Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

Really Janey you are full of pish. Pankhurst you say naw I don't think so she wasn't a dick pandering arse like you. #WomenwontWheesht pic.twitter.com/9sgHfVGtaU — Julie Marshall I don't eat snottters💜🤍💚 (@Darcy29127813) July 30, 2021 What a ghastly tweet from Janey Godley who clearly hasn't taken the trouble to meet or engage with any of the women behind WomenWontWheesht.   Smearing a whole group on the basis of unpublished, anonymous 'hate tweets' is ugly and outrageous, especially as the sole aim of WWW is to defend women's rights and single sex spaces.    

If people were dying of ecoli we'd have a public inquiry — Darren McGarvey (@lokiscottishrap) July 30, 2021 Darren McGarvey makes a very fair point about Scotland's drugs deaths scandal. If Nicola Sturgeon & Co were in opposition just now, rather than in government, the SNP would be demanding a public inquiry.      

The @itvnews team has been investigating Scotland’s soaring drug deaths for the last 4 years now. This is an attempt to explain some background as to why Scotland continues to be the worst in Europe, with drug deaths 3.5 times the rate of the rest of the UK. pic.twitter.com/fyUAW6OqCp — Peter A Smith (@PeterAdamSmith) July 31, 2021 ITV's Peter Smith with an excellent summary of the 'deadly cocktail' behind Scotland's drug deaths scandal. The irony is that the SNP Government is only now reversing the cuts to local council services which have made the problem far worse and cost lives.    

The new @theSNP complaints officer @RickyDJTaylor has a history of targeting me & calling me transphobic for my lawful gender critical views. How did he pass vetting? https://t.co/of6vdNAgKb … https://t.co/of6vdNAgKb … https://t.co/of6vdNAgKb … pic.twitter.com/ezXPrtIVBv — Joanna Cherry QC (@joannaccherry) July 31, 2021 Some young SNP twerp is very rude and disrespectful to Joanna Cherry MP and even has the cheek to accuse her of being transphobic and creating a toxic environment in the party. A few months later the same chap is appointed as the SNP's Complaints Officer. Yet another epic SNP fail.    

A great example of a beautiful Bougainvillea which is just about my favourite plant and is native to South America, apparently. I wish I could grow one of my own!      

Tomorrow's Daily Record leads on Scotland's “shameful” drug death toll #scotpapers #TomorrowsPapersToday @AllieHBNews pic.twitter.com/PMKD2SHIKz — The Daily Record (@Daily_Record) July 30, 2021 The Daily Record  hits the nail on its head with their front page headline, but although Nicola Sturgeon says she accepts full responsibility this feels a lot like 'shaming the shameless'. Because the death toll has more than doubled under Nicola Sturgeon's watch and all we get are the same old excuses.    

1. The number of lives lost to drugs is unacceptable, each one a human tragedy. @scotgov does not shirk the responsibility & we are determined to make changes that will save lives. These 2020 figures (though no less shameful because of it) predate actions set out at start of year — Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) July 30, 2021 No sooner had Nicola Sturgeon issued a tweet (from her private Twitter account) supposedly accepting the Scottish Government's responsibility for the appalling drug deaths scandal than the SNP spin machine got to work making pathetic excuses and pointing the finger elsewhere. Here's a good example from an SNP MP: "Hopeful that new spending by @scotgov will save lives in future but major changes in UK law required to really tackle problem." The fact is that the law is the same across the UK  -  yet Scotland has a far bigger problem and much worse record than anywhere else in the whole of Europe.    

Peter Smith from ITV News pointed out (in 2019) that the First Minister and Scottish Government were warned years ago that cuts in council funding would inevitably lead to more drug deaths. The SNP have been in power for the last 14 years.     Scottish Government - Talk Is Cheap (18/12/20) The Daily Record hit the nail on the head with its 'Talk is cheap' headline on Scotland's appalling record for drug deaths. Scotland has the worst record in Europe while Glasgow has the biggest problem in Scotland, by far. Nicola Sturgeon is a Glasgow MSP and has been First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Scotland since 2007.     Scottish Parliament Does Its Job (18/12/2) The Scottish Parliament did its job of holding ministers to account yesterday over the appalling number of drug deaths in Scotland.         

40 covid updates to my community since March’20, on regulations that change constantly. In my last I got a date wrong and sent out a correcting email as soon as it was pointed out. Yesterday, Scotland led the world in drug mortality (again) and yet my typo is your lead story? https://t.co/fmFdcbaQTy — Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP🔶 (@agcolehamilton) July 31, 2021 Alex Cole-Hamilton has a well deserved pop at Scotland's answer to Pravda for its ludicrous front page headline.    

'You were warned that reducing the funding for addiction services would lead to an increase in deaths' ITV News Scotland Correspondent @PeterAdamSmith presses Nicola Sturgeon on the Scottish Government's record tackling the drug crisis in the country https://t.co/fyi5A7KEXy pic.twitter.com/81Iae9XhK1 — ITV News (@itvnews) October 14, 2019 Peter Smith from ITV News pointed out (in 2019) that the First Minister and Scottish Government were warned years ago that cuts in council funding would inevitably lead to more drug deaths. The SNP have been in power for the last 14 years.     Scottish Government - Talk Is Cheap (18/12/20) The Daily Record hit the nail on the head with its 'Talk is cheap' headline on Scotland's appalling record for drug deaths. Scotland has the worst record in Europe while Glasgow has the biggest problem in Scotland, by far. Nicola Sturgeon is a Glasgow MSP and has been First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Scotland since 2007.     Scot...

  -----Original Message----- From: firstminister@gov.scot To: markirvine@compuserve.com Sent: Thu, Mar 4, 2021 12:48 pm Subject: Auto Reply - Thank you for your email (firstminister@gov.scot) To: you Details Thank you for your email. Please accept this as an acknowledgement that your email has been received and will be actioned appropriately. Kind regards, Private Office of the First Minister of Scotland St Andrew’s House | Regent Road | Edinburgh | EH1 3DG The last time I contacted the First Minister I received a same day acknowledgement from the FM's private office, but my recent letter regarding Christina McKelvie's behaviour on social media (sent on Wednesday) has not been met with the same, swift reply. I wonder why that is and what can be taking so long though who knows, maybe after this post there will be a surge of late Friday afternoon activity?  In any event, I will be chasing things up because I believe I am raising a very valid and important issue - one which dese...