Ludo Thierry
Have new people been appointed to The Fraser of Allander recently? – The FoAI has produced several recent pieces being quite fierce towards Johnson’s Westminster Govt’s daft economic policies and have applied some wonderfully dry humour whilst doing so. Another good piece has appeared regarding the madness of the Johnson bridge/’Union’ Alister Jack tunnel proposal. Link and snippets below – worth a quick read of the full article if people have a spare minute:
When’s a bridge not a bridge? When it’s a tunnel, apparently…
Fraser of Allander Institute – March 9, 2020
It is perhaps a sign of the times that political stories, which wouldn’t even have seen the light of day in the past, gain traction.
The latest is the proposal of a bridge (although we’re told that was a metaphor, and it may now be a tunnel that’s being proposed) to link Scotland and Northern Ireland.
This is the idea – and this is not an April Fool – to consider a 21-mile road link between Scotland and Northern Ireland over the Irish Sea.
Somewhere, engineers will be debating the technical challenges of building a bridge over deep water, or a tunnel across a difficult underwater terrain. Geographers will be working out the average windspeeds that traffic will be able to withstand. And munition experts will be discussing how to avoid Beaufort’s Dyke.
Finally, and one of the first things that economists are taught is to look at the ‘opportunity cost’ of a project. The opportunity cost isn’t the financial cost of building the bridge (estimated at least at £20bn), but the benefits that could be gained instead from spending that ~£20bn on other projects in Scotland (and Northern Ireland). £20bn would be equivalent to over 14 Queensferry Crossings (with some change left over to fix the problems of ice); 25 M74 extension equivalent road projects; or 400 large Cal Mac ferries (at the original price). £20bn could be far better spent.
So in short. It won’t deliver the economic boost some claim, it isn’t a priority, it would go to the wrong location, it wouldn’t be consistent with climate change objectives, and the money could be better spent on other things.
Apart from that, it’s a cracking idea.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Wee correction, we were told it was a euphemism. Our esteemed SoSfS is still on Figures of Speec 101. Metaphor comes in Figures of Speec – Advanced course. He’s no there yet and neither is the bridge/tunnel/zip wire.
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In my mind he’s on a death slide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFsttisVuHk
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Some rather interesting and enlightening evidence was presented at the Holyrood Committee looking into the Calmac Ferries’ order story. Wow – The CMAL Directors are taking no nonsense and no prisoners – A little reality check for the britnat MSPs trying their darnedest to suggest that the Scottish Govt would apply the sort of business tactics that their beloved Westminster/Whitehall crew routinely would do.
Facts and figures from CMAL, arguably, do point to a scandal – just not the fictional ‘scandal’ which the britnats have been trying so very hard to create. Link and snippets below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-51825113
The directors of a ferry company at the centre of a dispute into two delayed and over budget ships have told an inquiry the firm building them was “hopelessly inefficient”.
Bosses at Caledonian Marine Assets Limited (CMAL) Kevin Hobbs and James Anderson said builders Ferguson Marine were the “masters of their own demise”.
They were giving evidence at an inquiry into the deal at Holyrood.
CMAL bosses’ evidence to the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee follows a session in December in which MSPs heard from former finance secretary Derek Mackay that the ferries would be delayed and could more than double their initial price.
He also claimed mismanagement at Ferguson Marine was to blame for the problem.
The shipyard was bought over by Scottish ministers in August last year, after it collapsed into administration.
However, in February former Ferguson director Jim McColl blamed CMAL for the delay and the projected overspend during his appearance at the inquiry.
He said there were repeated changes made to the specification of the ships.
He also claimed First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the details of the ferry contract, including the cost of the vessels, before it had been agreed.
Turning to Mr McColl’s assertion that CMAL kept changing the designs, Kevin Hobbs told the committee that Ferguson’s were “not being truthful”.
He added that 111 changes were looked at. Of these, 30 were never progressed after discussion, while 46 changes were prompted by Ferguson and 35 prompted by CMAL.
Mr Hobbs added that CMAL had to pay £1.55m for the changes it asked for.
What Ferguson is describing when it talks about changes are “their own mistakes”, he added.
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Perhaps the Fraser of Allander Institute has decided that if it to be perceived as a reputable ‘think tank’ or rigorous economic analyst, it has to be impartial rather than being a cheerleader for Blairite Scottish Labour and unionism.
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