Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

So Celtic face another big fine from UEFA after its self-styled 'ultras' defied the club with a show of support for the Palestinian resistance - currently led by murderous death squads from Hamas who target innocent Israeli civilians, and are doing nothing to help their own besieged citizens. Do they really care about the club? I say 'No', but it doesn't really matter as they think they know better than everyone else including those charged with running Celtic FC. To my mind the Celtic board need to get themselves some backbone - because the 'ultras' are given special privileges which include unsupervised access and early access to the stadium. Bonkers or what? The underlying problem is Celtic FC is dealing with a faceless, nameless group who behave as if they are only accountable to themselves which, at present, they are of course.  And if the 'ultras' continue to thumb their nose at the club, Celtic should remove all special privileges and make pla...

The Israeli President: https://t.co/Y71hwZW2IA — Elad Simchayoff (@Elad_Si) October 30, 2023 Shami Louk's mother heard of her daughter's death yesterday after the young woman had been kidnapped and spirited away into Gaza. Previously Shani's apparently lifeless, semi-naked body had been paraded as a trophy in the back of a truck by barbaric, sadistic, racist men - masquerading as Hamas 'freedom fighters'. Hamas is the problem - not the solution.

Dear god Len. How low can you go? https://t.co/Us4MIZYMxI — Dennis Noel Kavanagh (@Jebadoo2) October 30, 2023 The odious Len McCluskey is the trade union movement's answer to Worzel Gummidge (Len of course is a big fan of Jeremy Corbyn).  I mean who would take seriously Len's crazy conspiracy theory that Israel was well aware of the Hamas plan to slaughter innocent Israeli civilians on October 7, but just stood aside and allowed this to happen?

Miami (Wynwood), FL - a man caught ripping down posters of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas terrorists mockingly sticks his tongue out at the camera as he realizes he is being filmed. pic.twitter.com/WX1ahZ2uwm — StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 29, 2023 I can't think of any reason people would rip down posters of innocent Israeli civilians kidnapped, taken hostage and spirited away into Gaza by Hamas - other than naked Jew hate. Students of New York University ripping down posters with the information about, and pictures of, the Israeli children kidnapped by Hamas pic.twitter.com/xZMV9FasmG — Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 17, 2023 NEW: Miami dentist Ahmed Elkoussa has been fired after he unknowingly went viral for ripping down posters of kidnapped Israelis The incident happened on Tuesday & by Wednesday he was fired from his job. In a blistering statement, CG Smile blasted Elkoussa for being a terrorist… pic.twitter.com/iibkbSWaWq — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) O...

The SNP's missing messages scandal gets curiouser and curiouser. Humza Yousaf insists it was Scottish Government policy to delete WhatsApp texts without explaining why, but says he did not follow the policy and kept his WhatsApp messages. What a mess!  

Philip Collins with an interesting article in The Times on what constitutes a 'just war' while noting the prospects for peace in the region seem as distant as ever.  "The proposed settlement included a demilitarised Palestinian state in 92 per cent of the West Bank and 100 per cent of the Gaza strip. Most Israeli settlements would be dismantled. East Jerusalem would be the capital of the Palestinian state, and sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem would be split in half. Refugees would have the right to return to the Palestinian state and a vast international programme would facilitate their rehabilitation. Arafat said no, and a furious Clinton told him: 'You are leading your people and the region to a catastrophe'." https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/is-this-a-just-war-lets-apply-some-tests-30rrcfp2q Is this a just war? Let’s apply some tests To be morally legitimate, military action requires a righteous cause — but also a fair chance of achieving its ob...

I went to the local oldies meet up. They decided to let us carve pumpkins. Mine won best in show. I nearly cut my fingers off doing it but it was well worth it. Some of the old dears gasped, but once one laughed they all did 🤭. This is me, growing old disgracefully ❤️ pic.twitter.com/fldUi2CAJz — Muriel. 💜🤍💚 (@MurielMbe) October 25, 2023 Growing old disgracefully - great post, great lantern. Happy Halloween!

