Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

Brand in talking to Piers Morgan for GQ’s 2006 “Man of the Year”. God, those were the days, eh pic.twitter.com/fmDmfF1suT — Kathleen Stock (@Docstockk) September 16, 2023 Russell Brand always came across as a terrible misogynist and now to no one's surprise he has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and abuse.  Read the full story in the link below to the Sunday Times.     This is the Brand story in all its grim detail. It ain’t pretty. Russell Brand accused of rape, sexual assaults and abuse https://t.co/aFrpUqeoMP — Andrew Neil (@afneil) September 16, 2023      

New estimates suggest the cost of Scotland's ferry fiasco vessels could reach £400m https://t.co/R4GUismPu5 — The Herald (@heraldscotland) September 29, 2023 Scotland's ghost ferries scandal is an albatross around the SNP's neck because no one has ever been held to account for what amounts to a national embarrassment. The truth is SNP ministers could have paid off the entire workforce, made them all millionaires and still had tens of millions left by having these two ferries built in Turkey. Yet more ferry woes as Scottish ministers are to carry out a review of soaring costs, reports @Martin1Williams https://t.co/rfJdvK7zsx — The Herald (@heraldscotland) September 30, 2023

Which SNP MP do you most want to see booted out at the General Election? For me, it's John Nicholson. — A Bairn of Jock Tamson (@nats_tired) September 29, 2023 The SNPs John Nicolson is certainly up there for his crazy views about men self-identifying as lesbians, but in a Holyrood election I'd like to see Humza Yousaf booted out for making a mockery of local democracy. Because an MSP who lives in the outskirts of Dundee cannot properly represent the good citizens of Glasgow Pollok.    Humza Yousaf - Making a Mockery of Local Democracy ( September 24, 2023 ) A kind reader (@WobbleyBØB) sent me this map which highlights the impossibility of Humza Yousaf representing the good citizens of Glasgow Pollok properly while living on the other side of Scotland - in Broughty Ferry on the outskirts of Dundee. Clearly the SNP and Yousaf are having a laugh because this arrangement makes a mockery of 'local' democracy and is insulting to voters in Glasgow.    Humza Yousaf - Making...

This looks like the SNP have given up on Rutherglen. It’s all over! pic.twitter.com/uosnuj5tJJ — Iain.lawson27 (@ILawson27) September 29, 2023 The famous song by Judy Collins jumped into my head as soon as I saw this photo.

I mean…. pic.twitter.com/HbjPWjQAJ2 — Julie Bindel (@bindelj) September 29, 2023 I wonder if Stonewall theatre goers  can be accompanied by an emotional support animal, eg example: cat, dog, donkey, armadillo, bengal tiger etc etc?

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover is a great delight and shock to the senses at the same time.

  John Boyne pokes some well deserved fun at Billy Bragg - a tiresome apologist for the trans crazies and 'He-mansplainer-in-chief' on everything/anything to do with women's rights. A little levity to brighten up a wet Friday morning.🙂 The people demanded it, so with apologies to AA Milne, the second in an occasional series: THE BALLAD OF BILLY BRAGG, AGE 65 ¾. 🎸 If you enjoy, please RT! pic.twitter.com/hc0j4923Iy — John Boyne (@JohnBoyneBooks) September 29, 2023  

The nob from Cabaret Against Hate - without his clown face on https://t.co/eRXqiOU20t — Karrie (@KarrieboKarrie) September 28, 2023 The concept of self-ID and men becoming women through the power of their imaginations is completely absurd and of no educational value whatsoever. In fact, it's akin to teaching kids nonsense that the earth is flat, or that the moon is made of green cheese - it's anti-science, anti-reason and anti-women.

Nicola Sturgeon has just turned up to support a ferry protest on Arran. — Brian Spossi (@BrianSpanner1) September 28, 2023 Brian Spanner has great fun with Nicola Sturgeon's sudden appearance on a picket line after years of presiding over cuts to Scottish council funding. For her next trick, Spanner suggests, Sturgeon may turn up to support a ferry protest on Arran! Who knows, maybe the former FM will prove irony is not dead by giving Humza Yousaf pelters over the delay in dualling the A9.  This is like when the killer turns up at the crime scene for a wee look. pic.twitter.com/VjmOqy8FdQ — Brian Spossi (@BrianSpanner1) September 28, 2023   Dracula, Blood Banks and Scotland's Councils ( September 28, 2023 ) How daft is Unison in allowing itself to be manipulated so easily by the MSP for Glasgow Southside? It's like inviting Count Dracula to a local blood bank!  

