Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

The settlement talks with North Lanarkshire Council have not produced an outcome by the end of August which was the timescale originally agreed by all the parties to get the job done. The Council has failed to provide concrete offers of settlement which is the only way to bring these talks to a satisfactory conclusion. Action 4 Equality Scotland (which has by far the largest number of claimants in North Lanarkshire) pushed for all the cases to go back to the Employment Tribunals, but both the Council and the trade unions asked for the settlement talks to be given more time.  So next week's tribunal dates have been postponed at this stage and the Council has been given more time to try and get its act together. I have to say I'm now sceptical that North Lanarkshire is serious about bringing these talks to a conclusion without going back to the Employment Tribunal where senior managers can be put on the spot and forced to explain exactly what happened over the scoring a...

I cast my 'Yes' vote in the independence referendum yesterday, by post which is why the deed has been done so early. As I wandered around the west end and centre of Glasgow, the Yes campaign had a visible presence in lots of different locations with the equivalent of a big smile on its face.    I read a report in a newspaper that one of the leading No campaign figures, Labour MP Jim Murphy, was calling for   Yes Scotland to accept responsibility for the actions of some idiot who heckled and threw an egg at him in Dundee recently.  Yet the same newspaper reported a 'death threat' against Alex Salmond by some sad loser (who claimed to be making a bad joke) and separate 'road rage' incident involving another lunatic and the First Minister's official car.   But no one called upon the No campaign to accept responsibility in the manner of Jim Murphy, so it seems to me that the Better Together side is getting a bit desperate. ...

The Better Together campaign's latest advert is fast becoming the stuff of legend as the 'patronising lady' is mercilessly mocked on the internet by women, men and just about anyone with a good sense of humour.  Someone with the user name 'andypandy' offered Better Together a storyboard for their next advert, completely free, along with a great plot line about what would happen in an 'uncertain', independent Scotland - if a mother's children get attacked by a bear. Now that is funny and this kind of good natured humour banter is deadly for the No campaign which is beginning to sound rattled.    

I've used the Co-op's pick up service operated by Amazon and very good it is too - far better and easier than having to traipse along to Royal Mail sorting office which is miles away and operates to much more restricted opening times. So I think the GMB is choosing the wrong tactics in its efforts to improve pay amongst the Amazon workforce because trying to shut down part of its business can only harm Amazon while shooting the Co-op in the foot as well.   Union calls for Co-op branches to oust Amazon lockers GMB steps up campaign against online retailer's pay and conditions By  Sarah Butler  - The Guardian Amazon's fulfilment centre in Swansea. Photograph: Rex The GMB union is calling on Co-operative members to help oust Amazon lockers from the mutual's grocery stores. The union, which has pursued a long-running campaign over pay and conditions at the online retailer's British warehouses, said it had already raised the issue with the Co-op's chief ...

Here's an excellent article by Matthew Syed writing in The Times in which he argues that moral decrees from centuries old religious books should not be the basis on which people live their lives in the 21st century.  Now Matthew makes a point of focusing on misogyny within fundamentalist Islam, but it is fair to say that other religions set out to control people's lives as well such as the Catholic Church in relation to contraception and abortion, for example. But I couldn't agree more with Matthew's comment on the 'dehumanising absurdity of the burka' and his call to arms for all people of good will to challenge the everyday misogyny and other forms extremism in our midst.     Muslims must tackle the misogyny in their midst By  Matthew Syed  - The Times Most British Pakistanis are appalled at the horrors of Rotherham, but they have to confront the attitudes that cause it We are only beginning to understand the poten...

Seagull flying over Brighton beach. Photograph: Davis McCardle/Getty Images A regular reader drew my attention to this seagull enquiry which appeared in The Guardian the other day - so I decided to  respond.  What is the point of seagulls? If they were made extinct, would mankind or the ecological balance be affected? Hilary Shenken, Isleworth My answer to Hilary Shenken is that the world would be a much better place if these birds were to become extinct because they are foul and aggressive, noisy and smelly, and serve no useful purpose unlike other 'feathered friends' which have a beautiful birdsong or play a role in helping to maintain the ecological balance in the countryside, hawks and other raptors for example.  Seagulls in Glasgow, where I live, have virtually no connection with the sea and are a vile city centre menace and quite why they are a 'protected species' is truly one of life’s great mysteries.  I would vote them out of existence tom...

I came across the following reasons offered up by Russia by way of explanation as to why many members of the Russian armed forces (plus equipment) have found their way into Ukraine in recent weeks.  The one that takes the biscuit for me is that Russian soldiers in the Ukraine are supposedly 'on holiday', as if they are free to wander away  from their barracks with their weapons and equipment in tow - and their commanding officers have nothing to say. Now no army in the world operates that way, not even the Red Army.   1. They were volunteers "There are Russian volunteers in eastern parts of Ukraine. No one is hiding that." Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin 2. They are from video games Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, commenting on reports about the satellite images on Friday said previous imagery was from video games and the Nato photos “happen to be much the same quality”. “It’s not the first time we’ve heard ...

The Grand Mufti in Egypt, Shawqi Allam, a Sunni Muslim I'm sure, has spoken out against the murderous activities of the Islamist State in Syria and Iraq. Now the report from Reuters is not the most serious denunciation I've ever read in my time, but it's a start and who knows maybe Islamic leaders is other parted of the world will follow his example because there is a real concern that Sunni and Shia Muslims are incapable of living in space with one another, never mind their non-Muslim neighbours. Egypt's top religious authority condemns Islamic State Source: Reuters - Aug 2014 CAIRO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Egypt's top religious authority condemned the armed group Islamic State which has taken over parts of Iraq and Syria, describing it on Tuesday as a corrupt, extremist organisation that is damaging Islam. "An extremist and bloody group such as this poses a danger to Islam and Muslims, tarnishing its image as well as shedding blood and spreading c...