Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

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.