Craig Meighan

Glasgow City Council Leader has denied accusations that equal pay negotiations have collapsed, saying they are still underway and on time. In a tweet , Susan Aitken rebuked accusations from Labour that thousands of women had chosen to strike after negotiations with Glasgow City Council had failed. Aitken said: “Equal pay negotiations have not ‘collapsed’; they are continuing” and that the timescale of when payments are to be made is well on track. This was in response to a tweet by Labour’s communities and equalities spokeswoman, Monica Lennon. Lennon said: "[These women] deserve pay justice and they deserve it now. It should never have reached this point and on behalf of Scottish Labour I apologise that the legacy of pay inequality wasn’t resolved when our party led Glasgow City Council. "An apology, however, doesn’t pay the bills. The SNP came into power having promised to settle but women are still being failed.” Aitken hit back at Labour, sa...

If another person says something that offends me I do one of two things: ignore it or engage in a conversation. This, however, is not part and parcel of the laws surrounding free speech in Scotland. In Scotland, hate speech laws mean saying certain things could land someone a criminal record – if considered too offensive. But therein lies the issue: who deems what offensive? To me the idea that there are people who drink plain black coffee, without sugar and enjoy it is deeply offensive. Yet I do not wish for these people to be imprisoned, nor do I feel it necessary that the law takes my side in condemning these people. Recently a YouTuber was convicted  over an “offensive” video he posted on the sight which shows his dog watching a Hitler video and doing a Nazi-esque salute. Mark Meechan, who goes by his YouTube name “Count Dankula” says he wanted to turn the dog into "the least cute thing that I could think of" to annoy his girlfriend. The judge considered his act...

Councillor Thomas Kerr Labour has no one ‘cutting through’ in Scottish politics and no one knows what they stand for, according to a Tory councillor. Thomas Kerr, 21, a Tory councillor in the Glasgow Shettleston region said: “I would rather trust an SNP politician because I know what they stand for… The problem with Labour, and why they're in such a bad state right now in Scotland, is no one quite knows what they stand for. “Are they pro-union? Are they anti-union? Are they going to let yes campaigners become councillors? How many people have I met before in my life that say: ‘I don’t like your politics, but I know what you stand for.’ People like that as a principle.” Kerr accredited the reason for his party’s success to Labour, saying: “The reason why we are doing so well in Glasgow -and, in particular, Shettleston- is because of Frank McAveety and because of Labour, because they’ve been in charge for 40-odd years and people just fell out of love with them....

Dogs Trust has must increase its presence in Scotland to help widen its appeal says employee at Glasgow branch.  Lloyd Rodman, assistant manager, speaking about his own shop in Tollcross Road said: ‘One thing that has to improve is more shops to share stock. We get about 50 bags a day and the shop is tiny.’  Rodman said: ‘The fact of the matter is if there were more dogs Trust shops in Scotland we could share stock. Sometimes we have stock here that we can’t sell…it has to go all the way down south which costs money. If there were more shops around here it would be easier to share, which means more proceeds to the company.’ Rodman said the charity, founded in 1891, should try market itself more to young people.  He said: ‘Charity shops have a pretty bad stigma for being junk shops for older consumers. I would have more young people in.’ Speaking about the practical steps the charity takes, he said: ‘Dogs Trust last year made £2.4M from charity s...