Making few waves in the news, at the end of March 2022, a story revealing the accuser to be a big fibber himself, is worth considering when we look at the current Scottish MSM feeding frenzy suggesting that the FM lied.
From the Scotsman, of all places, on the 29th March:
Answering questions from MSPs in Holyrood, the finance secretary emphatically rejected accusations from the tycoon the deal for hulls 801 and 802 were rushed for political purposes.
Mr McColl told the BBC on Tuesday morning that there had been a “fabulous propaganda exercise” by the SNP to shift blame on to Ferguson’s for the five year delay to the vessels which were supposed to go into service in 2018.
He claimed then-infrastructures minister, Keith Brown, signed the contract, though the Scottish Government have said it was signed by the chief executive of CMAL and Mr McColl himself.
Kate Forbes accused Jim McColl of “shifting the blame” on the ferries fiasco
Ms Forbes said it was “entirely wrong” the contract award was “rushed”, stating that the timetable did not “support that notion” and that all procurement processes were followed.
Attacking Mr McColl, she added: “Contrary to what Jim McColl said this morning on the BBC, it was the chief executive of CMAL and Jim McColl himself who signed the contract.
“This is a man with a clear interest in shifting the blame on others when the route cause ultimately to the delays of these important vessels was the construction under FMEL (Ferguson Marine).”
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/ferries-fiasco-kate-forbes-attacks-jim-mccoll-and-accuses-him-of-shifting-the-blame-on-ferries-scandal-3631756
Talking-up Scotland 
No one dare speak the obvious truth here and that is this
Westminster over the years hollowed out commercial shipbuilding to such a state that
1.Completely void of major infrastructures for modern competitive shipbuilding
This has now led to
2.A complete lack of the high skill sets required
3.Little or no relevant educational courses that are relevant to producing a steady stream of a work force
4.Almost no specialist Sub Contracting engineering firms
5.It almost impossible to ever catch up and our capacity and ability to carve out a niche specialist
Market in todays modern shipping needs is now almost 3 generations behind in the technologies
Required for the worlds future shipping needs
Once you have sunk to that level ,you better start believing in miracles
And there in realty no such thing
Any efforts in trying to play catch up is impossible as you attempt to grapple with even attempting 2nd generation shipbuilding ( as these 2 ferries are )
Never mind the quantum leaps being made by other shipbuilding nations
Take a look at Norwegian shipbuilding today and it is so bloody obvious that Scottish Shipbuilding is History now and forever so
Good God even nations such as Poland and Romania are now leap years ahead of us now
Taking on these 2 modern hybrid ferries was a act of utter and complete madness.just look at the major simple basic error of the miles of wrong cabling
Installed in Glen Sannox
The Management and workforce could not even understand the sheer complexity required today
With regards cabling,which they thought was a simple task,singularly missing the point of what the types of cables were and what for
Get that wrong then it is back to drawing board
Lets be blunt here
Westminster and its poor governance has led to none other that we are now stupid,useless,incompetent
Amateurs Akin to a Sunday pub football team trying to play in the premier league
Attempting to win it and qualify for The European Nations league
All this has no reflection upon Scotland other than
Allowing ourselves to be governed and continue to be so by a throughly corrupt, bankrupt,antiquity
Of a 300 yr.old union and political archaic system
That is now so close to implosion
Escape is now of the highest priorty
E.G. Tidal energy where we lead the world, is now rapidly under very serious threat and if not acted upon with a fully integrated plan
Why
The Smart money in energy economics and due to Ukraine are waking up very very fast now by realising that the one obvious way forward is Tidal energy and the funds are now pouring in as they realise that tidal is guaranteed,reliable,always available no matter what
And most of the technical engineering problems solved
But more importantly the Smart money smell the vast profits that SHALL be made and forever more
Billions are now being earmarked for Canadian waters jointly by Government and the worlds largest energy companies and investment banks
Remember the stocks and shares in the Tech and Internet boom producing
Apple, Google etc.
Well then the next boom is already commenced and it is renewable energy.but the real smart cookies know Tidal is where the Apples and Googles are
Wake up Scotland and jump to feet and welcome the new dawn and rising.sun
Or
Remain in Westminter,s slumber and watch our potential end up as our shipbuilding has
Never in a Million years will Westminster ever allow Scottish Tidal to develop as doing so would for certain lead to our going Independent as we know what they done to our Oil
Believe me Tidal potential in Scottish waters is far far greater than the Oil ever was
We can be the new Saudi Arabia of the Worlds tidal renewable energy
Fear not it not only the loss of chains we gain, but a real and last 2nd chance to
Harness our massive resources to create a modern,responsible,equitable,progressive Nation and a shining beacon to all who
See and willing to work with us
NOT One Cent of this Smart money is even looking at Scotland and they know exactly why
1.Uncertainity in that when Scotland awakes then what would be the tax regime and political controls
The Smart money just simply needs to know what the governance plans are
That is all they will mould and adapt accordingly
They did so with Norway,s oil and gas
Look at how that ended up for both Norway and the Investors WIN WIN
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I fear you’re right about the tide having gone out for Scottish shipbuilding, P1UK. The combination of being behind the curve in industry developments and the loss of local specialist sub-contractors will be very tough to overcome and will need massive investment to achieve it.
