Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

Nicola Sturgeon has admitted deleting WhatsApp messages during the pandemic - despite once promising bereaved families nothing would be off limits. @C4Ciaran explains how a question he asked in 2021 is at this heart of the row. pic.twitter.com/ITc7JnhwYX — Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) January 31, 2024 Ciaran Jenkins' asked a memorable question of Nicola Sturgeon about openness and transparency at the height of the Covid pandemic in August 2021. For his trouble the eminently reasonable Channel 4 news  presenter was met with a disdainful, snotty reply - a nasty put-down - and told that 'nothing will be off limits'. Yet we now know Nicola lied to the press and the public because the former First Minister had already deleted her WhatsApp messages - as had many of her ministers and closest advisers.

As Nicola Sturgeon found out first hand as the former First Minister was roundly booed leaving the Covid Inquiry after a comprehensive mauling at the hands of Jamie Dawson KC who asked her: "The story of Covid in Scotland is the story of the hubris of Nicola Sturgeon, is it not?" The families of the bereaved were not impressed either and their spokesperson Pamela Thomas said:  “I don’t think they are capable of telling the truth of being transparent like they are portraying they are. “Her crocodile tears are not washing with me."  

Just let trans people pee in peace and get the treatment they need in hospital without branding them as the biggest threat to humanity. Jesus Christ. — Thomas Willett (@ThomasWillett9) January 30, 2024 Now here's a 'problem' that's easily solved. All that’s needed to achieve this is for the trans lobby to drop the absurdity of self-ID, respect women’s boundaries and their right to single sex spaces - including women's sports.

How does an SNP Scottish Government minister suddenly find a phone? Mobile phones are issued by the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliament - they are public property paid for with public money. When they are replaced the old phone should be returned - because they are worth money and can be passed to 'good cause' schemes in the UK or abroad via the Scottish Government or Scottish Parliament, of course.  So how does Humza Yousaf just find an old phone at home in Broughty Ferry since should have been impossible for all kinds of good reasons - including security.

As everyone knows, it's impossible to turn back time and stop the ageing process. Likewise it's impossible for a man to become a woman just because he says he's a woman - or even a girl as some grown men insultingly claim on social media. Yet the SNP led Scottish Government insists it knows better - despite the fact that gender ideology and self-ID are firmly opposed by the general public and just about anyone who's not an ideologue when it comes to sex versus gender issues.  

Canada is more bonkers than most when it comes to self-ID and gender ideology, but even there the penny is dropping that it's not acceptable for a middle-aged man (Nicholas Cepeda) to be sharing single sex spaces with teenage girls.

Five of the players at this women's college volleyball tournament in Toronto were men. Imagine being a female athlete sitting on the sidelines watching men get all the game time. The schools and coaches allowing this are destroying girls' athletic careers (via @RebelNewsOnline ) pic.twitter.com/ZfmPbgTAYq — Meghan Murphy (@MeghanEMurphy) January 31, 2024 Men who self-ID as women are still men of course. When it comes to women's sports men who self-ID are displacing women and making the concept of women's sport completely meaningless. Also known as cheating.

God above! Scottish politics is beginning to resemble the 'Quite a Ride' episode (S4, E 5) of 'Better Call Saul' where Jimmy McGill and his dodgy burner phones take centre stage. How embarrassing - why would any minister (never mind the First Minister) suddenly require an extra 'cheapy' device when the Scottish Government provides ministers with mobile phones and tablets at public expense? 

John Swinney's evidence to the Covid Inquiry today was a toe-curling, cringe-making embarrassment. Turns out the Scottish Government managed the pandemic through a strategic 'Gold Command' committee controlled by the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon. Remarkably the ScotGov finance minister, Kate Forbes, was excluded from these meetings in 2020 - and e ven more remarkably someone decided there was no need to take minutes or keep official records.  It would be funny, if it were not so serious.

As the Yousafs continue their efforts at cosying up to the Erdogans it's only fair to point out that Mrs Erdogan is a really nasty piece of work. 'Er Indoors (aka Emine Erdogan) didn't appreciate being photographed with a $50,000 dollar Hermes bag while on a visit to Japan with her husband, Turkey's despotic President Recep Erdogan. So much so that the Turkish journalist who wrote the story, Ender Imrek, ended up in court charged with slander for not attributing 'good qualities' to the President's wife. And when Ender Imrek was acquitted of the charge 'Er Indoors somehow managed to appeal the decision, no doubt with Recep's support and approval. Thankfully the case was finally thrown out on the grounds of freedom of expression, but why would the Yousafs want to cuddle up to such a nasty pair - or is that a daft question? https://bianet.org/haber/emine-erdogan-appeals-columnist-s-acquittal-over-article-about-her-hermes-bag-237407  Emine Erdoğan appeal...