Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

This is the chonkiest bear I’ve ever seen!! 🐻 pic.twitter.com/D3O0HllPXQ — Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) December 3, 2024 Humans can't outrun a bear so they say, but I think I'd fancy my chances with this one!  

Glasgow City Council chief executive Annemarie O'Donnell left her employment with a £357,845 top up to her pension pot - a hugely generous 'golden goodbye' after 10 years in the job. A timely reminder that Annemarie and SNP council leader Susan Aitken defended Glasgow's 'unfit for purpose' pay arrangements all the way to Scotland's highest civil court, the Court of Session, where they lost twice in 2018. Someone will have to explain how this £357,845 payment is remotely justified in the circumstances. Glasgow, 'Good Riddance' and Equal Pay (February 08, 2024) Glasgow City Council’s first and, so far, only female chief executive, Annemarie O’Donnell, has announced she is stepping down and taking early retirement. The usual ‘gushing tribute’ has been paid by the SNP council leader, Susan Aitken (see below), but it would be remiss of me not to say ‘Good Riddance’ on behalf of all the low paid, predominantly women workers who had to fight GCC tooth and n...

EXC: SNP-led Glasgow council spent over £6m on golden goodbyes for staff after cutting services. The payments averaged £62k per person. https://t.co/j2MXFzZiq8 https://t.co/j2MXFzZiq8 — Paul Hutcheon (@paulhutcheon) December 3, 2024 Paul Hutcheon in the Daily Record reports that SNP led Glasgow City Council has spent over £6 million on 'golden goodbyes' for senior officials. The latest example - a £357,845 payment to outgoing chief executive Annemarie O'Donnell - was yet another terrible waste of public money. The chief executive's job had to be replaced so there was no question of a redundancy situation and this latest debacle has been taking place right under the noses of senior council leaders. 

No Jews. No news. 👨‍🎨 @zbengolem pic.twitter.com/J059a8kP53 — The Mossad: Satirical and Awesome (@TheMossadIL) December 3, 2024 If you can't laugh at the hypocrisy of politicians, you have definitely lost your sense of humour 

Believe it or not, one of the women in this photo is trans. Do you know which one? No. Because it’s literally impossible to tell. pic.twitter.com/mNBW7eY7a4 — 🙏🌧🌍 (@godblesstoto) November 11, 2024 The world has wised up to the nonsense of men invading women's single sex spaces - it's not about 'being kind'. It's about respecting women's boundaries - and their rights to privacy, security and fair competition in sport.

This beautiful young man with kind, smiling eyes is Adir. He bravely fought monsters on the morning of October 7th, but they were not satisfied with his death alone. They beheaded him. Next, the cowards, masked and shameless, made a video of themselves holding his head and… pic.twitter.com/5RxwcVoq6a — נועה מגיד | Noa magid (@NoaMagid) December 2, 2024 Palestinian fanatics are in control of Islamist groups like Hamas - religious zealots capable of unimaginable cruelty like the ones who desecrated Adir Tahar's body and tried to sell his severed head. https://orato.world/2024/03/03/after-october-7-attack-on-israel-hamas-tries-to-sell-soldiers-severed-head-for-10000/

The amount of news coverage devoted to Gregg Wallace is completely overblown, but the real scandal is the failure of the BBC to take action long ago against such an obnoxious, misogynistic boor. 

Hard to think of a more damaging move for Joe Biden to make in his final days at the White House - handing his son Hunter a  Presidential pardon is unprincipled, unjustified  and unforgivable. 

Here's a post from the blog site archive featuring some more of the 'goings on' at Glasgow City Council. Regular readers will recall that the City Council agreed to allow its director of finance, Lynn Brown, to retire early which would normally require the employee involved to accept a reduction in their pension benefits.   But in this case, for reasons which have never been fully explained, the Council also agreed to boost the executive director's pension benefits by making an extra, discretionary payment of £120,000 (net) into the Strathclyde Pension Scheme. Can anyone imagine the same generosity of spirit being shown towards Glasgow's carers, cooks, cleaners, catering workers or classroom assistants?   Glasgow's 'Golden Goodbyes' (23/06/18) Lots of people have commented on my post about the £120,000 'gifted' to Glasgow's outgoing director of finance, Lynn Brown, so that she could access her pension early - and here's just a selection ...

Does anyone now the name of the lawyer and external accountants who have been appointed to conduct the Glasgow City Council 'fat cat' probe? Because I raised this very issue with SNP run Glasgow City Council back in 2018 and I also complained to Audit Scotland, the public spending watchdog. So I am keen to pass on what I know about these absurd 'golden goodbye' payments. Glasgow, Fat Cats and the SNP ( November 27, 2024 ) 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...

For those who couldn't attend the landmark 'What is a woman?' hearing at the UK Supreme Court - here's a handy summary of the case!

A trans woman is not a woman in the same way Batman is not a bat - even if he self-ID's as a bat and hangs upside down in a cave. Great video from Francis Aaron.

I enjoyed this Private Eye cartoon which provides further evidence that Batman is not a real bat - despite his council planning issues with bats.  

🤡Jeffrey Marsh compares himself to JESUS as he continues to spiral. Proof that it’s a cult/religion to these people. pic.twitter.com/jiv7B4BvBB — L G B (@L__G__B) November 28, 2024 There are lots of weird, creepy men on social media - some even compare themselves to Jesus!

Lucy is quoted in this article by @hannahsbee , on the arguments made by the Scottish Government in the FWS case, and the negative consequences for women. https://t.co/33xEJ8pQIM — MurrayBlackburnMackenzie (@mbmpolicy) November 29, 2024 Hannah Barnes on the 'What is a woman'? hearing at the UK Supreme Court.  Hannah is justifiably scornful about the gaslighting behaviour of the Scottish government and its ministers.   "Two things stood out as I followed the case on day two: that women (in Scotland in particular), were being gaslit by the Scottish government; and lesbians were, in effect, being told by the Scottish government that they were no longer protected in law according to their sexual orientation.  "By virtue of a legal piece of paper, it was argued, a “heterosexual male” could become a lesbian woman overnight. These were the words of Scottish government lawyers."  

Chickens for KFC pic.twitter.com/Esvfc3n5yo — The Electronic Uprising (@uprising_1) November 30, 2024 So dumb it hurts - 'Queers for Palestine' proclaim their opposition to colonialism while either oblivious or uncaring about the history of Islam.    

Y'know, it's almost as if the UN and the ICC hold one country to a completely different standard from all the others. https://t.co/Ln8hahCczF — Rob Marchant (@rob_marchant) December 1, 2024 Fair comment from Rob Marchant - Israel does seem to be singled out for special treatment and in a way that doesn't apply to some of its Muslim neighbours.

Of course, that's what he's aiming for. (The caption is his.) pic.twitter.com/xmbb9U3tLk — Gay Not Queer (@Gaynotqueer1) November 30, 2024 I imagine this poor chap is confusing 'bemused' with 'long'.

  I made a big mistake the other day - I wasted over 2 hours of my life watching Gladiator II which is the worst movie I've seen in a very long time. The sequel is not a patch on the original, the plot is risible and the acting is a wooden as a gladiator's training sword. You have been warned!