Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

Lorna Slater admitted the Scottish Government has not yet requested an opt-out from the UK's Internal Markets Act. pic.twitter.com/vDyS2FxboI — Scottish Express (@ScotExpress) February 27, 2023 Lorna Slater should be sacked for gross incompetence over this ruinous deposit return scheme (DRS) and for taking a £100,000 + salary under false pretences. Far from cracking down on waste and unnecessary spending - the Scottish Greens are source of waste and unnecessary spending.      Green Clowns and Unholy Alliances ( February 27, 2023 ) Jesus wept. So  @lornaslater  knows her Deposit Return Scheme needs a UKIMA exemption; doesn’t have one; hasn’t even applied for one; yet demands businesses sign up to the scheme *by tomorrow*? This is clown car stuff.  https://t.co/RoVOf2F2uy — Roddy Dunlop KC (@RoddyQC)  February 27, 2023 Lorna Slater is an a ministerial 'non-job' specially created for her so the SNP and Greens together could vote down any future votes of n...

Humza Yousaf was Scotland's Justice Minister between June 2018 and May 2021 and played a huge role in developing the SNP's policy of placing male prisoners in the female prison estate. Private Eye makes the whole business look absurd and deservedly so since no law exists anywhere in the UK stating that a 'trans woman' is a woman, not least because a trans woman is a man - a biological male. My are some of my favourite lines from the Private Eye poem on the 'Historic Struggle to Create an Independent Scottish Prisons Policy' -  "But Nicola's discomfort was not helped by the embarrassing news "That a trans woman prisoner was formerly a male rapist in troos. "In the uproar, the Justice Secretary said he would not intervene,  "But this was before Sturgeon noticed how this farce was being seen, "So suddenly the self-defining women was sent to a man's prison Brilliant, funny, priceless!    

Two months ago, Humza Yousaf voted for Nicola Sturgeon’s gender recognition reforms. Now he rejects their core provision. Make sense of that, if you can. https://t.co/cRQQJvOWgp — alexmassie (@alexmassie) February 27, 2023 A terrific column from Alex Massie which eviscerates any claim Humza Yousaf may have had to become SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland - in serious circles at least. Well worth a read. "Yousaf supported the gender recognition reforms two months ago. Now he disavows the bill’s core provision. Nothing has changed in the intervening period save that the bill’s opponents have been vindicated.  "Everything we know and see now was known and foreseen two months ago. If this is an advertisement for how Yousaf would lead the SNP then let us at least dispense with any pretence we were not given fair warning."      

Elvis Presley with the message for the SNP/Green Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) which is facing fierce criticism and appears to be unfit for purpose.

The Glasgow Times reports that cuts to the city’s cleansing and environmental services include dozens of job losses and scrapping glass recycling collections later this year. Purple bins which are currently collected from kerbside properties will no longer be used once the Scottish Government’s controversial DRS (Deposit Return) scheme is launched - at enormous public cost. Instead, people are expected to use the bottle return scheme where bottles are taken back to retailers, but it is not yet clear what residents are asked to do with glass that does not go back to shops, like jars.  Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

I have to admit I'm not convinced by this ScotGov Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) which is being driven by the wackadoodle Greens. Because the problem with litter around Glasgow city centre has much more to do with cardboard litter (food containers, wrappings etc) and bags of household rubbish - than it has to do with glass bottles and cans. For example, here's a photo I took the other day right just yards from Glasgow City Chambers - and it's the same right across the city.    

'Good Day Sunshine' from The Beatles - taken from their 1966 album Revolver.

Glasgow University and Kelvingrove Art Gallery pictured through the trees on a lovely sunny Sunday. Still a bit cold, mind you.  

Here's an interesting April 2021 post from my blog archive which puts Humza Yousaf (Scotland's Justice Secretary at the time) at the centre of the debate on self-ID and the treatment of rapists in the criminal justice system. Yousaf is now desperately trying to distance himself from self-ID given the enormous public backlash over the Adam 'Isla Bryson' Graham case, but it's crystal clear Humza's  fingerprints are all over the scene of a catastrophic policy failure.     Rape Suspects Can Choose To Identify As Female ( April 18, 2021 ) People have campaigned for years to have the crime of rape taken more seriously, but this ludicrous policy of self-identification is a terrible insult to victims and is making a mockery of Scotland's criminal justice system. And the Scottish Government seems to be adding to the confusion, according to report below in The Times.     https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rape-suspects-can-choose-to-self-identify-as-female-vfl67...