 20 August 2013.  I asked for a review of the Council’s initial decision, but remain dissatisfied with their response. I am, therefore, registering an appeal with the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) as I consider the Council’s response to be unsatisfactory for the following reasons:   In my view, South Lanarkshire Cou...

The pub, the Clutha Vaults, onto which a police helicopter fell out of the sky last night - is just round the corner from where I live in Glasgow. In fact, the Clutha is something of a Glasgow institution being one of the few traditional pubs left in the city these days - where free live music is played regularly, often of the folk and blues variety.  I wasn't in the bar last night, thank goodness, but I was on the night Scotland's smoking ban was introduced - which I remember well because I was enjoying a last cigar to welcome the arrival of smoke free pubs in Glasgow. Whereas my drinking companion, my old Nupe and Unison colleague, Bob Thomson, was complaining about the harm being down to the human rights of smokers, as he saw things at the time - which he voiced to a journalist from the Sunday Herald who was in the pub  seeking the views of customers on this 'controversial' new policy. Nowadays, of course, a smoking ban is an...

Today is St Andrew's Day - Scotland's national day a celebration of all good things that are Scottish. Although it's fair to say we Scots have a long way to go before we can rival our Celtic cousins in Ireland for the way they have anger put St Patrick's Day on the world map. So, let me throw in my tuppence worth. I find it odd that great foodstuffs which is quintessentially Scottish such as venison, rabbit, hare and duck are so hard to find in Scotland - outside of fine dining restaurants. Whereas in Spain and France equivalent products are widely sold in supermarkets and local shops - wild boar, jamon, rabbit, local sausages, cuts of meat and pates of all kinds. Not just that but people are fiercely proud of the quality of their products - and are keen to sell you as much of it as they can. If you ask me, St Andrew's Day will start to take off when we see some of these items appearing more regularly - in our local supermarkets.        ...

The SNP seem to be making the political weather since the launch of their White Paper on Scottish independence, if this article by Fraser Nelson in the Telegraph is anything to go by. I didn't the debate between Nicola Sturgeon and Alistair Carmichael, but Fraser Nelson has no reason to exaggerate what looks to have been a comprehensive victory for a champion of the Yes campaign - over a defender of the Union and Better Together. I noticed the same mood on the BBC's flagship Question Time programme the other night when the supporters of independence certainly seem to have their tails up. Whether this will last is anyone's guess, but for the moment at least there seems to be a wind of change in the air. Scotland: The case for the Union is still strong – so why not make it? Alex Salmond and the SNP are being given a free hand to blame London for their own mistakes on health and education Conventional wisdom in Westminster is that Alex S...

Well here's something I didn't know until the other day - that the former general secretary of UCATT, Alan Ritchie, resigned from his post last year just as an investigation into his expenses claims was about to get underway.  Alan the landed a job as a special adviser to a House of Commons committee chaired by a Glasgow Labour MP, Ian Davidson - as I reported on the blog site the other day.  So, here are two reports on people resigning - one from The Herald newspaper and the other from The Guardian - now I can understand why the Latvian Prime Minister decided to resign, but that's about all.     Ex-union official accused of £100,000 expenses false claim The Herald - Wednesday 27 November 2013 FORMER trade union chief Alan Ritchie is being accused of falsely claiming up to £100,000 in expenses. During his tenure as general-secretary of UCATT, Mr Ritchie is alleged to have misused his credit union card while making unentitled claims. ...

I see that Celtic Football Club are threatening to take tough action against the so-called Green Brigade - a small but vocal group of supporters who try to exploit match days for their own political ends.  Last Wednesday the Green Brigade unfurled political banners during a Champions League tie against AC Milan which will get the club into trouble again with the European footballing authority, Uefa, and is likely to result in another heavy fine. To my mind these fans are 'Grade A' idiots and having been warned in the past the thing to do now is to withdraw their season tickets - because they clearly believe they are bigger than the club and a law unto themselves. I was at Parkhead a few years ago when the Green Brigade staged a noisy protest in the stadium against Celtic FC marking Remembrance Day - a sombre act of respect to UK armed forces, past and present, who have lost their lives or been injured down the years. Now I can respect someone ...

