Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

David Gowans, a self-styled 'ultra' injured an Aberdeen player, Jack MacKenzie with a broken seat which he threw on to the field of play. "Gowans - one of the ultras' leaders who liaised with Aberdeen over match tickets - has been warned he has reached the custody threshold and could be sent to jail." Just goes to show the mentality of these morons - he ought to be jailed. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/aberdeen-ultra-hit-player-broken-36286201  

I've attended more AGMs than I care to remember, but what I do know is that it's impossible to have a meaningful discussion if one group in attendance is hell bent on disruption.  All the 'ultras' have managed to do with their idiotic 'mob rule' behaviour is to deny other Celtic fans the opportunity to put their points across to the Celtic Board. https://www.celticfc.com/news/2025/november/21/celtic-football-club-statement/  

Excellent news for women union members   - Sandie Peggie is suing the RCN (Royal College of Nursing) union for not supporting her in a dispute over single sex changing areas at NHS Fife. What is the point of a trade union that fails to stand up for a member who needs advice and representation?  None of course - and it's not the job of a trade union to be dancing to the tune of male trans activists who are out to invade women's single sex spaces. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g6dpn6154o  

  Jeremy Corbyn's new far-left party is meeting this weekend against a background of bitter accusations, in-fighting between rival groups and eve-of-conference resignations. So I though this would be a good time to share a post from the blog archive about the Magic Grandpa's wreath-laying activities in Tunisia back in the day. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/13/jeremy-corbyn-not-involved-munich-olympics-massacre-wreath-laying Jeremy Corbyn: I was present at wreath-laying but don’t think I was involved Labour leader rows with Israeli PM over ceremony for individuals from group behind Munich massacre By  Dan Sabbagh  - The Guardian (14 August 2018) Jeremy Corbyn has said he was present but not involved at a wreath-laying for individuals behind the group that carried out the Munich Olympic massacre, a partial admission that has led to a row with Israel’s prime minister. The Labour leader had been asked if Palestinian leaders linked to the Black September terro...

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.    

SNP hero worshippers won't like it one bit, but Camilla Long's assessment of Sturgeon is spot on. "Sturgeon, while talented, cannot cope with differing opinions: she descends into small, monocultural circles of advisers, who, during Covid, formed a preposterously named top-tier body, Gold Command, which didn’t even take minutes.  "She and her deputy, John Swinney, decided to close schools without involving a single other person. As Leitch put it after one meeting: “She actually wants none of us.” "In the end, all her East German secrecy and control made no difference: people still died. She made the same mistakes as Johnson.  "It seems incredible to have to contemplate this, but in putting self-obsessed politicians in charge of Covid, were we in fact being led by people who were unable to be objective and were therefore the opposite of what we needed and deserved?" https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nicola-sturgeons-covid-inquiry-is-the-full-macbeth-gfn...

Nicola Sturgeon's chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, gives the lie to the claim that Scotland's First Minister did not behave 'politically' during the Covid pandemic. Liz Lloyd: "Think I just want a good old fashioned rammy so can think about something other than sick people" Nicola Sturgeon: "Yeah I get it. And it might be worth doing." Sturgeon has come in for criticism from the Covid inquiry for deleting all of her WhatsApp messages along with other SNP ministers including John Swinney. Now we can see why.

Despite all the spin no politician comes out of the Covid  inquiry with their reputation enhanced. Everyone is happy to accept that mistakes were made, but ultimately no one is accountable in the sense of paying any kind of price for what went wrong. Quite the opposite, in fact. In Scotland care homes were blamed by politicians and put under police investigation over the death of residents, yet the same politicians were responsible for discharging hospital patients into care homes without testing for Covid.   In truth no one had a clear strategy, but the politicians told  the public they knew what they were doing while making it up as they went along.  One thing's for sure - when another pandemic comes along people are not going to accept 'locking down' for weeks on end, a policy which was particularly damaging for school children.    

Lots of people came over to the For Women Scotland (FWS) table last night to offer their congratulations to Marion Calder and Susan Smith (Trina Budge couldn't make it) for winning 'Public Campaign Or Campaigner Of The Year' award. Noticeable by his absence was First Minister John Swinney. Swinney has not kept his promise to meet with For Women Scotland to discuss the historic 'biological sex' judgment of the UK Supreme Court and this was an ideal opportunity to get their diaries out. Manners maketh the man.    