Globalisation gets a bad name, in some circles these days, but one of its many unsung benefits is the ability to buy pumpkins in the new global marketplace which has freed the Scottish people from the drudgery of celebrating Halloween with the dreaded 'neep'. Now a 'neep' is a turnip and for readers too young to remember the days of having to make a Halloween lantern out of a rock hard turnip. So here's a hilarious YouTube video from Scot Scran which captures the insanity of these bygone days rather brilliantly. If you ask me, this mollycoddled generation of younger Scots don't seem to realise - they've never had it so good!  

Are you serious? This individual spoke at the totally-not-antisemitic “Palestine Writes” event at @Penn . I could not be more disgusted with Penn, which is pretty impressive after the way they treat women & Jews, & ignored a prof physically assaulting me pic.twitter.com/xoNzQgY8rn — Danni (@DanniBrener) October 30, 2023 Anyone who can make this kind of horrendous comment about the murder of a baby has to be a Hamas supporter  - an apologist for terrorism and the barbaric Hamas attacks on innocent civilians in Israel.    

Berlin 1933. The brownshirts held their rally then marched to a Jewish owned shop to make the staff & their customers feel unsafe. Glasgow 2023. The anti semites held their rally then marched to a Jewish owned shop to make the staff & their customers feel unsafe. #ScotlandsShame pic.twitter.com/7Cs5Ew8s1Y — Biology Rules Ok (@OkayBiology) October 30, 2023 An angry mob targets Marks & Spencer in Glasgow's Argyle Street - chanting slogans about Israel and terrorism while having nothing to say about Hamas and its horrific attack on Israeli civilians which has triggered the latest crisis in Gaza.       

The latest scandal over missing WhatsApp messages proves one thing - Scotland's supposedly independent civil service has been turned into a tame lapdog after 16 years of SNP rule.   Primo Levy's scathing dismissal of these Yes Men and Women is spot on - "...functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking any questions." Scotland's Craven Civil Service Under the SNP ( August 09, 2023 ) Magnus Linklater's opinion piece on how craven Scotland's civil service has become under the SNP could not have come at a better time! The civil servants who authorised public money to be spent on nail varnish, yoga classes and driving lessons ought to be hauled before MSPs to explain their cowardly behaviour. As should self-aggrandising SNP ministers who think they should be treated 'like royalty' in airports. Scotland's Craven Civil Service ( August 03, 2023 ) Magnus Linklater has a real go at what Scotland's once proud, independent civil service ha...

An MP being attacked and shouted down by an angry mob is no laughing matter and Chris Law can count probably himself lucky he didn't meet the same fate as the high priest character in Monty Python's Life of Brian.  Hamas and Gaza - The Mask Slips ( October 29, 2023 ) The mask slips as an angry mob turn on the  SNP MP (Chris Law) for daring to criticise Hamas whose murderous attack on innocent Israeli civilians has triggered the latest crisis in Gaza.

The Scottish government has auto-deleted its integrity. My Times column on the WhatsApp scandal https://t.co/0QDf2CUWvG — Iain Macwhirter (@iainmacwhirter) October 30, 2023 Iain Macwhirter on the missing messages mystery which is beginning to look like an organised cover-up, b ut where indeed was Scotland's 'independent' civil service when SNP politicians were behaving with such a terrible lack of integrity?   "It should’ve been self-evident to ministers that deleting electronic messages is as reckless as deleting emails and paper documents. Indeed, it beggars belief that civil servants didn’t raise this matter with ministers at the time they were apparently deleting WhatsApp conversations en masse. They must have known that this would look like the crudest of cover-ups."  

Green minister Lorna Slater tells the BBC she does not have a Scottish government phone, so exactly how do civil servants and other people contact her at work? Surely Lorna is not using a personal mobile phone to conduct government business?   Martin Geisler interviewing Lorna Slater today. Asks why she doesn't have a government phone. She responds " For exactly this reason, so that all the work that I do is on that government device and can clearly be seen". CONFUSED?Anas Sarwar, hope you're listening. pic.twitter.com/kpvOzrG4io — SHOUT OUT! (@DonoghueMs) October 29, 2023

Reports suggest Sturgeon and Yousaf deleted WhatsApp Covid messages https://t.co/E95PP3ippt — The Herald (@heraldscotland) October 29, 2023 Now this should be a very simple matter for the Scottish Government to clear up - which ministers and officials deleted their WhatsApp messages during Covid and why?   It's an odd thing to do and clearly people did not act on their own independently of each other - that would be absurd.  