The latest 'bombshell' to explode in the Scottish independence debate is that the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has offered a thoughtful reminder that new members of the European Union (EU) must be accepted by all existing members of the EU - before they can join the club. And this sage advice from Spain is now being waved around triumphantly by the No camp  as proof positive that Scotland is effectively trapped within the UK - because no one can guarantee 100% that some rogue nation, Spain perhaps, might object to Scotland joining the EU club as an independent country from the UK - or to be precise what would be left of the UK. Now to my mind this is just stuff and nonsense - it's the same old line about things being too difficult or uncertain, so unless you have a crystal ball to hand - the best thing to do is to sit tight and do nothing, otherwise the sky might fall on your head. I've been here before I have to admit and while it's nothin...

Here's an interesting article from the Times newspaper which tells the tale of a former union leader, Alan Ritchie, who had to stand down from his role as UCATT general secretary - only to resurface as a 'special adviser' to the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee which is chaired by the Glasgow MP, Ian Davidson.    Now two things jumped out to me about this report. The first being that in an age of mobile telephony how can an MP not be available for comment just because he's travelling between Glasgow and London? The second is that it seems more than a little strange that the Scottish Affairs Committee has refused to explain what its special adviser is paid - in fact I would go further, I'd like to know the way in which he was recruited.     Ex-union chief ‘falsely claimed £100,000’ Alan Ritchie is now facing legal action Andy Barr/NGN By Michael Glackin A former trade union chief, who is now a ...

Here's a article from the Sunday Herald which caught my eye at the weekend - for the weasel words about Scottish Labour being allegedly unable to work alongside the Scottish Conservatives. Now the example given is about the Better Together campaign - an uncomplicated single issue campaign which is opposed to the proposition that Scotland should become an independent country. Yet while the Chairperson of Scottish Labour babbles on about Scottish Labour's inability to work with the 'toxic' Tories - there are of course plenty of examples of Labour in Scottish councils doing deals with the Conservatives to form joint administrations - coalition councils along the same lines as the Coalition Government at Westminster. South Lanarkshire, Stirling, Falkirk, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, East Dunbartonshire, and East Lothian Councils - for example. And as for Labour not working with the Tories because of a 'cuts' agenda what sense does that make when th...

I think this is a good time to publish a previous post from the blog site - one from April 2010 which features an article written by Zoe Williams a regular contributor in the Guardian newspaper. I heard Zoe the other night on some TV programme and she has lost none of her edge or her ability to call a spade a spade. To be sure the trade unions have a terrible track record on equal pay and - in certain parts of the country - they have lost all credibility whatsoever. Sisters With Solicitors (29 April 2010) Here's an article on equal pay by Zoe Williams from the Guardian newspaper - the sections in bold have been highlighted by me - but you can read the full story on-line at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ "On equal pay, sisters with solicitors must do it for themselves" "The Birmingham case shows just how much Labour and the unions have let women down. The news about Birmingham city council is in its way as big a deal, as cataclysmically bankrupting, as...

South Lanarkshire Council are up to their old tricks again on Freedom of Information (FoI) and having been around this track once or twice before in recent years - I've decided not to mess about.  So, I have submitted the following FoI appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner - watch this space for further details. Rosemary Agnew Scottish Information Commissioner Kinburn Castle Doubledykes Road Fife KY16 9DS Dear Ms Agnew South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) – FoI Appeal I enclose an exchange of correspondence with South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) regarding a FOISA enquiry, which I initiated with the council on 20 August 2013.  I asked for a review of the Council’s initial decision, but remain dissatisfied with their response. I am, therefore, registering an appeal with the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) as I consider the Council’s response to be unsatisfactory for the following reasons:   In my view, South Lan...

You know something's gone badly wrong when an organisation called the Resolution Foundation - is much more radical than the country's trade unions. I've written many times about the intention behind the 1999 Single Status (Equal Pay) Agreement - which was to sweep away years of pay discrimination against so many council jobs (done predominantly by women) - on the grounds that they had been undervalued and underpaid for years.  So, when you've finished reading the article by Jill Sherman which appeared in the Times recently - have a look at the opinion piece I wrote for the Herald newspaper earlier this year. If you ask me, the unions should hang their heads in shame.   Almost five million trapped in low pay for 10 years Of the 4.7 million people who were low paid in 2002, 27 per cent did not see their income rise at any point during the decade Dominic Lipinski / PA By Jill Sherman Whitehall Editor Nearly five million workers have been...