Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

I dropped by the Glasgow Friends of Israel (GFI) stall in Buchanan Street the other day and had a chat with a nice group of interesting people. Unlike the pro-Hamas protesters who gather in Glasgow periodically to shout dumb slogans about driving Israel and Israelis into the sea - although they use to the word Zionist as code language for Israelis and Jews. The GFI people are keen to talk about peace e ven though the dreadful atrocities of October 7 and subsequent war in Gaza have made the prospect of a two state solution more difficult than ever to achieve.  Hamas are not interested in peace of course - they are an Islamist terrorist organisation committed to the destruction of Israel as evidenced by the two extracts below from the Hamas Charter.

The SNP's reputation for competence and sound government gradually disappeared during Nicola Sturgeon's spell as First Minister - most recently with the debacle over self-ID and transgender nonsense. But there are lost of other examples - notably the failure to close the attainment gap in education which has been a miserable failure and an issue on which Sturgeon herself asked to be judged. John Swinney should also be judged on education, of course, as the SNP's minister for education between 2016 and 2021 - the Scottish government is now slashing targets for cutting the attainment gap and won't publish performance results until after the next Holyrood elections.

Ben thinks there is a difference between men, and men wearing women’s clothes. Don’t be like Ben, Ben is a fuckwit https://t.co/a99RULwGZP pic.twitter.com/FNyttfWOR4 — Dr Alan Bleaching. PpDc DPhil(a) (@alanbleaching) May 12, 2025 Great cartoon by Dr Alan Bleaching How are women and girls expected to know the difference between a dangerous sexual predator - and a dangerous sexual predator wearing a dress?

On @BBCWomansHour biological male, Robin Moira White, tells women if they object to getting undressed or showering in front of men, they should exit female facilities & change somewhere else. Male entitlement sure runs deep. This, of course, is the story of the Darlington nurses https://t.co/ws2jNkzOYE — Janice Turner (@VictoriaPeckham) May 12, 2025 A male lawyer, who self-IDs as a woman (Robin Moira White)  does not like the recent Supreme Court ruling which affirmed biological sex as the foundation stone of equality law in the UK. So sanity and common sense have been restored by the ruling which means 'trans women' are to be regarded legally as men. Now Robin is perfectly entitled to campaign for a change in the law, but in the meantime he's not entitled to break the law or encourage other people to do so - especially as a lawyer.  Robin and his allies believe that men like him should be allowed to use single sex spaces, services and activities reserved for women - i...

The Press&Journal reports that lengthy waiting lists are forcing lots of people to pay privately for treatment which should be readily available via the NHS.

The unions failed to stand up for low paid women workers in the fight for equal pay in Scotland's councils - until they were finally shamed into action. So maybe a 'class action' is the way for women to fight for privacy at work - a joint action against rogue employers and any unions who refuse to protect their members?   Brave nurses just want the right to privacy Darlington nursing staff didn’t have views on ‘trans debate’, then a biologically male colleague used their changing room By  Janice Turner  - The Times On Wednesday Lisa Lockey cancelled her Unison membership. Starting as a teenage trainee nurse, she’d paid her union dues (latterly £11.50 a month) out of her modest salary for 33 years. But a public statement by the Unison president Steve North gave her no choice but to quit. Lockey, 51, is one of five Darlington nurses in dispute with their NHS trust over its policy of allowing a trans-identified male colleague to use female changing rooms. When the health sec...

Great interview with Bethany, one of the Darlington nurses who is challenging the local NHS decision to allow men to self-ID their way into women's single sex spaces including changing areas. Bethany was very measured, reasonable and articulate - just the sort of person you'd have in mind to be a local union rep! Astonishingly. the BBC interviewer never asked about the lack of trade union support for the nurses - surely the unions aren't in cahoots with the employer?

How are the rights of women being served by the unions campaigning against their right to single sex spaces at work? Women trade union members, women like the Darlington nurses, women like Sandie Peggie! Unison has a membership of more than 70% women!

This, by one of the Darlington nurses is heartbreaking (CW: CSA) Women should not have to tell these stories to get the basic dignity that is their right under workplace health and safety law. https://t.co/aVRr55dZlB — Maya Forstater (@MForstater) May 11, 2025 Maya Forstater from Sex Matters: "Women should not have to tell these stories to get the basic dignity that is their right under workplace health and safety law." The Darlington nurses are having a battle with the trade unions to get justice - as well as their NHS employer.

Abused as a child by a paedophile father, targeted by a voyeuristic, crossdressing colleague, punished by her NHS Trust employers, and rejected by her trade union They were all breaking the law Shame must change sides @wesstreeting do your job and enforce the SC ruling https://t.co/7Vx7MwKVi8 — Sonya Douglas (@SonyaDouglas) May 11, 2025 I don't know if the Darlington nurses are all in the same position. But if any of the nurses were refused representation because of a trade union's support for self-ID, they should sue the union involved. The likely candidates are the RCN and Unison.  

