Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

I met up with my two local SNP councillors the other day to discuss the situation in Glasgow regarding the fight for equal pay. I hadn't had any dealings Jennifer or Greg before, in person at least, so it was good to get a feel as to where people were coming from - vice versa as well, in all likelihood. So I think it is fair to say that both councillors are clearly committed to the notion of 'equal pay for work of equal value' and they are fully behind the decision to achieve a negotiated settlement to the City Council's outstanding equal pay claims.  Which is good news, as far as it goes. On the downside I would say that 'backbench' councillors, if Greg and Jennifer are typical, don't see themselves as having much of an oversight role in the settlement process which has, of course, been proceeding at a snail's pace up until now.  I find that surprising, I have to say, because one of the main reasons that the City Council is in such a mess in...

Writer and comedian David Baddiel took to Twitter to have his say on the ugly, anti-semitism row engulfing the Labour Party. David is Jewish, by the way, although that really shouldn't matter - it's what he has to say that counts although significant numbers of Labour supporters these days seem to disagree, sadly. Before Christine Shawcroft wrote that email, 30 members of the Peterborough Labour Party complained about Alan Bull's suspension. 30. I'm not sure you'd get that much support for a Holocaust Denier in the fucking BNP. Well there we are.     Failure of Leadership (29/03/18) The BBC reports on the latest anti-Semitism row to engulf Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party. The depths to which the Labour Party has fallen under Corbyn's leadership really are incredible, even though some of his hard core supporters revere Jezza as the 'Messiah'.    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43578225 'Deeply sorry' Chri...

In recent days, the Labour Party has had to grapple with some of the most overt examples of anti-Semitism it's possible to imagine - from an ugly mural on a London wall to social media claims that the Holocaust was a hoax. Yet 30% of Labour members think this is not a serious problem, according to a YouGov poll for The Times. Now the better news is that 66% of Labour Party members believe that anti-semitism is a genuine problem, even if many of these individuals think that its scale or extent  of the problem is being exaggerated. But 30% of Labour members turning a blind eye to clear examples of racism and prejudice in and around their own party - now that really is shocking. The only conclusion to draw is that anti-semitism and racism is rife among a section of Labour Party supporters these days.      

Hugo Rifkind writing in The Times takes head on the notion that anti-Semitism in and around the Labour Party has suddenly jumped up and bit Jeremy Corbyn on the arse. "When Corbyn speaks of the “pockets within the Labour Party” in which antisemitism has occurred, what he leaves out is that, for the first 30 years of his career, these were the pockets he was in." Read the full piece via the link below to The Times although it is behind the paper's 'paywall'.   https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/corbyn-still-doesnt-get-the-antisemitism-of-the-left-gf9m6236k Jeremy Corbyn can’t pretend he has only just noticed By  hugo rifkind  - The Times The Labour leader refers to ‘pockets’ of antisemitism in his party but fails to say that for 30 years he was in them too Did you know that Jeremy Corbyn’s mother fought at the Battle of Cable Street? I know it’s a well-kept political secret, a bit like that one about Sadiq Khan’s dad being a bus driver, or that other one about...

Here's a great letter from a Glasgow claimant (a carer) who seems to agree with me that asking awkward questions is a good thing - not a bad thing - and if more people had behaved this way back in 2005/06/07, the City Council would not be in the mess it's in today.  Dear GCC, I would like to thank you and the Chief Executive Annemarie O'Donnell for your prompt reply following my correspondence dated 12/3/18. I take on board the comments made by the Chief Executive these negotiations are extremely complex and will take a while to resolve. However, the outcome of the Court of Session ruling in December 2017, described the WPBR, as discriminatory and unfit for purpose, therefore, it must be concluded that it would be a gross breach of trust and continued mis-management, if this system of Job Evaluation were to continue in operation and be the basis of any future settlement. We are now approaching the forth month of negotiations and I understand that A4E (Action fo...