John Swinney won politician of the year last night. I would definitely have voted for one of the other two candidates - Kate Forbes or Jackie Baillie - both of whom know what a woman is and believe that men should stay the hell out of women's single sex spaces.

I enjoyed the company of some great people last night at The Herald's Politician of the Year Awards 2025.  Especially those at the For Women Scotland table - none of whom were 'far-right' even though they all believe a woman does not have a penis and that men should stay the hell out of women's single sex spaces. For Women Scotland won the award for 'Public Campaign Or Campaigner Of The Year' after their historic victory at the Supreme Court in April which restored sanity and common to equality law across the UK.  

A 'grooming gang' victim in Glasgow has called for the Scottish Government to conduct its own inquiry into the scale and nature of the problem - similar to the inquiry which is underway in England and Wales SNP ministers have been reluctant to do so up till now, but have been further embarrassed by comments from Angela Constance, the justice minister, who misrepresented the view of Professor Alexis Jay, a renowned expert on the subject. Grooming Gangs Inquiry - SNP Bad! ( November 19, 2025 ) SNP justice minister Angela Constance is under fire for misrepresenting the views of of Professor Alexis Jay over a 'grooming gangs' inquiry in Scotland. Labour MP Joani Reid blasted: "Angela Constance should make a public apology for what she said to the Scottish parliament. "The Scottish Government have now spent months doing all they can to resist proper scrutiny and accountability over organised child sexual abuse. "They are running out of excuses and have tried t...

Jeremy Corbyn's gang are locked in a civil war with Zarah Sultana's gang over the future of a new far-left which still doesn't have an official name. Accusations, complaints and resignations abound as the warring factions pretend they are all 'good comrades' - yet the truth is they're fighting like ferrets in a sack. Read the full story via the link below to the Times.  https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/your-party-jeremy-corbyn-zahra-sultana-2rk358wr5   Zarah Sultana risks being blocked from speaking at the inaugural conference of the socialist party she co-founded with Jeremy Corbyn amid renewed infighting and concern about inroads being made by the Green Party. The firebrand Coventry South MP may be prevented from addressing delegates at the first gathering of Your Party, which takes place in Liverpool on November 29-30. She remains locked in a dispute with Corbyn and those personally loyal to him over questions of leadership and structure. Her alli...

Men like Robin White and India 'Jonathan' Willoughby are not welcome in women's single sex spaces. Get out and stay out, chaps - the law of the land needs to be respected.  

SNP ministers have finally dropped legislation intended to force Scottish homeowners to dump gas boilers and install expensive heat pumps. The scheme was drawn up originally by Patrick Harvie MSP who, along with his Green colleague Lorna Slater, was brought into Nicola Sturgeon's SNP led government. The SNP has also binned Lorna Slater's controversial DRS (Deposit Return Scheme)   which is the subject of ongoing legal action in the Scottish courts.  The decision to make Slater and Harvie Scottish ministers has proved to be wasteful and costly.   

Educational standards in Scotland have been falling in recent years and the way to tackle the problem, according to SNP ministers at least, is to reduce teacher contact time in the classroom. Follow link below: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn8v855v95jo  

Celtic football club have cracked down and suspended the Green Brigade after a violent assault on a member of staff. Normal, decent people would have helped to identify and detain the person responsible instead of attacking the police and allowing the person to escape.   Well done Celtic FC. View in browser Incident within Rail Seating Section at Celtic v Falkirk, Wednesday 29 October 2025 We are writing to you with an update regarding an incident within the Rail Seating Section at Celtic Park at the Celtic v Falkirk match on Wednesday 29 October 2025. You may already be aware of recent communications from the Club to members of the “Green Brigade” who are seated in the Rail Seating Section. For clarity, the Club’s email to the Green Brigade is included at the bottom of this email. In short, as a result of a serious and violent incident which took place at the home game against Falkirk on 29 October, the Club has taken the decision to suspend the Season Tickets of Green Brigad...