Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

It's astonishing and powerfully symbolic that Gordon Brown and Anas Sarwar are attending Alex Salmond's funeral, while Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have not been invited.

Martina Navratilova blasts NY Times for calling biological females 'non-transgender women' https://t.co/9tM05NsXOK pic.twitter.com/fEXJtBTdWG — Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) November 29, 2024 Martina Navratilova calls out the latest woke nonsense of referring to women as 'non-transgender women'. What a load of old trans baloney - from the same stable as the concept of pregnant men.

The Times reports that Scottish ministers fear a big public backlash over their plans to bring eye watering pay rises for local councillors. Scotland's councillors are the best paid in the UK, but a bumper 22% pay increase is on the cards - at a time when the Scottish government and local councils face major cuts in services while imposing higher charges. For good reason SNP ministers fear the message being sent to council tax payers is - Pay More, Get Less! Read the Times report below. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/snp-ministers-fear-public-backlash-over-pay-rise-for-councillors-8g6bmwpq0 Ministers fear public backlash over 22% pay rise for councillors An independent report says the leader of Glasgow council should be paid £67,662, the same as an MSP - photo Alamy The leader of Edinburgh council would receive the same  By  John Boothman  - The Times SNP ministers fear a public backlash if they fund a promised pay rise for councillors that would result in l...

The Herald reports that SNP ministers are planning to take the shackles off local councils by lifting the current council tax freeze. At the same time the Scottish government is planning a big 22% pay increase for local councillors. No wonder SNP ministers fear a backlash from the public.  Pay Bonanza For Local Councillors? ( November 19, 2024 ) I understand that the Holyrood's local government committee has rubber stamped the Scottish government's plans for a big increase in councillors pay. The majority of Scotland's councillors (already the highest paid in the UK) are currently part-time, but SNP ministers are proposing they should now all be classified as full-time which means a big 22% salary increase in a single year! At the same time the council tax is expected to rise steeply  along with higher charges and cuts in local services - while this big increase in councillors' pay will cost  the taxpayer an extra £8 million a year. So the SNP's message is 'Pay ...

Sir Rod Stewart on top form with a big hit from his 1978 album 'Blondes Have More Fun'.

  So Gregg Wallace is under investigation as a sex pest, but Sir Rod Stewart's criticism didn't hit miss him and hit the wall! To add insult to injury Sir Rod spelled his name with just one 'g'. Ouch!

Is that a TQ+ type Jag? — Mark Irvine (@Mark1957) November 29, 2024 Jaguar has really let standards slip of late - what with awful TV adverts and and its new TQ+ model.  Hands up - who thinks the old E-Type was so much better?

Todays’ @spectator cartoon: pic.twitter.com/HadNUVIdeM — Christina Dalcher (@CV_Dalcher) November 29, 2024 Christina shared a great cartoon from The Spectator. The SNP government insists that wolves can indeed be sheep, but only if they have the correct paperwork!  Eat your heart out, John Swinney.

For Women Scotland (FWS) have posted links to the UK Supreme Court 'What Is A Woman' hearing. The four sessions involves submissions from FWS and Sex Matters - and response of the Scottish government. https://forwomen.scot/29/11/2024/uk-supreme-court-the-hearing/ Well worth a watch!

Just a reminder of the complete and utter bias of @GlennBBC . This is truly astonishing. pic.twitter.com/6t0qCXSLPU — The Ayrshire Separatist (@DanielJMath1) November 28, 2024 The BBC's Glenn Campbell came under attack from SNP supporters for pointing out (fairly) that UK Labour ministers have raised the extra money which might now be used to fund a watered down version of the Winter Fuel Allowance in 2025. SNP ministers raised no money of their own, of course.

John Swinney has contradicted his own government’s legal position after admitting that he does not believe men can become pregnant ⬇️ https://t.co/VMIJL54EPl — The Times and The Sunday Times Scotland (@timesscotland) November 28, 2024 The Times reports on John Swinney facing the opposite way from his own SNP Government which argued in the UK Supreme Court this week - that there is such a thing as a 'pregnant man'.  How absurd!

🚨A male surf coach entered a women's surfing contest in California to protest its policy allowing trans-identified males to compete against women. Calder Nold dominated the competition prior to being disqualified, with some accusing him of "transphobia." https://t.co/KcDpG2vQod — REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) November 28, 2024 An male surf coach entered a women's surfing competition to illustrate the absurdity of allowing men to self-ID and pretend they are women! After dominating the women's event Calder Nold was disqualified for making the trans crazies look foolish! 

A teenager who filmed himself driving with his knees before crashing - paralysing a mother from the neck down - has been jailed for two years and two months Read more ⬇️ https://t.co/Bsu7GK4jJF — Sky News (@SkyNews) November 26, 2024 I'm not sure what the sentence should be for such reckless, idiotic and dangerous behaviour - being young, selfish and stupid is no excuse But two years and two months for causing devastation to another human being seems like a sick joke - he's likely to be freed in less than a year  

John Swinney says men can't get pregnant - while his Government's lawyers say they can https://t.co/Ain3xIOrzS — Tom Gordon (@DMScotPol) November 28, 2024 So the SNP is like the Pushmi-Pullyu from Dr Doolittle when it comes to self-ID and gender recognition. Scottish Government's lawyers told the UK Supreme Court that men can get pregnant while John Swinney, SNP leader and First Minister, says they can't. Tom Gordon explains in his piece for the Daily Mail. Can SNP ministers get any more ridiculous?

SNP run Glasgow City Council (GCC) paid its outgoing chief executive Annemarie O'Donnell and extra £357,000 so she could retire early without any reduction in her pension - a scheme that is not available to other council workers. Now this has happened before - I complained in 2018 to GCC about a previous 'golden goodbye' payment worth £120,079 to the council's outgoing director of finance, Lynn Brown. I also wrote to the council leader, Susan Aitken, and other Glasgow councillors to highlight a case of clear favouritism towards a senior council official. Now the details of Annemarie O'Donnell's leaving package had to be agreed by the council's most senior officials and it beggars belief that GCC's political leaders were not told about - or did not ask about - the terms on which their long serving CEO was retiring early. I'll happily share what I know with the lawyer and external auditors being brought in to conduct a 'fat cat' probe.

I'll be at the Supreme Court tomorrow for the crucial What Is A Woman? hearing featuring For Women Scotland (FWS) and a legal team representing the bampot supporters of self-ID. I've been at the Supremes before - in 2013 when the court decided in my favour over a freedom of information (FoI) request to South Lanarkshire Council on equal pay. The Council initially refused my request, but I appealed to the Scottish Information Commissioner who ordered the Council to release the pay data. The Council then appealed to the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court, which ruled in favour of Mark Irvine and the Scottish Information Commissioner - but foolishly the Council appealed again to the UK Supreme Court. The Supreme Court dismissed the Council's appeal and the rest is history - although it's worth pointing out that the trade unions (Unison, GMB and Unite) were all on the council's (the employer's) side. I hope this is a good omen.   South Lanarkshire ...