You’re also right about the risk of missing the boat on tidal – the only guaranteed 365/24/7 renewable energy source. UK gov’s withdrawal of R&D funding set us back by about 20 years, so progress has been far slower than necessary and other nations will catch up quickly. A Scottish success story is a moorable floating turbine which is now in situ in the Bay of Fundy and selling electricity to the Canadian state of Nova Scotia. As ever, we develop a reliable revolutionary concept which benefits other nations first and we get to benefit from it only when others have developed manufacture and marketing to the point where prices become attractive to the energy market. Instead we could and should be leading the wave.
It’s part of the “Union benefit” from which Scotland would benefit but for the dead hand of Westminster controlling the levers.
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Coinneach
Thanks but to fully understand that our potential in tidal is toast unless we get out very soon
You have to understand oil
And it too is toast,that is why the Smart money drifting fast to Tidal now
And to back this up
1.USA whilst attempting to ramp up production encountering serious legacy problems in poor maintenance and repair in the past
Many middle to small specialist engineering companies went to the wall
And of those still operating many have a bad debt industry, this has inadvertently big financiers re evaluating where to invest.Answer Tidal
2.USA strategic crude oil stocks dangerously low
3.Large Oil companies dangerously eating into their strategic stocks of refined products
4.Saudia Arabia Will not ramp up production,they know the price is not only to peak but stay there so why increase production and lower prices
5.New oil on average takes 12 yrs from licence grant till 1st Barrel flows
6.Saudia Arabia seriously considering payment for oil in Chinese currency from any body
7.China will pay any oil producer in their currency
All this points to a turning of the tide for fossil fuels and all on a simple basis
A.Security of supply Now impossible to implement
B.ROI ( Return on investment ) now massively
Attractive to large super operators and their investors for Tidal projects
Scotland is going to rue the day we sat passively on the sidelines here
Eternal shame upon all in the NO camp,they are well and truly on the wrong side of history and magnanimity far less mercy should never be afforded those of them knowingly involved at a high level upon these matters
The SNP are fiddling and Rome now ablaze
Never ever again shall such
Oppurtunity present itself again
The Future is not Orange it is bloody bleak
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Let’s recall that the latest round of this farce arose because of the Audit Report, the pivotal question in it being why FMEL had undertaken to furnish guarantees when requested, and could not provide them when required.
McColl’s on-air insistence that he had not signed the contract was revealed as a lie within 24 hours in a tweet from of all people Glenn Campbell.
To this day so far as I am aware, not a single journalist has asked McColl for his explanation why he lied about signing the contract, and more crucially to explain why HIS undertaking to furnish the guarantees was not then honoured.
McColl’s opinion that FMEL was a viable concern without the CMAL contract begs the question why then he bid for them ?
Was FMEL still a viable concern in 2019 when he put the firm into administration ?
The FM’s statement regarding the current workforce of ca400 was correct, the question to McColl was not referencing an earlier time in FMEL’s workforce but the present, McColl disputing it WAS 150 is deliberate nonsense.
We are all acutely aware of the BBC in Scotland’s eagerness to make a (Edward de) Mountain out of a molehill when it comes to the current SNP administration, but McColl has done himself no favours with his role in this circus act.
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I vaguely recall reading somewhere at the time that the Scottish Government was pressing both CMAL and Fergusons re a contract agreement and price in order to make an official announcement. According to Fergusons, they were unable to sign off as revisions of spec were still arising on a daily basis. CMAL, however, cited a figure (presumably arrived at by a wet finger in the air since Fergusons hadn’t agreed it) and the announcement was duly made by the Scottish Gov’t. This was duly plastered all over the media and became an albatross around Fergusons’ neck. If my (admittedly dodgy) recall is correct it was a CMAL stitch-up: the Gov couldn’t go back on the figure announced and the shipyard couldn’t agree to a figure until the spec was finalised.
Given the chaos of routine CMAL operational failures, particularly in perennial matters like regular fleet maintenance and scheduled retirement/replacement of older vessels, it wouldn’t be surprising if they had resorted to a stitch-up which would have been to their benefit if it could be carried out. As someone with decades of corporate turnaround experience, I detect a strong scent of incompetence in top-level management in CMAL and only a clear-out and new hirings of suitably proven replacements will change the corporate culture.
Please correct me if anyone has probative evidence of a different outcome as conflicting statements have subsequently been issued by all parties.
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It all sounds really dodgy but then the BritNat state are determined to bring down Nicola Sturgeon she is the bee in their bonnet, buzz buzz…and they don’t like it one bit. They know that N. Sturgeon is a competent and effective First Minister, who is also the one who will secure independence for Scotland. She had better watch her back, EngGov don’t play nice and now they seem more like a mini Russia, scary.
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