Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

No knock-out blow, but at this stage Salmond is ahead on points. https://t.co/L8xnUrmtoH — alexmassie (@alexmassie) February 28, 2021 Alex Massie's opinion column in the Sunday Times   is a fair minded assessment of where things stand between the Scottish Government and Alex Salmond. "If there is one thing this country does not lack, it is politicians with advanced degrees in humbug and the taking of umbrage. This past week has been another reminder of that. Thus Nicola Sturgeon tells us that those minded to think Alex Salmond raises some legitimate questions about her government’s behaviour risk “undermining” confidence in vital public institutions. How very dare they."   The Scottish Government's refusal to be open and transparent reminds me of the fight for equal pay in Glasgow City Council. If Ministers and officials have nothing to hide why not put all the facts and evidence on the table, redacted where necessary, so the people can judge for themselves.        

  One of the interesting issues to emerge from Friday's session of the Holyrood Inquiry was the unpublished evidence surrounding the whole affair including a sworn statement from Geoff Aberdein, Alex Salmond's former chief of staff. Now like everyone else I agree on the importance of protecting the identity of complainers, but I fail to see how this evidence cannot be redacted in such a way to achieve that purpose. Likewise with other evidence which apparently cannot be used by Mr Salmond because it was produced for his criminal trial and cannot now be redeployed by him for use in other proceedings. But this is a search for the truth and the truth is that the conduct of the Scottish Government has dragged the behaviour of the SNP into play, given the two organisations are so closely intertwined with their respective leaders being husband and wife, of course. In the interests of justice it seems to me that either the Holyrood Inquiry examines this evidence, redacting it where ne

Here’s the Sunday Mail’s front page pic.twitter.com/SrFUtW1Ljb — Paul Hutcheon (@paulhutcheon) February 28, 2021 The important issue being investigated by the Holyrood Inquiry is the conduct of the Scottish Government which Scotland's highest civil court found to be unlawful - not just amateurish and unprincipled. The bad blood between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon is just a sideshow.        Rage Against The Machine (27/02/21) The Times cartoonist Peter Brookes sums up the Salmond/Sturgeon saga for me - the political class in charge of Scotland's affairs for the best part of two decades has been made to look parochial, incompetent and unprofessional.  Alex Salmond's rage against the machine landed some telling blows, but in truth they all owe us an apology for this farce and for the unseemly behaviour which has shown Scotland up in such a poor light.   

While I was out for a walk on Friday evening I bumped into a friend who works in Glasgow's hospitality industry. John told me he's been an enthusiastic supporter of the SNP for years and that he attended the Glasgow Hydro event back in 2014 to celebrate Nicola Sturgeon's election as Scotland's new First Minister. But he went on to say that he's totally scunnered with the Scottish Government over its treatment of the hospitality industry during Covid and that he won't be voting for the SNP in May's election for the Scottish Parliament.  I can't say I'm surprised.    Covid's Big 'Losers' Deserve Better (23/02/21)   I read recently that in addition to paying a £500 bonus to the chief executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the Scottish Government is planning to pay a £400 bonus to school teachers who will be asked to mark their pupils' course work now that the 2021 exams have been cancelled. I haven't discovered, as yet, what the