A UN amendment which “unequivocally reject[ed] and condemn[ed] the terrorist attacks by Hamas that took place in Israel starting on 7 October 2023 and the taking of hostages” failed to reach the required two-thirds majority. Every country that rejected or abstained from it have… pic.twitter.com/jzCK5qclRX — Stephen Knight 🎙️ (@GSpellchecker) October 29, 2023 Astonishing that 88 countries either voted against (55) or abstained (23) on a UN motion which condemned the taking of hostages and Hamas attacks on innocent Israeli citizens on October 07. All the major Arab Muslim countries failed to take a stand against Islamist terrorism.   

Humza Yousaf praised Ash Regan as a 'straight talker' during the SNP leadership campaign, but now says she is 'no great loss' after her decision to leave the SNP for Alba. “Ash, I think it’s fair to say, is straight talking. And actually in a time when politicians can obfuscate, in a time when politicians can equivocate, straight talking is a pretty good strength to have.” Humza Yousaf sings the praises of Ash Regan pic.twitter.com/z1YWcKMCEj — Sam Taylor (@staylorish) October 28, 2023  

‘Can you guarantee to the bereaved families that you will disclose emails, WhatsApps, private emails if you’ve been using them. Whatever. That nothing will be off limits in this inquiry?’ My question to @NicolaSturgeon August 2021 pic.twitter.com/OJDCBTESCe — Ciaran Jenkins (@C4Ciaran) October 29, 2023 Nicola Sturgeon gives an assurance to Chanel 4's Ciaran Jenkins that emails, WhatsApps, and private emails will all be shared   when it comes to the public inquiry into the Covid pandemic -  and that  'nothing will be off limits' . What a joke!

🆕 SNP MP Chris Law booed and forced to abandon his speech at a Palestine solidarity demo in Dundee after telling the crowd he has equal sympathy with Israelis and Palestinians and condemns "everyone". #StopGazaGenocide #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/KgK9fV9lhl — Heckle (@heckle_scot) October 28, 2023 The mask slips as an angry mob turn on the  SNP MP (Chris Law) for daring to criticise Hamas whose murderous attack on innocent Israeli civilians has triggered the latest crisis in Gaza.   

  Trans zealots are their own worst enemy, as is proved here with the hilarious and very public falling-out between Freda Wallace and India Willoughby - two often obnoxious men who self-ID as women.

I was going to go out for a curry last night, but stayed in instead and made an old-fashioned chicken stew with chicken thighs (very economical), onions, roasted garlic, carrots, potatoes, lentils, cannellini beans and parsley.

To lose one parliamentarian may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two... BREAKING: Former SNP leadership contender Ash Regan defects to Alba party https://t.co/nMhiaj7dyU pic.twitter.com/nHLkKhuotH — Tom Gordon (@HTScotPol) October 28, 2023 Humza Yousaf's SNP is all over the place these days as yet another leading figure jumps ship - this time to Alba.  

🔥👇👇👇So Scottish Government Minister Patrick Harvie reckons tens of thousands of deleted WhatsApp messages is NO big deal as they were only ever used for "Really, really trivial" matters. Oh yeah, like the 'Vietnam' group? pic.twitter.com/tYpacuG3jb — Marko Polo (@markthehibby) October 27, 2023 Ha ha ha ha ha - so much for openness and transparency! What a load of baloney from Patrick Harvie and the Greens - Humza Yousaf & Co are certainly getting their money's worth out of the Bute House Agreement!

😂😂 pic.twitter.com/EZvaYBPR2f — Dai 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧 (@daikhood) October 23, 2023 I've had this problem myself in the past, but if a neighbourly word doesn't work, I've always found it does wonders to post all the fag doubts through the offender's letterbox!