Broken mother who survived family annihilator Rab Thomson who slaughtered their two children and posed their bodies like angels praying for her to find says she is living in fear that he will be free soon as we reveal a thousand prisoners were freed but just 33 victims warned. pic.twitter.com/3SCbGcOY2U — marion scott (@ladymcbeth2) May 10, 2025 How is it possible this man could ever be released from prison? In 2008 Thomson murdered his seven-year-old son Ryan and his 25 year old daughter Michelle who had severe learning difficulties in the family home in Buckhaven, Fife, stabbing them no less than 26 times in a killing frenzy. Thomson killed the children in revenge after his wife June left him following 27 years of abuse from Thomson. Read Marion Scott's piece in the Sunday Post.

Not all that many years ago, I remember thinking Caster was a female with high testosterone because that’s what the media (BBC, mostly) had led me to believe. Then I read up about DSDs, and I learned that the condition Caster has is male-specific. Probs same one as Imane Khelif. https://t.co/XyzZs9RqEt — serialsockthief (@serialsockthief) May 9, 2025 Have you ever heard anything so absurd? Caster Semenya is a man who has fathered two children. 

I'm sorry, this is very serious, but that voice 😂 https://t.co/AQmKDyyGUg — Billy Bragg (@Serena_Partrick) May 9, 2025 Billie is a man - with a willy, So should stay in his own lane, Play football with the other guys, And stop being such a Silly Billie!

The lady’s not for turning: column on Nicola Sturgeon singing the same old songs long after the music has stopped playing. https://t.co/oAB6XZNzTL — alexmassie (@alexmassie) May 7, 2025 Alex Massie made me laugh with his scathing assessment of Nicola Sturgeon and her asinine comments about the UK Supreme Court "No remorse, no admission of error, no reconsideration of the issues. The lady is not for turning and Nicola Sturgeon is singing Non, je ne regrette rien. The law of the land may be what it is but she knows better. Once again, everyone else bar our Nicola is out of step." Whatever people think of Margaret Thatcher, she certainly made the political weather -  Sturgeon, on the other hand was all style and no substance, all fur coat and no knickers.  Sturgeon's Legacy - All Fur Coat and No Knickers ( March 31, 2025 ) Professor James Mitchell wrote a thoughtful piece on Nicola Sturgeon's political legacy which I would summarise as - 'all fur coat and no knickers...

"Until recently, dysphoria was a rare mental illness, which we’ve now elevated to a prestigious designer label. It’s still a mental illness, but the only one we ‘treat’ by nourishing the delusion – worse, a delusion we compel others...to pretend to share" https://t.co/I04jVuB4C1 — For Women Scotland (@ForWomenScot) May 8, 2025 The rapid rise in cases of anorexia 30 years ago is eerily similar to the more recent increase in trans identifying teenagers, particularly teenage girls. Yet the response to young people suffering from a dreadful eating disorder did not result in patients being 'affirmed as too fat (ie affirmative care), being assigned diet coaches or receiving liposuction surgery. Makes you think!

Don't laugh. pic.twitter.com/XY2wizeSlx — No° (@No4167) May 9, 2025 I did my best - but failed.  

pic.twitter.com/F1HRLZve2z — Brian Spilei (@BrianSpanner1) May 9, 2025 Humza Yousaf claims that two nuclear armed states on the brink of all out war  (India and Pakistan)  are 'pleading' with him, asking him what more they can possibly do to stop the madness.

"Lil Series: Monty" pic.twitter.com/rhwbzlafvA — Green Frog Labs (@GreenFrogLabs) May 9, 2025 A work of genius from Green Frog Labs. Now I know it's Monty Python, but I can definitely hear the voices of Jeremy Corbyn and Sophie Molly in the mix. Do yourself a favour and have a listen!

Can they still call the show I Kissed A Boy when one of the cast members is a biological woman? The ‘queer’ community won’t stop until gays have been erased. https://t.co/T7cwDusLkX — C (@itscallurrrm) May 2, 2025 Gay men are angry, astonished and insulted at the latest garbage television from the BBC - and no wonder! 'I Kissed A Boy' is a dating show for gay men with the odious catch that one of the 'boys' is actually a woman pretending to be a man!  More trans baloney - I think the time may have come to ditch the licence fee and stop watching the BBC Dear TwoFour's 'I Kissed a Boy' Team, I am writing to express my outrage and disgust on behalf of same-sex attracted men in Ireland regarding your recent decision to cast a biological female contestant on a show that is explicitly marketed as a gay dating program. This decision… — Not All Gays Ireland 🏳️‍🌈🇮🇪 (@NotAllGays) May 6, 2025

I wrote to Audit Scotland on 16 December 2024 raising concerns about the use of public money to pay 'golden goodbyes' in Glasgow City Council. The public spending watchdog took a month to respond and when they did Audit Scotland told me politely they had no remit in the matter and that 'everything was in hand' - see exchange of letters below. Audit Scotland now say they will be opening their own investigation into the scandal which is good news, but from a public interest standpoint Audit Scotland should clearly have been on the case and taking action months ago.   I plan now to raise the issue with the Auditor General, Stephen Boyle. From:  Correspondence <correspondence@audit-scotland.gov.uk> To:  markirvine@compuserve.com <markirvine@compuserve.com> Sent:  Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 01:22:12 PM GMT Subject:  RE: Glasgow City Council - 'Fat Cat' Probe Good afternoon   Thank you for your email of 16 December to the Auditor General....