Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

As I wrote my post the other day about Ben Innes, the chap with the rictus grin, posing for a 'selfie' with a suspected suicide bomber I thought of events at Glasgow Airport back in 2007 when those caught up in terrorist incident got 'stuck in' instead of cuddling up to the bad guys.  John Smeaton, for example, the airport baggage handler, who put the boot in, quite literally, rather than reaching for his smart phone. Here's what John had to say to the news media shortly after the terrifying incident: “I had just come out for my fag. I was actually smoking round the side of the building. “That’s when I heard the commotion, all the noise, and then I just walked out to see what was happening. “I just remember people were all moving away, then they all started running back towards the terminal. “I walked along and I turned left and saw the Jeep crashed into the building.” Smeaton watched as Abdulla, 29, an Iraqi junior doctor, got out of the vehicle and started...

I wrote about the 'sour grapes' coming from the local trade unions and Glasgow City Council following the recent decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal which concluded that the Council's pay arrangements treated traditional male workers more favourably than women workers, in comparable jobs. Here's the local Unison branch secretary in Glasgow, Sam McCartney, doing his level best to pour cold water on things instead of encouraging the City Council to get round the negotiating table: "The bottom line is that at this point in time its premature to say who has won or lost. How this will pan out will take much much more legal wrangling to get a resolution. And the figures bandied around are way in excess of what anyone can expect." Now if you ask me, these are remarkably similar sentiments to those expressed by the local Unison branch secretary in South Lanarkshire, Stephen Smellie, in an interview with the Hamilton Advertiser newspaper back in 2012, after ...

A number of readers from South Lanarkshire have been in touch to voice their outrage at the  comments made to the Hamilton Advertiser - by the local unison branch secretary, Stephen Smellie. See yesterday's post dated 30 June 2012 - 'Weasel Words' - in which the following quote is attributed to the local union rep: “Not every one of these cases is going to win and I don’t want people to buy a new three-piece suite thinking they are going to be getting a big pay-out. Nobody actually knows whether a case will win or not.” Now I can see what the readers are driving at - because Stephen has form in this area and has commented previously on people's shopping habits and how women should spend their money - on shoes and sofas it would seem. Witness the following quote from the Hamilton Advertiser in May 2012 in which Unison is giving further helpful advice - in relation to the so-called 'living wage': "Stephen Smellie, secretary of Unison’s ...

Boris Johnson has been having a hard time in the press over recent days with much of the criticism focusing on his character and personal life. But my complaint about Boris is that he's a complete 'chancer' whose views change like the weather to suit his purpose or which country he's in perhaps. Compare this extract from an article in The Sunday Telegraph in which Boris 'celebrates' the liberation of Palmyra with Boris's comments from September 2013 compare President Assad to Adolf Hitler.     Bravo for Assad – he is a vile tyrant but he has saved Palmyra from Isil (The Telegraph - 28 March 2016) The Syrian regime, with military help from Russia, is succeeding where the West has failed I suppose it is bizarre to feel such joy at the military success of one of the vilest regimes on earth. But I cannot conceal my elation as the news comes in from Palmyra and it is reported that the Syrian army is genuinely back in control of the entire Unesco site. Th...

A war of words is underway about whether the UK should participate in the bombing campaign against the mad dogs of the Islamic State in their safe havens in Syria. In Raqqa, for example, where 'Jihadi John' was taken out in a targeted strike from an American drone missile. Now people like Jeremy Corbyn say that it would have been 'far better' if Mohammed Emwazi (aka Jihadi John) had been captured and put on trial for his cowardly, murderous crimes, but this would have put the lives of UK or Nato troops at risk. Not only that, of course, because people like Jeremy Corbyn and his friends in the Stop the War (STW) Coalition would then have complained that western troops were acting unlawfully by taking military action in another country (Syria) without the permission of the Syrian Government. In my view the arguments about extending military action into Syria are finely balanced - there are no guarantees of success of success and there are obvious risks one way or t...

The Mail is not one of my favourite 'reads', but you've got to applaud the newspaper for continuing to highlight the fate of the Yazidi people at the hands of the Islamic State (IS) while other titles look the other way. Now no one thinks that Muslims generally are responsible for the deeds of these religious fascists, yet they take their inspiration from the Koran and other 'holy' scriptures which, they say, gives them the authority to treat other human beings in this way. So what I would like to hear from leading Islamic scholars is that the words of the Koran are not to be taken literally: that this horrific treatment of young girls, women and other prisoners (whether Muslim or non-Mulim) is not justified by scripture, no matter how ancient or 'holy' the book.  'The virgins were taken to a room with 40 men. They lined us up and pointed who they wanted': Yazidi girl, 17, made pregnant by ISIS fighter reveals her nine-month ordeal as a jihadi s...

Here's another extract from the Scottish Information Commissioner's decision in relation to North Lanarkshire Council which accused me of submitting 'vexatious' FoI requests. Now thankfully SIC threw out the Council's case which shows the importance of having an independent referee in these situations, but I laughed my head off while reading the section of the judgement where North Lanarkshire complains that I have been harassing its chief officials. I remember many years ago watching a TV programme 'Troubleshooter' featuring a flamboyant captain of industry, Sir John Harvey-Jones, who visited struggling businesses and offered his insight and help in turning things around. At one company Sir John visited, its headquarters were deserted like the Marie Celeste at 5 minutes past five and when he inquired why? Sir John was told, by the owner, that there were all kinds of problems with staff stress. To which Sir John responded, barely able to contain hi...