Opinion | Fergus Ewing is a horror not a hero. "Dinosaurs are supposed to be extinct, but Ewing’s continued presence confirms one is still rampaging through Holyrood." https://t.co/yXN4VoYQzU — Paul Hutcheon (@paulhutcheon) September 27, 2023 The words 'Gonzo journalism' jumped into my head when I read Paul Hutcheon's astonishingly personal attack on the SNP's Fergus Ewing. Especially as the rebel MSP has been proved right with all his recent criticism of government policy, eg the Deposit Return Scheme, Highly Protected Marine Areas, dualling the A9, or the nonsense of self-ID and men magically declaring themselves to be women.   In a separate interview with Scotland Tonight Hutcheon has the cheek to opine that Fergus Ewing might be "...too right wing for the Conservatives....".   

Jeffery Marsh appears to be barely holding it together as he reacts to someone calling him a predator. 😏It’s rare that I enjoy watching one of these videos. pic.twitter.com/s1RvEPLugk — L G B (@L__G__B) September 27, 2023 Jeffrey Marsh rambles on about 'pain' after being called out as a predator, but his creepy social media videos targeting vulnerable kids have produced a predictable backlash - and rightly so! Creepy Guys and Social Media ( March 11, 2023 ) As if some creepy guy on social media is a good judge of what's in the best interests of someone else's child.    

Sorry @unisonscot / @UNISONScotLGvt - but you're looking at the wrong person for solidarity there ; Since 2007, over £1.5 Billion was cut from Council Budgets - and she had been in charge for most of that time... https://t.co/UQmHTHkWzF — 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗺𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗜𝗧 🌹🐝🗿 (@graeme_from_IT) September 28, 2023 How daft is Unison in allowing itself to be manipulated so easily by the MSP for Glasgow Southside? It's like inviting Count Dracula to a local blood bank!

The debate over sex and gender is not a culture war. Instead it's a battle over what is real and objectively true - versus what is false and make-believe. Politicians like Humza Yousaf and Patrick want Scots to believe this man is a woman which he clearly is not - nor does he have any place in women's sport. Not because of his terrible choice of costume, but because his physiology gives him and other men a huge, unfair advantage over women swimmers.     

There are deeper problems, here: these people were expecting it, seem delighted to film it, did nothing to prevent or mitigate it. No-one comes to the victim's aid. No-one soothes or holds her. The alienation is real. pic.twitter.com/M8aTVCM2K4 — Adhib ❤️ the SDP (@adhib) September 28, 2023 A young male masquerading as a girl launched a cowardly, premeditated attack (from behind) on a girl student while one of his friends videos the violent assault. Trans crazies are their own worst enemy - no wonder there is a huge public backlash against this nonsense.  

One of my favourite songs which never fails to put a smile on my face and a spring in my step. Cass Elliot and 'Make Your Own Kind Of Music' from 1969.

That’s a man. I don’t believe men can be women “inside” (like a “gendered soul” 🤡). I don’t accept him speaking for me or other women in situations where a woman should have been chosen or consulted. https://t.co/dbRHDRm3AH — Farrah (@australianwoma1) September 15, 2023 What to make of this dire effort from Melissa, a man who self-IDs as a woman - is it better or worse than Australia's famous 'budgie smuggler' swimwear? Worse, I fear.

👇👇 pic.twitter.com/0t3f0NiC7n — Marko Polo (@markthehibby) September 26, 2023 Scottish Green minister Lorna Slater has a very highly paid £100,000 a year job especially created for her by the SNP. Yet Slater takes no responsibility for the total collapse of Scotland's deposit return scheme (DRS) with the loss of £9 million in funding from the Scottish government - and the prospect of major compensation claims from the private sector.   In reality Slater had one job, failed miserably and deserves to be sacked.        Sack Slater and Ditch the Greens ( March 01, 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. Because far from cracking down on waste and unnecessary spending the Scottish Greens are a constant source of waste and unnecessary spending - their only purpose is to act as human shields for SNP Ministers and to protect them from votes ...